beauty brand building strategy (True Beauty Ventures)
Why the future of beauty brands will be built on patience, pragmatism, and smart capital
The beauty industry is moving faster than ever. Trends rise and fall in days. Products go viral overnight. Brands are built in public, under constant pressure to scale, launch, and perform—often before their foundations are fully formed.
So the real question isn’t how to grow fast. It’s how to build something that lasts.
For the first episode of Visionary Minds in 2026, I sat down with Rich Gersten and Cristina Nuñez, co-founders of True Beauty Ventures, one of the most respected investment firms exclusively focused on beauty and wellness. What followed was not a conversation about hype or shortcuts—but about endurance, discipline, and the human realities of building brands in a market that rarely slows down.
Why this conversation matters now
2025 was an incredibly eventful year for the beauty industry.
Major acquisitions, shifting consumer behavior, the rise—and volatility—of celebrity brands, and an increasing gap between brands built for momentum and those built for longevity.
As we enter 2026, one thing is becoming clear: the rules of brand-building are changing.
In this episode, we explore what’s really happening beneath the surface:
- Why virality is often a trap, not a strategy
- Why less capital can sometimes build stronger brands
- Why patience and discipline are becoming true competitive advantages
- And how the way beauty is funded quietly shapes what survives—and what doesn’t
This is not theory. It’s grounded in real decisions, real brands, and real outcomes.
Recognized for reshaping beauty investing
In 2025, True Beauty Ventures was named Investor of the Year by BeautyMatter—a recognition that reflects not just financial performance, but the impact of their approach on the beauty ecosystem.
Over the past five years, Rich Gersten and Cristina Nuñez have built a reputation for doing things differently: backing founders early, showing up beyond capital, and prioritizing long-term brand health over short-term wins. The award underscores what many founders already know—True Beauty Ventures isn’t just investing in brands, but in people, discipline, and durability.
As Cristina shared when reflecting on the milestone, this recognition belongs as much to the founders, partners, mentors, and team behind the firm as it does to the strategy itself. In an industry driven by speed, thoughtful, human-first investing still stands out
Inside True Beauty Ventures’ approach to brand-building
True Beauty Ventures operates differently from traditional venture capital firms. Their philosophy is built on a few core principles:
- Right-sized capital, invested at the moment it’s actually needed
- Deep founder partnership, not passive ownership
- Sector specialization that allows them to spot patterns generalists miss
- A belief that brand comes before scale, always
In the episode, Rich and Cristina explain how years spent across private equity, investing, and operating in beauty shaped a model focused on clarity, focus, and long-term value creation. They also speak candidly about the realities founders don’t put in pitch decks: pressure, burnout, difficult trade-offs, and the emotional weight of leadership.
Empathy, they argue, is not a “soft skill.” It’s a strategic one.
Virality, celebrity brands, and what actually builds value
One of the central tensions explored in the conversation is the difference between attention and durability.
The beauty industry has become obsessed with speed:
- viral launches
- social-first growth
- celebrity-driven brands
But as this episode makes clear, products can go viral—brands rarely do.Rich and Cristina unpack:
- Why some celebrity brands become real companies while others peak as moments
- What strategic acquirers actually look for beyond buzz and revenue spikes
- Why profitability, repeat purchase, and brand clarity matter more than attention
- And how many brands collapse under growth they weren’t ready to sustain
This perspective offers rare clarity for founders navigating a market where visibility often outpaces reading
A long-term vision for beauty in 2026 and beyond
Looking ahead, the conversation also explores where beauty is going next:
- The growing convergence of beauty, wellness, and longevity
- How consumer expectations are evolving faster than most organizations
- Why pragmatism will outperform growth-at-all-costs in the years ahead
- And what founders need to focus on if they want to build brands that still matter in ten years
This isn’t about predicting trends.
It’s about understanding what doesn’t change, even when everything else does.
Why you should listen
If you are:
- Building a beauty or wellness brand
- Leading a luxury or consumer business
- Investing in brands—or advising those who do
- Or trying to understand where the beauty industry is really heading
This episode offers rare, grounded insight into what it takes to build brands with soul—brands designed not just to perform, but to endure.
🎙 Visionary Minds — Investing in the Soul of Beauty
with Rich Gersten & Cristina Nuñez, True Beauty Ventures
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