By no means Have I Ever, Shark Tank

Susana Chen and Jess Wu’s New York-based magnificence startup By no means Have I Ever started with a easy query:  What if artwork might be residing on surprising canvases — not simply on printed T-shirts or hats?

Chen had some expertise with the latter, rising up in New York Metropolis’s Chinatown, the place she helped promote “I Love New York” tees and different custom-made objects at her mom’s memento store.

As an grownup, Chen graduated from Parsons College of Design, labored at a number of artistic companies, based the non-profit Asian Inventive Basis and attended craft gala’s, the place she bought artist-made items and noticed a spot out there when it got here to a sure slice of self-expression.

Chen noticed the potential to start out a enterprise promoting press-on nails, momentary tattoos and tooth gems — “wearable artwork that actually reveals who you’re,” she says.

Chen introduced the concept to her former colleague Wu, whose company background in model advertising and marketing got here in helpful. Wu has helped cross-cultural manufacturers, from shopper items to tech firms, go international. She knew the best way to construct environment friendly programs.

The duo formally launched By no means Have I Ever in November 2023. Chen says the model identify has “a number of meanings to empower folks of their individuality” — encompassing her and Wu beginning a enterprise for the primary time, artists experimenting with new mediums and clients attempting new appears.

Shifting shopper habits and a major ache level

It was a well-timed rollout, coinciding with a shift in shopper habits round non-essential magnificence companies. Final 12 months, salon house owners and different magnificence professionals throughout the U.S. reported decreased enterprise amid an financial downturn and intensive tariffs, per NBC Information.

By no means Have I Ever’s press-on nails, which retail from about $18 to $45, not solely supply customers a extra inexpensive choice to do their nails, but in addition handle one other, typically ignored ache level.

“I’m going to the nail salon,” Chen explains. “I need an artist’s work on my nails. However the artists don’t get credit score for the nail drawing, and the nail tech can not draw precisely what I need. So the shopper isn’t glad. We simply solved that complete situation.”

By no means Have I Ever pulled in $3,000 to $5,000 per weekend

Within the early days, Chen and Wu introduced By no means Have I Ever’s artist-designed merchandise to craft gala’s to see if it might stick. It did, with the custom-made nails “simply bringing in $3,000 to $5,000 per weekend,” Chen says. That’s when it made sense to attend commerce reveals and seize the eye of bigger retailers.

These days, By no means Have I Ever’s merchandise can be found at City Outfitters, Revolve, Anthropologie, PacSun, Zumiez and Nordstrom. What’s extra, consistent with its inventive roots, the model is carried at cultural establishments together with the Met Museum, MoMA and Denver Artwork Museum.

“ Once we had this concept of working with artists, I knew I wished to promote to MoMA,” Chen says. “I wished to promote to Metropolitan. As a result of I don’t need to go simply to see artwork — I need to convey dwelling souvenirs of the artwork, however to not put it on my fridge or desk. I need to put on them.”

A enterprise mannequin permitting artists to monetize their work

From the outset, Chen and Wu centered creatives of their strategy. By no means Have I Ever works with greater than 100 artists, who’re sometimes paid 5% in royalties for his or her licensed paintings.

The vast majority of By no means Have I Ever’s provide chain relies in China, however the manufacturing course of is all the time a collaborative one, the co-founders say. As soon as an artist submits their paintings, By no means Have I Ever works intently with them to make sure the ultimate product stays true to their imaginative and prescient.

“We constructed an inside system and template to bridge artists’ artistic course of and manufacturing realities in order that we are able to reduce the hole between artwork and manufacturing,” Wu says. “So it’s usually fairly easy.”

Moreover, By no means Have I Ever showcases its artist group on its social media platforms. The enterprise’s social media technique isn’t simply centered on getting customers to buy the press-on nails; it makes some extent to spotlight the person artists behind the designs, Chen notes.

By no means Have I Ever boasts collaborations with artists together with Lorien Stern, Tay Beepboop, Jade Roland, Lily Hoang-Zhu (liliuhms), August Wren, Mercedes Bazan, Omotola, Zoe Wodarz, Hey Su Lee, Alice Lee and Priyanka, amongst many others.

Hitting $1.5 million in income and 120,000 models bought

By the top of 2025, By no means Have I Ever had about ten folks on its group, half based mostly within the U.S. and half in China. The corporate closed out its second full 12 months in enterprise with $1.5 million in income, with 3.5X 12 months–over-year gross sales development and 120,000 models bought, per the corporate.

“ We went from promoting at a market on the weekend to now being in additional than 2,000 retailers in lower than two years,” Wu says, “so it was an extremely quick scale.”

What’s extra, in one other main milestone for the younger model, By no means Have I Ever appeared on an episode of Shark Tank final month.

“It was wild,” Chen says of pitching to the Sharks. “It was nerve-wracking. However it was additionally one of the vital susceptible experiences, speaking by rising up in New York Metropolis, promoting I really like New York T-shirts at my mother’s memento store [and how that] gave me the angle to grasp the significance of artistic expression.”

By no means Have I Ever secured a take care of Kevin O’Leary: a $150,000 funding for 10% of the corporate and 50 cent per unit loyalty royalty capped at $450,000.

Turning into the go-to model in prompt glam

Wanting forward, the co-founders intend to make By no means Have I Ever the go-to model within the prompt glam class, persevering with to increase into further retail shops and companion with new artists alongside the best way.

Now’s a first-rate time to start out a brand new enterprise, Wu says, noting that aspiring entrepreneurs don’t want an enormous group or large price range to launch, simply an understanding of what they need to do and why they need to do it.

“We knew that we wished to help artists,” Wu provides. “We wished to assist them do what they love.”

Susana Chen and Jess Wu’s New York-based magnificence startup By no means Have I Ever started with a easy query:  What if artwork might be residing on surprising canvases — not simply on printed T-shirts or hats?

Chen had some expertise with the latter, rising up in New York Metropolis’s Chinatown, the place she helped promote “I Love New York” tees and different custom-made objects at her mom’s memento store.

As an grownup, Chen graduated from Parsons College of Design, labored at a number of artistic companies, based the non-profit Asian Inventive Basis and attended craft gala’s, the place she bought artist-made items and noticed a spot out there when it got here to a sure slice of self-expression.