Ep. 438 • From Fork in the Road to CEO w/ Vargaro's Fred Helou
The Hair Game
Salon Republic
4.6 • 570 Ratings
🗓️ 27 April 2026
⏱️ 73 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode of the Hair Game Podcast, Fred Helou, shares his remarkable journey of becoming the founder and CEO of Vagaro. He discusses the pivotal moments in his life that shaped his entrepreneurial spirit, the challenges he faced in the tech industry, and the importance of customer feedback in developing innovative software solutions. Fred also touches on the future of AI in the beauty industry and introduces his new podcast, 'Know What I Mean?', where he aims to share stories from the beauty community.
Key Takeaways:
• Fred's Journey from Lebanon to the US
• Growing Up in War
•The importance of recognizing pivotal moments in life
• Fred's experience in tech and how it led to the creation of Vagaro
• The significance of customer feedback in developing software features
• Creating his own podcast "Know What I Mean" and sharing stories from the beauty industry
• Honoring your entrepreneurial spirit
• The challenges and triupms of starting your own business
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | you know, this is the moment where it's just about recognizing that moment and saying, you know, |
| 0:05.4 | it's time for me to go to overdrive and do something else. |
| 0:10.6 | Hello, this is O'SIL. |
| 0:11.9 | This is J Cash, the Hair Tech. |
| 0:13.4 | This is Adrian Derrett. |
| 0:14.4 | Hi, this is Jacob Khan. |
| 0:15.5 | This is the Platinum Giraff. |
| 0:16.9 | And you're listening to the Hair Game podcast. |
| 0:22.9 | Hey, everybody. It's Harry here, producer of the Hair Game podcast. We have some very exciting |
| 0:28.1 | information. Salon Republic just opened a brand new location in Philadelphia, our first ever |
| 0:34.1 | East Coast location. You can go to SalonRepublic.com to book your space and find your new home. |
| 0:40.3 | A little bit later, we'll have a new location in Jankentown, a little north of Philadelphia. |
| 0:45.1 | Go to SalamRepublic.com and get notified and we're going to be beginning tours. |
| 0:49.6 | Now into our episode with Fred Hulu. |
| 0:53.4 | Hey Fred, how's it going? |
| 0:55.3 | Very good. How are you doing, Eric? |
| 0:56.9 | I'm doing great. So as normally happens, listeners, when I get a guest on here that I haven't |
| 1:03.2 | met before, you know, maybe sometimes we DM or we email or whatever, but I haven't actually |
| 1:08.1 | met them, we start talking personal stuff, |
| 1:12.0 | and then I have to stop us halfway through that conversation because we have to start |
| 1:16.0 | recording. So here we are. I stopped the personal conversation because we were getting into the |
| 1:20.5 | good stuff, and I want to record it. So for you listeners who don't know Fred, he's the founder |
... |
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