These days are packed with running the kids to school, to soccer practice, to doctors appointments all while juggling the chaos of work. Rest comes few and far between. Sometimes, it’s just driving in the car alone. Maybe a few minutes before bed before rushing to sleep with the mind already on the to-do’s for the next day. Peeq Industries has a goal to create an intervention that creates relaxation and delight for those five minutes so you go to bed with a restful and peaceful attitude with their line of skincare products.
Peeq is a cosmetics and beauty company specifically targeted at cleansers and skincare. The company was co-founded by Dr. Cheryl Chapman and Dr. Christopher Wolfe, two optometrists in the Omaha Metro area who saw a trend in their patients, specifically women, who were coming in with chronic dry eyes or blepharitis. With experts, they created a cleanser that has been specifically developed to be used in and around the eye area to aid in preventative care for the eyes.
“We use less preservatives and additional anti-inflammatory botanicals that also make it smell much better than our competitors so that people adopt the behavior because it is pleasant.” said Dr. Wolfe.
They were particularly thoughtful about how to clean eyelids as the areas around the eyes have a lot of crevices so they took their product line a step further. A cleanser that works to lift the debris out of the skin, and then a handheld device that can help to absorb the debris. They worked with partners to produce a device that has a slow speed vibration that allows for the cleaning of eyelids much more effectively than what is on the market at a price point that is accessible to most consumers.
“This device is particularly important because eyelids and eyes are often difficult for current cleansers and products because most of them specifically say don’t put this near your eyes. Things like the Foreo or Clarisonic products have either too much vibration or aren’t built for your eyes,” said Thomas Chapman, CEO of Peeq.
To prepare for going to market, they spent a lot of time listening to their target customers. Women who are between 35-50 years old are starting to recognize that their skin around their eyes and other areas are sensitive and showing some preliminary signs of aging and are looking for new ways to take care of those parts of their body. Peeq noticed that these women shared a similar experience, a whirlwind of five minutes before bed that included brushing their teeth, washing their face and putting their pajamas on and going to bed. It was seen as a rush to put kids down, finish up work and jump straight into bed to fall asleep. While companies like 8sleep or the use of melatonin are targeting sleep, Peeq is targeting the preparation before it’s time to hit the sack.
“We are trying to create an intervention that creates relaxation and delight for those five minutes so you go to bed with a restful and peaceful attitude. Our intention is that the experience with Peeq should provide that level of delight that helps to break the cycle of stress that women have in their lives,” said Thomas Chapman.
The two distribution channels that they are focusing on first are optometrists and dance teams. These markets are large with the beauty and cosmetics world coming in at over 100 billion dollars worldwide. In the cleanser space, there are vast competitions from big companies. Peeq believes we have the opportunity to forge new relationships that open different aspects of the market in a unique way.
Folks from Invest Nebraska and the Nebraska Angels were extremely helpful to Peeq, in particular being able to interact with Ben Williamson at Invest Nebraska for a year before they raised money and periodically since, has provided a variety of really insightful advice and connections. Stephanie Luebbe, has been helpful in organizing the angel investment feedback from angels without being overwhelmed by so many voices.
Moving forward, they will be working with contractors like Groover Labs, Bion Research, Archrival, and Heidi Mausbach and Katie Kemerling to ensure professional help from people who are superstars in their fields in a way that most startups struggle to keep these kinds of people on their team full time.
The management team is not very deep right not, but the goal over the next few years is to find two strong female leaders interested in beauty and cosmetics who can help us scale and grow, not just because they are interested and like the products but because this is the kind of company that women’s voices should be at the forefront.
“Our staff is mainly young women which is vital to our marketing and sales efforts. The collaboration of fresh ideas and hard work motivates our team to create an exciting user experience,” said Maria Corpuz, Chief of Staff.
To purchase Peeq Products, head to getpeeq.com to view their line and see what Holiday Box they have curated just for you! To follow on socials, search @getpeeq.
What types of companies are your customers? How big is the market?
Our two distribution channels to start are optometrists and dance teams. The market is very large. Beauty and cosmetics is an over 100 billion dollar market worldwide. In the cleanser space, there are vast competitions from big companies. We believe we have the opportunity to forge new relationships that open different aspects of the market to us in a unique way.
Why is the Midwest/Nebraska an important place to start?
One of the disadvantages to living in Nebraska is that there is not a deep pool of early adopters for consumer products. But one of the advantages for a company like Peeq is because fast followers are unlikely to emerge in your backyard, you have ample time to test the market, your products and how they fit. Nebraska and our partners have been incredibly insightful and thoughtful of ways we can enter and grow fast while giving us the time to incubate an idea that was not fully formed at the company’s point of inception.
What is Peeq? What is the business thesis?
Peeq is a cosmetics and beauty company specifically targeted at cleansers and skincare. We are particularly thoughtful about how to clean eyelids and the areas around the eyes because those areas do not always receive the same attention that other parts of the face and body do.
The basic business thesis is building a cleanser for the eyelids and face is hard and in particular the areas around the eyes have a lot of crevices. The areas around the eyelashes and eyebrows don’t always get clean with just soap and water. So you need not just a cleanser but a device that can help debride so we built a handheld device that has a slow speed vibration that allows for the cleaning of eyelids much more effectively than what is on the market at a price point that is accessible to most consumers.
What is the problem that you are solving?
Eyelids are gross.
How will you make the world a little brighter?
We spent a lot of time listening to our target customers who are women who are between 35-50 and starting to recognize that the skin around their eyes and other areas are sensitive and showing some preliminary signs of aging and looking for new ways to take care of those parts of their body. Particularly important bc eyelids and eyes often are difficult for current cleansers and products because most of them specifically say don’t put this near your eyes. Things like the Aphorio or Clarisonic have either too much vibration or aren’t built for your eyes. When we did the market research, what we discovered, our target customers were all describing a similar experience. We are trying intervene and break that and create a delightful experience. That experience is the five minutes before bed include brushing your teeth, washing your face and putting your pajamas on and going to bed. It was seen as a rush to put kids down and to finish work and jump straight into bed and fall asleep. So we are trying to create an intervention that creates relaxation and delight for those five minutes so you go to bed with a restful and peaceful attitude. Hopefully, that will affect happiness and a variety of other things beyond just hey my eyelids are cleaner.
How do you solve this problem better than any other company?
1 – if you look at the five minutes before bed, our intent is to solve the restful, peacefulness problem. There are companies like 8sleep or the use of melatonin that are interventions, but I think those are intended to talk about sleep. We’re targeting the preparation for sleep. How do we break the cycle of stressed in life and give a woman a moment to catch her breath and relax and find peace. Our intention is that the experience with Peeq should provide that level of delight that helps to breaks the cycle of stress that women have in their lives.
2 – We have a device that is intended to be used around the eyes that also cleans the face. We have a cleanser that has been specifically developed by experts to be used around your eyes. We’ve built something that is technically superior to other products on the market.
What are resources that have been helpful to you?
Invest Nebraska and the Nebraska Angels were extremely helpful to us, in particular being able to interact with Ben Williamson at Invest Nebraska for a year before we raised money and periodically since, has provided us a variety of really insightful advice and connections. Stephanie Luebbe, has been helpful in organizing the angel investment and helping us understand a variety of different pieces of feedback from angels without being overwhelmed by so many voices.
I’m excited to work with our new contractors including Groover Labs, Bion research, archrival, Heidi Mosback and Katie Kemerling because we are able to get such professional help from people who are superstars in their fields in a way that most startups struggle to keep put those people on their team full time. The balance of expertise without full time cost is beneficial for our team and I look forward to working and learning from them over the course of next year.
What could the community do for you to help you succeed?
Buy Peeq products, sign up for holiday boxes and follow us on social media.
Tell us about your management team. What is your organizational structure? What are some of the ways that you compliment each other?
Our mgmt team is not very deep right now, our goal over the course of the next year or two is to find two strong female leaders interested in beauty and cosmetics who can help us scale and grow, not just because they are interested and like the products but because this is the kind of company that women voices should show forward. From my perspective, I’m good at getting early customers, this is a company that needs to be run for women and that requires women in leadership. In the short term, We want to get our trains to run on time in the short term, but in the long term, we will have a good and deep team but we will be dominated by strong capable women.
