Entrepreneurship

Chloe Beaudoin, HBA’20, remembers watching the first season of CBC’s Dragons’ Den back in 2006. Soon, the show became a favourite family pastime. Beaudoin dreamed of appearing on Dragons’ Den, pitching pretend ideas to her family long before she started a business. However, that dream came closer to reality after Beaudoin started Apricotton – a tween bra company – with her classmate Jessica Miao, HBA’20, as part of the Ivey Business School’s New Venture Project. But it was more than a project, and Apricotton graduated out of university with Beaudoin and Miao as a fully fledged business. While growing their brand through social media, where much of their target market resided, the founders applied to be on Dragons’ Den twice and didn’t make the cut. But third time was the charm. When they finally got the call to be on the show, both Beaudoin and Miao were getting ready to travel and barely had 48 hours to plan their pitch for primetime TV. Entering the studio in May 2024, they hoped for a strategic partnership with Michelle Romanow. While they wished they had more time, Beaudoin and Miao were quietly confident; albeit with some nerves. As the cameras started rolling, muscle memory took over. “As nervous as we were, as soon as we stepped into the den, we realized how real they were – getting questions from them felt like any other investor meeting,” Beaudoin said. With hundreds of pitches over the past five years in front of investors, it came easy to them. Four of the five dragons wanted in on the deal. Beaudoin and Miao decided to shift their original plan, foregoing the chance to work with Romanow for a potential deal with three dragons. Beaudoin and Miao had to keep their Dragons’ Den success a secret for the next seven months. In January, Arlene Dickinson officially announced her partnership with Apricotton.  

An overnight success, five years in the making

When the episode finally aired online, the response was everything Beaudoin and Miao hoped for and more, with an explosion of website visits, sales and social media interactions. It was a momentary high built on five years of hard work and determination for the two friends and co-founders – a journey with its fair share of ups and downs. When Beaudoin and Miao launched Apricotton in 2020, it didn’t quite feel like the beginning of a new chapter. The two had just completed Ivey’s honours business administration program virtually as all of Canada, and much of the world, was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. From virtual classes and graduations, they progressed to the Western Accelerator, and pitched at the first edition of Western Angel’s Demo Day – all virtually. Apricotton built its brand online through TikTok and Instagram through a community of young girls all struggling through the same experiences. They kept ticking milestones, including being selected for Mastercard x Pier Five Small Business Fund. However, the volatility of start-up life meant Beaudoin and Miao had to take on full-time jobs in the middle of their journey. It was just over a year ago the pair made the decision to quit their day jobs and go all-in with Apricotton once more. “I remember thinking to myself, ‘Oh that was the best decision of my life’,” said Beaudoin, who said she has no regrets. Reminiscing on the past five years building Apricotton, two factors kept Beaudoin and Miao waking up excited every day to work on that original classroom project. One was the central problem. Apricotton was born out of personal experiences, and as Miao’s younger sister was reaching the age to find her first bra, Miao wanted to ensure she had a better experience. She knew her little sister deserved a better experience than she had. That idea transformed into helping countless girls across the world going through the same struggle.

“Our mission is to help girls feel confident during puberty and to see girls literally saying that our bras are making them feel confident, it’s like ‘wow.’ That’s exactly what we wanted to do.” – Chloe Beaudoin, HBA’20

In doing so, Beaudoin and Miao have become big sisters to thousands of young girls. The second driving force has been their partnership. In a journey that is often described as lonely, both entrepreneurs are thankful to have such a strong teammate. “Having a co-founder that you love so much, that you’re close friends with, and being able to support each other during the hard times, and good times, has been so important to the two of us,” Beaudoin said. “We do not want to do this without each other.”