It takes a lot of work to build a global brand. But this AWIE Honoree has created a product category that can withstand the sand & surf.
Catarina Oliveira is the founder and CEO of Hey Harper. She was also AWIE 22 Honoree. Her journey to entrepreneurship has been interesting, with ups and downs along with an upward trajectory that led to a global brand and a loyal fan base. She spoke candidly about Catarina’s journey with Caroline Dau at the recent AWIE Online conference.
Here are some highlights from their conversation. You can view the entire video of the event if you want to see the remainder of the interview and our panel discussion on marketing to Gen Z.
Caroline: Waterproof jewelry is an exclusive product category. It would be great to learn more about your inspiration and why you felt the need for it.
Catarina, I was searching for jewelry that would not look rusty or green after a few wears. It was frustrating to buy jewelry that would eventually tarnish after only a few use. It was difficult to keep jewelry in good condition for long periods of time.
After doing some research, I found stainless steel and then discovered a special coating called PVD that makes the jewelry waterproof. You will be able buy jewelry for much less money and have it for a very long time.
Caroline: How did your brand narrow down the target audience?
Catarina, It wasn’t that difficult. Funny thing was that I discovered that this problem is common among many people.
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It can be really frustrating to spend $100 on jewelry that will tarnish in just a few weeks. It means you can’t go on the beach, you can’t shower, and you can’t wash your hands. So it was really simple to find an audience for this type of jewelry.
It was difficult to prove this is true.
Caroline: This sounds almost too good to true. How do you prove it to them? How can you show this information to your eCommerce customers?
Catarina: We were the first to say that our jewelry was waterproof. So we decided to be simple.
To show that it was waterproof, we relied heavily on customer reviews. Our jewelry is worn by swimmers while they train — there are sportsmen and women who use it, as well as people who share their experiences with it. That’s how it all began to grow.
Caroline: Caroline, I would love to hear all about your journey starting out solo and building Hey Harper over time.
Catarina, Hey Harper was started in my Lisbon apartment. I quit the company I had worked for a few months back because I was bored and wanted to find the next challenge. So I began making all of the jewelry myself. That’s how it all began.
I began taking photos and posting them to Instagram. With the help of my boyfriend we began advertising on social media. I created a Shopify store that was very basic. We started with a simple website and have grown from there. We attracted a worldwide audience not just from Portugal but also from the US and Germany.
Caroline: Hey Harper was not your first venture into entrepreneurship. Is that correct?
Catarina: Yeah! I have designed and opened several stores in the past. Shopify did allow us to start several drop shipping companies, but all failed.
Caroline: What lessons have you learned from your failed first attempts?
Catarina: I was initially obsessed with the product and the image.
Hey Harper is a simple business. I had no expectations. All of my customers were on Instagram at the start, so I was able to get to know them all. It was very organic at the beginning. But now that we have a large customer base, I don’t know as many of them as I used to when I first spoke to them.
My lesson was to “go with it” and try to provide the best customer experience. Be honest with customers and build a relationship with them.
Caroline: So you have 20 employees. What are your top priorities when hiring people? Each hire is so crucial for a growing company!
Catarina: Hey Harper’s success and size is 100% due to the people we hire.
We only hire the best people. I am not the one on the frontline anymore. That kind of connection is really, really difficult to scale. It’s better for me to hire people who know more than we do. We only hire the very best in terms their backgrounds and their experience. But in terms soft skills, I am always looking for people who are resourceful, first, and most importantly, resourceful. Because we are a small business, people don’t have to be told what they should do.
It is second important to be able work in a small company with a limited budget and still make great things happen. We have people who will say “This is our budget, what can we do about it?” Sometimes, it’s difficult to make miracles from the limited resources we have.
The third thing is, and this is what I believe we have had from the beginning, the freedom to dream and believe that anything is possible. Although it may sound cliché, we don’t need mental barriers to achieve what we want.
Caroline: Which was the most frightening thing about Hey Harper or entrepreneurship in general?
Catarina, I believe that the hardest thing and also one of my favourite things is to do things the first time. While you may fail many times, you learn a lot and then you can just keep going. To move forward, we must fail quickly.
Caroline: Which is the most rewarding part of building Hey Harper?
Catarina
I am competitive and I don’t like being satisfied with what I have. Sometimes it can be difficult to look back and say “Okay, you really have done an incredible job.” This is why we look back at what we accomplished without funding, starting from scratch, with an incredible team working together to achieve our goals. It’s about looking back and seeing how far we have come.
Caroline: What’s next for Hey Harper, and you?
Catarina: Oh! There’s so much you can do!
Hey Harper will launch new product categories by the end of this year. I believe it’s going be huge. We are trying to test new products and will start with a physical presence. eCommerce remains our main channel. However, we are trying out physical experiences — we have one showroom in Portugal. Although we have retail partners who sell our products in physical stores, we will soon open a pop-up store.
What does it mean for me? I feel the need to share my knowledge with students at university. Perhaps I can teach classes, or something similar, and teach the next generation everything that I have learned.
source https://www.yotpo.com/blog/qa-with-catarina-oliveira-of-hey-harper/