Gregg Renfrew didn’t just build a beauty brand; she helped create an entire category. Long before “clean beauty” became a marketing buzzword, Gregg was lobbying Congress, reformulating products, and turning a mission-driven idea into Beautycounter, a billion-dollar company acquired by private equity.

But the story didn’t end with the sale. Months after the $1B deal closed, Gregg was pushed out of the company she founded. What followed was a cascade of leadership changes, falling sales, and one of the most dramatic founder reversals in modern consumer business.

In this episode, Gregg tells Sammi the full story—what founders misunderstand about selling, how investor dynamics really work behind the scenes, and what it feels like to watch your life’s work unravel from the outside. Then she shares the unexpected next chapter: the 48-hour scramble to buy the company out of foreclosure, the painful shutdown year that followed, and the decision to rebuild under a new name, Counter.

Plus, Gregg opens up about walking away from private equity (for now), what she’s learned about resilience and second chances, and why starting over after a very public fall can become the most powerful chapter of all.

Follow Sammi Cohen on Instagram 

Subscribe to the Social Currency newsletter 

Follow Counter

00:00 Gregg Renfrew’s Social Currency

00:57 The Beautycounter Origin Story

02:32 Early Entrepreneurial Lessons

04:19 Inside Martha Stewart Living

08:22 Getting Fired and Starting Again

11:04 Why Clean Beauty Mattered

14:58 Building the First Products

18:56 Lobbying for Industry Reform

21:02 The Problem With “Clean”

27:24 The Sales Model Explained

35:25 Community, Women, and Work

38:35 The $1B Deal

39:31 Why Founders Sell

41:04 Investor Power Dynamics

44:15 Private Equity Reality Check

46:04 Post-Sale Fallout

47:32 Getting Pushed Out

48:52 Watching the Decline

50:28 The Brief Return

53:09 Buying It Back

55:55 The Shutdown Year

58:18 Rebuilding as Counter

01:00:51 Advice for Starting Over

01:04:42 No More Private Equity

01:10:08 Industry Shakeups

01:12:12 Social Currency Corner

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices