Three Pivots to $100 Million

How do you find a working business model? Do it like Rowan-a brand that reinvented itself many times before finally piercing the ear-piercing market.

- LIZ BRODY

IF YOU HAVE a tween girl, you've probably heard of Rowan. It's the cool brand for piercings, where licensed nurses insert hypoallergenic studs into thousands of ears every day. With more than 500 employees, it's on track to have 65 stores and an annual run rate of $100 million in revenue this year.

But in 2017, Rowan was just a fledgling startup with a great idea and a bad business model. It survived because founder Louisa Schneider was willing to pivot, and pivot, and pivot again, until its mission, profit, and market all clicked into place.

Here, she explains how she threaded that tricky needle-and kept her eye on the hole.

Step 1/ Enter the market.

Back in 2017, Schneider was a new mom working at a hedge fund, and found herself reminiscing about her own childhood. She remembered getting her ears pierced at a mall, and was struck by how that experience had never been updated. Why aren't piercings done by medical professionals now? she wondered.