The lion's den
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Since the first season, beauty entrepreneur Judith Williams and her team have accompanied unique start-ups such as Little Lunch, Bitterliebe and Elixr to success.
Judith’s motto “live your dream” is a passionate appeal to realize your own dreams in life. She speaks with deep conviction because she has succeeded in doing just that. Your secret to success? Judith’s powerful mix of passion, inspiration, hard work and “positive thinking”. Perfect characteristics for every founder.
MELLOW NOIR - POWER OF COFFEE OIL
While enjoying a steaming cup of coffee in his favorite café, Julian let his thoughts wander. He has always been fascinated by the power of coffee. The valuable coffee is grown on the other side of the world, shipped over to us, but unfortunately almost completely disposed of. While looking for a solution, he came across the particularly skin-care properties of coffee. The scientist and engineer did not go home empty-handed that day. He asked for a small donation of coffee grounds. Julian invested weeks, months and a lot of passion. The result is mellow NOIR – the soft black. mellow NOIR combines what is important: the luxury of effective care, closeness to nature and mindfulness of our environment. A holistic natural cosmetics with the purest, natural and at the same time highly effective ingredients. Uncompromising enjoyment for your skin!
SAUSE - THE SOAP SHOWER - WATER & SOAP = SUSTAINABLE HAND SOAP WITHOUT COMPROMISE
Moritz & Sebastian have known each other for over 25 years. Growing up together on the North Sea, they were confronted at an early age with environmental problems such as rubbish on the beaches and rising sea levels. This has shaped her as much as her closeness to nature. That's why they both wanted to make a difference. With their startup Sause, the old friends are doing it under the motto: TOGETHER. SIMPLY. CLEANER. to combine real sustainability and high comfort in a new product: the soap shower. A hand soap in tablet form that is dissolved in tap water at home and creates a wonderfully gentle soap foam in high-quality foam soap dispensers. Compared to conventional liquid soaps, 90% CO2 emissions and a whole lot of plastic can be saved. The soap effervescent consists of high-quality natural cosmetics-certifiable ingredients, is vegan and available in five naturally beautiful scents. And what's special: As chemists and mechanical engineers, the founders develop and produce their products themselves in their small factory in the Palatinate Forest. A real project close to their hearts!
NUI - WELCOME TO THE NEW ERA OF NATURAL BEAUTY
“Natural cosmetics, you?!” – When Swantje van Uehm started in the beauty industry as a product and brand manager, she often heard surprised reactions. “… you don’t look like that at all.” That was true, she didn't look like that. In order to style herself the way she felt comfortable, she sometimes used synthetic make-up herself. A contradiction that she was aware of. But what was the alternative? She wanted vegan, natural cosmetics and found: pale colors, crumbly creams, musty scents - hand on heart: many sustainable products were well-intentioned, but not exactly sexy. A bright red lipstick without carmine? Impossible. Sustainable and stylish - that wasn't possible. Beauty boutique OR organic health food store. Nothing in between for a long time. So it would be a few more years before she would switch to a vegan yet bright red lipstick. Because: She first had to develop it herself. NUI was born. Since then, she has seen it as her mission to provide new impetus to the beauty industry. With the vision of freeing natural cosmetics from yesterday's dust. And to set clear accents for a conscious and sustainable future in which we feel and look better than ever before.
ELIXR - BEAUTY AND EMOTIONAL BALANCE UNITED
Jenny and Philipp are married and founded their family startup ELIXR in Munich in 2018. They see beauty + mind as a unit. Everyday beauty products can contribute to both care and emotional balance - all in a natural way. The positive reception and success of “The Lions' Den” with their mouth pulling oils, with which they have now introduced an Ayurvedic everyday ritual into almost every German bathroom, has led them to expand their range of holistic lifestyle products. All products in certified natural cosmetics quality are equipped with the plant power of pure, natural essential oils, which emotionally enhance beauty rituals and are therefore able to positively influence our mood. They also produce sustainably and fairly in Germany in mild, skin-friendly and certified natural cosmetics quality.
BITTER LOVE - YOU NEED BITTER!
Jan and Andre know each other through their wives, because they are sisters. Her mother-in-law Regine is a naturopath and took her into the wonderful world of bitter substances. Because unlike other families, Regine didn't have schnapps or espresso after dinner - just bitter substances. Inspired by the incredible effect, but not convinced by the products on the market, they decided to found BitterLiebe in 2017. After more than 9 months of development with fellow alternative practitioners and doctors, they brought the first batch of their BitterLiebe drops onto the market in May 2018 after over 70 recipes. They now have over 500,000 customers across all of their sales channels. They are particularly proud that all of their products are gluten-free, lactose-free, vegan and without additives - of course everything made in Germany.
A SUCCESSFUL JOURNEY TOGETHER COMES TO AN END
...big success! It is the most successful startup from “The Lion’s Den” – worldwide. The Augsburg brothers Daniel and Denis Gibisch successfully cooked their way into Judith’s heart with the delicious organic soups Little Lunch in season two of the business show “The Lions’ Den”. But it wasn't just Little Lunch that accompanied Judith on his way to a flourishing company and has now handed over the baton again. The founders of 3 Bears decided to bring a breath of fresh air to the German breakfast market with their 100% natural porridge with juicy pieces of fruit. Pony Puffin forms the perfect ponytail and makes it appear thicker and fuller and the fine organic oils from Mabyen are 100% vegan and have been awarded the NATRUE seal as certified organic cosmetics for babies. Judith keeps her fingers crossed for all founders and wishes them a continued successful future.