How did OneUp start?
OneUp started as a friendship, but before I take undue credit, I would say that OneUp started as Athena—bursting out of Zeus's head, but here, that head wouldn't be Zeus's but Arthur McCarthy's.
Can you elaborate?
I met Arthur a couple of years ago through a mutual friend and partner. We collaborated on a brand I was managing, NanoZebra—his company helped with a promotion. I was impressed with Art. He didn't BS and was so honest and straightforward that I knew I wanted to keep getting to know him better. And before you knew it, what was to become OneUp came out of a series of crazy conversations.
Arthur already did a lot of the heavy lifting. He worked with multiple skincare brands and saw a missing piece. He wanted something that simplified things that anybody could use every day. And, wild enough, he had a list of ingredients he had researched.
I had never done skincare before, but his passion and conviction were so contagious that before long, I believed we were starting something amazing. I feel we ended up creating the best skincare in the world, and we didn't do it alone.
What happened next?
It's like the cartoon from the 80s, GI Joe: " Now you know. And knowing is half the battle," but for real, there was so much we had to learn quickly, and not to pat us on the back, we did. It took us almost two years of bootstrapping, testing, learning, and creating a founding team to help us launch. Almost right away, Maximus Lerner, Arthur's friend, hopped on as our Creative Director, Mutahar (Some Ordinary Gamer), was there in the beginning, ready to shake up the skincare world. Nir Sharon jumped in as our manufacturer and joined the team as our Product Director and literally created the exact formula we were looking for; my partner Leo buckled up on this crazy ride as our CFO, and then Kristina and Caleb joined the team and finalized the founding group. That's when the real work began, so much planning, testing, and prepping this out before we were ready to release it. So much thoughtfulness went into this; we all went down a rabbit trail to get this ready. Then, this early spring, we went into a soft launch, and it was like, yes, people like our product, and we created something real, something meaningful, and it wasn't a cash grab or nonsense.
How do you launch a brand like OneUp?
I wouldn't recommend it. Lol. So many ups and downs that it stretched the entire founding team; we all pitched in and pushed this through. We poured our hearts into this for just one product and trusted we could create something for ourselves that we would use and others would love. As we got closer to launch, we pulled in an awesome support team: Janani, Kim, Ryan, and Charlene, who have been amazing here. We hoped for the best and went live. I had no idea what would happen because it was the weirdest launch I had ever participated in. Then boom, Art, Muta, Kris, and Caleb put the word out there, and people found our product. I was blown away. You see, what capital we had, we put almost all of it into production, creating our all-in-one skincare. It was like marketing, and everything else wasn't a priority; the priority was the product and those who would use it.
What is next?
We are still in the process of launching. People have yet to understand that. We spent two years on this product to make sure it was the best it could be, and once it was ready, we just went live. There is still so much we want to do to get our product out there—get it live on Amazon, bring it to Canada and the UK, and just put it out there for people to discover. It is really a stand-alone product. As far as skincare goes, we are really happy; it is all you need, in my opinion. A pump in the morning or evening, and you're good to go. As a team, we are brainstorming some ideas, but for now, we want more people to try this out and realize that skincare doesn't have to be complicated; we made something to make all faces feel good. For now, I think we've accomplished a lot.
