We met Hadley Diest, founder of Minc, at our dinner in partnership with MyBeautyCompare for beautytech startups. We wanted to find out more about Hadley’s beauty startup.

What were you doing before you launched your startup?

Investment banking, education reform and, most recently, business school in NYC and London

What will 2014 bring?

Proof of concept, initial clients, and the tech + personnel foundation to scale

1 piece of advice for someone starting a business in the beauty space?

Look the part. As the face and advocate for my brand, I’ve needed to put more thought into my beauty and fashion routines. Coming from a business background, I’ve had to make some conscious upgrades in the beauty department. Just bought my first curling iron this week and have invested in outfits I definitely did not have in my investment banking days!

Convince someone to use your product/service in under 50 words.

Employee satisfaction and engagement are keys for attracting and retaining talent, especially in the current economic climate. Certain aspects of beauty and wellness are, unnecessarily, major pain points for people. Minc’s on-site services will boost engagement amongst your employees and alleviate some of their major work-life challenges.

What’s your favourite startup in the beauty space (not including your own)?

More fashion than beauty, but EDITD is an incredible company using big data to help improve decision-making for all parties in the fashion food-chain, from buyers to designers and retailers. So exciting to see cutting edge analytical and predictive techniques applied in the industry.

What’s your favourite London restaurant?

Jin Kichi in Hampstead – a hole-in-the-wall type place, but the best sushi in London!

It was lovely to share food and thoughts with Hadley. If you want to learn more about our upcoming dinners, go here.