Q&A With Ju Rhyu on Luck, Focus, and Her $630 Million Exit

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated” – Confucius

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Leonardo Da Vinci

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When I think of Ju Rhyu and her Mighty Patch success story, I am awed by the simplicity of her journey. In 2017, Rhyu bootstrapped one product and launched it the fastest way possible: on Amazon. To minimize expenses, she refrained from setting up a website or utilizing other distribution channels. Running a bare bones operation, Rhyu made over $1 million in revenue that first year. Five years later, she sold her company, Hero Cosmetics, to Church and Dwight (CHD) for $630 million. 

Mighty Patch is currently the number one acne patch brand on the market (by far). Using the power of branding, Rhyu and her co-founders took the negative emotions attached to acne and turned it into something positive and strong. They also made sure the product was highly effective so that customers would tell their friends about it and keep coming back. 

Rhyu insists it was more luck than skill that allowed her business to grow with such speed. She’s quick to point out that a pivotal time in their growth was when sales went through the roof during the pandemic, as consumers were stuck at home and shopped for everything on Amazon. 

Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs all have said that “focus” was the secret of their success. As any entrepreneur can tell you, it’s extremely difficult not to get bogged down by the complexity that multiplies as a business grows. How Ju Rhyu and her co-founders were able to maintain simplicity and profitability while scaling their business in record time is what makes their story so unique. 

The Rhyu family immigrated to Seattle from South Korea when Ju was three. She was a good student and a rule follower, but inherited her entrepreneurial spirit from her father who built a business exporting logs to Korea. After graduating from Brown University in 2001, Rhyu went on to get her MBA from Columbia in Finance and Marketing.  

Rhyu stumbled upon the hydrocolloid pimple patch in 2015, while working in Korea for Samsung. She knew that this product could be huge in the U.S., but didn’t feel ready to take on the commitment and financial burden of starting a business on her own. She put the idea on hold and instead took another marketing job at Mondelez back in the States. All the while, she couldn’t stop thinking about the pimple patch idea.

Two years later, she had a meeting of the minds with brothers Dwight and Andrew Lee, who had exactly the complementary skill sets she was looking for. They also shared her vision of simplicity and bootstrapping, and together, Ju Rhyu and the Lee brothers launched and nurtured a business that exceeded all expectations.

More than a billion Mighty Patches later, Hero Cosmetic products are now commanding premium shelf space at top retailers like Target, Walmart, CVS, and Ulta Beauty, with a fresh box of patches sold every two seconds.

After Hero Cosmetics completed their wildly successful exit, Rhyu and her French husband moved from Paris to LA. Down shifting from her CEO role to a less intense Founder role, she is enjoying her California life and continues to be the chief cheerleader for Hero Cosmetics. 

Here is our exclusive interview with Ju Rhyu.

 

PL: What’s your go-to cocktail?

JR: A French 75.

Describe your favorite getaway. 

Anywhere by the beach. 

What do you like to splurge on, and what are you most frugal about? 

I will splurge on travel. I love to take my family on a nice vacation. Nice hotels and great experiences. 

After living in France for six years, I’m a bit shocked at the tipping culture in the U.S. and am thoughtful about how much I tip based on the service. 

What can you do in France that you can’t do here in the US?

I love the easy access to different cultures and countries. Travel is very affordable, especially on the low-cost airlines. There’s also a respectful attitude about vacations. Everyone goes on vacation at the same time, which means you truly don’t have to check emails. 

Do you eat Korean food in France and if so where?

My favorite is a place called Bistrot Mee in the First Arrondissement. 

What do you like to do in Korea?

All my relatives live there and I lived and worked there for a while. Korea is so forward in beauty and culture and fashion. I love getting the latest beauty products from Olive Young and LOHB. Things have changed a lot since COVID. It used to be that things got started at 10 p.m., but now the restaurants close early. 

What are your favorite Korean restaurants in the US?

Here in LA I love Hangari Kalguksu, and we order yukgaejang from a great restaurant called Yukdaejang. 

What are your favorite K-dramas or movies? 

“A New World”, with Lee Jung-jae was great. And I really liked the drama “Sky Castle”.

 

Were you looking for a business idea when you had your idea for Mighty Patch?

I always wanted to be an entrepreneur and was looking for an idea for a long time. I even did a K-beauty consultancy from 2014 – 2016. But nothing stuck like the acne patch did. 

What is your personal skincare routine? 

I keep it simple. Double cleanse with Farmacy’s Green Clean cleanser and Tatcha rice powder cleanser. Then I use May Love’s Vitamin C serum and Liah Yoo’s Krave moisturizer. Last but not least is Beauty of Joseon sunscreen. I now totally understand why it went viral. I love Sulwhasoo products as well. Great Korean ingredients that aren’t fully understood in the West.

 

How did you get the idea to start on Amazon? 

I saw people searching for and buying CosRX acne patches on Amazon, so I knew the demand was there. It was a practical decision for bootstrapping a startup that ensured speed to market. 

What did your original business plan look like?

I had no business plan. Having built this business, I don’t think you always need one. 

What were some important lessons you learned in your previous jobs that helped you succeed with Hero?

Put the consumer at the center of everything. Understand their needs and desires. Brand building is creating an emotional connection. Especially when it comes to something like acne. 

Were there any naysayers who thought your idea was crazy?

When I told people my goal was to be a $100 million business, they laughed. Fundraising was difficult and people wondered if K-beauty was a fad. Most people definitely didn’t have confidence that it would be successful. 

I tried to launch by myself but got cold feet and shelved the business for a couple years. I launched only after I had two co-founders who could cover the areas I wasn’t strong in. One was a creative person who led design, and the other was a technical engineer. We had worked together when I was a client of their digital services agency and we became friends. 

What was the best advice you got in your early days of Mighty Patch?

We were looking to expand to different categories after some initial success with Mighty Patch, but a woman investor advised us to stick to patches. She told us to focus on one category and dominate it. She was right. 

How did you come up with the branding?

There was an emotional aspect to it that we liked. Trustworthy. Fun. Modern. It empowered the customer who was dealing with their acne. My co-founder designed the first box, and we loved how it popped on the shelf. 

Who was your first hire?

Our first hire was an intern in New York who helped us stuff boxes. She became our social media, marketing, and brand manager. She is the one person who has touched every aspect of our business.  

What have you learned about managing employees?

HR was definitely a weak point for us. Managing people is so difficult, but it’s been rewarding to see people grow and flourish. Young people naturally want to get promoted, and my advice to them is to do the job you want to go for. 

Are you normally a very disciplined person? 

Yes. I’m the oldest child, and always followed the rules and got good grades. I also knew how to break the rules.

What challenges did you face early on?

Shipments would get stuck because of FDA reviews. The regulatory piece was tricky.

What book or books have significantly influenced you?

“Breakthrough Branding” taught me that the product has to be amazing. A lot of direct-to-consumer brands don’t care about the product. We knew that the user experience had to be very positive. 

 

What mistake taught you the biggest lesson?

I can’t think of any big mistakes we made. We got very lucky many times. We launched on Amazon and had no idea that everyone would soon be stuck at home shopping. We priced our product at $9.99, but at the time, you could only qualify for Prime Free Shipping at $12.99, so we increased the price. The higher price allowed us to have a much healthier margin, which was essential to our growth in the long run. 

What is one thing about you that helped you succeed?

I like to spot the white space. I’m an intuitive student of psychology, and my experience at Mondelez helped a lot. I discovered that I’m also a good salesperson. I knew how to pitch our brand in a compelling way and I love the kill. I still remember writing that first cold email pitch.

If you could start a new business today, what industry would you choose and why?

It would be beauty. 

Looking back, what’s one thing you would tell your 25-year-old self?

Life is a marathon, so don’t compare yourself to others. You’ll see people becoming very successful early on, some becoming young CEOs in their 20s. You’ll feel pressure, but remember that life is unpredictable.