By Moms, For Moms: Growing A Kid’s Brand From The Ground Up With Goumi Kids Founder Lili Yeo
As a mother of two, Lili understands the struggles of finding the right clothes for your baby. Every mother wants to do what is right for their child, starting with clothes that fit, are comfortable and functional, and look good. When Lili couldn’t find a single company that offered what she needed, she banded together with her mom's community and built Goumi Kids, so that every mom could buy the right thing for their baby.
Lili Yeo has 22 years of experience in consumer marketing with Fortune 200 companies and the last 12 years with Goumikids - a startup she co-founded and grew spanning baby apparel & accessories and distributed online, specialty & big box stores in multiple countries.
Prior to goumikids, she headed the China practice and led cross-functional teams to create market-relevant, profitable consumer experience solutions at Ziba design, Nike, Adidas & Hewlett Packard. Lili holds an MBA from the Institute of Management Development (IMD), a BA in International Marketing from the University of Washington, and a Certificate from Beijing University. She was also a guest lecturer at the Tianjin University of Finance and Economics on International Marketing, International Trade, and Cross–Cultural Communication. Lili speaks five languages, including Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, and Tagalog, and is mom to two mini-mes Iliana & Ariana.
In this episode you’ll learn about:
- Understanding that every baby is different - how Lili created Goumi Kids to have the most options for mothers.
- A company by moms, for moms - how being a mother played a huge role in the values of Lili’s company, and how she has built her brand with the needs of all moms at the heart.
- Staying relevant - how Goumi Kids stays in touch with their customers to improve existing products and decide on new products.
- The mom-first, entrepreneur-second mindset - how Lili has created a work environment for her partners and employees that resonates with her values and creates a flexible, happy workplace.
- Finding new customers at a quick pace - how Goumi kids stays relevant with new generations of moms from magazines and boutiques to Instagram and TikTok.
- Finding the right formula for each product - How Lili works to create the perfect product every time, balancing functionality, sustainability, and beauty.
- Giving your products time to marinate - every product may not be an instant success, some products need a little more time to get discovered.
- Focusing on quality over growth - when you prioritize understanding the needs of your customers and creating a top-quality product to solve a problem, the numbers will come.
- Knowing your scorecard - you can’t base your success off someone else’s score. Be true and authentic to your values and priorities, that is how you find your success.
Resources:
Connecting with Guest:
Connecting with the host:
- Rebecca Babicz on LinkedIn
Quotables
- 2:47 “Why am I giving someone really good money to have time with my daughter that I can’t get back.”
- 4:42 “These products that we buy are binary. Either they were functional but they were ugly, if they were pretty they didn't work. And if they were good to the planet, they usually weren’t the first two!”
- 12:26 “We have to be very clear about what our scorecard is, what it is we seek to do, why we exist, why we wake up every day. And those set of core values are going to keep up through the hard times.”
- 23:31 ”It’s so critical to never let our eye off of where does she need us, when does she need us, what does she need from us.”
- 30:22 “What is the right growth for you and your team? Because not all growth is good.”
- 33:11 “Get those building blocks in place about what it is you’re in this journey for, and what to you will mean success.”
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