Interview with Milo, Founder of Rollr

Milo is the CEO of Rollr, who spent some time with us in discussing his journey. 

Tell us about your company, and what makes you different.

Rollr is a refillable roll-on deodorant designed to be the Tesla of deodorant. We’re here to make a product that we all use every day more exciting than chemicals, plastic, and boringly functional so that people enjoy and care about how they start each day.

What’s the most unconventional decision you’ve made for your company, and how did it impact your business?

In hindsight, would you make the same decision again? Why or why not?

Doing something that nobody else has done before in terms of creating a powder-to-liquid refill. It has allowed us to carve out our own space, shows that we have impactful goals at the heart of our mission, and has allowed us to get two patents pending with one about to be secured. It has also been unbelievably complicated—which is why nobody has done it before—and we are on our 4th chemist and 3rd manufacturer due to the technical difficulties. We have now cracked it, but time will tell if it was the right decision or not.

Whilst many people say get to market as soon as possible, as we’re trying to expand a market dominated by Goliaths for decades, I think we made the right choice in waiting until we have something that is market-leading in efficacy, sustainability, and accessibility because we can be really proud of it.

If you could go back to the moment you started your company, what advice would you give yourself?

DON'T DO IT!

What do you wish you had known earlier in your entrepreneurial journey?

Have a co-founder. They’re the only person who will truly understand what you’re going through.

Can you share a moment when everything seemed to go wrong and how you found a way to turn it around?

As we were about to place a 5k order with our bottle manufacturer, they proved shady when pushed on details for third-party quality control. We decided not to move forward with them due to issues around transparency.

It was painful and pushed back our launch probably 9 months at least, however, we will now launch with a new manufacturer who makes our bottles to higher quality for a lower price.

What did that experience teach you about resilience and leadership?

Push to get answers to the difficult questions from the start. Have backup plans ready.

How do you balance innovation with practicality when it comes to product development?

We’ve always been clear about our goal—creating refills that require less packaging than any other deo in the world. That means being practical has been put on the back burner, and it's been painful because we could have done a bodge job like a lot of our launched competitors have done to get to market quicker, but hopefully, the innovation of our creation will be worth it in the end.

Have you ever had to abandon an idea you were passionate about because it wasn’t feasible?

I’ve been close to abandoning this one many times, but never really considered giving it up due to people telling me it isn’t feasible. If someone says it isn’t feasible, it isn’t feasible within their knowledge. There’s almost always a workaround; you just have to want to find it hard enough.

What has been your most surprising discovery about your target market or industry since you started?

A lot of them have tried our competitors but think they’re sh*te.

How did that insight change your business strategy or approach?

Remain determined to launch with a product people will try once and keep forever.

How do you maintain your passion and energy in the face of inevitable setbacks and challenges?

I’m lucky enough to have a family, friends, and a partner who support me. Without them, I couldn’t have done it. I also meditate often and take a stack of nootropics and natural remedies to stay calm and focused.

What personal practices or routines help you stay grounded and focused?

See above.

What’s a belief or assumption you had at the start that has completely changed over time?

That you should inherently trust people’s word, even if they’re recommended.

How did that shift in perspective influence your company’s direction?

It’s only sealed when it’s in the bank. Don’t bank on it before then. Everyone has their own mission and nobody cares about your project as much as you do.

What’s a decision or strategy you initially doubted but later turned out to be pivotal to your success?

We shall see… but I know that having a great team, including people who are more experienced than you, really helps.

What was the process of committing to that decision like?

I read a book that says the more you consider the options, the less likely you are to feel confident in your decision. That’s not always true but is often the case.

But, I think there are often no ‘right decisions,’ just a decision that you decide on and back to make it the right one.

How do you define success for your company beyond financial metrics?

Hearing people's feedback. That’s one thing that has helped keep me going—tastemakers and those I look up to in the industry really valuing what I’ve created as unique and innovative. I cannot wait to get launched and hear what people like/don’t like about my product as I’ve really made it for them.

What are the intangible goals or milestones that matter most to you?
When one of our patents is granted. Not only will it signify a huge moat and potential future revenue stream for us—as it carves out what we’ve created nicely—but it will make me an inventor.

If your company could achieve only one thing in the next five years, what would you want it to be?

Have the happiest customers in the world = Love the product. Love the brand. Push other brands to be similar to us in terms of sustainability and innovation.

Why is this goal so important, and what steps are you taking to ensure it happens?
Because our true goal is to make the big boys change their terrible ways of pollution and saying one thing whilst doing another. The truth is that only money will make them care more about a good cause—so if we force their hand to make the money follow the good causes, then they’ll have no choice but to follow suit.