Dynamic founders, market differentiation, and the potential to scale are essential components of the kind of startups venture capitalists invest in. Furtuna Skin brings all that to the table–along with star power, strong values, and products you will love forever.

Furtuna’s story starts with the Luczos’ family estate—land where Agatha’s husband’s grandmother and her family had been landowners, before moving to the U.S. As a young boy growing up in the Chicago area, Steve made a promise to his nonna when he was 10 years old that one day he would become successful and return to Italy and buy the land back for her.  Decades later, he made good on that promise. The La Furtuna Estate (pictured here—photo by Amanda Caruso), 80% of which is an eco-reserve, is fed by natural springs and hadn’t been cultivated in about 400 years. There are 12,000 olive trees, nearly 100 species of medicinal plants, and over 500 different flowers and herbs on the estate. (They make their own line of olive oil and other food products too, under the Bona Furtuna label. Want to see more of their gorgeous estate? Watch the brief video at the end of this post.)

Agatha is a former high-fashion model who spent years walking the runways of Fashion Week where she learned the ins and outs of makeup and proper skincare. Now the mother of four young children, Agatha is a leading proponent of sustainable organic farming, an overseer of the La Furtuna estate and a self-described olive oil fanatic  who is studying to become a certified olive oil sommelier. (That’s Agatha, pictured here, with cuttings from La Furtuna’s olive tree orchard—photo by Karina Taira.)

Kim is a fourth-generation entrepreneur based in Los Angeles whose father was a founder of the luxe skincare line Epicuren. Kim made her own mark in the industry as founder of a skincare distribution business and the baby skincare brand Babytime!, both of which were later sold. She also helped turn around and grow Lime Crime, a digitally-native cosmetics brand that was also acquired in 2018. A clean-beauty pioneer, Kim has served as a senior advisor to the Environmental Working Group, a public safety advocacy nonprofit that tracks and lobbies against harmful chemicals in food, cosmetics and other consumer products.

Furtuna differentiates itself in a crowded, noisy field of constant new-product launches and brands by providing several features that other products in its category and price points don’t have: It uses rare and uniquely powerful botanicals from the La Furtuna Estate. Its ingredients are mostly organic and all follow the EU’s stringent standards, which ban some 1,300 chemicals that the U.S. doesn’t. Furtuna Skin’s products are devoid of any harsh chemical additives, parabens, phenoxyethanol, phthalates, synthetic fragrances, synthetic colors, GMOs, sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) and dyes.

 And while the line might be more expensive than other brands, its 4-step system (the Cuore Collection, pictured here), at a cost of a few hundred dollars, is priced to appeal to a younger consumer who invests in self-care and is committed to eco-conscious brands.

Your investors should be investing in you because they believe in you and your vision, notes Agatha (photo by Karina Taira).

Seek out investors who can give you the tools and guidance to put your vision into a longer-range plan. “Having investors who you can share the megaphone with is essential,” she says.

Building customer loyalty is key to Furtuna Skin’s growth strategy. “We want our customer to grow with us over time. We’re striving for a 30- to 50-year relationship,” says Kim.

One mistake young brands tend to make is not considering the customer journey, she notes. Successful brands will aim to service their customer better and better through time. Brands fail when they present their customer with too many competing choices within the product line. “You want to increase the share of wallet over time, but you never want to force your customer to choose from too many products within your line.”

The TAM [total addressable market] for Furtuna’s current assortment of products is “in the billions,” Kim continues. “We don’t need a huge SKU count to expand, we need deeper penetration in key accounts and then broader distribution into new markets globally.”

The La Furtuna estate is a prime example of what sustainable farming looks like. Its farming practices, from how the land is irrigated to how the plants are nurtured and harvested, are designed to support the region’s rich biodiversity of flora and fauna, and to preserve the land for generations to come, says Agatha. As the company grows, it will continue to source its botanicals from the estate and other farms around the world that maintain the same standards of sustainability.

The estate also provides much-needed jobs to people in the area, which is located in a remote, hilly part of the island where unemployment exceeds 50% and there is little tourism or other industry to bolster the local economy.

Sometimes, the perfect partnership happens when the stars align. Some people might call it kismet; others might call it luck, hard work and perseverance, or just great timing. Whatever brings people together, it’s important to trust voicing your ideas and dreams to those who will listen with an open mind and heart.

As the “olive oil fanatic,” Agatha understands both its nutritional benefits as a superfood and its topical healing and moisturizing properties. One day when talking with her children’s pediatrician*, she happened to mention her desire to create her own skincare line using olive oil from her family estate, but she didn’t quite know where to begin. Said her doctor:

“You need to meet my friend Kim Walls!”

And that’s how Furtuna Skin came to be.

(*Alan Greene, MD. You can listen to the podcast Dr. Greene and Agatha co-hosted in 2020, “Mom Driven, Doctor Aligned” on Apple podcasts.)

Can’t get enough of La Furtuna Estate? Watch the video (credit: Andrea Caruso).