Wharton MBA's hair care startup seeks healthier scalps and a smoother supply chain

A new hair care startup — founded by a Wharton MBA student and a hairdresser — promises to make hairdressers more profitable and hair more healthy.

Jack Winn Color, which was founded in early 2015, produces a dye that is healthy for the head, not just the hair. The dye is made out of several natural ingredients: argan oil, rice protein, calendula extract and aloe vera. Co-founder Jack Winn explained that the aloe vera cleanses and protects the scalp — something he says is unique to his product. 

Jack Winn Color operates very differently from other hair product lines. The company has “re-engineered the supply chain,” said Mark Shorr, the company's chief financial officer. 

In a traditional hair dye supply chain, there are four steps between the manufacturing of the hair dye and the distribution to the hairdressers. Each of the four steps is expensive, Winn said, and each month hairdressers spend $500 to $700 on dye — much of which does not go towards the actual production of the dye. What Jack Winn Color has managed to do is eliminate the intermediate steps and spend all the money hairdressers pay for the dye on research and development in order to create a stronger, more sustainable product.

Jack Winn Color has eliminated one of the intermediate steps that involves representatives from various hair dye companies traveling to salons and taking orders of stylists by handling all order online.

They also offer several incentives to hairdressers to buy the product — the first time a hairdresser orders Jack Winn Color, he or she gets 20 percent cash back. All purchases following the initial purchase give 10 percent cash back to hairdressers. And all referrals that hairdressers make to other hairdressers also get them 10 percent cash back on future purchases.

Jack Winn Color is also slowly beginning to see clients of hairdressers request the product at their appointments, which, added Winn, is the greatest compliment to the company.

The company grew out of a Wharton Field Application Project, a project that offers Wharton MBAs the opportunity to recommend solutions to major problems facing local and national businesses. Students divide into teams of four to six participants and spend two semesters working together. At the end of the program, the teams are expected to produce a written document describing future recommendations. 

Unlike most FAPs, in which the companies meet the MBAs when they begin working on the project, Mark Shorr and Jack Winn were good friends prior to the launch of Jack Winn Color. Winn attributes the success of Jack Winn Color to an unprecedented integration between the concept of hair dye and social selling — the process of developing relationships as part of the sales process.

“[Social selling] works really well with consumer products… Most consumer products in the hair color space have just been taking most of the profits. So we’re making this huge change [by sharing with hairdressers],” Shorr said.

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