Alli Webb spent her twenties working in hair salons. When she moved to Los Angeles and became a stay-at-home mom, she began earning more money as a mobile hairdresser—going to a client’s home, blow-drying and styling their hair for $40. No cutting or coloring.
“I have a lot of clients” – Webb the entrepreneur said Jeff Berman on the Masters of Scale podcast earlier this month. Her initial pitch was to other mothers in the Yahoo group. To read: “I’m a stay-at-home mom and long-time hairdresser. I’ll come in and blow-dry your hair for just $40 while your kids are in bed.”
Webb’s offering was a success, and soon she couldn’t sustain with demand. She began pondering about opening a brick-and-mortar store so her customers could come to her as an alternative of her coming to them.
Her brother, a former Yahoo marketing executive Michael LandauHe expressed his willingness to financially support the business, although he had some doubts at first.
“He was a little confused, ‘Why can’t women blow-dry their own hair?'” Webb said. “And I thought, ‘You grew up with me.'” In previous interviewsWebb admitted that she had curly hair as a child and was “fascinated by her hair.”
Landau was finally convinced by the success Webb saw in her side hustle. invested $250,000, while Webb and her then-husband Cameron Webb put in about $50,000 in savings. In 2010, the founding team opened the first Drybar salon in Brentwood, California. It is famous for not offering any cuts or coloring.
Alli Webb. Photo credit: Brian Stukes/Getty Images
Although Drybar salons offered a limited range of hair services—just washes, blow-drying and styling—Webb says she wasn’t concerned about the business model. She just wanted volume: 30 to 40 blow-drys a day to break even.
Demand eventually doubled expectations — to 60 to 80 sales per day.
“Very quickly, after just a few days, we realized [that] “We caught lightning in a bottle,” Webb said. “Women came in droves. I mean, we were turning people away left and right.”
Drybar has grown to over 150 salons nationwide inside a decade. Webb it ended up being sold Drybar product line is transferred to leading consumer goods company Helen of Troy for $255 million in money in 2020 WellBiz Brands acquired franchise rights to Drybar salons in 2021 for an undisclosed amount.
Webb couldn’t have imagined what Drybar would grow to be. When she opened her first store, she simply wanted it to be a place where she could do what she loved.
“I was really excited about it and I didn’t think I could turn it into a giant, multi-million dollar empire,” she said.