Thirsty Turtl: Reflecting on Our Year of Growth and Success

 

Reflecting on our year, we went from zero to one. Yes, we had two prior years of intensive product development, but 2023 was the year we (Alisha, Jasmin and Ellen) launched Thirsty Turtl to our customers.

In that time, sales have increased ~800%. One year ago, we started to test the market by pre-selling our minis. Since then, we have launched our initial range and received rave reviews from beauty editors, featured in the Australian Financial Review, the Qantas Magazine, and finalists in the Life In Style New Breed scholarship. We also hosted an exciting collaboration with an iconic Sydney restaurant.

But most exciting for us is that every sale proves customers share our mission: to increase First Nations’ prosperity. We set out to achieve this by creating skincare to help busy women improve sensitive, sun-damaged skin, using ingredients that are sustainably sourced and contribute to thriving, resilient First Nations communities. And customers love our products and our mission. We have a high returning customer rate and most of our growth has been achieved organically through word of mouth and earned media.

We proudly worked with Pundi Produce, Native Extracts and Southern Cross University to bring to market the first premium moisturiser in the world to use native Australia tomato. This hero ingredient contains rare and high-efficacy compounds that can benefit the skin through reducing the appearance of UV-induced cell damage and can brighten the skin.

Through the Australian Government’s Boosting Female Founders, we had access to Trena as our mentor. Trena has been guiding us on scaling – with a particular focus on getting ready to export. One of the key insights was ensuring our systems – everything from manufacturing to our internal systems for project management, financials, and website is scalable. Raising capital is also a key consideration for scaling. Trena connected us with two key groups for early-stage investment and encouraged us to approach them early and seek feedback. Although we may not be raising yet, there is a lot of benefit from getting on their radar early and developing the relationship – allowing them to watch our growth and get to know the team over months and years.

Going into 2024, we feel more confident in our product-market fit and also our ability to scale the business.

Follow our journey by following us on LinkedIn HERE.