Madison Reed: Amy Errett
Amy Errett launched Madison Reed at 56 after a career in banking, consulting, and venture capital—a late entry into the beauty industry most founders would never attempt. The idea came from her wife's frustration finding a decent at-home hair color, and Amy ran with it. She built a prestige formula from an Italian manufacturer, raised $4M in Series A before the 2014 launch, and moved fast through a subscription model and a bold Groupon strategy.
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Episode Recap
Amy Errett didn't follow a conventional founder path. She spent two decades in banking, consulting, and venture capital before launching Madison Reed, a hair color brand that would reach Walmart, Ulta, and Target. The idea came from her wife Claire's frustration with existing at-home products. Amy was 56, had no industry background, and had already walked through the most devastating professional failure of her life: being fired as CEO of Olivia, the LGBTQ+ travel company, in a hotel lobby lobby with no warning.
Co-Founders and the Cost of Willing It
Amy started Madison Reed with three co-founders, drawn together by shared values and mutual respect. She later admitted to Guy Raz that her instinct had been to hire people she liked rather than people who could do the job at scale. One couldn't handle supply chain logistics when product started arriving from Italy. Another couldn't build the brand fast enough to keep pace with the business. A third, her closest friend, was hiding performance gaps that the rest of the company was already pointing out. "When you know, you know," Amy says now, and every departure took time that the company couldn't afford.
A Founder Fired, Then Refocused
Before Madison Reed, Amy led Olivia for five years. The firing happened in a hotel lobby, a lawyer's letter in hand, and the story made national headlines. She fought back, sued, and eventually settled for an undisclosed sum. Looking back, Amy says it was the best thing that ever happened. The experience forced her into therapy for the first time, and the lesson that landed was this: the most important decisions are made by heart, not just head. Madison Reed was a three-year-old company at the time, her daughter Madison the human one, and Amy knew she had to move forward.
The Subscription Gamble
Amy's venture capital background gave her a realistic read on customer acquisition costs before she launched. She knew Facebook ads were expensive. She knew the market—half of American women color at home, and 38-and-older women are the biggest spenders because graying accelerates at that age. She raised $4M in Series A, participated in by Maveron, the firm where she'd worked. The product launched in July 2014, 15 months after funding closed, and the first push wasn't social media. It was PR, stylist endorsements, and an influencer event in a New York salon. The media coverage followed immediately. Then Groupon called, and the deal was free boxes for anyone who came to Madison Reed's website and shared their email address. The bell in the office rang every 58 seconds—a nod to 58 South Park Street, the company's original address—because the deal was moving faster than anyone could track.
Key Takeaways
- 1Late-career founders have real advantages: Amy Errett built Madison Reed at 56 after decades in finance and consulting, and she credits her network and experience with making the right calls faster than a younger founder might.
- 2Hiring for fit beats hiring for credentials: Amy recruited three co-founders based on shared values and personal connection, not whether they could deliver at the operational level the business demanded.
- 3Avoiding hard conversations costs more time than having them: Each departing co-founder created delays that slowed Madison Reed down by years. The best time to address underperformance is before the company and everyone in it starts noticing.
