#268: Gregg Renfrew, Founder and CEO of Counter – Step back to move forward

How Leaders Lead with David Novak

David Novak Leadership

Entrepreneurship, Business, Management

4.8 • 596 Ratings

🗓️ 4 December 2025

⏱️ 73 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Imagine this: you build a company from scratch, sell it at a billion-dollar valuation, get ousted, and watch it crumble under new leadership… Then you buy it back, shut it down, rebrand it, relaunch it – and grow it all over again. That’s exactly what Gregg Renfrew, the Founder and CEO of clean beauty brand Counter (formerly Beautycounter) has done. In this episode, she opens up about the emotional and strategic rollercoaster behind one of the most dramatic stories in recent business history. She shares what she’s learned about product development, resilience, and why, sometimes, you’ve got to take a step back if you want to move forward. You’ll also learn: The power of emotional connection – and emotional distance Why you probably have too many products How Martha Stewart taught her NOT to lead Her no-BS take on beauty standards (hint: it’s actually a lesson in confidence) Take your learning further. Get proven leadership advice from these (free!) resources: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The How Leaders Lead App⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: A vast library of 90-second leadership lessons to stay sharp on the go ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daily Insight Emails⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: One small (but powerful!) leadership principle to focus on each day Whichever you choose, you can be sure you’ll get the trusted leadership advice you need to advance your career, develop your team, and grow your business.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, friends, and welcome to another episode of How Leaders Lead. Today, we've got Greg Renfrew on the show.
0:06.1	She's the founder and CEO of a clean beauty brand called Counter. And in this episode, she opens up
0:11.0	about the emotional and strategic roller coaster behind one of the most dramatic stories and recent
0:17.2	business history. What I love about Greg is that she is a woman leader that leads
0:22.2	with her emotions, but she also knows when to create that emotional distance between her and what's
0:28.1	going on in the business. And I know you're going to learn a ton about how to lead well in
0:33.0	difficult situations through this conversation with Greg. Hope you enjoy it.
0:38.3	It was really, really hard.
0:39.4	It was really humbling.
0:40.2	It was really humiliating publicly.
0:41.8	It was like we just made this huge announcement.
0:43.6	I'm like this Unicorn entrepreneur and it's a billion dollar evaluation.
0:46.8	And like, I'm the next thing and then I'm out.
0:57.1	You know, Greg, I've got to ask you.
1:00.7	I'm looking in the background and I see this sign that says, oh, baby.
1:05.7	I mean, is there anything of significance about that or is that just your personality?
1:10.2	Well, it is actually my personality, but it's actually, this is actually not my house. I'm living in a rental property because I was in the Pacific Palisades, and unfortunately, we had a horrible fire, as you know, in January. So, but this house is filled with a lot of art and a lot of it's really fun. I like it. It fits your personality. It's good. It's good. You know, if we were toasting you right now, what would we be raising our glasses to?
1:31.3	For sure. It fits your personality. If we were toasting you right now, what would we be raising our glasses to?
1:31.6	Perseverance.
1:32.5	I think that if you talk to anyone that I'm close with right now, they would say that I'm
1:36.9	totally crazy that I've gone back at it a second time and people are toasting to our future
1:42.0	success and acknowledging, you know,
	...

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