Inspiring Conversations with Ishan Dutta of Ugly Duckling Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ishan Dutta.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
So I have had a very international life and business career. I started work at L’Oreal straight out of business school in France. I was fascinated by the marketing of shampoos, hair sprays, perfumes as soon as I started. For a while I ran some haircare and styling brands for them and then became a product manager for perfumes. I was then sent by L’Oreal around the world to run business units for them: in India, Korea and also the US.

I also worked for some other major companies after that, doing similar jobs. By now running geographical regions with a diverse portfolio of brands and products.

In 2015 I I decided to quit my corporate career to start Ugly Duckling. I had always wanted to create and run my own business. I decided to open a hair color and hair care and treatment brand out of Los Angeles aimed at professionals. I would say that it’s been an amazing journey of independence, risk and self-discovery. My only regret is not having done it sooner.

And I think we haven’t done too badly! We are a really well known brand today, and our products are really unique, especially among women and stylists looking to go blonde. Women find that our products do the job amazingly well for them, better than others, and come back to buy their toners and blonding products from us. Sometimes as many as 10, 15, 20, 30 times.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Fortunately the business did pretty well from day one. We managed to hit the spot with unique products early on and the market appreciated these products. So my strategy I would say was broadly good. My biggest mistake in the early years was that I ignored profitability in favor of going for growth.

This mistake ended up costing me a lot, not just once but many times. Especially as my business was entirely self-funded. I learned the hard way, almost ran out of cash a couple of times and have subsequently learned to fix my ways and the way I do things!

So most of the adjustments that we have made have been financial ones..The prices we charge now truly reflect all my costs so that we make money on every transaction. We don’t give out free sample tubes of color any more. We use a fulfilment center which is highly cost effective with good shipping rates. We manage our costs down pretty ruthlessly at every line of the P&L and this is an exercise we repeat every year. We are now profitable, cash positive and I would say on par financially with any major beauty company in terms of return on sales, return on working capita. Maybe even better!

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We’re a professional hair color and care brand. We are known as the Blonding Company and that is what we aim to do particularly well.

Women have many unmet needs in this area. Everyone is looking for a toner that actually works! One that neutralizes brassy, yellow, even orange, One that lifts as well as tones so that the hair truly gets transformed into a beautiful white blonde.

We are known for our high-performance blonding products, our bond-protecting hair lighteners, intensive toners, and the fact that our products are enriched with Argan Oil, Bond Protect. All our hair care is acidic, low pH in other words. When customers use our products they can literally see and feel the difference on their hair.

Unlike many founders of hair product companies I do actually spend a lot of time talking to hairdressers and my clients. It makes me much more knowledgeable than your average beauty product CEO and it makes our brand that much closer to our clients. They know they can always message us, talk to us about a hair problem, send us a picture, and we’ll get right back to them with a product recommendation and a recipe. We are famous for the support that we give.

So I would say our reputation for blonding, the unique products that we have brought out, and our direct and close relationship with our clients are some of the things that make us unique.

What do you like and dislike about the city?
Los Angeles is a really fun city. I think it’s one of the nicest and most liveable cities in the US. To start with, the climate. I am a hot weather person and I’m also definitely a beach person. So a sunny day and a swimmable sea are for me sheer paradise. The city is also genuinely impressive and a great place to do business. One of the biggest ports in the US. Some of the hugest freeways I have ever seen in the world. I love all that. The variety of food and its freshness are also spectacular.

What do I not like? The fact that it’s expensive. Also dangerous in parts.

Other than that everything is good.

Pricing:

• Pricing mid to premium
• Stylists get different & better prices
• We love to work with Booth Renters
• 30 Day window for free returns

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.uglyducklingcolor.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uglyducklingcolor/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uglyducklingcolor/
• Twitter: https://x.com/uglyducklingLA
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@uglyducklinglosangeles7634
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@uglyducklingcolor