When Nic Taylor started 47 Skin, there was no grand masterplan.
It began with a problem. His own skin.
What followed wasn’t a polished brand launch and a slick go-to-market strategy ready to roll-out. It was something much more familiar to most founders: a reactive, scrappy process of trying to prove something worked, first to himself, then to everyone else.
We spoke to Nic Taylor, Founder and CEO of best-selling beauty brand 47 skin about what he’s learnt from growing his business since 2018.
In those early days, Nic says, the focus was simple.
Does the product work?
Will anyone buy it?
Can this actually become something?
Everything revolved around validation.
Validating the product, validating customer demand, and figuring things out as they went along.
The shift from proving to building
Fast forward to today, and the business looks very different.
47 Skin now operates with a leadership team, defined strategy, international ambitions and established retail partnerships. But the biggest shift isn’t structural, it’s mental.
The question has changed from does this work? to how do we build something durable?
That shift is one many founders underestimate.
Early-stage businesses reward speed. Decisions are instinctive. Progress is scrappy. But as the business grows, velocity alone stops being enough. What matters more is the quality of decisions and the long-term value they create.
As Nic puts it, it’s no longer just a product. It’s an organisation. And the job changes with that.
A smarter (and tougher) market
The skincare and beauty industry has evolved alongside the business.
What once leaned heavily on branding and influencer momentum is becoming more sophisticated. Customers are more informed, more sceptical, and less willing to buy into hype.
Nic sees three clear shifts:
- Science over storytelling
Brands with real differentiation, genuine formulation or protected intellectual property are pulling ahead. The bar for credibility is rising.
- Retention over acquisition
With paid media costs climbing, growth increasingly depends on loyalty, community and lifetime value rather than constant new customer acquisition.
- Global thinking earlier
Digital-first brands are expected to think internationally far sooner. Expansion is no longer a late-stage decision. It’s baked in from the start.
For founders, this signals a broader theme:
Markets are maturing faster. And so expectations of businesses are rising with them.
It’s Not Just What You Build, It’s What You Protect
That growing emphasis on differentiation and credibility isn’t just a branding challenge, it has practical implications for how founders protect what they’re building.
As Will Bowyer, IP lawyer at Lawrence Stephens, puts it:
“From an IP perspective, this point about long-term brand credibility closely reflects how rights are actually created and enforced in practice. In many cases, protection is effectively first come, first served, particularly with registered rights such as trade marks and designs. Businesses that take early, deliberate steps to protect what makes them distinctive are in a much stronger position than those that wait.
Enforcement is also about evidence. Being able to demonstrate the steps taken to protect your IP, including filings, ownership arrangements, consistent use and contractual safeguards, is often critical when asserting rights later on.
Investors tend to focus on the low-hanging fruit here. Basic trade mark protection, alongside robust contracts such as supply and development agreements, can go a long way in protecting both the product and the brand. These are straightforward steps, but they have a real impact on enforceability and value.”
It’s a practical reflection of Nic’s point: as the business matures, it’s not enough to have something that works. You need to be able to prove it’s yours and protect it.
What you don’t compromise on
As the business has grown, one thing has remained constant: product integrity.
47 Skin was built around a patented, clinically tested ingredient, Silver Chitoderm®. That foundation creates both differentiation and responsibility. In a category like acne and skin confidence, trust isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s everything.
There are always opportunities to chase short-term wins.
New trends. Faster margins. Wider appeal.
But, as Nic highlights, diluting what makes the brand distinct is rarely worth it. Long-term credibility matters more than short-term spikes.
It’s a useful reminder in any sector:
the more personal the product is to solving the user’s problem, the more valuable trust becomes.
The reality behind growth
From the outside, business growth often looks linear.
Revenue charts go up and to the right. New markets open. The team expands.
Internally, the reality is less smooth.
The hardest challenges are rarely product or marketing. They’re people and decision-making. As a founder, the role evolves constantly, from being hands-on and reactive, to becoming the person responsible for clarity, direction and difficult calls.
Growth, in practice, is a series of uncomfortable decisions.
And resilience comes less from confidence, and more from continuing to make those decisions when outcomes are uncertain.
Defining success properly
For Nic, success isn’t just tied to revenue or scale.
It’s something more long-term.
If in ten years the business is still solving a real problem, still innovating and still trusted by customers, that’s what matters.
It’s a mindset shared by many founders who build enduring brands. Growth is important, but only when it’s built on genuine value creation.
Or put more simply:
the goal isn’t just to grow, it’s to last.
What founders can take from this
There are a few clear lessons in 47 Skin’s journey:
- Early-stage businesses are about validation, but long-term businesses are about durability
- Markets are getting smarter, so your product, proposition and how you protect these differentiators need to be stronger
- Growth shifts from acquisition to retention and trust
- The biggest challenges are rarely technical, they’re people, judgement and decision-making
- Short-term wins are tempting, but brand integrity compounds over time
If you’d like to see how you can protect your brand to grow your business, do get in touch.
