On Tuesday, September 1, the mainstage speaker during Dallas Startup Week’s Women of Innovation Sponsored by Thompson Reuters was BeautyBio co-founder and CEO Jamie O’Banion, who shared her advice on “Five Things To Do For Your Business When You Leave Today.” 

O’Banion started BeautyBio as a cosmetics and skincare company with clinical-grade skincare formulas in 2011. Readers may recognize the company’s Instagram famous product: the GloPRO micro-needling tool. 

In her call-to-action-styled lecture, O’Banion shared a handful of tips on inspiring a sense of simultaneous self-assurance and risk-aversion in entrepreneurs navigating the market today. 

“It’s easy to look at an entrepreneur as a risk-taker who throws caution to the wind, but successful entrepreneurs are confidently risk-averse,” O’Banion said during the event. “The best entrepreneurs come with always having not just a Plan B, but a Plan C, D, E, F, G, all the way to Zed.” 

Although BeautyBio has existed for less than a decade, it has made over $100 million in sales. According to Forbes, half of all businesses will not survive the initial five years. With that in mind, O’Banion listed the top five reasons behind startup closure. 

“It comes down to … cash flow management, leadership failure, lacking unique value propositions, flawed business models, and the inability to scale,” O’Banion said. 

In the context of COVID-19, she advocated for entrepreneurs to be forward thinking.

“Begin with the end in mind,” she said. “I start out with the best-case scenario, a good scenario, and then see the draconian, worst-case scenario. That tactic has served me—as soon as COVID hit, I immediately went into capital conservation mode, and trimmed anywhere we could cut costs.” 

Not getting bogged down with the seemingly negative data, O’Banion left the audience on an optimistic note.

“I fully believe that everyone is fully equipped with everything they need to be successful,” O’Banion said. “You can do anything you want to do in life if you’re willing to work hard, lean on others, and bet on yourself 11 out of 10 times.” 

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