With Demo Day coming up, we’d like to introduce you to some of our startups competing for seed funding totaling $150,000. Many of them are using latest technologies like AI and machine learning to help solve everyday problems. Skinno, an app that translates the scientific language in skincare ingredients into common language, is trying to do just that. They’re committed to breaking the barrier between scientific jargon and the average consumer. Their goal is to help consumers make more informed decisions about the products they purchase.
I sat down with members of the team to talk about how they came up with this idea, and why science communication is so important to them. Skinno is made up of Lisa Guerrera, a recent CCNY grad pursuing her Master’s in cosmetic engineering at Manhattan College; Christina Torres, a Master’s biology student at CCNY; Sumali Dey, a sociology & pre-law student at CCNY; David Murphy, a computer science major; and Bryce Halley, an economics major at CCNY who has previous startup experience. This is how they got started:
Lisa Guerrera: It’s a long story; it started way back when I was doing my senior thesis on cosmetic marketing and how it exasperates chemophobia (the fear of chemicals). I thought that if people understood what was in their products, understood what the scientific jargon on the back of bottles really meant, it would help them. I thought of the idea for Skinno, but I didn’t have any programming experience. Eventually I started talking to Christina (my roommate) and some of my other friends. They encouraged the two of us to enter last year’s Nestlé Skin Health Hackathon, and we ended up winning. Then we decided to enter the Zahn Competition.
Christina Torres: We met Bryce at an Info Session, and Lisa’s known David since high school. They’ve both been passionate about the idea from the beginning. Then, when we were looking for a graphic designer, we met Sumali and she just understood exactly what we were looking for.
Katherine Olives: It seems like all of you are very passionate about enhancing communication, and the problem behind Skinno. Where does this passion come from?
LG: For me it’s two fold. I studied Chemistry and I love skincare and science–the intersection of it is what I’ve cared about for years. This is what I want to do as a career. I want to communicate science well and make it fun.
CT: I come from a Biology background. I actually study a family of beetles in the Amazon.
KO: Beetles?! That’s awesome.
CT: Haha, it’s pretty cool, but my passion lies in science communication, and for me it’s exciting to apply my technical skills to that passion. David, our developer, also has a biology background and a passion for science communication, and that was one of the things that drew him to the project.
Bryce Halley: I was going to apply to the Zahn Center last year with a different idea, but my team sort of fell apart the day the application was due because we found out that a lot of other big, public companies were tackling the same issue. Growing up in Silicon Valley, I experienced that a lot. I’d think of a problem and come up with a proposed solution only to find out that everyone else was trying to do the same thing. When I heard Lisa speak about Skinno, I wanted to get on board. If we can make science easy to understand and easy to access for a large population of people, that’s real impact.
LG: Sumali couldn’t be here today, but she’s on board because she loves skincare. The two of us struggle with acne, and we hope to make that struggle a little bit easier on everyone else.
KO: Count me in for that too! Haha but in all seriousness, there’s a real opportunity for this technology to help a lot of people. Have you considered how it can be applied to other markets?
LG: This tech can definitely impact other sectors. Science jargon is what people struggle with daily–whether it’s in their food ingredients or skincare products, medicines–people make assumptions, they could be right or wrong, but the best way to combat incorrect assumptions is accurate education. I think the next sector that we could go into is marketing. Marketing lingo means a lot of things, but it’s not something that’s concrete. For example, the word “natural” is unregulated and doesn’t always mean what we think it means. If we can put a definition to it, then that would help people make smarter purchases. I also think it could work in legal language, think of all the privacy statements & agreements we encounter on an everyday basis. Who really reads it? And why don’t we? Because we can’t understand half of it.
KO: Exactly–I’m thinking about everything that’s happening with Facebook right now, and how much information we give away when legal language isn’t always clear.
CT: Watching the testimonies was pretty funny because it all reeked of tech communication problems on both sides–the consumers don’t understand that they’re giving up their personal information and privacy, and on the other side, our government doesn’t seem to understand how this technology works. It just showed that there’s such a need for this. Even though we’re in skincare, there’s such a need for this in so many areas. We’d avoid a lot of the issues we’re facing today if things could be easily translated.
LG: We’ve seen this problem personally with influencers, who we’re using in our own marketing. One of them told us that she was working with a company who gave her certain language to use, but it was loaded with jargon that most people wouldn’t understand. She was told to put it into her own words, but she didn’t understand it either, and her YouTube video tanked. I also have ridiculous allergies, so I’m always reading the ingredients on everything and sometimes I miss something because it’s called a different name. It’s hard to keep track of.
KO: I bet! It’s amazing that you’re working on this, trying to solve a big issues. But there must be challenges along the way. Tell me a little bit about what you’ve faced so far.
LG: The biggest challenge so far is automating it all–and we’re in the process of doing that. No one has ever automated this task. Skincare has by nature become a citizen’s science project. We want to make sure that our technology becomes a cheap, automated service for everyone, and it’s big process.
CT: It’s funny because with science communication, you think of a teacher breaking things down for you in a personalized way. Automation is kind of counter intuitive. So it’s been a challenge to create a happy medium between personalization and automation. But one of the best things we’ve learned is sometimes communicating with symbols is easier than finding words. Symbols are more universal.
LG: Because beauty tech is a somewhat new industry–there are many technological advances in beauty, but beauty hasn’t been innovated by digital tech. We’re on the first wave, and because there aren’t a lot of companies out there doing something like this, we don’t have much to reference. So when we have questions about how to price things, who are customers are, we have to really start from scratch. The industry is also more closed than others because it’s so competitive. Not many people want to help you out or talk to you about things. But again, we’re overcoming all that.
KO: I’ll say! You’re really doing great things! You got into JLABS–tell me more about how that’s been.
LG: There have been so many benefits that came with being a part of JLABS. We applied before the Zahn competition started, so it meant that we had to incorporate very early, and we had to get a lot done in a short period of time. We learned a lot about ourselves as a company, and it accelerated us. A lot of people told us that it was too early for us to apply, but we decided to anyway, and so far it’s been amazing. The whole experience made us a lot more confident.
KO: I love that you just went ahead and applied. That’s great advice for anyone who’s questioning themselves. Do you have any other advice for young entrepreneurs?
CT: Talk to everyone! Don’t be afraid to talk to people, and like we say, “always be pitchin’”. You have to talk to people about what you’re working on. Collaboration is key–one person doesn’t create things alone. You never know who might have a solution for you, a different perspective.
LG: That’s represented in our team. We’re all multi-disciplined and come from different backgrounds. We built our team by sharing our idea with strangers. Another piece of advice I have is to stay organized. You can go to school, work, and start a business. You can do it all, but you have to stay organized.
BH: My advice is, if it’s important to you, make sure that you never have a zero day. Get something done everyday, don’t waste your time.
David Murphy: And maximize the little time you have–I listen to podcasts that teach me things between commutes. You can also take advantage of free resources to help you when you’re stuck. There is so much content on YouTube.
LG: Go to ALL the events! Even if you feel like you don’t belong there, make yourself feel like you’re allowed to be in that space. Everyone in that space had to build themselves up at some point, just remember that.
CT: Talk to the most important person in the room, you’d be surprised by how many people are interested in what you’re working on.
BH: And it’s important to ask for feedback and contact information. You might get denied, but there are so many mentors that have worked with us because we’ve asked for their emails.
LG: Mentors are key. The Nestlé Skin Health team has been a wealth of resources and knowledge. They’re experts in the field, they’ve given us space at their offices to work out of. That support has been life changing. We’ve also been introduced to great mentors at the Zahn Center, Josh Lucido from Matter VC always gives us extra help and follows up when we ask him questions. And Devin [Voorsanger] too, even if he’s about to walk out the door, he’ll give you time in front of the whiteboard.
KO: That’s awesome. Sometimes it can be nerve-wracking to meet with mentors because they have so much experience, but they’re always willing to help. You never know what you’ll learn. So before we wrap up–I have to ask–how excited are you for Demo Day?
LG: We’re very excited about Demo Day because we’re going to show everyone what we’ve been working on. We’ll have a working prototype and an MVP, and we’re excited to have everyone test it out!
CT: In the meantime, we’re encouraging individuals to sign up to be beta testers. We want everyone to use it, even if you don’t use skincare currently. We’re hoping it will open others up to using skincare and exploring what it can do for you.
If you’re an IOS user & want to become a beta tester, sign up now on Skinno’s website. Be sure to check out this team at Demo Day on April 30th from 12-2pm outside of the NAC at CCNY!
