Nikki and April Dominguez are the founders of Handsome, an online community-based app  for the beauty industry.

The sisters came up with the idea, behind their now booming business, when they combined April’s business acumen with Nikki’s background in the industry. The journey to today was an uphill battle. 

As Nikki shares, “We’ve had to be three times better to get three times less.” This is due to the fact that they are minority women breaking into the tech world and they’ve had to go above and beyond the norm to be taken seriously.

Check out their conversation with Austin to hear how they’re paving the way for others to do the same.

Takeaways: 

• A strong vision is a solid foundation for a business
• Build a community of support and tune out the naysayers
• Find a way to make having to work harder, work in your favor

Things to Listen For:

• [01:03] The backstory 
• [03:12] What is Handsome 
• [03:43] How Nikki and April decided to start a business 
• [05:02] Getting your idea to take off
• [07:09] How inclusive is tech, really?
• [07:54] What was working against April and Nikki
• [09:09] Making having to work harder, work for them
• [12:05] The importance of grit
• [13:43] Family ties make for strong business ties
• [15:56] Bringing the beauty community online
• [16:35] Selling the concept of community
• [17:53] Learning to love being the underdog
• [18:40] What’s next for Handsome?