Lucas Lappe on Building Canopy: Why You Need a Humidifier, How To Land Sephora, and Lessons from Founder Therapy | #5

Lucas Lappe, co-founder of Canopy and Doris Dev, joins Hot Takes, Big Stakes to share how he built a successful wellness brand from the ground up without raising venture capital. From launching his first absurd product (a hot glue gun for string cheese) to designing mold-resistant humidifiers now sold at Sephora, Lucas explains what it really takes to launch and scale a physical product. This episode covers how Canopy focused on solving real user problems, stayed profitable from day one, and turned a bootstrapped product into a trusted beauty and wellness brand. Whether you're building in DTC, design, or consumer goods, there's something in here for you.   Key Takeaways:   Bootstrapping forced every dollar to count, which shaped the company’s focus on ROI Canopy reimagined the humidifier as a beauty and wellness product Sephora helped position the brand as more than an appliance The team avoided flashy packaging to cut costs and reduce waste Doris Dev was created as a learning platform and support system for launching Canopy Having a founding team with clear strengths in product, ops, and brand was key Spending time with manufacturers was critical for building better products   More Hot Takes Big Stakes Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hottakesbigstakes/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hottakesbigstakes/     More on Lucas Lappe     LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucaslappe/  “Canopy” Website: https://getcanopy.co/  X Profile: https://x.com/lucas_lappe   More on Natalie Holloway:   Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/natalieholloway/ “Bala” Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bala/ “Balacize” Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/balacize/ Substack, “Working Out in Heels”: natalieholloway.substack.com Book a 1-on-1 Call: https://intro.co/NatalieHolloway   More on Lana Elie-Meyers:   Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lanaelie/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lana-elie-875b383a/     Chapters   00:00 - Intro 01:15 - Lucas’s Engineering Roots & Startup Beginnings 03:40 - Quirky, Goby & Lessons from Failing Fast 07:10 - Launching Doris Dev to Solve Real Problems 09:45 - How Canopy Was Born from an Idea & a Bad Humidifier 13:00 - The Beauty Consumer Deserves Better 14:45 - Getting Into Sephora Without Funding 17:30 - The Real Benefits of a Humidifier 19:15 - Their Strategy Across Sephora, Amazon, & Baby Retailers 21:00 - Expanding into Shower Heads & Bathroom Wellness 23:30 - Why Canopy Doesn’t Do Fancy Packaging 26:00 - Scaling a Business with a 20-Person Team 29:00 - Why ROI Dictates Every Business Decision 33:00 - Advice for Product-Based Startup Founders 36:30 - Hot Takes: Reinventing the Pet Industry? 38:15 - The Product That Shouldn’t Exist