 Think Tech Away, civil engagement lives here. Okay, here we are in Community Matters. I'm Jay Fidel, and I'm really enjoying this here today, Community Matters, and we're calling this Pilot Men's Grooming and Skincare. That's a very exciting topic. A little bit. And our special guest is Isaac Kim. Let me give you a little about him. Isaac is the grandfather of a grandson of a fellow I know pretty well, Huck Kim. Yes. Okay, and Isaac was born in Los Angeles and moved to New York for school for Columbia, and then he came back to Los Angeles, worked for L'Oreal there, and then he came back to Los Angeles, started his own company, and that's the company we're gonna talk about today, Pilot Men's Grooming and Skincare. It's the story of that company. And now he's here taking care of his granddad because his grandmother died recently, I'm sorry about that. And we'd like to meet Isaac, because Isaac is a very vital, exciting guy. And in a funny way, even though he doesn't live here and hasn't lived here, he's still a piece of Hawaii. A little bit, yeah, my mother grew up here and my grandfather has his shop here for 45 years. Yeah, 45 years. I know him for only 20 of those 45. Anyway, Isaac, welcome to the show. Nice to have you here. Thank you so much for having me, yeah. So it's an exciting story, and I'd like to get some of your thought process. I mean, you grew up in LA in the Korean community, it was a big Korean community in LA. Yes, sir. And you decided to leave because why? You were accepted at Columbia, is that why? Yeah, basically, I mean, I really wanted to go to school in New York and see how that was. So after Columbia, I also worked there and found myself at L'Oreal and from there. What's your study in Columbia? Economics and philosophy, definitely nothing. Exactly, yeah. Economics first, philosophy second, or philosophy first, economics second? Well, philosophy, you know, because I was interested in economics really, to get a job after school. Philosophy was your internal, worldview kind of subject, eh? Correct, yeah, no, it was definitely a little more interesting to me. Yeah, well, you know, if you don't know about philosophy, not everybody studies philosophy even as a minor, and philosophy really makes the whole person, in my view, I minored in philosophy. I wasn't very good at it. Fact is the people who study philosophy are very smart and they understand logic, they understand thinking more than the average person. Don't you agree? I hope so. I hope so, I can't really speak for all of that, but I would hope so, a little bit. Okay, so L'Oreal, I guess your economics degree got, and your Columbia economics degree got, you went to L'Oreal. Yeah, so right after school, actually I was a trader on Wall Street, and from there I got picked up at L'Oreal to do all their numbers and forecasting, and, you know, it came for you. Yeah, it's not an exact science, it's, you know, you just try to predict how many people will buy, which you're never really right, so it's just how little you can be wrong. And, but actually from there, I was able to really just see huge opportunity, especially in the men's grooming side, as you know, men are 50% of the population, and the beauty industry's huge, and I just saw a huge trend upwards, and thought- Because men don't really get involved too much in grooming products. Yeah, not so much. So you thought that, well, this is going to happen sooner or later. Yeah, and I just thought there was a big need for more organic, more natural ingredients, more responsibly sourced, so that's really our focus with our company. A lot of our products are, you know, 100% natural, mostly, you know, 85% organic. So L'Oreal, though, how high, how far did you get there, and was it, you know, was it to New York that we all imagined it to be? Where was your office? Yeah, I know. You know, remember, what makes Sammy run? You know, you're on the treadmill all day, you have to satisfy all these demands on you. How was it? L'Oreal was great, it's a great company, and it's a huge company. They own everything from the drugstore brands to the most expensive brands on the planet. And I had the great opportunity to work for their luxury division. So yeah, it was everything kind of what people expect. We were on Fifth Avenue, right next to all the, you know, all the great shops. And, you know, I went to 30s or 40s on Fifth Avenue. Right in the 50s, yeah, actually, yeah, low 50s. I think it was 50 first, I believe. That's the center of the universe, all right. Exactly. And yeah, from there, I was actually managing operations and managing the demand and supply side for brands like Armani Beauty, Kiehl's, Polo Ralph Lauren, Fragrances. Again, they own all of these brands. And not only is it a huge company. It's a publicly traded, of course. Yeah, yeah, it's a huge, I'm honestly not too sure. It's a French company. It's a French company. Yeah, it's a French word, yeah. So, you know, one question strikes me is, you know, you run a track, you got a good degree. You're obviously a scintillating kind of person, may I say that? Thank you. And so, you've got a handle on Oriel, a global company. Why don't you stay there? Yeah, no, I think a lot of people ask me that. And, you know, I had a great job. It was steady. In fact, I actually proposed to my now wife and moved back. You met your wife in New York. In New York, we actually went to Columbia together. And she wasn't so thrilled when I was going to, you know, quit my cushy job and kind of go on my own, invest a lot of money into this company. And right before our wedding, which we had a wedding to pay for too, so she wasn't super thrilled. Sort of a reverse dowry. Yeah, but no, I'm super blessed that she's super supportive. And yeah, hopefully, you know, we're working hard at it and getting some great attention. So she's in the company with you. I know she actually works for another media agency right now. But that helps, doesn't it? Definitely. I mean, someone's got to pay the bills at the moment. Good move. Yeah. OK, so you come back from L'Oreal. You decide you want to start your own company. Let me ask you your thought process there. I mean, because this show is interested in entrepreneurship. We're interested in courage, economic courage. We want to know about that. So what made you do, I mean, it's one thing to leave L'Oreal. It's another thing to start your own company in a very competitive market. Absolutely. Yeah, no, a lot of that goes back to even my grandfather here in Hawaii. I mean, he's been in business. He opened up a barber shop 45 years ago. And he's still doing it to this day. And he has quite the life story. And that's kind of translated to my mother as well as from my father's side. They've had their own business. So growing up, I've kind of seen that hustle. And never really saw a nine to five steady job, a lot of stress. And that comes with good and bad. But I never really pictured myself doing too much else. So after a few years of being at L'Oreal, it was great and all. But I think it was time to move on and try to do something bigger. Good. Wow. OK, so you go to LA. And give us a pricey of how you started this company, how you capitalized it, how you found space, how you marketed, how you developed the products, how you caused the products to be manufactured. Yeah. No, it was a lot of just putting things together. I even sold my car. Put all of that money into it. Yeah, it was really fortunate that my parents were able to help me sum with that. And from there, really just formulating with different chemists and manufacturers, making sure we have the best ingredients and the best manufacturers. Organic is hard. Yeah, not only that, but we really wanted to focus on sustainable and responsibly sourced ingredients, as well as our manufacturer uses 100% solar power, all that good stuff. So I'm fascinated with the name because we deal a lot here at Think Tech in names, just name and that name. And pilot men's was something very, I wouldn't say macho, but there's something male, really male, about that. How did you select that name? Yeah, no, I think exactly kind of that point. But really further than that, I think I've always been fascinated with especially World War I pilots. They're basically the astronauts of their time going up in the sky with these linen wings and just taking huge risks, but all in the name of trying to look out for their brothers on the ground and try to see where the enemies are and try to save some lives and help each other out. So that's also the philosophy we're trying to bring to this company. In looking out for our fellow man, we try to donate, well, we do donate one of our castile soaps for every box that's sold, as well as we try to organize haircuts for homeless, which we're organizing here in Hawaii while I'm here. Yeah. By the way, before we get off this subject in the name, it strikes me when you refer back to World War I and Snoopy the pilot. Exactly. You're talking about nostalgia, maybe in a couple of levels when we were all kids and we sort of fell in love with those planes with Snoopy and kind of a nostalgic look. The goggles and everything. But we also, there's also a secondary kind of nostalgia there that is the nostalgia for the way it really was back in World War I. Absolutely. I mean, that was the reality back then. They didn't really have any other options. They couldn't say, hey, put a hood over it or anything like that. They just had to wear the scarf and the hat and they did it. And also this courage in the pilot. Absolutely, huge courage. I mean, they're taking a huge risk by going up there. OK, so now you're dedicated to making products that are organic, making products that are sustainable. Speaking to maybe a little different market than L'Oreal, I think. What market are you speaking to and how do you reach them? Again, I would like the market to be obviously as broad as possible. But again, we're really focusing on men about ages starting from 30 to 50 who want to be a little more conscious of their skin. They're getting a little older. They now can have the products to really groom better rather than just using that Irish spring barb soap that they've been using since they were 12 or whatever. So is the purpose to save your skin or is the purpose to look good, smell good, or all of the foregoing? It would be all of the foregoing. I mean, this is just a better way to clean with better products that are less harmful, as well as we do fragrance all of our products with essential oils rather than chemicals and other things like that. And some of our products are actually unscented like our face moisturizer. OK, they're not designed to like aphrodisiacs or anything. Oh, not at all. They don't attract women or anything like that. Unfortunately, I mean, hopefully it would do that in a secondary type of form. But exactly, we're trying to keep away from that. We're trying to be as natural and as authentic as we can possibly be. OK, well, Isaac, I want to give you a chance to go through every product you brought along. Including the box. Sure. We're going to take a short break. When you come back, you're going to see Isaac Kim's products from what's called pilot men's grooming and skin care, operating out of LA where he was born. So we'll come back and we'll go through those products. And then we'll see exactly what fits where and how you start a company and how you maintain and sustain and grow a company like Isaac has done. We'll be right back. You'll see. Well, I'm Dave Stevens, host of the Cyber Underground. This is where we discuss everything that relates to computers that's going to scare you out of your mind. So come join us every week here on thinktecawaii.com 1 PM on Friday afternoons. And then you can go see all our episodes on YouTube. Just look up the Cyber Underground on YouTube. All our shows will show up. And please follow us. We're always giving you current, relevant information to protect you. Keepin' you safe. Aloha. This crazy world, so caught up in the confusion. Nothing is makin' sense for me. And I was kidding about going to the products right away. We're going to tell one other part of the story. This is a great American story, a great American dream, especially now in a world where a lot of people are looking for diversity and some people are fighting against diversity. Oh, boy. So we should talk about this diversity in this American story. So obviously Isaac Kim is Korean. His family is Korean. And I know him from my relationship with his grandfather, Korean man. But there's a story about your grandfather that we need to tell because somehow that's relevant to everything we've talked about. Can you tell that story? Yes, sir. His story is a great one. It's hard to just fit it all in one, but he was born in North Korea, north of Pyongyang. And when he was 19 or 18 in American age, the Korean War was just breaking out. So he fled to the South. From there, I mean, he left his whole family. He hasn't seen them since. I'm really wow. Yeah, all his brothers and his parents. Oh, that's sad. Yeah, but that really hardened him. And he was homeless, but he joined the army. He even had to lie about his age so that he could become an officer. From there, he's actually become, became a company commander of his whole unit. And after that, he became a chief inspector for all of Korea for automotives. I mean, he has quite the story. I mean, just even the survival aspect, he was homeless. He had to study just in the subway to become an officer. And no one would even vouch for him, especially because he was from the north. And they all considered him a communist, or thought he might be. Anyway, so he had to convince everyone that he wasn't and actually rose to become a company commander of his whole unit, which is incredible. Not only that, but when he came here, he thought, hey, what can I do? I don't speak the language. I need to provide for my family. And he enrolled himself in barber school, which to him, I mean, it's a little humbling coming from such a high level job and engineering type of position in Korea. But hey, he's been in it for 45 years. It's provided for my mother and her two siblings and raised a whole family. And I think that's just kind of looking at him and seeing his story and listening to him. There's no excuse really for me. And my life is so much easier. And it's so privileged that he took those type of risks and those type of steps and worked so hard. And it's still doing it to this day. He's 87 years old. And that was actually one of his thoughts when he came to America. He asked himself, what else could I do for a long time to provide for my family? And he's still doing it to this day. So he was definitely correct about that. Now, can you tell us about how he met your grandmother and how they worked this thing together? I mean, they met in Korea. And after they got married and had my aunt and my mother, they decided to move to Hawaii. But she actually came first with all three children to check it out to see, hey, is America the right place to be going? After a little bit, she gave him a call or maybe wrote him a letter. I don't know, actually, by the way. And said, hey, yeah, this is a great place. Please come over. And he made that huge decision to try to better his life for his family because he thought that, hey, even though he had this and that in Korea, he thought that in terms of studying and the opportunities for a future for his children, we're here in America. And that's here we are. I mean, I got to go to a great school. We had a great upbringing of my mother. She's done so well. And it's all because he's taken a lot of sacrifice and done a lot. Carried the same values on down through the generations. And I can see him and you, actually. Thank you. Thank you. That's a huge compliment. I would love that. So anyway, so back to the main theme. Here we are. And we have a whole bunch of products that you designed and you caused to be manufactured. Where were they manufactured? Where were they designed? They were designed by me, including the logo. Everything I had a hand on. But they're all manufactured in the US. We're all made in the US, mostly in California, some in the Midwest. And yeah, we try to just use the best type of manufacturers, the people who are cautious of the environment and very responsible in how they operate. Let's look at them. Sure. Tell us about what you got on the table here. Right here, actually, our pomade might be our best seller. These two are our best sellers. Our pomade's doing super well in a bunch of barber shops up and down the West Coast. That's primary, the wholesale. But here we go with this charcoal face wash, which was actually featured as an eight life-changing beauty product by BuzzFeed, totally unsponsored. It's amazing how you can just send it and sometimes. You send it a sample and presto. Yeah, yeah, no. So people have been really ordering this. And this is, again, these actual products are not just for men. They're designed towards men. But my wife uses this all the time. She's no hair on her chest, no deepening of voice, nothing like that. It's all good. Our aftershave balm has a little bit of peppermint essential oils, as well as a little bit of the menthol. So it cools it down. And the smell doesn't last very long. Our facial moisturizer here is very popular as well. It's more matte. We put a little bit of tapioca powder so that it absorbs oil so you don't get that shine. And guys, you don't like that greasy feeling. So guys have been really liking that. This bar soap, if you want to smell, is really great. I like to. Yeah, that's 100% natural, 86% organic. It's a very nice smell. Yeah, it's got, again, peppermint essential oils. But it's very appealing, you know. And it has crushed oats in there as well, so it has a nice little scrub to it. The shampoo is a protein shampoo, a little bit of thickening, but not too much. Not so it feels grimy, but just kind of cautious of some of those who feel that they need that. And it's got a super fresh scent. It's peppermint as well. And here is actually the product that we've been, I guess, giving away and selling the most of is this Castile soap, which is the product that we donate to our clients. So shower soap. Yeah, in fact, this you can use for anything. It's 100% natural, again, 85% organic. And you can literally wash your hair, face, body, your dishes. You can even use it as a shampoo. Yeah, you can absolutely use this as a shampoo. In fact, many of our customers do and love it. And they love that it's just one and done. You can, for guys who like to keep it simple, this is the product. You literally shampoo and just wash it all down. And that's why we don't necessarily want to be giving a face wash or a pomade to somebody in need. I think this is really the product that I focused on the most when designing our product line, that we would have this type of product that we can use and give back with. OK, I'm rolled over now. But what about the wooden box? Is that kind of a box where you put it all in there? Yeah, exactly, it's a box that we ship it in. And this actually fits to the T inside of a USPS flat rate padded envelope. So it'll get anywhere in two days. And we know the cost no matter the weight that's inside of it. So this was all kind of designed with a purpose. This all actually really Tetris is, if you want to check this out, it Tetris is pretty, pretty well. You mean everything on the table would fit into that box? Yes. You haven't wasted a centimeter there. Yeah, exactly. So this fits perfectly. These all Tetris in perfectly. Everything is made to do this. And then this goes like this. This goes like this. And then like this. And we are good. And you don't need packing inside the box because they're all snug, correct, snug together. Can you show the logo? I want to show the logo there. Oh, very nice. That's a very nice. So what does it cost? If I wanted to buy this box, maybe it's different places. But what would it cost me? Sure, right now if you buy it as a gift, it would be $85 for everything, including the box. However, we're trying to funnel people to subscribe, whether that's once every month, once every three months, up to six months. Yeah, six months. I figure once they like something, they kind of stick to it. That's why you have so many guys still using AXE or whatnot, the same products they used before they were. What kind of stuff do you like that? And I go through that year after year after year. I don't like to change. Exactly. So we try to give discounts and keep promoting the subscription type of service where it's scheduled. And that way, kind of going back to my L'Oreal demand planning days, I can better forecast what I need to do so I can manage my inventory. It's just on current sales. Correct. You can figure what it's going to be in the future. Yeah, and then you add in kind of the marketing plans in the future and do your best to. That's really, that's true for viewership too. We try to look into the future on our viewership. Correct. And that's the same kind of analysis, isn't it? Yeah, I think you have to think about the future. Otherwise, you probably don't have one. Why do you should say that? This is a good quote. You should probably think about the future. Otherwise, you may not have one. So let's talk about the future. You got a long time to go. This may or may not be your last venture. But it really feels, may I say, as swell and kissing sweet. But question seems to me that a company like yours has to grow. And in order to grow, it's got to make affiliations and partnerships and relationships. It's like what they say about real estate. Real estate is not about land. It's about relationships. Correct. And the same thing here. So what's the current status of relationships, if you will? And what's the future status? What are your aspirations about relationships? Yeah, for sure. We've been in business or we launched eight months ago now. So it's been a lot of planting seeds, a lot of talking to all sorts of people. A lot of that has not sprouted yet. A lot of that is in the works. However, we do have some key partnerships that are already coming out. Starting in June, we'll actually be featured in Birchbox, which is a huge company that does sampling, and especially of beauty products. So we'll be featured in multiple of their boxes, as well as talking to all sorts of editors who love our products. And we have more articles coming out every week now of our products. But also with strategic influential people, whether that might be just somebody smaller on Instagram or to NBA stars and Olympic athletes. In fact, we have four Olympic medalists already on board, all US mentors. That's pretty good. So again, it's all work in progress, and we're still a very young company, but we're chugging ahead. And the good thing is, and what I'm so grateful for, is that people are genuinely loving our products. And I think that's the most important thing is that, if you have a good product, that's your best marketing tool. And people are, people, once I send them a box for free, they're not just looking for something short term or a couple of quick buck, but really they actually like using the products and they use it daily. So it's a more natural partnership and talking with them and just learning, more and more every day. Yeah, so I mean, it's just the kind of thing where you build it into a larger company and you hold on to it, it's still privately held. And then one day, you have a sales event or a public going public kind of public issue. Or is it the kind of thing where you're looking to sell it into a larger company and get back stock or money and sort of get back to the level of L'Oreal by merging this product or this line of products into a larger company. What's the direction if you have one? I mean, I'm kind of playing it by ear, but at the same time, my vision for this, it would be great if I can build this into an actual huge brand of its own, whether that's in 10 years, 15 years or even five years, not necessarily selling it to a larger company, which would be great. And I can't say at this point, but however, I am committed to this, I'm pretty married to this at this moment. This is my baby and I'm trying to make it grow and raise it in the best way I can. Putting a lot of time into it, aren't you? Absolutely, time for sure. So yeah, I mean, what comes to me is also, you know, it's more than this wooden box. You're gonna think of other products and other lines and maybe it's not just grooming products either, maybe it's something outside even that box. Can you tell us, I mean, without revealing any inside information or secrets, what you have in mind? Yeah, in fact, we've already formulated our next couple products. I can tell you that one of them would be, you know, basically a giant wipey, a shower to go wipe. Just for guys who, you know, might go to the gym or just don't have time for a shower and want something nice and convenient disposable and that will, again, be plant-based type of cloth. So it's kind of a paper thing? Yeah, so it'd be like a paper-sized wipey that you can wipe with it. What's a wipey? Soft. Yeah, exactly, like a wet towel. Easy on your skin. Correct. Is it calm wet or do you have to wet it? No, it comes wet. It'll be in a little packet. But yeah, we're always looking to improve our formulas and add new ones without spreading ourselves too thin. I think we've got to, so far we have a winning lineup with our seven products that, you know, these are pretty much essential products that any guy can use for the most part and looking to expand and grow in the future. Yeah, what I hear you saying though is that you always stick with your basic mission, at least for now. Correct. You know, if your basic mission works, your basic line works, and if your vision of it is consistent with the market's acceptance of it, then stick around with that. Yeah, I would like to keep the quality versus quantity type of mantra, if you will. And, you know, I think that if you do certain things very well, it's better than doing a lot of things poorly or not so well. That's interesting because, you know, in a funny way, I mean, we've checked out to continue them here. It all evolves from your grandfather's decision to go into, he could have done other things, but he went into a barbershop. And this is inspired, it seems to me, from his decision in that regard. Absolutely, I mean, this is kind of a homage to him and kind of what he does and taking it to the next level, seeing what the next generation can do. I mean, he felt this kind of burden to really help the family and do what he had to do to put food on the table. And here I am in a much more privileged position where I can try and venture to do something much greater, but still semi-related. That's lovely, there's a magic about that. It's a homage to your granddad, Hock Kim. That's wonderful. Thank you, Wysie. Can you give us your website because our staff looked at your website in order to draft my notes here for the show, and they were very impressed. So what is the website? It is www.pilotmens.com. Yeah. Isaac Kip, thank you so much for coming down. Thank you so much, Jay, and thank you for inviting me. Oh, absolutely. It was a pleasure. With you again. Yes, sir.