People’s Champion finalist 2017: Cornerstone

Start-up name: Cornerstone
Founder: Oliver Bridge
Started in: July 2014
Based in: London
Business description: Online store selling subscription men’s razors and shaving products

Shortlisted category:

Product Business of the Year, Venture Funded Business of the Year, Young Entrepreneur of the Year

The Cornerstone story:

Having achieved serial success at the Startups Awards, London-based Cornerstone will once again aim to capture the People’s Champion award – a gong the shaving brand first won back in 2015 and retained for two consecutive years.

Cornerstone is founded by serial entrepreneur Oliver Bridge, a 28-year-old who certainly has a knack for solving some of life’s most irritating problems.

The Young Gun previously founded biggerfeet.com, which helped people with a large shoe size buy footwear, and genderchecker.com, which helps parents find the intended gender of a name, and it was Bridge’s sensitive skin and subsequent razor burn which served as the business inspiration behind Cornerstone.

A men’s grooming subscription service, Cornerstone’s 145,000+ UK subscribers receive razors, gels, face-scrubs, post-shave balms and everything else they need for that perfect shave.

Submitting details on how often they shave and what products they would like to receive and when, Cornerstone’s community can receive regular packages of German-engineered razors and British-blended skincare products straight to their door.

Soft on the skin and on the environment, none of the brand’s products are tested on animals or contain parabens, alcohol, BPA or microbeads – with the start-up sourcing from UK suppliers wherever possible to reduce its carbon footprint.

Aiming to carry out “an all-out assault on the men’s aisle at Boots”, users have full control of their Cornerstone plan and can cancel, pause, skip or change their order at any time.

Cornerstone is continuing to innovate and create new products with its latest razor having launched in April this year.

Having now raised £8m in total investment, including a £3.5m round in August 2017, Bridge and his team of 38 staff are looking to significantly expand the Cornerstone range to vitamins, dental care, and even hair wax over the coming months.

Why Cornerstone made our shortlist:

Within three years, Cornerstone has cemented its position as one of the top challenger brands against the big boys of the shaving industry.

Aiming to enable all men to buy all of their toiletry needs online via direct debit, Cornerstone now achieves 11% month-on-month growth – impressive traction for a product businesses which then 25 year-old Bridge  launched with a £5,000 Start Up Loan.

With a large, and loyal, customer base, as demonstrated by its two successive People’s Champion victories, Cornerstone was a no-brainer for our Startups Awards shortlist. And we suspect it will take some stopping not to achieve a People’s Champion hat trick!

Where to find out more about Cornerstone:

Website: www.cornerstone.co.uk
Twitter: @Cornerstone_HQ