Greg Renfrew is the founder and CEO of Beauty Counter (now Counter), who built a clean beauty empire to nearly $400 million in annual sales before losing control to private equity, then buying it back from foreclosure. Guy Raz interviews Greg about her journey from selling Xerox copiers to creating one of the fastest-growing beauty brands in America.

The conversation covers Greg's early entrepreneurial experiences, including selling her first company (The Wedding List) to Martha Stewart in 2001, and her challenging tenure working directly for Martha Stewart. Greg then details how she identified the opportunity in clean beauty products and built Beauty Counter using an innovative direct sales model with tens of thousands of independent representatives.

The discussion explores the dramatic rise and fall of Beauty Counter, from its billion-dollar valuation and acquisition by Carlisle Group in 2021, to Greg's removal as CEO, the company's subsequent collapse into foreclosure, and her remarkable opportunity to buy back the brand assets in 2024 and relaunch as Counter.

From Xerox Sales to Wedding Registry Innovation

Greg started her career selling Xerox copiers in Manhattan's jewelry district after graduating college with just $5,000 from her mother, who told her 'You're on your own.'

The Wedding List concept emerged from Greg's frustration with traditional wedding registries: 'people are standing with the scanner gun in the middle of Bloomingdales' - she wanted to create a more personalized, consultative experience.

Greg raised capital during the dot-com boom and partnered with Nordstrom, who invested $1 million after Greg pitched them on capturing younger customers during their wedding years.

The company reached $4.5 million in revenue with 40 employees before the dot-com crash forced a premature sale to Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia in 2001.

Working for Martha Stewart: Lessons in Excellence and Leadership

Greg worked directly for Martha Stewart for one year, describing her as 'exceptional' and 'truly one of the most creative people that I've ever met' but also 'incredibly demanding.'

The work culture was harsh by today's standards: 'getting yelled at by your boss was just par for the course and it happened constantly' - Greg learned attention to detail matters but didn't want to lead through fear.

Greg created friction by challenging Martha directly: 'when she would say something like, who chose that ugly shade of blue on that plate yesterday? I would say, you did at the two o'clock meeting.'

Discovering the Clean Beauty Opportunity

Greg's interest in safer products began after watching friends diagnosed with cancer and her nanny dying at 31: 'I had become really obsessed with toxic chemicals.'

While consulting for Jessica Alba on a children's clothing line, Greg shifted the conversation toward safer baby products, helping inform what became The Honest Company.

Greg identified a gap in beauty: 'there was no such thing as Clean Beauty' - existing natural brands 'didn't really work very well, or they didn't smell very good, or they weren't presented in a way that was aesthetically pleasing.'

Creating clean beauty products was like asking for 'the most decadent chocolate cake, except you can't use flour, eggs, or sugar, and I want it done in six months' - Greg.

Building Beauty Counter's Direct Sales Empire

Greg initially rejected direct sales but realized it could build a movement: 'if you want to build a movement, you need people behind the movement.'

The company launched in 2013 with 200-300 representatives recruited through a roadshow across America, eventually growing to 60,000 brand ambassadors.

Greg's model differed from traditional MLM by flagging orders over $1,000 and shipping directly from warehouses to control brand experience and prevent garage sales.

The direct sales network provided cost-effective customer acquisition and brand amplification: 'if I wanted to stand up a campaign, I could send them the asset and all of a sudden, 8 million people will have seen that overnight.'

Beauty Counter scaled to 'hundreds of millions of dollars of sales in eight years' and reached nearly $400 million in revenue by 2020.

Private Equity Partnership and Sudden Downfall

Carlisle Group acquired a majority stake for approximately $600 million in May 2021, valuing Beauty Counter at around $1 billion.

The business stumbled that summer as people redirected spending to travel and fashion after pandemic restrictions lifted, causing concern at Carlisle.

Greg was removed as CEO in October 2021, just five months after the acquisition: 'they decided to remove me as CEO' and 'they were commencing a search for a CEO and that I was not the right person to lead the company.'

The new CEO, Mark Array from Shiseido, 'didn't really want to leverage my institutional knowledge' and 'didn't really value my opinion,' creating tension until Greg left in mid-2022.

Foreclosure and Remarkable Buyback

Greg returned as CEO in February 2024 to help turn around the struggling business, but Carlisle stopped funding six weeks later in mid-March.

Beauty Counter went into foreclosure, unable to find a viable buyer despite the search efforts.

Bank of America approached Greg's lawyers offering to sell her the brand assets: 'we believe in this woman and the movement she created. And if she'd like her brand back, we'd like to sell it to her.'

Greg had 48 hours to decide and raise capital, ultimately using family savings and calling former investors: 'I sat with my husband and my kids and took a whole bunch of our savings and said, okay, let's do this.'

Relaunching as Counter with Lessons Learned

Greg shut down the old company and relaunched as 'Counter' in 2024, recognizing 'what was really innovative and exciting about Beauty Counter when launched it in March of 13 was not, it was a totally different world.'

The new model eliminates team building - brand partners 'cannot build teams' and 'are paid exclusively on commission on their own sales' through platforms like ShopMy, TikTok, and Instagram.

Greg aims to establish industry standards: 'clean means nothing today' but 'to me, it means everything' - she wants to 'fight to create a new standard that everyone can understand.'