Jackie Aina Nearly Gave Away 40% Of ‘FORVR Mood’ Before Choosing To Bet On Herself

The beauty entrepreneur proves that protecting ownership can be just as valuable as raising capital.

Beauty entrepreneur and content creator Jackie Aina is opening up about one of the biggest financial decisions she made while building her multimillion-dollar lifestyle brand, FORVR Mood.

Speaking on the Black Tech Green Money podcast, Aina revealed that she nearly signed away close to 40% ownership of the company before deciding to bootstrap the business alongside her husband and co-founder, Denis Asamoah—a decision she now credits with helping them maintain control of the brand, reports AfroTech.

“When we first started, we almost gave away like 40% of our company,” Aina said, according to AfroTech. “Thank God we didn’t.”

Jackie Aina And Denis Asamoah Avoided Investment Capital

Instead of taking outside capital before proving the business model, the couple invested their own money to launch FORVR Mood in 2020. The self-care brand debuted with candles before expanding into fragrances and other lifestyle products, quickly building a loyal customer base and eventually landing on Sephora shelves.

According to Denis Asamoah, the decision to avoid outside investors early on was strategic.

“It was very important to launch our first brand, not with investment,” he said on the podcast. “If you’re going into a business with an investor, you’ve got no track record, no sales records, you’re literally giving up a lot of your business to begin with.”

He added that building traction before fundraising also strengthened the company’s negotiating position.

“Once we raise investment, we’d rather take a minority deal where they only come in at 15% to 20% in terms of the first investment deal,” Asamoah explained.

That strategy paid off. FORVR Mood launched with a waitlist of more than 45,000 people, and the company’s initial inventory sold out within hours. By late 2022, the brand had surpassed 100,000 customer orders and has since expanded into fragrances, with products now carried by Sephora.

Shifting To A Money-Making Mind Set

For Aina, betting on herself came after years of helping other companies generate revenue through her influence as one of YouTube’s most recognizable beauty creators.

“I had made millions for brands that I’ve collaborated with, brands that I’ve posted about, brands that I’ve advertised on my platform,” she said. “If I’m capable of doing that for them, why not bet on me and do that for myself?”

The founder has also acknowledged that bootstrapping came with challenges, including supply chain disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic and costly inventory forecasting mistakes. Still, she says those experiences ultimately strengthened the business.

“This is in the middle of the logistics crisis. Every brand was struggling,” Aina recalled. “We couldn’t foresee any of that… but it was one of those things where if we could make it through that, I think we could make it through anything.”