Founders and Founders Ep 3 - LYMA

Lucy Goff, founder of Lemur, shares her journey from a personal health crisis to disrupting the premium supplements market with innovative health tech.

Key Takeaways

Personal health challenges can inspire impactful business ideas in health tech.
Innovative supplements require clinical validation and overcoming manufacturing hurdles.
Regulatory environments significantly affect health tech commercialization.
Building a dedicated team and securing funding are critical for startup growth.
Addressing underserved health needs can create strong market differentiation.

What the video covers

Lucy Goff founded Lemur after a severe personal health crisis involving septicaemia and intensive care.
Lemur combines premium supplements with cutting-edge cold near-infrared laser technology.
Lucy transitioned from a PR career in beauty brands to health tech entrepreneurship.
The supplements are formulated to address stress, sleep issues, and recovery where traditional medicine fell short.
Lemur’s ingredients are clinically validated, bioavailable, and not commonly available in retail.
The brand targets underserved wellness needs, including perimenopause and chronic stress.
Lucy discusses challenges in funding, regulation differences between the UK and US, and commercializing innovation.
The US is Lemur’s biggest market, benefiting from a more supportive regulatory environment.
Lucy had to re-mortgage her house and build a small dedicated team to grow the business.
The journey highlights the importance of belief, resilience, and innovation in health tech entrepreneurship.

Chapters

What inspired Lucy Goff to start Lemur?

Lucy Goff was inspired to start Lemur after experiencing septicaemia and spending six weeks in intensive care, during which traditional medicine could not help her recovery. She found a unique supplement formulation that helped her regain health, leading to the creation of Lemur.

How does Lemur differentiate itself in the supplements market?

Lemur differentiates itself by using clinically validated, bioavailable, and stable ingredients that are not commonly available to consumers, combined with innovative cold near-infrared laser technology to enhance wellness.

What challenges did Lucy face in commercializing Lemur?

Lucy faced challenges including the high cost and complexity of sourcing premium ingredients, regulatory hurdles in the UK compared to the US, securing funding, and building a dedicated team to grow the business.

Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

Speaker A

Hello and welcome to Founders and Funders from Wealth Club, the podcast where we meet the entrepreneurs building businesses and the investors helping them turn those dreams into reality. I'm Susanna Street, and today I am very pleased to be welcoming Lucy Goff, the founder and CEO of Lemur, into the podcast studio. Lemur is a health tech brand really disrupting the premium supplements market and also bringing the latest cutting-edge laser technology into the industry through the cold near-infrared laser. I was in intensive care for six weeks while they were, you know, they were battling to save my life. It is such a story that you've gone through. Yeah. It started from a place of I needed the power to change, and the medical profession couldn't help me.

Speaker A

podcast studio. Lemur is a health tech brand really disrupting the premium supplements market and also bringing the latest cutting edge laser technology into the industry through uh the cold near infrared laser and I was in uh intensive care for 6 weeks while they were you know they were

Speaker A

Lucy, welcome to Founders and Funders. It's great to have you with us.

Speaker B

Lucy, welcome to Founders and Funders. It's great to have you with us.

Speaker C

Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here. So let's first start talking about how this all began.

Speaker C

Because what's really interesting about your story is that Lemur came from a really personal experience, didn't it? Before it was really a business idea.

Speaker C

Because what's really interesting about your story is that Lemur came from a really personal experience, didn't it? Before it was really a business idea.

Speaker D

Yeah, I guess I never really set out to launch a business. I was working in PR. I was doing the PR for Selfridges. So um spent years in the beauty hall helping to launch really big beauty brands. Um

Speaker D

Tell me, what were you doing before Lemur? And how did you set off on this wellness innovation journey?

Speaker D

ended up getting septasemia and I was in uh, intensive care for 6 weeks while they were, you know, they were battling to save my life and my body was just completely finished at the end of it. And I was in Geneva at one of

Speaker D

Yeah, I guess I never really set out to launch a business. I was working in PR. I was doing the PR for Selfridges. So, um, spent years in the beauty hall helping to launch really big beauty brands. Um,

Speaker D

got speaking to one of the world's biggest longevity professors who was there speaking at a conference. So, he didn't even work in the clinic. And he introduced me to the hidden category of supplementation. So like the like the

Speaker D

and it was only when I had my daughter in 2012, um, where I mean everything just went wrong with that birth. Preeclampsia and then, um, all the anesthetic went wrong in the surgery. Um, and I

Speaker D

good diet, um, you know, everything that I could be doing. And nothing was working. And literally 3 weeks after taking these ingredients that Professor Clayton sent to me, I just felt myself again. And that was the idea for starting Lemur. Um it was really that I'd found the solution to

Speaker D

ended up getting septicaemia, and I was in intensive care for six weeks while they were, you know, they were battling to save my life, and my body was just completely finished at the end of it. And I was in Geneva at one of

Speaker D

a lifechanging um something you know really bad that's happened to them they might just be going they might be going through the permenopause or the menopause their kids might have left home it might have thrown Um um and so I

Speaker D

these, uh, clinics, you know, where they're like trying to get my bloods back on track, like, you know, I couldn't even hold my baby. I couldn't even stand up. It was just, it was really, really, uh, a very low time. Um, and I

Speaker D

me. Um, and it's been um, well, it's been a a crazy journey since, but yeah, it started from a place of I needed the power to change and the medical profession couldn't help me. It is such a story that you've gone

Speaker D

got speaking to one of the world's biggest longevity professors who was there speaking at a conference. So, he didn't even work in the clinic. And he introduced me to the hidden category of supplementation. So, like the,

Speaker D

Yeah. I think I think the fact that I couldn't get these ingredients so I couldn't buy these ingredients as a consumer. I couldn't walk into Holland and Barrett or Boots or anywhere and get this level of ingredient. I could get

Speaker D

like the pharmaceutical equivalent of a supplement drug, and after taking, like, you know, I don't know, £500 bottle of turmeric in John Bell and Cudden that didn't do any, you know, like all of these desperate things I was doing and they didn't make me feel any better whatsoever. I was eating a really

Speaker D

be brought to market. Um they'd been um you know, I knew that they were stable.

Speaker D

good diet, um, you know, everything that I could be doing. And nothing was working. And literally three weeks after taking these ingredients that Professor Clayton sent to me, I just felt myself again. And that was the idea for starting Lemur. Um, it was really that I'd found the solution to

Speaker D

health benefit. And I couldn't buy them. And I couldn't buy them because no factory would deal with this set of ingredients because they're so much more expensive to deal with than generic ingredients. So it didn't really make financial sense for them to deal with you for them to like you know when you

Speaker D

yeah, you know, maybe not everybody, uh, was going to be recovering from septicaemia, but there are, you know, so many people just don't feel themselves anymore for whatever reason. They might have had an illness, they might have had

Speaker D

go in the supermarket and they give you a can of corn beef and you say, well, actually, I wanted a steak. Well, why did you want the steak? Well, because I didn't want it to be pro, you know, like you wanted

Speaker D

a life-changing, um, something, you know, really bad that's happened to them. They might just be going, they might be going through the perimenopause or the menopause. Their kids might have left home. It might have thrown, um, um, and so I

Speaker D

or you're stressed, which actually is what the Limma supplement was formulated to combat. So, you know, if you can't sleep or you're stressed, which is what the lemma supplement is really formulated and engineered to combat, then you know, you don't have to hope it's going to work. With lemur, you

Speaker D

just felt myself again, and that was the, that, that was the impetus for starting Lemur. Um, never, never launched a business before, never done a business plan, uh, never done anything. So it was all, it was all a completely new world to

Speaker D

are really underserved. You know, you can take HRT, which is amazing, but it's not the full solution. And maybe, well, it's illegal to be prescribed sleeping tablets in the UK for longer than 2 weeks. So, that's not a viable solution.

Speaker D

me. Um, and it's been, um, well, it's been a crazy journey since, but yeah, it started from a place of I needed the power to change, and the medical profession couldn't help me. It is such a story that you've gone

Speaker D

groggy the next day and they are just going to feel like themselves again. How satisfying is it to see now the brand really taking off around the world with the US your biggest customer and you look at this journey that you've been on

Speaker D

through. At what point did you think I need to really make this available to the world and enable those people who may be suffering as well, um, may be searching for extra help the opportunity to, to take it?

Speaker D

everything um it would kind of uh destabilize me a bit. So I'm just really focused on the business plan and delivering that. It's like you just go into tunnel vision and you are just delivering your business plan every

Speaker D

Yeah. I think, I think the fact that I couldn't get these ingredients, so I couldn't buy these ingredients as a consumer. I couldn't walk into Holland and Barrett or Boots or anywhere and get this level of ingredient. I could get

Speaker D

start off with with the supplements and then you've expanded to laser technology the cold near infrared laser. What was that expansion like? Obviously, you're entering a kind of new product range and already the the supplements are pretty expensive, yet you then bring in this laser, which again, compared to other

Speaker D

like generic turmeric or other forms of, um, vitamins and minerals and, and, and botanicals, but I couldn't get like these patented ingredients that had been peer-reviewed, um, that were, you know, that had gone through all the process that a pharmaceutical drug had gone through to

Speaker D

I think it's interesting because the supplement is £150 a month. Um, but if we were to charge that, if we were to kind of put the same margin that the rest of the industry was making, the rest of the supplement industry was

Speaker D

be brought to market. Um, they'd been, um, you know, I knew that they were stable.

Speaker D

stressed in your midlife or at any point in your life and that your doctor said, "Well, you know, I can give you this patch. You put it on your skin and it will really help with your with with your sleep." Um, and it would, you know,

Speaker D

They had been proven in preclinical and clinical, that had preclinical and clinical validation. I knew that they were, um, they could survive my digestive tract, that they were bioavailable, that they were stable in my body's temperature, that they could actually land at a point in my body and provide a

Speaker D

out of your life that you can cut out if you if you need to. With the laser it's interesting because it's an entirely different technology to the rest of the cosmetic market. The rest of the cosmetic market is all it's doing is

Speaker D

health benefit. And I couldn't buy them. And I couldn't buy them because no factory would deal with this set of ingredients because they're so much more expensive to deal with than generic ingredients. So it didn't really make financial sense for them to deal with you, for them to, like, you know, when you

Speaker D

device has just got to damage you in some way to stimulate, you know, so your body goes into the repair response and you just start producing collagen. But what all of those technologies are doing is they're really just producing scar

Speaker D

go to a supplement factory, you can choose from hundreds of ingredients like the wildest berry, but, you know, it has to be the generic form that they've bought in from China or, or, or somewhere. It's not actually proven. Um, it's like saying, you know, I want to buy a steak and you

Speaker D

Which is why when you fall over you scars might form because it's a very disordered process. But with our technology, it's totally different. It is not a damaging technology and it is using cold near infrared patented cold near infrared laser light to switch your skin back into youth mode to make it act

Speaker D

go in the supermarket and they give you a can of corned beef and you say, well, actually, I wanted a steak. Well, why did you want the steak? Well, because I didn't want it to be pro, you know, like you wanted

Speaker D

old you are. Um, but it's youthful collagen. It's the same collagen that you produce when you were younger. So, it's an entirely different technology.

Speaker D

something that was maybe a better quality. So, I think the fact that I couldn't get it made me realize that there was an absolute need in the market for supplements that were proven to work. So, you know, if you can't sleep

Speaker D

hospital machine that you'd see in the NHS or in in a hospital. And those machines cost about £40,000. And so, you see, for £2,000, we've actually created incredible value. And if you look at the amount of money that

Speaker D

or you're stressed, which actually is what the Lemur supplement was formulated to combat. So, you know, if you can't sleep or you're stressed, which is what the Lemur supplement is really formulated and engineered to combat, then, you know, you don't have to hope it's going to work. With Lemur, you

Speaker D

years. So if you divide £2,000 by 10 years, it works out, you know, pennies a day. So it kind of it depends how you look at these things and how much the visible aging process affects you. Some people it doesn't

Speaker D

know, it's going to work. It's not an instant, it's not an overnight, but within four weeks, you will feel like a different person. I think, you know, especially for perimenopausal and menopausal women who are by far our biggest demographic, our biggest customer demographic, you know, um, they

Speaker D

You know, you can't see how old your heart is. You can't see how old your ligaments are inside your body. You can't see how you could you you don't know what an aging kidney looks like. So, you don't see your the inside of

Speaker D

are really underserved. You know, you can take HRT, which is amazing, but it's not the full solution. And maybe, well, it's illegal to be prescribed sleeping tablets in the UK for longer than two weeks. So, that's not a viable solution.

Speaker D

remember, the Lima laser not only makes your skin younger, it makes the muscle that sits beneath it younger, which is why you get such a good lift on your neck or or your jowls or, you know, your inner arms or or something like that.

Speaker D

Um, and you know, and maybe you don't want to take antidepressants. You're probably not dep, you're probably not depressed. It's more to do with a hormonal fluctuation. So I think, you know, women in midlife are looking for something that has got no side effects. They're not going to feel

Speaker D

you have evidence to show that people are prepared to pay for this. Obviously, the wellness market is exploding. And do you think you're really tapping into that trend that we're seeing? Because um with everything from GPL1 um jabs to supplements to collagen to creatine,

Speaker D

groggy the next day, and they are just going to feel like themselves again. How satisfying is it to see now the brand really taking off around the world with the US your biggest customer, and you look at this journey that you've been on

Speaker E

Well, we are not in the wellness market. I think that that's that's clear. We don't sit in the wellness market. You know the wellness

Speaker F

and I'll dig into how you've gone about getting funding in a moment, but how does it make you feel? It's a funny thing you say that because I try not to think about it. Um, I think if you, if I stopped and thought about the magnitude of

Speaker F

we're health tech really. Um, because you know, the wellness wellness is just the madeup word. Um, you know, wellness is about feeling happy. Um, and yes, the ultimate aim of our technologies is to make you happy. It's to make you feel

Speaker F

everything, um, it would kind of, uh, destabilize me a bit. So I'm just really focused on the business plan and delivering that. It's like you just go into tunnel vision and you are just delivering your business plan every

Speaker F

wouldn't be the price it was. So, we sit in the health tech market. Um, and I think that, you know, we we very much leave the rest of the market to get on with what they're doing, but we have a different positioning. We have a totally

Speaker F

year. Um, I think if you, um, if you look at the magnitude of what you've created, well, I know for myself, uh, it can be, um, I think it would, it would rock me a bit. So let's talk about that business plan. You set off on this journey to

Speaker F

whatever, wherever they are, they can take that technology ology with them because ultimately with the lema laser it's not a new technology. Cold lasers been used in hospitals since the 1960s. Uh you know to uh heal tendons or um for

Speaker F

start off with the supplements and then you've expanded to laser technology th

Speaker F

laser, you can look at you can look at it. It's not going to damage your eyes.

Speaker F

We don't recommend you look at it, but it's not going to, you know, damage your eyes. But ultimately what we're doing is we're about empowering change about empowering the consumer to have professional technologies in the home. You're listening and maybe

Speaker F

watching [music] Founders and Funders from World Club, the podcast that really gets into the heart of the entrepreneurial journey. If you want to find out more about some of the investments we're talking [music] about today, please do sign up at wealthclub.co.uk.

Speaker F

Obviously when you try and get funding you have to make this case then don't you to position yourself in such a way that you're not with the rest of the pack as you say you're more health tech when you

Speaker F

first approached um investors to to back your business. How much of a challenge was it that communication piece to get across really where you were positioned in the market?

Speaker A

Um it was it was very very difficult. Uh it was very difficult I felt as a woman. So I was going out to I mean before I launched Lemur I went out to I don't know it must be 50 um BCTs or

Speaker A

you know like um places I could get investment from uh with what I thought was a really good business plan. So, I had somebody help me on a business plan that um you know, we formatted it into something that was good and everybody

Speaker A

was a man and everybody said no. I don't, you know, they were kind of quite belittling. Oh, I don't think you understand the supplement market.

Speaker A

Nobody's going to pay £150 a month for a supplement. You know, you don't know what you're talking about. Uh you never launched a business before. How do you know what you're doing? um we know the market and we know it

Speaker A

won't work. And so I basically got a load of nos. So I remorggortgaged my house and um I paid for the first uh first production run by myself and um obviously it was a huge risk and it was only after I launched the business and

Speaker A

you know I come from a PR background so I placed PR around the launch and slowly these VCTs were coming back or these PE firms were coming back and say, "Oh, you know, I see you've launched." And, you know, by then we had like famous people

Speaker A

who were using it. You know, we'd kind of built a really big story around it.

Speaker A

Um, we built hype around it. I'd got scientists on board, you know, like everything that was in my plan. There was nothing that I'd done that was outside of the plan, but I had populated it. I'd brought it to life. Um, and you

Speaker A

know, maybe we can sit down now about um, you know, maybe we're interested in investing you. I was thinking, well, I'm not going to go with anyone that said no to me because, you know, if you didn't believe in me

Speaker A

once, there's going to be a bump in the road that every single day is going to be another bump and you're you're going to doubt me again. And, you know, I didn't want to go with somebody that didn't not only believe in me, didn't

Speaker A

even believe in the idea in the first place. So I reached out to um I think there was about it was a mixture of me reaching out and then some people had got back to us that were not in that original round and um we went in the end

Speaker A

with Penrook because I just felt that their portfolio was kind of aligned in a certain way to what we were doing. like there were other companies in their portfolio that um I was thinking maybe we could do a partnership with or you

Speaker A

know like something like that.

Speaker B

And how much input do you get from other founders? Do you talk to other founders along the way about the roadblocks that they've come across and how they've jumped through all of the challenges?

Speaker B

It's interesting because I actually don't um I think um I wish I did more. I probably could do with doing that more. Um, I meet people at events and things like that, but I don't actually have anyone, you know, we should, it's a

Speaker B

really good idea actually. We should start like maybe a mentoring group that we could all kind of feed off each day. Um, but no, I I I don't. Um, do you think there's enough support for entrepreneurs in the UK?

Speaker B

No, absolutely not. No, I think you're very much alone in the UK. I think it's a real shame. I think you're very much alone. uh the government does not support uh entrepreneurs in the same way that they do in other countries. Um and

Speaker B

it's it's a real shame and I think you know it's there's no need for our for 70% of our business now to be in the US u when we're a British business we're we're a UK business and I think the UK is very good for innovation.

Speaker B

So uh it's very good to create innovation uh but it's not good at commercializing that innovation that is helped to bear uh that it's helped to create um and whereas America is very very good. So they are very upto-date with scientific technologies

Speaker B

um they know how to commercialize innovation and I think that that's where Britain really falls short. It's a huge opport look at the amount of companies that have been born in Britain that then go elsewhere because they you you know

Speaker B

we don't have the legislation to support uh innovation and science and um I just you know there are so many different ways that the British government could could could help support businesses and I just don't feel that they do. I think

Speaker B

I don't know I always think with Britain that we've got um you know it's such an incredible country but you know I think the governments have not been particularly stable you know we're how many how many prime ministers have we

Speaker B

had yeah um and I think that they're more firefighting rather than actually nurturing and laying really robust foundations for the next hundred years.

Speaker B

So what kind of regulatory obstacles have you faced? You make the comparison with the states for example when it comes to the technology that you sell.

Speaker B

Why is it so much easier in the states?

Speaker C

Um because they're the FDA is really well set up. So um

Speaker D

the food and drug administration. Yeah. So our devices are FDA cleared and the FDA process that you go through is um is adaptable for whatever science you are bringing in.

Speaker D

Um so you know you you you you um you find a predicate you submit your clinicals you know you provide all the information that you need um to get clearance for that device or if it doesn't pass it you know you don't get

Speaker D

the clearance but in England in in in the United Kingdom you don't have that.

Speaker D

So you've got the, you know, we we broke away from Europe, so Brexit happened, yet we're still working to EU regulation that doesn't even, you know, it it it used to run like the FDA and then, you know, the

Speaker D

powers that be thought, oh, well, you know, we've got better system now, we'll change it. And you know the um the technology that we have for Lima is legal uh to use in a in a um in a hospital. It's used in hospitals all

Speaker D

over the world, but they haven't recognized it for use outside of a clinic. And it's the same technology. Um and it's just so we can't speak about the same we can't speak about how this laser will work in your skin. um in the

Speaker D

same way as we as we can in America. So, how is the consumer going to know how to make an informed choice when we we you know, we're not allowed to say what it does? You know, you can it it's really important that we empower

Speaker D

consumers and we we empower customers with really good information so they can make an informed decision. If all we can say is the same as a you know an LED mask when we've done like a clinical study that's been published in aesthetic

Speaker D

surgery journal looking at gene expression of the lima laser in in in skin to show that we affect 45 genes in human skin and the LED mask only affects one gene in human skin. How do we how do we

Speaker D

how else can you communicate? you know what I mean? Like we've done the science, we've we've done the clinicals, but we're not allowed to to speak about it. And we'd love to work with the government um to help with their you

Speaker D

know, with with you know, on there's a whole host of incredible technologies out there in life science at the moment. Um and you know we've got to be able to speak about it in order to educate

Speaker E

otherwise the risk is that these these new technologies

Speaker F

everyone America was laughing America's laughing because they're going come here they're making it so easy they're targeting us they're helping us you can speak to your FDA agent they will help you through the process there's nothing there there's no there's no fit

Speaker F

legislation even in the UK for technologies like this to be brought to market.

Speaker A

So as a result, which other markets you say obviously the US is your biggest market, where else in the world are you hoping to increase sales?

Speaker B

Our strategy is an FDA first strategy. So you get America first and then that unlocks different territories from there in something called MDSAP, which is the medical um legislation. Um, so you start off uh in America and then then that gets you uh

Speaker B

Canada and then it unlocks uh Japan, South Korea, Australia. So there's a bunch of other countries. So that's our strategy. It's an FDA first strategy.

Speaker B

And as far as Europe is concerned, are you facing similar barriers? Uh Europe's the same. Yeah. I think you know it's Europe needs to go back to the legislation it had which was actually fit for purpose and not what it changed

Speaker B

into that wasn't really thought through in every single way. You know in America for our supplement you can make structure function claims if you are using our patented ingredients um at the exact dosage levels you can make claims against it for sleep for stress for inflammation for um sarcadium

Speaker B

rhythm. There's a whole host of things that you can say and quite rightly so in in the UK and Europe you can't say anything.

Speaker B

Lucy, thank you. We'll hear more about your journey in just a moment. you're listening or maybe watching [music] founders and funders from wealthclub.

Speaker B

And if you want to find out more about any of the investments including open VCTS, [music] please do sign up at wealthclub.co.uk/vcts. [music] So super challenging, but nevertheless, you've managed to grow and increase your sales particularly in the United States. How important was having the right team

Speaker B

around you? Earlier you talked about the fact that you had to reortgage your house. you must have had a tiny team working all hours to to try and make progress. What were you looking for in the team?

Speaker B

I think obviously when you launch a business you're looking well you can get a very different level of person as to whe you know kind of when you're a lot further down the line and you're a bigger company. So I think I I think

Speaker B

actually hiring in those very very early stages is a challenge um because you know you're a team of five people you know something like that and and I think that you know you you will probably have to do the job of many different people

Speaker B

really in those early stages. I think you start the year as one business and you end the year as a completely different business. So the people that started you off that year possibly aren't the people that are going to take

Speaker B

you on. So I think it's quite a volatile few years that you have to go through.

Speaker B

Um which I never really truly um

Speaker C

anticipated. No, I didn't anticipate that. And you know I find hiring very difficult actually. Um you know in an interview everybody's going to say like you know oh yeah I know I can do this I can do that. And then you know it's kind of

Speaker C

well maybe they did it in a big company and they were part of a big team which is a very different kind of skill set as to if you have to be that department of one you know if you have a marketing department of one who what are the

Speaker C

skills that that person really needs to have if you have an operational department of one which is what you really do in the beginning what are the skills that that person needs to have um so I think it's there's a lot of

Speaker C

pressure on founders in the first in in the very in the well there's obviously there's always a pressure on the founder but there's there's pressures in a different way in in the early stages. Obviously it's not as big as it as it's

Speaker C

perhaps going to be. So you know you haven't got the pressures of scaling a um bigger company with lots of shareholders and and and everything that you know the pressures that that goes with. But you've definitely got a

Speaker C

different set of pressures in that how do you scale a company with a team that is uh right for that stage of business.

Speaker D

Yeah, they should actually almost have like you know fractional people who are particularly suited to those early stage you know that those early stages of business. they like a marketeteer that could be a marketeteer of one, you know,

Speaker D

like I guess that's something that um perhaps would be really useful and maybe the uh the funds that you that invest in you could be um maybe if they had that kind of uh you know kind of u support available

Speaker D

support available then that would be

Speaker E

it would be really helpful to have potentially that fractional expertise available uh from the investors. and the funders. But what have you benefited from v via Penrook?

Speaker E

I think you know there are we've had lots of support from Penrook. Uh there have been great partners. Um I think you know there have been lots of challenges that we've hit that have maybe required um an independent view. Um I think in

Speaker E

the early days when there was just kind of me and them on the board um you know they've they were kind of you know taught me how to have successful board meetings, how to formulate the board pack um how to challenge additional

Speaker E

funding. Um because obviously you know uh you know when the company became successful we've had lots of approaches from um people that wanted to invest when you should take it should not there's there's a whole host of things

Speaker E

but I think from the kind of from the financial perspective they've definitely helped a lot. So your background is in PR and marketing and brand building. How big an impact do you think that has that had on Lemur's story?

Speaker E

Oh, it's huge. I think ultimately a company is just the stories that it is telling. You know, the stories are what resonate with your customer. Um, and they should be infused in everything that you do. You know, you can't shout

Speaker E

at your customers. Somebody once said, you know, you can't um, you know, you can't ask somebody to like you. You can't say, "Oh, will you like me?" You've got to make somebody like you. You've got to act in a way that makes

Speaker E

somebody like you. And I think that the brand sits at the heart of every single customer of every single company. Um, you know, we as a brand, we stand for the empower, the power to change. So just as um I needed the power to change

Speaker E

when I after I had my daughter and I had septacmia, you know, I've infused that still today. You know, the laser empowers your skin to change, the supplement empowers your sleep to change. And I think that power is a very

Speaker E

interesting word because ultimately, you know, we are all born with power and I think at different times of our life, it waines in and out. And you know, if you can really um talk to your customer in a way that um doesn't shout at her and you

Speaker E

can make her feel as though she's really seen and really addressed by your brand, then ultimately that's you know that that's that's at the heart of every company. Otherwise, you just become a commodity and you know you as a as a as

Speaker E

a brand you should never be a commodity. I you know then you're just a bag of sugar. Everybody buys Tate and L sugar. Do you know what I mean? Like or whatever it is. You have to be, you know, your brand has to exist

Speaker E

in everything that you do, in every in the way that you are with your colleagues, in the way that you are with your customers, in the way that they feel when they receive your package. Do you know everything has to be thought

Speaker E

through? And you say she because obviously you have that vision of who your customer is, but there are men who are using the laser too.

Speaker E

There are men. So 20% of our customers are men, but interestingly they are still men who are in their 40s and 50s. I think before you know before you hit that um midlife point where you can see yourself visibly aging or you feel

Speaker E

visibly aging you know you tend to buy a cheaper product because you're not really looking for it to work in any way you're more just it's like a tick box you know I'm taking a supplement I'm using a beauty device but no we I think

Speaker E

you know we lemur is not a first purchase so the lemur laser is probably not going to the first beauty device you get. There's an evolution of products that you've that you get. But as you're looking for something to actually work

Speaker E

when you are in your 40s and 50s, then lemur is the the the best solution. So no we get um 50% I mean interestingly men are using it um uh because the technology is um it eliminates pain after m after exercise

Speaker E

and you know if you've got a painful knee or something like you painful joint so they're maybe using it for their skin but also you know maybe they've bought a bike and they're um riding too hard around London

Speaker E

at the weekend. So, they're using it for for for other things as well. It's really interesting though, you talk about that brand building and also it means that you can have marketing through word of mouth and I was actually

Speaker E

first introduced to Lemur in the Arctic Circle. Go. I was hosting a conference and the co-presenter, we went out for drinks. Yes.

Speaker E

With a coat on.

Speaker F

Yes. With a with a big coat on. and the co-presenter after we went out for drinks and she was going through permenopause and she said, "I have to tell you about this supplement. It's been wonderful for me." And so up in ths uh the word was about lemur on one very

Speaker F

cold January night. So it's really interesting that it's Yeah. I mean, obviously not as extreme as the Arctic Circle, but you know, I've been in like um a hairdresser in New York and I can hear that they're speaking about it or, you know, I was once on a plane and I was sat next to

Speaker F

somebody that brought their Lima laser out or you know, it's all of these and actually I didn't say when I was on the plane I didn't say anything. It was a lady sat next to me. Um she would have no no until the air hostess came over

Speaker F

and said, "Oh my goodness, I've seen that. does it work and like is it worth the money? And she was like, "Yeah, no, it really works. I I use it every day." And and then at the end of the flight, I I said, "Oh, you know, I'm the fountain

Speaker F

of Flemma." And, you know, we had like a brief conversation. And it's all of those moments that, you know, when I hear about how we've helped so many people in so many different ways, it just makes it's it makes it all

Speaker F

worthwhile and it makes it make it makes me so proud. Fantastic. Lucy Goff, it's been wonderful to talk to you. Thanks very much for coming on to Founders and Funders.

Speaker A

Oh, no. Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to speak to you. Not in the Arctic Circle. You're listening and maybe watching [music] Founders and Funders from World Club, the podcast that really gets into the heart of the entrepreneurial journey. If you want to

Speaker A

find out more about some of the investments we're talking [music] about today, please do sign up at wealthclub.co.uk. UK.

Topics:LemurLucy Goffhealth techpremium supplementscold near-infrared laserentrepreneurshipwellness innovationsupplement formulationstartup fundingregulatory challenges

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