E11: Paul Michaux of Prose

“The reason why you’re doing this is that you want to learn how to do this. It’s not about doing it right, it’s about how you learn to do it right for the next day or the day after.”

Paul Michaux grew up in Paris with a father who, as he puts it, “was a freelancer before freelancing was cool.” He always knew he wanted to be his own boss, to start his own thing. As a teenager, he was drawn to the beauty industry; while at university, he spent time working in brand management for Procter & Gamble and Dior. Paul left Paris for New York City after graduating and spent a year working in strategic marketing for L’Oréal. That only lasted a year before he and his then boss, Arnaud Plas, decamped to start their own outfit: Prose. Prose was built on Paul and Arnaud's dual passions of tech and beauty. Through tech, they posited, you could bring consumers beauty products better suited for their needs than the one-size-fits-all products dominating the market. That was over half a decade ago. Prose now sees over $100M in revenue each year and sells a full range of custom hair and skincare products. Shane sits down with Paul to discuss using tech to break the beauty industry paradigm, the specific culture shocks of moving from Paris to New York, and the pride of seeing his team grow and give their best.