Billion Dollar NIGHTMARE! The Tragedy Of A Billion $$ Beauty Business - Nicola Kilner, The Ordinary

The Ordinary was born from frustration that skincare lacked the ingredient-and-dosage transparency of pharmacy medicines. By naming products after active ingredients (e.g., niacinamide) and pricing them close to cost—much like paracetamol versus branded painkillers—they undercut marketing-led pricing and let science and value speak. This clarity sparked word-of-mouth virality, turning The Ordinary into a global brand that still struggles to keep up with demand years later.

Nicola’s time at Boots taught her how big organizations work: cross-functional collaboration, supply chain realities, legal and regulatory constraints, and how to launch and ‘launch and love’ products, not just list them. That exposure to both strengths and limitations of corporates later informed DECIEM’s decision to build capabilities in-house (R&D, comms, manufacturing) and helped her navigate the later partnership with Estée Lauder.

DECIEM’s first years were defined by all-consuming work, blurred boundaries, and deep personal bonds—weekends together, trips, and everyone doing every job, from formulating to packing boxes. This generated high creativity and agility, but Nicola now questions the kindness of that model in light of modern awareness of burnout and mental health. Founders should be conscious that cult-like dedication can drive growth, but also dependency and vulnerability when crises hit.

Brandon was a scientific and creative genius, but also eccentric, intense, and, as emerged later, deeply vulnerable. Nicola’s calm, people-focused style complemented his black‑and‑white, high‑energy thinking. When his mental health abruptly collapsed—likely triggered and then compounded by heavy psychedelic and meth use—the company and investors had no robust contingency. Structuring governance, safeguards, and support systems around key individuals is critical, especially when the founder is the brand.

Nicola draws a sharp line between being ‘nice’ and being truly kind. For her, kindness includes making difficult calls on performance, redeploying or even exiting people, but doing so with support (e.g., coaching, outplacement, counseling). She argues that to protect jobs overall and honor a ‘family’ culture, the business must perform; thus, leaders must balance empathy with accountability and ensure that ‘belonging’ does not mean avoiding honest feedback.

As DECIEM neared a billion in revenue with 1,500 staff, Nicola realized her strengths (brand, people, culture, values) didn’t extend to complex planning and financial control. Rather than clinging to a traditional CEO mold, she openly framed herself as the ‘least qualified CEO’ in a conventional sense, asked for help, tried to resign, and ultimately brought in an experienced general manager and strong finance leadership to run operations and supply chain while she focused on her strengths.

Nicola has now twice watched addiction and mental health crises rapidly unravel people she loved: her father, following the loss of his radio presenting career; and Brandon, following psychedelic experimentation that escalated to heavy drug use. She describes the helplessness of trying to help someone whose brain is effectively ‘speaking a different language’, the limits of involuntary treatment (multiple short sectionings across three countries), and the enduring question of whether anything more could have been done.