Stay-At-Home Mom “With No Experience” Built A $255M Empire: Blowouts, Divorces, & The Messy Truth

KEYPOINTS

• 01

  'I had no business being in business'

  That's how Alli Webb describes herself when she started Drybar: a 32-year-old stay-at-home mom of two in Los Angeles with an itch to get out of the house, no college degree and no plan to disrupt an industry. Drybar grew into a $100 million-plus blowout brand. Mel calls BS on the story so many people tell themselves about not being qualified, and says many admired founders never had an MBA.

• 02

  Your best idea is usually right in front of you

  Webb spent hours as a teenager figuring out hair in the bathroom, but drifted through a brief stint in college and a move to New York before deciding on beauty school. Her brother said 'I think you should'; her parents were less sure. Mel points to research suggesting that leaning into what you already love helps you succeed, because you'll naturally put in more time. Notice what makes you light up, even if your family dismisses it.

• 03

  Passion is energy, and it's personal

  Mel defines passion as anything that energizes you, and points out how Webb speeds up when she talks about blowouts. Mel admits she couldn't have built Drybar because she doesn't care about blowouts and can't manufacture passion. Her test: what would you do all the time if your bills were covered? Not a beach with margaritas; that's fun for about a week.

• 04

  It started as a mobile blowout business that lost money

  After a party-planning venture with her best friend Paige didn't feel right, Webb posted on a local LA moms' email list offering to come to people's homes while their babies slept and do a blowout for $35 to $40. She was flooded with requests. With gas and childcare limits, she made basically no money, but she got freedom, adult conversation and work she loved.

• 05

  No mirrors came from doing hair in kitchens

  At clients' homes, she usually worked in the living room or at the kitchen bar, not in front of a mirror. Clients couldn't micromanage, didn't spend 45 minutes nitpicking their faces, and had a big reveal moment at the end. That became Drybar's signature: stations without mirrors facing the client.

• 06

  Saying no too often meant it was time to grow

  In under a year, with only about four hours away from her kids, she could do three or four blowouts in a day and was turning down more than she accepted. Sending other stylists out risked losing clients and control. So she pitched her brother Michael on one small shop where clients came to her; he asked why women couldn't blow out their own hair. Her salon know-how, plus his book smarts, made the partnership.

• 07

  Everything you've done is preparation

  Webb says PR work and years as a salon owner's assistant uniquely prepared her 'to sit at the helm of a blowout empire.' Mel's point: experiences in any field teach you what you would and wouldn't do.

• 08

  She built a different kind of salon culture

  Webb disliked the cutthroat 'eat what you kill' salon world and the stories stylists told her about how they were treated. Drybar paid stylists hourly plus tips instead of chair rental, so clients could sit in anyone's chair and get a great blowout. Today more than 5,000 stylists work for Drybar.

• 09

  Small, debatable decisions shaped the brand

  Drybar provided every dryer and brush, which annoyed stylists who liked their own tools. Styles were named after drinks, like the Cosmo for curls and the Mai Tai for messy beach waves; Michael thought that was cheesy, and customers loved it. In 2010, mid-recession, the founders personally guaranteed the lease of a business landlords didn't understand ('Is it a bar?').

• 10

  Impostor syndrome means you're growing

  Webb's response to feeling like an impostor is 'great.' It means you're doing something new. She felt that way going on live QVC for the first time, and decided she was up for the challenge.

• 11

  The messy cost: her marriages

  Webb built Drybar with her first husband, Cameron, who once tried to call off the wedding a month before. She now sees their close friendship with little passion as a copy of her parents' marriage; they also built a business and divorced in their 50s. After she began inching toward an emotional affair, she ended it. Then, sharing it publicly for the first time, she said her second marriage, fast-tracked during COVID, is ending. She'd mistaken intense passion for proof it was right and overlooked what didn't fit.