I Had BAD Skin — So I Built an AI Beauty Consultant

What we talked about.

Sampo Parkkinen, founder and CEO of Revieve, joins Sunny Ray to trace the personal journey that led him to build an AI powered beauty consultant platform. Raised in Finland, Parkkinen never planned to become an entrepreneur until a university co-founder pushed him toward starting Rapid Blue Solutions, a real world analytics company later acquired by ShopperTrak. After relocating to Chicago on an earnout, he battled his own skin issues for nine months, avoiding dermatologists and beauty consultants until curiosity took over. That experience revealed a gap: online shoppers had no equivalent to an in-store beauty consultant to guide personal care purchases. In 2016, he and his original co-founding team launched Revieve to give retailers and brands an AI driven personalization layer for skin, health, beauty and wellness. Ten years later, the profitable company serves customers in more than fifty countries. Parkkinen also discusses lessons from Rapid Blue's high stakes acquisition, becoming a Techstars mentor and angel investor, and how the pandemic accelerated demand for digital personalization in beauty retail.

A Finnish founder's own skin struggles inspired Revieve, an AI beauty consultant platform now used by retailers in 50+ countries.

The questions, and the answers.

What is Revieve and what does the company do?

We're building the AI intelligence layer for personal commerce, starting with skin, health, beauty and wellness because these are the most personal products people buy. We give retailers and brands an AI powered customer experience platform that personalizes shopping across those categories. We started in 2016, have customers in more than 50 countries, about 50 people on the team, and we're EBITDA positive and profitable.

Were you always drawn to tech and entrepreneurship growing up in Finland?

I had a pretty regular, happy childhood, but I wasn't drawn to tech or entrepreneurship early on. I went to university in Finland without knowing what I wanted to do. It was actually my co-founder who planted the idea that we should start a business, so we launched our first company straight out of university.

How did a business degree shape the way you think about building products?

Honestly, the degree gives you theoretical knowledge, but the most valuable part is the connections and network you build with other students. You can't really study building a real business in a textbook. Sometimes a business degree can even be a disadvantage because you go in with preconceptions about how things are supposed to work.

Where did the idea for Revieve come from?

My own skin got really bad after moving to Chicago, and I avoided the dermatologist for nine months because I didn't want to talk to a beauty consultant. When I finally went, I realized I just needed to know which products to buy. I started asking friends, Uber drivers, even doormen, and realized most people don't know what to buy either.

You kept the same founding team from Rapid Blue for Revieve. Why was that important?

I think if it was any other team we wouldn't still be doing this ten years later. You learn each other's strengths and weaknesses like an old married couple, and shared tough experiences, like almost running out of money, lower the barriers so you can disagree openly without it breaking the company.

Can you share a near death experience from Rapid Blue's acquisition?

During due diligence, Senator Chuck Schumer sent a privacy letter to a competitor, and our acquirer asked us to draft a response within 24 hours. Later, three days before signing, the acquirer suddenly demanded we get three customers on the phone within 48 hours without telling them anything about the deal, all across an eight hour time difference.

How did the pandemic change Revieve's trajectory?

COVID massively accelerated us. Before that, retailers agreed personalization sounded interesting but had other priorities. When lockdowns hit, they scrambled to figure out how to deliver a real experience online since customers suddenly had no other option, and that urgency pushed adoption of what we'd been building for years.