Transcript of the interview with Olivia Landau, Founder and CEO of The Clear Cut for The Failure Factor Podcast.

Defining The Clear Cut

Megan Bruneau: Olivia, welcome to the show.

Olivia Landau: Thank you so much for having me. I’m really excited to be here.

Megan Bruneau: We’re so excited to have you on. And The Clear Cut, what is it?

Olivia Landau: The Clear Cut is the largest digitally native, only natural diamond jewelry company in the US. We’re basically a direct-to-consumer, mostly bespoke bridal and fine jewelry business online.

A Family Legacy in Diamonds

Megan Bruneau: How did you end up in this business?

Olivia Landau: It’s very interesting. So my family was in the diamond and jewelry business, but doing something totally different. So I’m fourth generation, technically, in the industry. My dad’s side of the family were all diamond cutters and dealers, and then my mom and my dad had a small antique jewelry business. So I grew up knowing about the industry. But never thought I would get into it myself until after I graduated college. I decided to extend schooling a little bit and enroll in GIA, which is the Gemological Institute of America, and become a graduate gemologist. And I really fell in love with diamonds and gemstones, and it was in my blood all along. And I also met my now husband and co-founder while I was there, so that’s kind of how I got into it.

From Print Media Aspirations to Gemology

Megan Bruneau: So what did you do your undergrad in?

Olivia Landau: I went to NYU and I was a media culture and communications major with a minor in East Asian Studies.

Megan Bruneau: Wow. Okay. Doing that, did you have any other plans or imagine what you might do with that degree?

Olivia Landau: So when I went to college, my dream was to work at a print fashion magazine as an editor. And while I was interning at all of the big magazines, I was at Teen Vogue and Women’s Wear Daily, I realized that print journalism was kind of on the decline, and it was going to be much more challenging to get a job and a full-time career doing that. And it was kind of the rise of social media at that time, taking over. So I left very confused at what I actually wanted to do. I was really passionate about media and communications, but I was like, maybe this is not a career for me. But now, looking back, I utilize a lot of the things from my degree in my current role. So full circle.

The Accidental Entrepreneur

Megan Bruneau: I bet. So, okay, so you graduate with that degree, and then did you have a moment of like, “I’m not sure what I want to do next,” and then, “This is interesting what my parents do. Maybe this is in my blood and I should find out, like get an education in this,” or what happened there?

Olivia Landau: So I was graduating, very unsure about what I wanted my career path to be. And my parents had always told me to never get into the diamond and jewelry industry because it was a dying, antiquated industry. They never went to college. They said, you know, I should get a corporate job. So I was like, how can I kind of blend the two? So my goal to go to GIA was to extend schooling to figure it out. And then I was like, maybe I will work in corporate at a big jewelry company. So my first job out of GIA was at Tiffany. It was on the retail sales floor. It was on the engagement ring floor. And while I was there, I had the aspirations of going back of house. For a while I was there, I really fell in love with diamonds, bridal jewelry, working with potential engagement and bridal clients. I wanted to get a little bit more hands on. So then after that job, I worked in a large diamond wholesale company in the Diamond District. And a parallel there is while I was working, which was a very, very interesting and eye-opening experience, because the diamond industry is not as luxurious as you would think it is. My now husband and co-founder, he was in business school at Columbia, and all of his friends were like, “Hey, do you know a guy that can get me a good deal on an engagement ring?” So since I was in wholesale, I helped everyone educate them, help pick out their diamonds, make their custom rings. And through that, I started The Clear Cut as an educational blog about diamonds. So our friends could read about the pros and cons, the do’s and don’ts before coming to work with me. And then through social media, I just started posting some of my designs on Instagram, and then strangers started following the account, asking if I could help them create their rings. And then it turned into this accidental side hustle where I looked up and after a year, I sold $1 million of engagement rings through Instagram DMs. So we were like, “Oh, there must be some whitespace in the market.”

Megan Bruneau: What year was this?

Olivia Landau: This was 2016.

Megan Bruneau: 2016. Okay, so this is a blog, which by the way, I mean, I feel like blogs were they starting to kind of die by 2016? Like, that’s interesting. Yeah.

Olivia Landau: They were. It was like, yeah. And a blog. But I think like fashion blogging was like the end, and it was like there were no jewelry blogs really. And I was like, why? There’s probably a reason why there is. And but yeah, so it was like they were dying and social media became obviously more prevalent.

Building a Brand Alongside a Career

Megan Bruneau: Okay. So you had the blog, you had the Instagram. And just to clarify, so you were working in wholesale, but you were also making your own designs. And were you doing that separately?

Olivia Landau: Yes, I was doing this on the side.

Megan Bruneau: Okay. And then what would that look like? Like someone would reach out and then be like, “Hey, I love the design that you posted on Instagram. I want to get this engagement ring for my fiancé or whatever future fiancé.” What were the next steps they would take?

Olivia Landau: So I would just run around and deal with a lot of my contacts in the diamond wholesale industry. I would get different loose diamonds, send them photos on my hand, pricing. And then they’d wire me money, and then I would put their ring into production and ship it out to them.

Megan Bruneau: And then what did that production process look like?

Olivia Landau: So I had worked, when I was in wholesale, I did a lot of the jewelry production side. So I had really close relationships with a lot of manufacturers here in New York. So when I was starting on my own, I was running to the workshops and dropping off the stones and working with the jewelers on the designs and checking. So it was a lot of me running back and forth and doing all these things. I was shipping, I was sourcing, I was doing everything.

Megan Bruneau: Yeah, it’s a great visual. I can see you in the Diamond District running back and forth on your lunch hour or whatever. So, and did you know, like, were you consciously building a brand or was that something that was happening on the side?

Olivia Landau: No, not at all. Like I never aspired to be an entrepreneur. That scared me. My mom always told me I would be a terrible entrepreneur and that I was an amazing employee. So this was just something to, like, I was bored at work and this was just something fun that I did on the side to entertain myself and, you know, kind of like a passion project.

Megan Bruneau: So at what point did it have enough legs that you were like, “Oh, maybe this is something I should do full-time?”

Olivia Landau: It was when Kyle, my husband, was graduating business school and he was like, “Hey, like, you kind of have a business going on there. There must be some sort of white space that’s not being filled.” And he’s an entrepreneur. He had started a business before that failed. And he was like, “I’m not going to go into this again.” But he was like, “Maybe we should do this together. Like, I have the business skills, you know how to do the sourcing and the design.” And I was like, “I really don’t want to go into business with my boyfriend. I’m so risk averse. Like, one of us needs a job. You know, you’ve been in school for two years.” So I didn’t want to. And he was like, “Let’s try to see if we can raise some money for this startup idea and then we’ll decide after a year.”

Megan Bruneau: He thought, like, okay, we need capital to move this forward? Or what was the rationale behind raising money?

Olivia Landau: I think we, yeah, we definitely needed some startup capital to fund a business, especially if we were both going to—I was going to quit my full-time job and go into it full-time, and he was going to turn down his banking offer—and we were going to commit to trying to build this business out. So, that was 2017 that he graduated. And we basically spent that whole entire year trying to fundraise unsuccessfully.

Megan Bruneau: Yeah, I know what this show is all about. And that sounds like it’s sort of your age where that was a difficult, difficult time trying to raise money.

Olivia Landau: Yeah, it was impossible. But basically, I think, and we met with every single venture capital firm in New York or in California. Every single person said, “You know, this is not scalable. This is not a real business that should be. It seems more like lifestyle. How is it going to scale beyond Olivia? It’s not something that you should be raising capital for. It’s a hobby business,” basically. So, at a certain point, I was like, “We’ve got to give up,” you know, “because this is not working.” But he was very determined to make it work.

Taking the Leap of Faith

Megan Bruneau: Well, let’s stay there for a moment. So, first of all, it sounds like you decided, “All right.” You were convinced. Kyle was like, “Let’s do this. Let’s raise some money.” And you’re like, “Okay, fine.” First of all, what allowed for that to happen? Like, what allowed for you to decide, ‘Let’s move forward with this. I’m on board.’?

Olivia Landau: I think, you know, he really convinced me. He was like, “This is the opportunity. You’ll always regret it if you didn’t try. And the worst case is that it fails and you get another job,” you know? So I was like, “Fine, I’ll try for X amount of time and then we’ll see what happens. But if it doesn’t work out, then you need to get a job, and then I need to just move on,” you know.

Megan Bruneau: What was the amount of time you gave yourself?

Olivia Landau: I think this was, he graduated in May and I said, like by the end of the year, we would decide. I think it was like we gave ourselves approximately six months or so.

Megan Bruneau: So you do that and then you’re like, “Okay, now we need to go out and find investment.” Had he done that in his previous business that had failed?

Olivia Landau: Yes, he did it. But he had a more established, older co-founder that had a lot of connections. So they raised money extremely easily. So he was like, “I’ve done this before, I can do this again. It’s not that hard.” And he’s like, “This already has. You already have revenue and you haven’t done anything. This is such an investable business. It’s going to be so easy.” So I was like, “Okay.”

The Clear Cut’s Unique Value Proposition

Megan Bruneau: Yeah, okay, you’re on board. So that’s what you thought. And what were you going at? Like, what was your, I guess, your USP, your unique sales proposition, or what really set The Clear Cut apart that you were saying, “Hey, we have, like, this is the reason that we need to raise money and that this is going to be successful”?

Olivia Landau: Yeah. So how we positioned ourselves was, at least at that time and kind of still today, the options for buying an engagement ring were you either went to a local jewelry store in your town and you saw the options that were there, which, now with social media and the internet, everyone kind of knows exactly what they’re looking for. They’re pretty specific, very knowledgeable. They want something custom and they don’t really want to overpay. So that limits a lot of optionality and is a little bit overpriced. You could go to a luxury retailer like a Tiffany or a Graff or a Harry Winston, but then you know that you’re definitely overpaying and you’re buying for the brand, and there’s not a lot of customization at all you can do. Or there was the internet 1.0 version of online marketplaces like Blue Nile. At the time, Brilliant Earth was kind of like unlimited options, but you had to be the one to kind of pick the diamond and pick the setting and put it together and do all the research yourself, which is lacking that personalization and expertise for this significant of a purchase. So where we stood was we were kind of, our idea was, we were democratizing that private jewelry experience. And not a lot of people throughout the country had access to where you were working directly with an expert gemologist to handpick the perfect diamond based on all the characteristics that you wanted, and then make a one-of-a-kind ring. All mostly online, unless you could meet with us in New York and for wholesale pricing. So that was our value proposition.

Scaling a Personalized Business

Megan Bruneau: Okay. And how was that possible to be scaled? I imagine that was a question investors had. Right. How are you going to scale this if it’s such an intimate process and personalized? So what would be your response generally?

Olivia Landau: So we were intentionally doing everything extremely unscalable in the beginning to learn all the pain points. So we were going back and forth doing this through email and DMs, and it was a lot of work, but I always had the vision to build out a software that could take that process and scale it, which we built now. But it was really utilizing expertise, but making all of the other elements of the process as automated as possible. So you had that level of personalization, but it wasn’t a super heavy lift and you could scale it beyond one person or each gemologist.

Megan Bruneau: Sounds like through that process, you were doing it intentionally because you’re also gathering information to ultimately build out the software.

Olivia Landau: Yeah. And I always knew, and it’s still true today, whenever you build tech or an element without doing it unscalable first and understanding the pain points, you’re probably going to build it wrong and have to redo it. So I don’t believe in building technology to solve a problem you have to do the problem to build the proper solution.

Megan Bruneau: How did you know that?

Olivia Landau: I feel like it’s kind of common sense, right? I mean, but it just at the time it was like, “No, throw money at this. Build this. Do that. You need to have a quiz. You need to have RBI.” I’m like, “I work with clients. I know this is not something people are asking for. Why would I build that?” You know, “I need to build this and that.” But if people aren’t intimately working within your industry, within your work every day, it’s not something super sexy that’s going to be the most effective tool.

Megan Bruneau: Exactly. You had that unique experience of really being on the ground and truly being an expert in the field or the industry in which you were building, whereas not everybody, I think, who goes raising money has that expertise. And oftentimes like it’s like, “Oh, I guess you’re right. Why are older investors,” you know, “I should spend all this money on this and I should have the quiz and do everything in this specific way that costs a shit ton of money.”

Olivia Landau: And it’s important to remember the time. This was 2017, 2018, which was like the go-times of Dtcc. Like people were like, “If you’re not spending 50 to 100,000 dollars a month on Facebook ads, don’t even talk to me,” you know? And I was like, “Why would we do that?”

Megan Bruneau: And it was also the time of customization and personalization when that started really taking off.

Olivia Landau: And everyone had a quiz.

Megan Bruneau: Exactly. Their quizzes everywhere. So I get that. I can understand why that was the feedback you constantly got, but it was probably frustrating always being told this information from probably, I’m guessing like older men who hadn’t been in the industry telling you where you were wrong.

Olivia Landau: It was everyone. And that’s something, you know, that’s interesting too. When you’re starting a business and you talk to successful people who are giving you advice, a lot of times it’s hard to not be like, “Okay, I need to do that,” because you have some sort of imposter syndrome. You’re like, “Oh, they probably know better than me.” But if they’re not working intimately with your business or what you’re doing, they don’t really know. They’re just giving you random ideas.

Megan Bruneau: Did you have any other experiences of that you can call to mind where now with that information in mind, you’re able to be like, “Thanks, but no thanks for that advice”?

Olivia Landau: Yeah. I mean, so how we were able to actually, we never raised venture capital, actually, but we did get into a tech accelerator in 2018 called Techstars in New York, which gave us a little bit of funding to get started. So that was how we made that leap of faith. And while we went through the program, there was a lot of, a whole portion is about mentorship and matching you up with other founders or investors. And you get a lot of unsolicited advice while going through that. And it’s really difficult to not jump on every piece of information. One big feedback we would get all the time is, you know, on social media or through our educational content, I was the face of the business and they said I could not be. We had to do more generic content, generic marketing, because how could a business be scaled with someone as the face? And now it’s really funny because we’re seeing a lot of businesses try to put a face to their brand on social media to make it more. We had to. It’s a very intimate product that people want to know who they’re working with and want to be able to trust the brand. So that was something that was one of the hills we were willing to die on at the time. And a lot of feedback we got was to not do that.

Megan Bruneau: Thank you. That’s such a great example. And I imagine tons of people have their experiences there, and I hope that everyone listening just takes this as a reminder that you are the expert and you can say no. And not every piece of advice you get is the truth or helpful advice. So that’s great, Olivia, thank you for sharing that.

The Grind of Fundraising

Megan Bruneau: So I want to take you back just for a moment to where you guys were still looking for funding. And so Kyle has said, like, “I know how to do this. It’s easy. Like I did it so easily last time. Let’s go.” So you decide to start going out to VCs, I imagine. And you already had, you had contacts from him or like where did the contacts come from?

Olivia Landau: So we were lucky. Because he was graduating from business school, we were able to get a lot of contacts through the alumni network and him having an edu email, people willing to talk to us. And they had a lot of entrepreneurial programs that were starting up. So connections through professors and things like that.

Megan Bruneau: Okay. Cool. So you already had these connections, you already had the contacts, and then you just start sending emails or, or did you get people to intro you, or what about granularly look like for those who might be looking to raise money right now?

Olivia Landau: It was a full-time job. We had a whole CRM going about who was a warm intro, who we were cold reaching out to from LinkedIn. We would email and have a whole, “When should we follow up?” I mean, most of the time no one would get back to us. And then when we did get a meeting, it was a huge win. But then you realize that a lot of people are just meeting with you because their job is to just find out what startups are in the ecosystem, but they have no intention of actually investing.

Megan Bruneau: That’s so frustrating. So then you, so you end up getting a meeting, let’s say, these rare times. About how often, like what percentage of the time would you get a meeting based on recent reach-outs?

Olivia Landau: I would say like one in every 50 emails, we might get a call or a meeting.

Megan Bruneau: Yeah. Okay. So one in every 50 emails. So like this demoralizing process. So defeating. You get the meeting. I’m assuming you have a pitch deck or something and you end up having that meeting. You go to their office or what does that look like?

Olivia Landau: Yeah. At the time it was, pre-COVID. So we’d go to their office. I would be power posing, like, “Oh yeah, the office.” Get like five. I’m like, “This is my big moment.” I was probably on my lunch break from work or a doctor’s appointment, trying to squeeze it in, you know?

Megan Bruneau: Okay. You’re still working at this time full-time?

Olivia Landau: I’m still working.

Megan Bruneau: You’re still working. Okay.

Olivia Landau: Okay. So, yeah, I remember I had a broken foot for a lot of this. So I was able to, like, “My foot’s broken. I can go to the doctor a lot,” you know?

Megan Bruneau: Yes. Those are those moments that, by the way, that just seem terrible in the moment. Right? And then you look back and you’re like, “Oh, maybe this wouldn’t have worked out so well if I hadn’t had the broken foot.” So there.

Olivia Landau: Yeah. So I was, so it was a big deal to get a meeting. And so and then a lot of times once we got there, it’d be like, you know, someone who was sometimes an intern or an entry-level person who was just talking to us. So they had no decision-making power. And they’re like, “Cool. Yeah. Thanks for sharing. But this is not an investable business. Bye.”

Megan Bruneau: And would they tell you the why behind it as to why they didn’t believe that it was investable?

Olivia Landau: Well, it would depend. But a lot of feedback we got that it was more of a lifestyle business. It didn’t seem scalable. It didn’t seem, you know, didn’t fit their ethos of their investment ideas at the time.

Megan Bruneau: And then if you can recall, maybe one or two or a number of those meetings where you felt just imagine super defeated afterwards. What was that like? What do you go with Kyle when you pitched together? Yes. Okay. And then what would that look like in that moment and afterwards?

Olivia Landau: I remember one meeting and it wasn’t even with an investor. It was with a founder that I really admired, and I remember, who built a really big D2C business, and it was super hot at the time. So, we had a coffee chat at her office and she was like, “Yeah, you know, my sister is a travel agent, and this kind of seems like something more like that. Like, I don’t think anyone will ever invest in this business.” And I was like, “Cool.”

Megan Bruneau: Oh my gosh, crushing. Especially because it’s someone you admired so much, right? Those are hard words to hear.

Olivia Landau: Yeah.

Megan Bruneau: After that, how did you process that with Kyle?

Olivia Landau: I’m inherently more of a pessimist and he’s very much an optimist. So he was like, “Who cares? Let’s keep going. I believe in it,” blah, blah, blah. And, you know, it was months and months and months of meetings like this until the point where I was like, “You know, you need to start looking for a job because this is not happening.”

Megan Bruneau: Seriously, which, you know, on the one hand, can seem like wisdom until it’s not. I mean, all of these ideas, for the most part, as entrepreneurs, seem wild and crazy until they work.

Olivia Landau: Yeah. And it was like we tried our best. And remember, we were on vacation with his family over the summer in Italy, and we had a blowout fight in the middle of some town square. And I was like, “I was like, ‘When are you going to realize this is a stupid idea? Let’s just move on,’ you know?”

Megan Bruneau: “When are you going to realize this is a stupid idea? Let’s just move on.” And had you recall how he responded?

Olivia Landau: He was like, “Give me a few more months. I promise it’s going to work out,” blah, blah, blah. Like, “If it doesn’t…” And he’s like, “I’ll start looking for a job next month and we’ll do it simultaneously.” So I was like, “Finally, appease me that way.” So he’s like, “I’ll look for a job, but I’m not going to give up on this yet.” And I was like, “Bye.”

Megan Bruneau: How do you make sense of his conviction that this could work?

Olivia Landau: I have literally no idea. I have no clue. Especially because I think because he had already gone through the fundraising process before and he found it so easy. And he saw this was a much more investable and scalable business than his first business. But he was like, “And now I have a degree in business. And I’m older. I feel like this is, like, we’re a founder market fit, like someone’s going to see this.”

Megan Bruneau: So he really believed in you guys, and that seems like it pulled you across whatever finish line you needed to get past to keep sticking around and support his decision to keep all in on that. And so then after a number of rejections, I would imagine, at what point did you guys find Techstars?

The Techstars Breakthrough

Olivia Landau: So we randomly, I applied to a few accelerators, because one of his, I think through Columbia’s entrepreneurship program, they were like, “Oh, you should apply.” I remember we had our first meeting with the MD of Techstars, and I was already over it at that time. I was like, “It’s not going to happen.” And during the interview, he asked me, he was like, “Why haven’t you quit your job and done this full-time?” And I was like, “The margins on this business. I can’t live on this money.” And Kyle was like, “I can’t believe that you said that. This is supposed to be, like, they’re supposed to invest in profitability.” You can’t say, like, “We have bad margins.” I was like, “But we did!” So, but then we got a second interview, and I think he was happy I was so honest, I don’t know. And I had revenue. And then it was Thanksgiving and we were all together with our families. And we had a call and then they told us we got in and that we would start in January. So I was like, “Oh my God.” And I remember my dad was there and he was like, “Don’t do it! What are you doing? You have such a great job. You’re going to throw that all away to start some silly business with your boyfriend? You guys aren’t even married or engaged!” And I was like, “Oh my God, am I making a huge mistake?” It was a very emotional Thanksgiving. And but I was like, “I’m going to regret it forever if I don’t try. Let me just try it out.” And so we started a month and a half later.

Megan Bruneau: Wow. Okay, so it sounds like you didn’t feel super supported by your parents.

Olivia Landau: No, not at all. Kyle had a job offer from Goldman Sachs. And he had $200,000 in debt. Our families were like, “What is your problem?” You know.

Megan Bruneau: Were they communicating with each other?

Olivia Landau: Like your parents were all together and they were all pissed. Okay. We were like, “We should be so happy.” And they were like, “What are you doing?”

Megan Bruneau: Okay. What was that like to not have that support?

Olivia Landau: It was tough, but I was going to do it anyway.

Megan Bruneau: So was there anyone else in your life who you did feel supported by that counseled some of those voices? Or you could amplify that voice more loudly than the ones of your parents?

Olivia Landau: Kyle and I, obviously we were super in it together. So we were like, “Okay, we’re going to make it happen and prove them all wrong,” you know?

Megan Bruneau: So after that emotional Thanksgiving, you guys move forward. You start in January. What was it like moving into Techstars? How do you experience that?

Olivia Landau: It was pretty cool. But I had intense imposter syndrome because the other companies in our cohort, we were the only consumer business, everything else was B2B SaaS, and they were all really techie. And, I didn’t even, it was like SEO bootcamp. I didn’t know anything. I didn’t know what a KPI was. I was starting from scratch. But I think it was really good for me to go through that, because I don’t know if I would have been able to get to where I was that quickly without that intense program. It’s not for everyone to do an accelerator, but for me it was really necessary. Yeah.

Megan Bruneau: From when you started that, that was in January, you said. When did it finish?

Olivia Landau: We ended in April.

Megan Bruneau: Okay. So it was only a few months. Really intense, it sounds like. What were some of the other things you learned through that process?

Olivia Landau: So it was a three-step process where it was intense. It was called “mentor madness,” which was intense mentorship, speed dating mentors, basically, and getting a ton of unsolicited advice and then trying to sort through that. Then the second part was about scaling and growing as fast as possible. So I learned there to not, that’s where I learned, like, don’t wait for perfection. If you can just do things quickly and be 1% better doing them, that is the way to move forward. Because if you’re stuck waiting for the perfect launch, then you’ve waited too long. So there we were, just building, building, building and messing up and rebuilding and doing things, which I think has laid a lot of foundation for me going forward. And then, the last part was fundraising, and that was a boot camp for investors. And then we heard a lot of the same feedback we got pre-Techstars. And I was like, “Well, I have the stamp of approval now and still nobody wants to invest in me. What the hell?”

A Different Approach to Funding

Megan Bruneau: Did anything change in your narrative or the way that you pitched The Clear Cut that allowed for people to see that it was more scalable than they initially imagined?

Olivia Landau: So we worked really hard on, being super professional. Our pitch was cleaned up. But in the end, no venture capital company wanted to invest in us. We raised a really small round of just customers, angel investors. We did a really untraditional raise. We did a priced round. We didn’t do a convertible, no, like everyone else. And we raised about $700,000 in small checks. So we had a huge cap table with really small investors.

Megan Bruneau: How much do you get from Techstars?

Olivia Landau: $120,000.

Megan Bruneau: Okay. So you’re going out with less than a million? Yeah. Did that seem like it was enough to move forward in the way that you wanted to, or how were you feeling at that time?

Olivia Landau: I mean, I was always like, I was like, “I only need like $300,000 to do this,” but you always want a little bit extra for mistakes and things like that. So it wasn’t ideal. But I was like, “Great, I’ll get to own more equity in the business and I’ll have more control and I won’t have a board of people that don’t know what they’re talking about, telling me what to do.”

Megan Bruneau: So, and then how did you deploy that capital? What did you prioritize?

Olivia Landau: We were super capital-efficient. Basically, it was operating capital, to just help us, you know, fund orders, build out our website. We didn’t have anything, like a few soundbites, hire our first employees. But we were profitable pretty early in the beginning. Right after Techstars, we got this article in Business Insider that featured us, and it really was a catalyst to a ton of business. So we were like, “Okay, we should invest in PR.” And so that was a big expense in the beginning too.

Megan Bruneau: And was it worth it?

Olivia Landau: I think so. It all depends. Sometimes it’s totally, in my opinion, not worth it. And then sometimes you’re like, “Okay, fine, that was worth it.” So it’s not a consistent, reliable thing. But when you do get a win, it does work out. So in the beginning we were extremely capital-efficient because we were so lean and we had nothing. Now we have a lot more overhead, but it allowed us to have time to figure things out and grow, you know.

Reflecting on the Entrepreneurial Journey

Megan Bruneau: Is there anything you would have done differently, like just looking back on that whole building process or the initial building stages, anything that you would change or advice you’d have for anyone listening?

Olivia Landau: I don’t think so. I don’t think I…

Megan Bruneau: It sounds like you did it right.

Olivia Landau: There were a lot of question marks at the time because we did things pretty unconventionally, especially for the time. But, you know, maybe if I could, I would have raised a little bit more money, but…

Megan Bruneau: Right. Well, it sounds like you’ve worked very hard to raise what you did, and you made it work. And as you said, less, you know, investors at the cap table telling you what to do, and you got to have more equity in the company. At what point did you realize this is working, like, “Okay, Kyle, you’re right,” you know? Like, was there a moment or was there something that happened or, you know, you saw or whatever, where you’re like, “Oh, like, this is really working now”?

Olivia Landau: I think it was, you know, quickly out of Techstars, and when we first hired our employee. We doubled revenue every single year for the first four years. And we were growing really, really quickly, and I think so right out the gate, I was like, “Okay, we’re onto something.” And then we launched our fine jewelry portion in 2019, the year after. And then 2020 happened, which was a whole other crazy thing. And that’s when we started building out the tech, right before Covid. But I think actually during Covid was when we were like, “This is it.” Like we were, I was like, “We’re geniuses.” I mean, as founders, sometimes you feel like the biggest idiot and sometimes you’re like, “I’m a genius.” And that was a time where I was like, “Oh my God. Like, we’re geniuses. We figured it out,” because we built this, we started building our software in 2020. And then obviously Covid was devastating. And we make all of our jewelry here. So for a month I was like, “We’re going to go out of business. It is what it is.” And then a month later, every single other jewelry store was closed down and people were stuck at home with their significant others wanting to celebrate something. And our business exploded.

The Tech-Enabled Personal Touch

Megan Bruneau: Right? Because people could do everything remotely with your business where they wouldn’t have been able to otherwise, having to go into a store. And at that point, did you ever end up moving forward with a quiz or what did the process look like with people working with your tech?

Olivia Landau: No, we never moved forward with the quiz. But we do, and this is also a criticism that I feel really strongly about, having everyone who wants to go into the bespoke engagement process have an initial phone consultation with their gemologist. And I know this is a heavy lift, but I’ve always had the idea, if you aren’t willing to spend ten minutes on the phone, you’re probably not willing to part with $10,000-plus dollars for this ring. So we feel really strongly about making that personal connection with someone. So you really understand what they’re looking for, what they’re prioritizing. You can explain the process, and then after that, we add them into our gem portal, which is the software we built. So they have a beautiful, front-end experience where they always have a direct connection to their gemologist where they can message. They’ll be able to see all of the diamonds we curated for them, go through the whole process of payment, ring design, everything through the front end and the back end. We built all these tools to scale our process beyond. So we have very few gemologists because it’s actually really hard to hire for these super-skilled people. But we wanted to make sure that with our gemologist, all they were doing was looking at diamonds and talking to clients and not doing any other busy work. So we’re able to scale the inventory in a way that’s just so efficient. Understand the sales process, the psyche of how it works with the clients. And then the industry is super antiquated, and a lot of it is still pen and paper and handshake agreements, even for our jewelry vendors. So we had to build a whole manufacturing backbone ourselves with QR codes and understanding where things were in the process and how would our jewelers actually work with this and implement it because they, you know, don’t want to. So we built out this whole ten-step back-end process for our production and our inventory and then also for our client experience.

Megan Bruneau: Wow. I mean, that sounds like a huge undertaking. Would you purchase the gems wholesale yourselves first, and then have those in your inventory and then share those with potential buyers? Or was this a case where people tell you what you’re looking for, and then you would go seek out the gem that they’re looking for?

Olivia Landau: A key part of our business model is we never wanted to hold inventory and need to sell that inventory. The goal was always to understand what the client wants and get them exactly what they want. So we wouldn’t be pushing one diamond over another. So there’s this whole thing in the diamond industry where you get things on consignment, once you build relationships with large manufacturers, which takes time. But I had those relationships from my previous job. So, a client would say, “I want this.” Then we would source the diamonds and look at them in person and then present them. And then when the client purchases it, then we would purchase in full, they only give us a deposit, and then we would float it until the ring was created and we would ship it out.

Megan Bruneau: And how did you navigate building out your business model to account for that additional lift, the intimacy of the process and the personalized element?

Olivia Landau: That was always the business model from the beginning, and it was trying to scale that human expertise because, unlike any other purchase, even other jewelry purchases, the engagement ring is so emotional. And a lot of times, it’s one of the biggest purchases a young person makes in their lifetime. Like that’s the first big one. So it really requires that hand-holding a bit. And so it was just like, how do we scale that hand-holding throughout the process without getting rid of it and being faceless?

Demystifying Diamonds: Education, Ethics, and Lab-Grown

Megan Bruneau: I think this is a great time to move into some diamond education questions because, you know, if someone, I mean, I am married, I do have a beautiful diamond ring that my husband did all the work on, and I still don’t know anything about the 4Cs or anything like that. So I think a couple of questions that I have for you. First of all, in that diamond education process, what’s important for people to know around what to look for? Then, what makes a fair trade ethical diamond? I think that’s an interesting field or area, and I don’t know how honest everybody’s being or like. It seems like there are places where a person can say something is ethical, but maybe it’s not so ethical. Some people are like, “Every diamond is a blood diamond.” So I’m curious your thoughts on that. And I’d love to hear about the lab-grown diamond industry, how you guys are navigating that and what your thoughts are and how that’s impacting the diamond industry in general.

Olivia Landau: You know, it’s interesting, most of our clients have been following us on social media for a long time, and how we started was always education first. And most of our content is educational content. We always joke that a follower of ours probably knows a lot more about diamonds than most salespeople in jewelry stores across the country. Like they know the niche, nitty-gritty. It’s always important to do your research, try things on, get knowledgeable about. I always say set a budget and then work within that to find out. What do you want to prioritize and what’s important to you? What are you okay compromising on? Because it’s all going to be scales. That’s how to first start it. Also the basis, if you’re looking for a natural diamond, I would only look at a GIA certified diamond because they have the strictest standards. And then you’ll know that the quality you’re looking for is that. What shape are you looking for? Different shapes present themselves differently with the characteristics. If you want an emerald cut, you know, you might be able to compromise on color, but not clarity. Vice versa with an oval. Within that, how niche are you going to go? What proportion do you like? What’s your ideal length-to-width ratio for your oval? And then, you know, how do you want it to be set? So there’s so much information and it gets, you want to start big and then narrow it, narrow it, narrow it down, until we find that perfect one for you. And a lot of it is subjective, you know, like, everyone’s going to be like, “What’s the perfect combination or what’s the perfect ratio?” There is none. It really depends on the specific diamond. And what’s so amazing about diamonds is each one is so unique. You can try to standardize and grade it as much as possible, but at the end of the day, each one is truly one of a kind. So, it depends on that diamond. It depends on what you want. It has nothing to do with what other people think.

Megan Bruneau: That sounds like a very subjective process. And I’m just thinking about all the people who buy diamond rings for their partners without involving their partners, what that must look like and how they must make those decisions. It must be challenging because it is such an individualized process for us.

Olivia Landau: Over 90% of couples work together to pick the one. I mean, yeah.

Megan Bruneau: I would imagine that makes a lot more sense, but there’s such a huge purchase, you don’t want to be like, “Oh, actually, that’s not something that they like.” So what are your standards in terms of the gem for the diamonds that you work with, that you source, that you have any kind of guidelines there or anything that helps you hold yourself to a higher standard or ensure that you are ethical?

Olivia Landau: Yes. In terms of quality, we only work with natural, untreated, and GIA certified diamonds as a baseline. And then there are some quality standards. Every single diamond will be inspected by our team of gemologists to make sure every single diamond is eye-clean. There’s no warmth coming through, everything’s well-proportioned. So it goes through our internal checklist. In terms of the blood diamond narrative, I think it’s really interesting that the majority of people still think that most natural diamonds are blood diamonds, because they are probably the most regulated natural resource out there, far more than other materials, even gold. So and no one even thinks about blood gold, but that’s probably more of a thing than a blood diamond. The majority, I mean, all the diamonds you’re going to see come through the US market are going to not only be ethical, they’re going to be diamonds that actually are for development. And countries rely on them. Take a country like Botswana, 80% of their GDP is due to natural diamond exports. Every single person in that country goes to school for free and they get a stipend because of natural diamonds. All their healthcare is free. So it’s not like natural diamonds aren’t blood diamonds. And I think there’s a lot of misconceptions because of the past and what has happened historically. But in modern day, it literally upholds entire economies, you know.

Megan Bruneau: What does it mean for a diamond to be ethically sourced? What does that actually mean?

Olivia Landau: It means that it’s not funding war. Basically, a blood diamond was when people were trading diamonds for weapons to fuel civil wars and things like that.

Megan Bruneau: Right. So that’s diamond used for good?

Olivia Landau: Yes. The diamond used for good, which is the majority and all the diamonds you’re going to see come through the U.S. market. They want to be able to flow here without going through the Kimberly Process. And now it goes even a step further. We just launched a collection of jewelry—I’m wearing our bracelet right now, actually—with Tracer diamonds. So all of these diamonds are on the blockchain and you can trace them from the exact origin, what it looked like rough, how it was planned, cut, and polished all the way to the end and see where it came from and all of the benefits it had along the way on the blockchain.

Megan Bruneau: Oh, that’s so cool. Did you guys come up with that or who came up with that process?

Olivia Landau: It’s DeBeers’ technology called Tracer.

Megan Bruneau: That’s so reassuring for anyone who has a lot of guilt, doesn’t want to be wearing diamonds, that they think people’s lives are ruined in the process of sourcing.

Olivia Landau: And I think that no matter what, you don’t have to worry about that in modern day. Yeah.

The Lab-Grown Diamond Discussion

Megan Bruneau: That’s great. Now moving into the lab diamond movement and industry. What are your thoughts on that?

Olivia Landau: It’s really interesting. And there’s just a lot of misinformation and misconceptions around it. I think the lab industry plays a lot into this negative narrative of natural diamonds, whereas they position lab-grown diamonds as more ethical and more sustainable, whereas no one’s really questioning where are these lab-grown diamonds made? Because most of them are mass-manufactured in factories in India and China using insane amounts of, you need methane gas. You need insane amounts of fossil fuels, because you’re taking a process that happens under the Earth’s surface over billions of years and recreating that in a lab over a few days, it takes a lot of energy to do. There’s almost zero regulation around it. So it’s interesting what people think is more ethical and sustainable. And I don’t know what the labor practices are in those factories. So that’s one thing. I think there’s a lot of misinformation and misconception, and a lot of it is fueled by the industry itself for these reasons. One is, the jewelry industry, kind of going full circle back to my interview for Techstars, it’s a really efficient, at least diamond pricing is really efficient. Like, unlike most people believe, unless you’re in a high jewelry situation, like a Tiffany or Cartier, margins on diamonds are really slim. And so lab-grown diamonds presented a new opportunity for a lot of jewelers to make a lot of margin and have a much easier sell. For instance, you can have a natural diamond that costs wholesale like $17,000, and maybe the jeweler would be able to sell it for $20,000. Now they can get a lab-grown diamond, which is about $100 a carat, and say, “Hey,” they can buy it for $200 and say, “This is $10,000 and looks exactly the same, and it’s more ethical and more sustainable.” And then they just made like $9,800 on something and it’s a much easier sell. So it was really fueled by the “this is more ethical, sustainable, and it’s so much and it’s cheaper and it’s the exact same thing.” I think they’re going to be here forever. It’s a new portion of the market. But I think that there’s a lot of misinformation saying they’re the same thing or they’re more ethical or sustainable. There have been synthetic versions of natural gemstones for hundreds of years. So emeralds, rubies, sapphires, there’s lab-grown versions of those, but they haven’t replaced the natural counterpart of it. Where I see the lab-grown diamonds long term is really replacing the simulants, so like the cubic zirconia, being a really great alternative for fashion jewelry. But I think there’s a lot of misinformation and a lot of education needed behind it. The industry’s not willing to do because they don’t want to lose their profit margin. The reason why we didn’t get into it is cause from being in GIA and seeing what happened with the lab-grown gemstones, taking a longer view approach, I was like, “How can I say that I’m empowering my customers with the most informative education on how to purchase something and then also in the same breath, sell them something that I would not, you know, recommend to my best friend?”

Megan Bruneau: That’s your integrity speaking. That’s so interesting, Olivia. Thank you for sharing all that. I imagine most people listening, this is news for them because I got married only last August, so we got engaged last February. So it’s really only been a little over a year. And I remember going through that process. I mean, like, “I don’t know, maybe I should do lab-grown because it’s more ethical, makes more sense in this way and that way.” And I had no idea the process that it actually takes. And in comparison to today’s natural diamond process being very ethical. So that’s really interesting. And also the piece you mentioned around how a lot of the major players in the industry probably, yeah, the De Beers, the Tiffany’s, everything like that. They’re hesitant to do that education because they see the market opportunity with lab-grown diamonds and want to be able to kind of like parallel path them, if that makes sense. Are they all tapping into those industries as well? With lab-grown?

Olivia Landau: Tiffany and the high jewelry, they’re not doing lab-grown, but the industry is very fragmented and most is independently run businesses. And every single one of them is definitely tapped into it.

Megan Bruneau: Where do you see that going? If you were to project? And of course, none of us can tell the future, but just knowing what you know, do you think that the lab-grown industry is going to continue to grow, or at least for like, engagement rings? I know you said like it’ll replace the cubic zirconia and whatnot, but do you think it’ll continue to grow or do you think with more education, people are going to move away from that more?

Olivia Landau: So it’s interesting because lab-grown diamond pricing is falling significantly. Now, we are the first company to ever offer a free lab-grown diamond for a travel ring. We purchase our lab-grown diamonds that are certified for $100 a carat, and now you can get them uncertified for like $20, $30 a carat. So the price is falling dramatically. And I think with everything, you know, your margin is my opportunity. So you’re already seeing a lot of competition within the space because it’s a product that floods the market. You can create an unlimited supply. With more supply and more people tapping into it, it’s like, “Oh, you’re selling that for $5,000, I’ll sell it for three,” and someone else will sell it for $1,500. And it’s kind of like a race to the bottom. I think it will take quite a few years for the general consumer to get up to speed and fully educated on it. But I do think that there will be a bifurcation in the market, just like what happened with the diamond simulants. It’s just going to take time.

Megan Bruneau: And I imagine too with engagement rings. I mean, there’s probably nothing that has like more psychological weight. Maybe there is if we were to really think about it. But it’s obviously meant to be an investment, right? In a partnership or, you know, a lifetime.

Olivia Landau: There is that mental ceiling. People don’t want to spend more on the dinner that they celebrate their engagement with than their actual engagement ring. So, like, no one’s going to want to spend $300 on a ring, they want to spend $3,000. And that’s why it’s going to take a little bit longer for the market to be efficient and correct because of that mental ceiling people have with that particular purchase.

Megan Bruneau: And nobody’s going to want to receive a ring that doesn’t seem like it was an investment for the other person. Of course, that number specifically changes based on a person’s socio-economic status. But I think it’ll be really interesting to see how things unfold. Thank you for sharing all of that. Is there anything else? It’s just a little interesting tidbits about the diamond industry that we might want to know.

Olivia Landau: Oh my God, there’s so many. I don’t even know where to start.

Megan Bruneau: Any favorites of yours? Good, like, you know, dinner party conversations.

Olivia Landau: I mean, we tapped into a lot of, I think, what’s most interesting and what I’m most passionate about is that the natural diamond industry doesn’t talk about all of the positives that they do and how incredible. People don’t even know that Canada is one of the largest producers of natural diamonds. Everyone kind of thinks that it is a child on a mine who’s going to die. And it’s really the opposite. And that was the most mind-blowing thing for me when I went to Botswana for the first time, to hear people from there not be able to grasp that this is a concept in the U.S. and be like, “Why? Like diamonds are everything. Like that’s why we’re here, why I’m going to school.” And I think that a lot of times we other or we have this weird idea of what Africa is and what diamonds are. And it’s just like, it actually perpetuates a lot of colonial stereotypes when we think that we’re actually helping, but we’re hurting people, you know, so helpful.

Megan Bruneau: Thank you. And as a proud Canadian, I’m somewhat embarrassed that I didn’t know that. So thank you for educating me. Then, just like moving back to your journey, it sounds like things started taking off. You were seeing that traction. It was all starting to make sense. You’re like, “Oh, I actually see this here.” Even though the margins weren’t and still aren’t significant. Where did you go from now? I understand you have 15 employees today, or about 15 employees, and you’re reaching $100 million in revenue. Where are you now and what feels like it’s next for The Clear Cut?

The Future of The Clear Cut and the Diamond Industry

Olivia Landau: Yeah. I mean, when I first started, I didn’t think I would be a natural diamond spokesperson or pioneer. That’s not what I signed up to do. But I feel a lot of responsibility for the category and telling the story. And that’s part of my educational, passionate about diamonds. I see us continuing to grow and carve out that niche for those looking to want something one-of-a-kind. You need to have a story behind it, really leaning into the traceability aspect, not only to tell that natural diamond story of each country of origin, but like, you know, continue to grow the technology. We are always building on our software to be the most efficient, the best way to help out our customers and be at the forefront of what’s next. And I think the industry is just very interesting because it is changing so quickly for an industry that did not change for hundreds of years. It is, since I’ve been in it, on the fast track and every year, it’s a whole new story. And I think that can be scary and intimidating for a lot of people. But for me, I think there’s just so much opportunity that I don’t even know what’s out there next. And I’m really excited.

Megan Bruneau: How has it changed and how do you see it changing, especially so quickly?

Olivia Landau: Well, when I was at GIA, and this was in 2013, people were like, “No one’s ever going to buy a diamond on the internet without seeing it in person.” So we’ve come a long way from that. And now with the change, even in the past, like the introduction of lab, the fall of lab, the change in what tariffs are going to do. Everything is the and now with blockchain and technology, there’s just so much going on, I don’t even know where to start.

Megan Bruneau: How are you feeling about the potential tariffs?

Olivia Landau: It’s interesting. We always, you know, we’re criticized for making everything in the U.S. in the beginning. Because most people manufacture overseas and, now it seems like a positive thing. But of course for the diamonds, we’ll see what happens. You know, it’s a very global and international business for both natural and lab. We don’t mine diamonds in the U.S. And they’re mostly cut and polished in India. So it’s going to be interesting to see how it all shakes out. But I’m not going to get worried about anything until it’s kind of like, wait and see and then adjust from there.

Megan Bruneau: Exactly. And I imagine you’ll there’ll be a lot of others in the same boat, if that’s the case. And you can kind of all be in it together. Yes, exactly. And how about your transition from co-founder with Kyle to now CEO of a team of 15? What does that look like?

Olivia Landau: It’s been fun. And, you know, I, I’m still doing a lot of stuff, but it goes from not actually doing everything myself to being able to train people and manage people and delegate and be a leader, which are all these new skills that you don’t know. You kind of, I always say, I’m learning with my team. There’s no way to jump in and just be a CEO. You kind of go through it. So of course I’ve made lots of mistakes along the way, learned. But I think as time goes on and I’m tested and there are so many new situations, every time there’s a problem, it’s a smaller problem and I feel more confident in being able to tackle it.

Megan Bruneau: Amazing. How have you grown into that role and any specific skills that you’ve taken on or knowledge or wisdom you’ve gained that you can share?

Olivia Landau: I think, you know, when you start something from nothing, you take a lot of things super personally. Like when, your first employee quits, it’s the most devastating thing ever. And you take it as a personal attack, when really it has nothing to do with you. And I think, every single small mistake that you make with a client, everything is a learning opportunity. And I think as you just go through more challenges with your business, it just builds a thicker skin and more perspective. And now when there’s a problem, I’m like, “Let me go into my little Rolodex of all the problems I’ve ever dealt with and like, okay, here, I know how to deal with this or I’m going to take this learning from some other time.” So now it’s just like, you know, I know I’m going to get through it and nothing’s personal. And the most constant thing is change. And just being able to not be afraid of that and being able to tackle challenges head-on.

Megan Bruneau: Yes. I love that perspective. And how about for you and Kyle, who’ve gone from boyfriend and girlfriend to co-founders to married to parents, and it sounds like a relatively young child, what has that journey looked like? And what do you guys do to ensure the health of your relationship and family, but also being co-founders?

Olivia Landau: It’s crazy because yeah, we were not even engaged when we started this. And I think that we’ve grown with the business a lot and having a child, getting married, all those are new challenges and new things to figure out. And we always say, The Clear Cut is our first child and our first baby. So it kind of prepared us. It’s really just balancing because our life is so intertwined with our work and everyone’s like, “How do you not talk about work all the time?” And we do. We just talk about work all the time and it is what it is. But we’re both really passionate about it. I think it’s kind of romantic at the same time, to be building something out of nothing together. And, it’s really also reassuring to have someone who’s gone through all those challenges with you to be able to bounce, just talk about it, because I think being a solo founder, a lot of time can be very isolating and challenging to not have someone to talk to that gets it. And that’s also why I love talking to other founders too, even if they’re in completely different businesses. You can really relate on a totally different level. But it’s nice to have that support and that perspective every day.

Megan Bruneau: Do you belong to any organizations or communities, how do you ensure that you get that itch scratched and have that community?

Olivia Landau: I’m still a mentor at Techstars. I’m also a mentor at NYU, for their startup community. And then we’re really still close with a lot of people that were in our original cohort and seeing where everyone’s at and staying in each other’s lives. It’s just nice and refreshing to always have that.

Megan Bruneau: That’s awesome. And then how about your transition to being a mom, building this company, still very much growing and putting your all into it? How did you navigate and how do you continue to navigate that?

Olivia Landau: It’s extremely challenging. For instance, I was back in the office with my newborn after two weeks. I didn’t have a choice. That’s kind of what it is. But you figure it out and you make it work. And I think now I have to be a little bit more flexible with my time and prioritizing things. Every minute now is very, it has to be really structured. And I have to intentionally carve out time on the weekends, when, you know, I am putting all my energy into him and not doing other things. And you just become very, very efficient with all of your time.

Megan Bruneau: Yeah, it sounds like it. How do you take care of yourself in the midst of all that?

Olivia Landau: I think it’s really important to schedule that time. And I think it’s really important for me to have time to exercise and work out and feel like myself a little bit more. And in the beginning, like the newborn phase, I don’t wish that upon anyone. That is, I’m not a newborn phase person. But now that he’s getting older, he’s getting a little bit more predictable. It’s getting easier. And I think, it’s more like we’re still so new at it. So we’re kind of figuring it out together. But I’m so happy that I have the support of my husband, who is in it with me and understands my work. And we can kind of rely on each other a bit too. I have so much respect for working mothers. It is a lot harder. I was like, “Oh, everyone has a kid and a business.” It’s totally fine. It’s really, really hard.

Megan Bruneau: Thank you for naming that because I think that’s something that a lot of women feel shame around if they acknowledge it, right? Or we’re supposed to do it all and to recognize like, no, it’s really fucking hard and not everybody can do all of that or should.

Olivia Landau: And I’m like, I have literally no judgments or opinions on how you choose to raise your kid or do whatever, because it’s whatever works for you. You’re a great mom, you know.

Megan Bruneau: I love that perspective. In terms of where The Clear Cut is now, any challenges that are kind of on the forefront or sticky spots that you’re trying to work through at this moment?

Olivia Landau: Yeah, I think trying to always be at the forefront of what our customers want and need. Or also, like I mentioned, trying to navigate the really quickly changing global environment of the world, the challenges with telling, and explaining, and educating the natural diamond story while combating a lot of misconceptions on the other side. And, the unpredictability of tariffs, global impact on the business. And, just trying to continue to grow steady and, you know, serve our clients with the best quality products and the best customer service possible.

Megan Bruneau: Yes. Amazing. I know that sounds like quite the equation that you’re navigating. It’s a lot to, a lot of plates to spin and a lot of uncertainty. Like you mentioned before, as we move toward closing, is there anything else that you feel like you want to share that you haven’t yet that seems important or might be helpful advice or words of wisdom for aspiring entrepreneurs or those who are sort of in the trenches right now?

Olivia Landau: I think going back to what I was talking about, like what I learned at Techstars, I think it’s so important if you are interested in starting a business or being an entrepreneur, you don’t have to wait for that perfect moment or for everything to be all the stars to be aligned. I think taking a first step, even if you’re not quitting your job or doing anything, but just starting that side hustle or making that first move, or putting out your first video, to not be, don’t have that imposter syndrome or be embarrassed to take that first step because you never know what’s going to happen and what’s the worst that can happen? It doesn’t work out. And then you just do something else.

Megan Bruneau: Exactly. It sounds like that was what carried you through, right? And gave you that extra confidence to take those leaps and look where you are now. Amazing. Where can people find you? And The Clear Cut?

Olivia Landau: So you can follow The Clear Cut on Instagram and TikTok at @theclearcut and shop at theclearcut.co. And if you want to follow me personally, I’m at @olivialandau on Instagram.

Megan Bruneau: Thank you so much Olivia for all of your openness and wisdom today. Your story is so inspiring and I really hope that encourages people to take that step and ask themselves, “What’s the worst that’s going to happen?”

Olivia Landau: Thank you so much for having me.

Disclaimer:

Olivia shares her view that natural diamonds can be more ethical than lab-grown alternatives. This is a nuanced topic; what is “ethical” depends on your values. Natural diamonds may support economies like Botswana’s, while lab-grown stones produced with renewable energy may appeal to those prioritizing environmental impact.

Some stats shared from memory have been clarified:

• Diamonds make up 25–30% of Botswana’s GDP, not 80% as mentioned (that figure refers to exports).
• Diamond revenues fund free primary education, subsidized secondary education, and universal healthcare in Botswana.
• While “stipends” aren’t standard, the government provides scholarships and financial support to students and select groups.

We’ve included these clarifications to support informed decision-making.

Megan Bruneau, M.A. Psych is a therapist, executive coach, and the founder of Off The Field Executive & Personal Coaching. She hosts The Failure Factor podcast featuring conversations with entrepreneurs about the setbacks that led to their success.