Vicky Tsai and Tatcha: Confronting Stereotypes

Teaching Plan for HBS Case No. 323-007. This case examines the career of Vicky Tsai, the creator of San Francisco-based TATCHA, a Japanese-themed luxury beauty brand launched in 2009. It explores how Tsai developed the concept, assembled management, and successfully launched the brand, despite experiencing major obstacles because of stereotyped views based on her gender and Asian ethnicity. Originally advised that Asian beauty was too niche for the American market, Tsai struggled to raise capital, and felt that she needed to take on white males as co-founders in order to be taken seriously. She faced continuous funding constraints, even after the Tatcha brand debuted on the QVC channel and began to grow fast. In 2017 Tsai sought private equity funding to further grow the business, and found herself encouraged to leave the role of CEO in favor of professional management. Tsai sold the business to Unilever for an estimated $500 million in 2019 as this process was underway. In January 2021 Tsai was recalled as CEO as the business faltered. The case ends with her determination to build a business which would work for positive change in the beauty industry in its attitudes towards gender and ethnicity.