How to turn waste into revenue with Le Prunier Co-Founder Jackie Taylor

Most founders start with an idea and go looking for an ingredient. The Taylor sisters started with the ingredient and had to build everything else around it.

Their family has farmed plums in Northern California for four generations. For most of that time, the plum pits were just waste. Le Prunier turned them into the hero ingredient of an organic, luxury skincare line that now sits in goop, Anthropologie, Neiman Marcus & Bloomingdales to name a few and draws its formulation logic from Japanese and Korean beauty science rather than the conventional clean beauty playbook.

Allison came in from fashion and brand development, having worked at Giorgio Armani and MOTHER Denim. Jacqueline is a UCLA grad with a science background and culinary training. And rounding out the trio is their sister Elaine, who brings experience from two previous CPG brands and heads up finance and operations.

This is a story about vertical integration before it was a trend, about patience in product development, and about what farming actually teaches you that business school doesn't. Jacqueline, welcome to How To Start Up.

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