UBC Professional MBA helped this alum launch clean toothpaste brand

Kevin Shaw is the co-founder of Before Toothpaste, a company that strives to provide a better toothpaste — one that is non-toxic, effective, and enjoyable — in a beautifully designed plant-based tube. The UBC Professional MBA (PMBA’19) alum is applying the entrepreneurial skills he learned at the UBC Sauder School of Business to shake up the oral care industry by offering an alternative to harmful toothpaste ingredients and packaging – without the compromise.

Before offers a toothpaste that has clean ingredients, a fresh, minty flavor, is dentist approved, and comes in a recyclable tube. Customers can find Before classic, sensitive, or whitening toothpaste on Amazon and in boutique retail stores as well as hotels and airports across North America. The company also offers a subscription model where customers get their toothpaste on a schedule.

Disrupting the oral care industry

It’s an idea that grew from what Shaw and the other co-founders of Before saw as an unmet need in the product category. Even though toothpaste is a product that is in virtually every household, customers are forced to choose between the harmful ingredients in the traditional brands and natural brands that are free of sodium fluoride—a naturally occurring element that dentists recommend to prevent tooth decay and cavities.

“Essentially the idea was that there wasn't a toothpaste out there that we wanted to use,” Shaw explains. “You can go the natural toothpaste route, but none of us really enjoyed using them. We wanted a toothpaste that worked from a protection and buffering of enamel perspective, that didn't contain harmful and unnecessary additives.”

Shaw teamed up with co-founders Steve Thorp and Jamie Collins and in 2021 they launched Before. In just six months since starting to sell their products in retail stores, the company has already attracted a loyal customer base, landed in CIBO kiosks in 50 airports, and was the winner of the Best Toothpaste category in Women's Health Magazine 2023 Beauty Awards and the same category in Men's Health Magazine 2023 Grooming Awards. 

Putting sustainability first

Before is also providing an innovative solution to a major challenge in the industry. Globally, 1.5 billion toothpastes tubes are discarded each year.  Since most tubes are made of mixed materials, aluminum, and plastic, they are very difficult to recycle and often wind up in landfills. Before tubes are 100 per cent recyclable and are also North America's first plant-based toothpaste tube.

“The reality is it's a product category that hasn't really had much innovation to it,” says Shaw. “We really pushed this idea of sugarcane-based plastic because it's much cleaner for the environment. We’re also moving towards a reusable toothpaste dispenser.”  

Honing entrepreneurial skills at school

Shaw and the other co-founders began having conversations about the idea behind Before back in 2019. At the time, all three were working full-time jobs and trying to navigate developing a product from scratch. 

Shaw, who had graduated from the Professional MBA program that year, recalls following the process that he learned in his New Product Development course at UBC Sauder to help their manufacturer come up with Before’s toothpaste formulation.  “It made it as data-driven a process as possible. It ended up working wonderfully.”

Shaw says the part-time MBA option allowed him to keep working in investment banking. He continues to work in the same firm and says both his education and work experience have been hugely beneficial to launching this new venture.

“I don’t think that prior to doing the MBA, I would've had as much confidence or conviction in the path that we took whenever we've come to large business decisions. That and my work experience has allowed us to quickly move forward, raise money, and deploy a product.”
 

Creating opportunities out of challenges

These skills also helped Shaw and the team navigate roadblocks in the start-up phase. Trying to launch their company during COVID-19 caused delays and unexpected challenges. They also found that their business model relied too heavily on the subscription model in the beginning and pivoted to selling in retail outlets as well. 

Their instinct to shift the business model has paid off. Before is looking at expanding its product offerings and selling in major retailers like Whole Foods. “We want our products to be accessible to anybody that wants them—whether they shop online or retail.” 

And while the business model has shifted, Shaw says the founders’ original vision for the company remains unchanged. “We're focused on building a company that we want to work at and a product that we want to use.”