Glamnetic
$5,000 in savings, a bedroom in Koreatown, and 300 failed samples before one that worked. Zero outside investors, $50 million in revenue by year two.
Ann McFerran tested 300 samples, held nearly 500 conversations with manufacturers, and taught herself product development from YouTube before spending a dollar on inventory. The existing magnetic lashes on the market used two magnets per strip. They slipped, they felt unnatural, and nobody had bothered to fix them. McFerran designed lashes with five to six magnets instead and developed a proprietary magnetic eyeliner formula using her psychobiology degree from UCLA.
She launched Glamnetic on July 31, 2019, with $5,000 of personal savings covering 200 units across five SKUs. Day one brought $1,000 in sales. Six months later, monthly revenue hit $1 million. She and co-founder Kevin Gould have never taken a dollar of outside investment, and they still own 100% of the company.
At a glance:
| Founded | July 31, 2019 |
| Founder and CEO | Ann McFerran |
| Co-founder | Kevin Gould (Kombo Ventures) |
| Ownership | 100% founder-owned, no outside investors |
| Revenue | $50M (2020 peak); $100M+ cumulative lifetime |
| Startup capital | $5,000 personal savings |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California |
| Retailers | Ulta Beauty (1,200+ doors), Sephora, Kohl’s (via Sephora at Kohl’s), Revolve, Amazon |
| Total retail doors | ~2,000 |
| Employees | ~50-70 |
| Price range | $10.99-$29.99 |
The Story
Bangkok to Manteca
McFerran was born Jitsupa Tangtrongchitr in Bangkok, Thailand, and immigrated to Manteca, California, at age seven. She was the only Asian kid in her school, and classmates called her “China” despite being Thai.
Med school to murals
She enrolled at UCLA with plans for medical school and graduated with a B.S. in Psychobiology, but an elective art class changed everything. She sold her first painting for $10,000 and spent the next four years in fine art, including painting murals for members of David Dobrik’s Vlog Squad. That gave her a small following and connections in the Los Angeles e-commerce world, but she has described fine art as “lonely and hard to scale.”
The bedroom launch
McFerran had always been self-conscious about her thin lashes, and when she first wore false lashes, she described feeling genuinely confident for the first time. So she spent a year and a half learning to build a better product from scratch, and launched from her bedroom in Koreatown with money she had saved.
First three hires quit
Kevin Gould, CEO of Kombo Ventures, joined as co-founder in the first month to handle finance and operations. The company’s first three hires all quit. Mia Slaughter became the first employee who stayed. By the end of 2020, there were 60 employees, and Sheryl Sandberg named Glamnetic on Facebook’s Q3 2020 earnings call as an example of what small businesses could achieve through the platform.
The Strategy
Press-on nails were an accident
When the pandemic closed nail salons in 2020, McFerran launched press-on nails as a response. The category quickly overtook lashes to become roughly half of total revenue. The average Glamnetic customer buys nine nail sets per year, which turned what started as an opportunistic pandemic move into a recurring-revenue business.
An in-house design team of 14 people now runs the nail operation like a fast-fashion pipeline, going from trend inspiration to finished mockup in two hours and from concept to shelf in five months, closer to Zara’s pace than anything in the beauty industry.
From Shopify to 2,000 doors
The brand entered Ulta Beauty with 46 SKUs across more than 1,200 doors and expanded to Sephora, Kohl’s, Revolve, and Amazon, reaching approximately 2,000 total retail locations. Sales are now split roughly evenly between online and retail, an omnichannel shift that insulates the business from the rising cost of digital acquisition that has squeezed many DTC-only brands.
In January 2025, Glamnetic launched Digi Beauty as a separate brand in 450 Ulta stores, targeting Gen Z at $10.99 per set.
The Marketing
$20 million in ads, zero investor dollars
Glamnetic spent $20 million on paid advertising in 2020, reinvesting 40% of every dollar back into customer acquisition. That reinvestment rate is aggressive by any standard, but because the company had no investors demanding returns, McFerran and Gould could plow revenue back into growth as fast as it came in.
Most DTC brands face a binary choice: raise money and give up equity, or grow slower and keep everything. Glamnetic found a third path by treating revenue itself as the growth engine.
DM-ing 50 followers, one by one
McFerran’s first influencer marketing strategy cost nothing. She manually messaged every one of her roughly 40 to 50 initial followers, building relationships one-to-one before the brand had any budget for paid partnerships. Sheryl Sandberg named Glamnetic on Facebook’s Q3 2020 earnings call as an example of what small businesses could achieve through the platform, earned media worth more than any campaign could buy.
The Numbers
| Year | Revenue | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 (Aug-Dec) | ~$5M+ | First day: $1,000. $1M/month by month six. |
| 2020 | $50M | 60 employees, $20M in paid ads |
| 2021-2024 | Not disclosed | Nails grew to “mid-eight figures” annually |
| Cumulative | $100M+ | Lifetime total across all categories |
What You Can Learn
$5,000 is enough if you spend 18 months on the product first. McFerran didn’t rush to market with a minimally viable product. She tested 300 samples and talked to nearly 500 manufacturers before spending a dollar on inventory. By the time she launched, the product was differentiated enough to generate $1,000 on day one from a following of fewer than 50 people, because it actually worked better than anything else on the market.
Follow the customer into the adjacent category. Nails were not part of the plan. They accidentally became the bigger business when COVID closed salons and Glamnetic’s existing customers started asking for at-home alternatives. The willingness to build an entirely new product line in response to demand turned a single-product lash brand into a diversified beauty company.
Design speed is a moat in fashion-adjacent categories. Going from inspiration to mockup in two hours means Glamnetic can release nail designs that match current trends while competitors are still in development on last season’s ideas. In categories where customers expect constant novelty, the brand that moves fastest wins.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who founded Glamnetic?
Ann McFerran founded Glamnetic in July 2019 with co-founder Kevin Gould, who joined in the first month to manage finance and operations. McFerran developed the product line and serves as CEO, while Gould also runs Kombo Ventures and co-founded Insert Name Here and Wakeheart.
How much did it cost to start Glamnetic?
McFerran launched Glamnetic with $5,000 in personal savings, which covered the initial inventory of 200 units per SKU across five SKUs. The company has never taken outside investment and remains entirely self-funded.
Where is Glamnetic sold?
Glamnetic is available at Ulta Beauty (1,200+ stores), Sephora, Kohl’s (through the Sephora at Kohl’s partnership), Revolve, Amazon, and directly through glamnetic.com. The brand is in approximately 2,000 total retail doors.
Does Glamnetic have investors?
No. The company is a privately held, self-funded LLC with full ownership retained by McFerran and Gould.
Who owns Glamnetic?
Glamnetic is 100% founder-owned by CEO Ann McFerran and co-founder Kevin Gould, with no outside investors and no venture capital on the cap table. The company has remained entirely self-funded since launch.
When was Glamnetic founded?
Ann McFerran launched Glamnetic on July 31, 2019 from her bedroom in Koreatown, Los Angeles. She spent roughly 18 months developing the magnetic lash and eyeliner formula before shipping a single unit, testing 300 samples and talking to nearly 500 manufacturers along the way.
What is Glamnetic’s valuation?
Glamnetic has not disclosed a formal valuation, and because the company is fully bootstrapped with zero outside investors, no priced funding round has ever set one. Annual revenue reached approximately $50 million in 2020 and cumulative lifetime revenue has crossed $100 million.
What is Glamnetic’s revenue?
Glamnetic generated $1,000 in sales on its first day in July 2019, hit $1 million in monthly revenue by month six, and reached approximately $50 million for full-year 2020. Cumulative lifetime revenue has crossed $100 million across lashes, press-on nails, and the newer Digi Beauty line.
What happened to Glamnetic?
Glamnetic is still active and growing, expanding from magnetic lashes into press-on nails (now roughly half of revenue) and launching a separate Gen Z brand called Digi Beauty in 450 Ulta stores in January 2025. The company remains entirely founder-owned and is sold across approximately 2,000 retail doors including Ulta, Sephora, and Kohl’s.
Sources
- Shopify Enterprise, “USD50 Million of Revenue in One Year: Ann McFerran’s Journey to Becoming a Beauty Mogul with Glamnetic”. Revenue figures, startup capital, growth timeline, ad spend.
- Beauty Independent, “Glamnetic Ulta Press-On Nail Digi Gen Z Alpha,” January 2025. Digi Beauty launch, retail revenue split, nail revenue estimates.
- Modern Retail, “Inside Glamnetic’s Fast-Fashion Approach to Press-On Nails”. Design team size, product cadence, fast-fashion pipeline details.
- Female Startup Club, “Ann McFerran Glamnetic”. Founder backstory, first day sales, early employee turnover.
- NextShark/Yahoo, “Glamnetic Founder Creates Multimillion Dollar Beauty Brand,” 2021. Immigration story, UCLA background, art career, Forbes 30 Under 30.
- Hawke Media, “Glamnetic Story: Bootstrapping with Ann McFerran”. Bootstrapping strategy, paid media reinvestment, growth without investors.
- Spa and Beauty Today, “BeautyBoss: Ann McFerran, Founder of Glamnetic”. Product development process, manufacturer conversations, sample testing.