Over the past several years, oral health care products have become one of the most profitable categories in the mass market. Hello, started in 2012, is a fast-growing, privately-owned oral care brand based in Montclair, New Jersey. This year the company grew 300 percent, while point of distribution grew to more than 30,000 stores. “I saw an opportunity to reinvent a massive, daily-use category in the wellness space that I thought was devoid of vibrancy and fun, that had products, ingredients and positioning that hadn’t been updated in a very long time,” said Craig Dubitsky, the 52-year-old brand’s founder, who was also one of the Co-founders of EOS, the lip care brand. According to Craig, his all-natural brand is the best-selling activated charcoal toothpaste in U.S. Food, Drug and Mass, and is the second leading player in the naturals segment category as defined by their retail partners. Hello must be doing something right because their social following has increased 48 percent yearly, while their organic social engagement has increased 300 percent. This week, the brand is launching four new toothpaste products: Naturally Whitening; Antiplaque + Whitening; Activated Charcoal with Fluoride; Wild Strawberry Kids. This week, Craig talked with CEW’s Beauty Insider for our 5 Minutes With… feature.

CEW Beauty Insider: How did you get the funding to launch Hello?


Craig Dubitsky: I was the only investor when I started, and then I was very fortunate to be oversubscribed when it was time to raise capital. I brought in some friends and family with ties and experience across consumer package goods, retail and entertainment in the earliest round, along with our lead investor, a family office. Without limited partnership or time horizons by which they need to see a liquidity event, our partnership provided a very important and unique ability to be patient and strategic in terms of growing our business and building our brand.

BI: What are the different challenges with Hello compared to EOS?


CD: Unlike cosmetic and beauty products, oral care is a true wellness category. The regulatory hurdles are greater as we offer fluoride products that require an FDA monograph. While we are obsessed with design, form, function and fun, we had to make sure our products were highly effective, not just well designed, and that our thoughtful, natural ingredients were going to provide a truly great experience.

BI: What are the positives about staying an independent company?


CD: Our focus and obsession with speed and agility is something we love; we love that we can be extremely nimble and create at an unbridled pace. We recently went from concept to fully-commercialized, shipped product in just under four months. As an indie this is how we’re able to operate. We think it’s insanely beneficial when it comes to creating meaningful and timely innovation. Agility to read the market and create quickly is a real advantage.


BI: How do you intend to stand out from other brands in your category?


CD: An ingredient strategy alone, like our charcoal, isn’t enough; other folks, established and otherwise, might be adding charcoal to their lines, but most people today are smart enough to know which brand is authentic and which brand is not. We compete on a cultural and emotional playing field that transcends any individual ingredient, and we work hard to be a company that folks don’t merely transact with, but one that they join. We think mission and purpose and soul make all the difference, and that people today can tell who has it, and who doesn’t.

BI: What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned over the years?


CD: Be a better listener and keep trusting and empowering our people to improve the vision and our execution. My job as the founder and as a creative force is to see the invisible.

BI: Greatest accomplishment so far?


CD: Seeing our team grow, not just in number, but in terms of how we work together. We’re friends, we respect each other, we take care of each other, and because we’re so in sync, we can move quickly.

BI: What product (not your own) is your favorite and why?


CD: I love Dove for Men’s ap/deo roll-on. I order it out of the U.K., as it’s not available in the U.S.. I love the scale of the package, the way it fits and feels in your hand, it’s technical look and the size of the applicator. I think it’s brilliant, discreet and it works better than anything else out there.

BI: Biggest mistake you’ve made?


CD: It’s a tie. One big mistake was entering a foreign market before getting everything right at home. It’s very flattering to get inbound interest from all over the world, but hard to execute from a distance. The other big mistake: making a product that was so far removed from the most basic of category norms that no one could tell what it was when they saw it at the shelf. If you bend too far, you break. If you push the envelope, you at least still have an envelope.

BI: Best advice for newbies entering the business today?
CD: Focus on the ‘why’, and not just the ‘what’ and the ‘how’. Why does it exist and why is it better? Also, you don’t want to disrupt—you want to delight!

BI: What’s something no one tells you when starting a business?


CD: That everything takes longer and costs more than you ever thought, despite the strategy, the research and the experience you and the team may be bringing to the party. No one is prepared for time to both stop and move so quickly.

BI: What’s a mantra you live by?


CD: Fall in love with the problem. Stay focused on and obsessed with the problem, and you’ll always be looking for new ways to make every aspect of the solution that much better.

BI: If you were to write the note found in a fortune cookie, what would it say?


CD: It’d be a toss-up between: don’t forget to floss; don’t eat this thing, it’s not worth the carbs or calories; and call your parents, they love and miss you.