We treat some habits as fixed. The same breakfast, the same shortcut to work, the same brand of toothpaste—decisions made years ago that somehow never change. They persist without curiosity, rarely questioned. But what if something so routine could be...different? Not louder, not better looking, just different in a way that made you pause. That’s the quiet bet behind Laro London, a young oral care brand founded by Beth, who launched her company just six months ago with no investors and no paid ads. Instead of chasing volume or copying competitors, she’s focused on creating an emotionally resonant, design-first alternative to a stagnant category. “It was such a frustrating gap in the market to me and such an obvious one,” she said. “I just really wanted to see if I could fix it.”

“We've sold 12,000 units—and spent nothing on marketing.”

Beth’s approach has been shaped less by e-commerce formulas and more by instinct. “I went in with the opposite strategy to an e-commerce brand,” she said. “We invested in really high-quality photography and design.” That meant no Meta ads, no email flows—just product-market testing through organic channels. Her DTC channel currently accounts for about 10% of sales, with the rest coming from partnerships, including a recent annual deal with a luxury hotel in London. “That was really nice. It’s recurring revenue, and it helps create that baseline demand and steady cash flow,” she said.

Still, the early path hasn’t been without complications. “The packaging was the biggest struggle,” Beth said. Determined to eliminate plastic, she was met with flat rejections and unworkable pricing from most manufacturers. “I’ve really realized the amount of greenwashing that’s out there,” she added. Even the metal caps on her first production run caused unexpected issues. “They grated against each other, metal on metal.” Despite that, Laro London has remained plastic-free and bootstrapped. The only outside funding so far was a UK startup loan.

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“I built the entire brand from a sample tube filled with soap.”

Beth has taken a personal, hands-on approach to every step. “We filled it with soap. We sealed the ends ourselves. All of the photography you see on Instagram is us finding interesting places in London,” she explained. That scrappy start helped Laro London land in top-tier publications like Vogue, SheerLuxe, and Wallpaper Magazine—coverage that brought small but meaningful spikes in DTC traffic. “It’s the kind of premium beauty consumer, but coming through different routes,” she said. Some of the best traction has come from design-focused media, which she’s now exploring further.

With about 25% returning customers and nearly 7,000 Instagram followers—all organically grown—Beth is planning her first pre-seed round. She’s targeting aligned investors who believe in “the power of brand to shift categories over and above volume.” The funds will go toward building out sales and marketing—her next big leap.

Laro London’s infrastructure is ready, with fulfillment in place and scalable manufacturing on the horizon. Beth is also preparing for a broader European push, particularly in the Netherlands and Scandinavia, where wellness and clean beauty resonate deeply. “It’s all lined up,” she said. “We just need the right strategy to get this in front of people.” That next step includes B Corp certification and expanding partnerships with boutique hotels and retailers like Liberty and Selfridges.

For now, she’s building thoughtfully. “I want to build what feels like a luxury brand,” Beth said. “Then people come to us and realize all the reasons we’re better.” Her goal isn’t to flood the market, but to create something with intention—a product that earns its spot on the shelf, not just for what it looks like, but for what it quietly refuses to be.

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