Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Yasmina Elmerkaoui had one shot - use the house deposit to buy a home, or bet it all on a hair gel she'd spent two years formulating. She chose the hair gel. On launch night she packed orders until 5am, drove them to the post office herself, and woke up to find all 20,000 units - what she thought was a year's worth of stock - completely gone in 24 hours. Macao is now on track for eight figures in its third year, built on 90,000 Instagram followers, zero outside funding at launch, and a pre-launch call to her manufacturer that saved everything.
In this interview, Yasmina breaks down the exact pre-launch move that meant stock was already in production when she sold out overnight, how she turned copycats into a celebration, and the investor email she kept deleting because she thought it was a scam.
What you'll learn in this interview:
• Why she bet the house deposit on a hair gel - and the mentor conversation that pushed her over the line
• How nearly $10,000 in sampling and a $30,000 first run taught her what building a real product actually costs
• The pre-launch gut call - why she paid a deposit to start production before launch, and how it saved the business when everything sold out in 24 hours
• Why she started signing customer service emails under a male alias - and why it actually worked
• How she used UGC creators from day one to fill the feed with different faces, ethnicities, and hair types so the brand didn't rely on just her
• The Black Friday disaster that made a year's revenue in one week - then nearly broke her entire operation
• Why she kept deleting the investor email from Capital Influence because she thought it was a Facebook scam
• What finally convinced her to give up equity - and why it was about experience, not money
• The "create your own bundle" feature that raised average order value without a single extra product
• Why she celebrates copycats - and the mindset that keeps her focused on what's next instead of what's being copied
If you're an early stage DTC founder, a content creator thinking about launching your own product, or trying to figure out how to turn a loyal audience into actual sales without burning the trust you've built, this conversation will fundamentally change how you think about community, launch strategy, and what it really takes to go from house deposit to eight figures.
SAVE 50% ON OMNISEND FOR 3 MONTHS Get 50% off your first 3 months of email and SMS marketing with Omnisend using the code FOUNDR50. Start here → your.omnisend.com/foundr
WANT TO GROW YOUR BRAND WITH META ADS? Join the Foundr Operators Waitlist → foundr.com/operators
HOW WE CAN HELP YOU SCALE YOUR BUSINESS FASTER Learn directly from 7, 8 and 9-figure founders inside Foundr+ Start your $1 trial → foundr.com/startdollartrial
PREFER A CUSTOM ROADMAP AND 1-ON-1 COACHING?
Starting from scratch? Apply here → foundr.com/pages/coaching-start-application
Already have a store? Apply here → foundr.com/pages/coaching-growth-application
CONNECT WITH NATHAN CHAN
Instagram → instagram.com/nathanchan
LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/nathanhchan
CONNECT WITH YASMINA ELMERKAOIU
Instagram → instagram.com/mrs.yasmina
LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/yasmina-elmerkaoui-191b69262
Website → merkaou.com
0:00 House Deposit or Hair Gel — She Chose the Hair Gel
1:24 The Postpartum Problem That Started Everything
4:46 18 Months, 10,000 Samples, and $40K Before a Single Sale
9:31 90,000 Followers, One Month of Hype, 20,000 Units Gone in 24 Hours
12:00 Packing Orders Until 5am — Then Running to the Post Office
14:35 Broken Bottles, Fragile Stickers, and Keeping Up With Demand
16:00 Why She Tried to Hide Her Face From Her Own Brand
18:51 The Fictional Male Alias She Created for Customer Service
20:55 Accidentally Ordering 30,000 Shipping Bags Instead of 3,000
23:09 What She Wishes Every Founder Knew Before Starting
26:01 First Ever Black Friday: Made a Full Year's Revenue in One Week
27:30 The Christmas Stock Nightmare That Nearly Broke Her
30:28 Investors She Never Asked For — and Why She's Glad She Said Yes
40:59 Getting Copied and Why She Celebrates It
43:04 The Community She Knows by Name, Not by Number
45:03 Bundles and AOV: The Strategy Driving Order Value Up
49:30 Final Thoughts and Wrap Up
FOLLOW FOUNDR FOR MORE BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGIES
YouTube → bit.ly/2uyvzdt
Website → foundr.com
Instagram → instagram.com/foundr
Facebook → facebook.com/foundr
Twitter → twitter.com/foundr
LinkedIn → linkedin.com/company/foundr
Podcast → foundr.com/podcast
Yasmina Elmerkaoui had one shot - use the house deposit to buy a home, or bet it all on a hair gel she'd spent two years formulating. She chose the hair gel. On launch night she packed orders until 5am, drove them to the post office herself, and woke up to find all 20,000 units - what she thought was a year's worth of stock - completely gone in 24 hours. Macao is now on track for eight figures in its third year, built on 90,000 Instagram followers, zero outside funding at launch, and a pre-launch call to her manufacturer that saved everything.
In this interview, Yasmina breaks down the exact pre-launch move that meant stock was already in production when she sold out overnight, how she turned copycats into a celebration, and the investor email she kept deleting because she thought it was a scam.
What you'll learn in this interview:
• Why she bet the house deposit on a hair gel - and the mentor conversation that pushed her over the line
• How nearly $10,000 in sampling and a $30,000 first run taught her what building a real product actually costs
• The pre-launch gut call - why she paid a deposit to start production before launch, and how it saved the business when everything sold out in 24 hours
• Why she started signing customer service emails under a male alias - and why it actually worked
• How she used UGC creators from day one to fill the feed with different faces, ethnicities, and hair types so the brand didn't rely on just her
• The Black Friday disaster that made a year's revenue in one week - then nearly broke her entire operation
• Why she kept deleting the investor email from Capital Influence because she thought it was a Facebook scam
• What finally convinced her to give up equity - and why it was about experience, not money
• The "create your own bundle" feature that raised average order value without a single extra product
• Why she celebrates copycats - and the mindset that keeps her focused on what's next instead of what's being copied
If you're an early stage DTC founder, a content creator thinking about launching your own product, or trying to figure out how to turn a loyal audience into actual sales without burning the trust you've built, this conversation will fundamentally change how you think about community, launch strategy, and what it really takes to go from house deposit to eight figures.
SAVE 50% ON OMNISEND FOR 3 MONTHS Get 50% off your first 3 months of email and SMS marketing with Omnisend using the code FOUNDR50. Start here → your.omnisend.com/foundr
WANT TO GROW YOUR BRAND WITH META ADS? Join the Foundr Operators Waitlist → foundr.com/operators
HOW WE CAN HELP YOU SCALE YOUR BUSINESS FASTER Learn directly from 7, 8 and 9-figure founders inside Foundr+ Start your $1 trial → foundr.com/startdollartrial
PREFER A CUSTOM ROADMAP AND 1-ON-1 COACHING?
Starting from scratch? Apply here → foundr.com/pages/coaching-start-application
Already have a store? Apply here → foundr.com/pages/coaching-growth-application
CONNECT WITH NATHAN CHAN
Instagram → instagram.com/nathanchan
LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/nathanhchan
CONNECT WITH YASMINA ELMERKAOIU
Instagram → instagram.com/mrs.yasmina
LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/yasmina-elmerkaoui-191b69262
Website → merkaou.com
0:00 House Deposit or Hair Gel — She Chose the Hair Gel
1:24 The Postpartum Problem That Started Everything
4:46 18 Months, 10,000 Samples, and $40K Before a Single Sale
9:31 90,000 Followers, One Month of Hype, 20,000 Units Gone in 24 Hours
12:00 Packing Orders Until 5am — Then Running to the Post Office
14:35 Broken Bottles, Fragile Stickers, and Keeping Up With Demand
16:00 Why She Tried to Hide Her Face From Her Own Brand
18:51 The Fictional Male Alias She Created for Customer Service
20:55 Accidentally Ordering 30,000 Shipping Bags Instead of 3,000
23:09 What She Wishes Every Founder Knew Before Starting
26:01 First Ever Black Friday: Made a Full Year's Revenue in One Week
27:30 The Christmas Stock Nightmare That Nearly Broke Her
30:28 Investors She Never Asked For — and Why She's Glad She Said Yes
40:59 Getting Copied and Why She Celebrates It
43:04 The Community She Knows by Name, Not by Number
45:03 Bundles and AOV: The Strategy Driving Order Value Up
49:30 Final Thoughts and Wrap Up
FOLLOW FOUNDR FOR MORE BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGIES
YouTube → bit.ly/2uyvzdt
Website → foundr.com
Instagram → instagram.com/foundr
Facebook → facebook.com/foundr
Twitter → twitter.com/foundr
LinkedIn → linkedin.com/company/foundr
Podcast → foundr.com/podcast
