Aspire with Emma Grede
Aspire with Gwyneth Paltrow: Why Being Early Is Better Than Being Liked
Tue, 06 May 2025
Emma sits down with Gwyneth Paltrow for an unfiltered conversation about ambition, evolution, and the emotional toll of leadership. Gwyneth opens up about her radical pivot from Academy Award-winning actress to founder and CEO of Goop, the challenges of scaling a brand born from personal passion, and the intense public scrutiny that’s followed her journey. They dive into the emotional complexity behind ambition, navigating layoffs as a woman leader, and how Gwyneth balances personal growth with her brand’s identity. If you've ever wondered what it really takes to reinvent yourself—and stay true to your vision even when the world has strong opinions—this conversation is for you. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What inspired Gwyneth Paltrow to pivot from acting to entrepreneurship?
Now, depending on who you ask, she's a visionary, she's a cultural lightning rod, she's out of touch, she's ahead of her time, she's doing too much, not enough, or maybe she's just doing what she wants to be doing and what only she can. Welcome Gwyneth Paltrow to Aspire. I'm so thrilled to be here. I'm so happy to have you. Just really, really excited to have the conversation.
It's an honor, honestly.
You're so lovely for saying that. So I want to take you back a little bit because I think we all know you how we know you. We know you as Gwyneth. the actress, the Oscar winning actress, I should say.
But I think that for so many people, you know, we think that there's a time and a moment in our career where there's a pivot on the horizon, where we're in something and whether we like it or not, whether we need to or not, there's kind of this burning desire to do something else.
Yeah.
Oh, I guess idiocy, naivete. I mean, foolhardiness. I was so lucky to have the acting career that I had. You know, my mom is an incredible actress. My dad made TV shows, so I grew up very much in it. And my mom, when she was on stage, she was like the most whole, synthesized, like a live version of herself. And so I wanted to do that.
You know, I wanted to be on stage and feel like that power that she was kind of radiating. And I had my heart set on that path and I never really even thought about anything else. I was like, this is what I want to do. This is what I want to do. And I did it. I had a lot of success. I wasn't good at saying no. So I was doing like three movies a year, five movies a year.
And I really kind of burnt out. And also it was at a time, I think, I hope Hollywood's a bit better now, but it was a bit you know, sort of sexist culture in certain respects. And I don't know, it's just, I had my daughter and I was just like, I think I need to not do this right now. Like I need a break. I need to put this down. I want to be home.
Luckily I could afford to take a break and not go back to work. And I just kind of took three years and had my kids. And I really started to question why I had decided to act. Did I really want to? Did I still love it? It was like a lot. I kind of gave myself the space to examine it and reflect. And I was like, I just don't know how I feel about it.
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Chapter 2: How did Gwyneth Paltrow start Goop and what challenges did she face?
And at the same time, I had been doing movies all over and I had always had this incredible curiosity when I was, you know, filming in Naples or Paris or Toronto, like, where do I go? And this is pre-internet, right? So like, where's the best pizza? Like, is there a good, you know, pajama store? Like, where are all the cool kids going? And there was like no way to find that information.
There was no like aggregation of information. you know, tips that were resonant for me. And so I would, I would always take notes and I would ask like the cool makeup girls, like what, what bars do you go to? And like, even in Paris, sometimes if there was a really cool looking person, I would stop them on the street and be like, can you give me like your five best Paris things? So,
I kept these reams of information. And then at the same time, because I was acting and I earned money before my friends and I bought a house before my friends, I learned to cook before my friends. And I learned to like pick out wallpaper before my friends. So my friends would be like, how do I roast a chicken? Or like, where can I go buy wallpaper? And were you that person at that time?
People would come to you for that.
I was always that person. So finally I was like, maybe I should just like put all this in a website, you know, that was like very new. Right. On the internet. And that was sort of like, that's how basic it was and how heartfelt.
And yeah, it was just... So it wasn't like, let me create a business that takes me away from this Oscar winning life. It was actually, let me aggregate all of this information that I have somewhere.
And then I think I had a secret. I was harboring like a secret desire that maybe I could turn it into a business at some point. But of course, I didn't have the authority. I didn't know how. So I just thought, you know, I'll just, this is like, I have such a passion for me. I'm just going to do this. And then I'll see maybe if anything comes out of it at some point in the future.
So at what point did you get the idea that this was something that you could actually monetize and turn into a proper business?
No.
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Chapter 3: When did Gwyneth Paltrow realize Goop could become a profitable business?
And so that's when I started to think about how, and I started with some partnerships, basically. It was kind of like a mini media model.
Like brand partnerships?
Yeah, like brand partnerships.
You said that you'd put a ton of money in. This was your own money or had you started to raise at that point? No, my own money. So you took your own money that you had, you know, earned and you just plowed it in thinking, I just, I love this. I'm a creative who wants to give something back. And that's just where my heart says to go. Exactly. Wow. Unbelievable. Okay.
So at what point did you have the realization that this is something that could pay?
It's interesting because, so we kind of had a media model at first and people were paying and sponsoring shoots. And I thought like, this feels fine, but it also feels like the reason that this works and is resonant with people is because it's really... authentic.
And I started to worry that if it was me being paid to talk about things, even though I was super strict, like it had to be a brand that I genuinely loved or used, you know, that makes the aperture really narrow. And also I didn't want to be a content factory and I didn't want like a clicks model and all this.
So I had done this piece, this content piece on the French pharmacy, like all of the great things that, you know, and that like, I go to Paris and it's like all the things. So I did a piece, a content piece on all the things that I loved from the French pharmacy. And it was like, you know, the retin-A cream, the retin-A. Yeah, the embryo release, the cream release, like all the things we need.
Homeoplasmin and all the things, you know. I still use that. Me too. And I was on the street and a woman stopped me and she said, oh my gosh, I love Goop. I love your newsletter. I wait for it every Thursday. I love the piece on the French pharmacy. But she said it was so frustrating because I was spent like three hours on Amazon.fr, like trying to buy the lip balm.
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Chapter 4: How did Gwyneth Paltrow handle public scrutiny and backlash?
So we were like, okay, well, we'll make it. Mm-hmm. But the reason why we started to raise money, essentially, was because my biggest investor, he invested in another company. And they were at their board meeting. And they were reviewing the numbers early in the quarter. All of a sudden, say it was customers down here, the customer acquisition count jumped way up.
And then for the rest of the quarter, it was like a really high quality customer. I really, you know, they had come back and back. There was a great LTV. And so your cohorts were banging or they were banging in the other business. They were banging the other business. Got it. Got it. And my investor said, what happened on this day? And they said, we were on this thing called Goop.
bad thing to happen to him. He's seeing it somewhere else. You didn't even need to tell him. So he called me actually. And that's how I, that's how I first took venture money and how I started to put the plan together of how we were going to do this and create a business.
Did you have a plan for the money? And were you the CEO at that point when you raised?
We had an interim CEO when I was kind of learning. And so, which was really helpful because she kind of, you know, I still have a really hard time asking for money. You do? I do. I don't like fundraising. Really? I don't like it. I just don't, I just don't like it. I just, you are kidding.
I would love to be you fundraising. I'd be like in my ball gown, just like coming in. I would love it. I've arrived. I do a speech and just honestly, I feel like it would be so powerful to be you fundraising.
I think, and you know, I think also because when I went out and started doing it on my own, I think it wasn't, it's very, as you know, I mean, maybe not for you, but it was really hard. You know, it was hard to raise money. I think a lot of people took the meeting because their wife was a fan. They wanted a selfie. And they wanted to see you.
They wanted to see me and they weren't serious about the business. And I had so many no's.
Could you, can you detect that? Like, how's your bullshit? Oh, my God. Do you look like, did you walk in and be like, I ain't getting this check?
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Chapter 5: What strategies does Gwyneth Paltrow use to build resilience as a leader?
I don't think about resiliency. I was raised to be resilient. Right. My father really made me stand on my own two feet as a kid. You know, I think the ways in which, you know, we all grew up in a time where, you know, as we were talking about before, it was different, right? And so I think we all had some degrees of adversity in our households, which made us resilient.
Then I chose acting, which is like 7,000 no's. You're not good enough. You're not pretty enough. You're not this. You're not that. And just kept going. And I think it's because it's almost like if you are holding your future...
and you believe, like you can see it and you know that it's yours and it's for you and it's coming, you have no choice but to get up and just keep going, keep trying, you know, looking at something differently. What am I doing wrong? Why did I get this hit? Like, is there a better way I can say this or do this? And it's been like one long exercise in resiliency, I think. And I never give up.
I never quit. Like, I think part of that is really intrinsic to me. Like, There are certain circumstances that I've been in where I feel like, you know, it probably would be a lot easier to bow out of this because that's just not me. I'm like one of those things, you know, you punch and they pop back up.
But it's so interesting because I think that is what makes an incredible entrepreneur because people imagine once you're out of a situation where somebody else is telling you what to do, that suddenly it gets easier. And I think when the decision is all on you to go left or to go right, it actually is so much harder. And there are things that happen in companies.
And I know that you've been through lots and you must have over all of the years. There are so many difficult decisions to make. Is there ever a time when you are like, I actually can't do that. This is just too much. Have you had those moments in the company where you're like, I just can't go?
Yes. Multiple. Yeah. Multiple moments. I mean, I really thought when COVID happened that we were going to go out of business. Same. Same. I had one sort of period in our history where I had the wrong team and they were not some of them were not putting the goop business first and it almost all fell apart, like in a terrible way. People that you trusted? People that I trusted. I was like, I'm done.
I can't do it. Then I had, all of our money was in a bank that collapsed a couple of years ago. Oh. Remember that? Yeah. Remember that? That little thing. I was like, Okay. Like there have been so many, you know, even, and then even sometimes I think because it compounds, right?
And it's like, sometimes I've had days like that where, you know, I don't know, they change the Facebook algorithm and you can't like get a customer. You're like, what? And you're like, I quit. I just can't do this anymore. I don't know how to make it work anymore. I don't know how. I can't scale this business if they keep changing the algorithm, you know? So, so, so, so, so it's just like,
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Chapter 6: What is Gwyneth Paltrow's approach to decision-making in business?
They really love our fashion point of view and they really love our beauty point of view. And so until we have so much cash on the balance sheet that we can experiment again, like let's really focus on those three things and on our food vertical, which has been an incredible success for us. This is a food off Oh, good. Oh, I'm telling you.
We are that Brentwood chicken salad and those little wraps. We are chowing down on those every day. I'm so happy.
Every single day. So, so good. Thank you.
I want to get into the business as it is today because it feels like a really new day in your business. And, you know, I think that you kind of said there was a brilliant article that I read yesterday where you said, you know, like the LTV on the vagina candle customer perhaps didn't shake out as you imagined it would. But it's a really important statement, right?
Because we live and learn in our businesses about what's going to work, what is there for press, what's actually a scalable business. Yes. How has your customer shook out and what does the company look like today?
Yeah. So very strong in beauty and fashion. That and the food, of course. So we're really like strengthening our strengths. Our beauty business grew 40% last year. Well, it won't grow that as much this year. So don't worry. The economy is not working in my favor. That is the new growth.
That's what we're saying right now. Just take that one back to your board. Thank you.
Okay. You tell them MSH. I'm going to write that down. And our G-label business grew 50% last year. That's incredible. So we really just want to focus on those things. And also I'm always refining, you know, it's like we've had this great multifashion business, but, you know, as we continue to invest, it's like those, that's a hard business, that marketplace, you know? It's It's so hard.
It's like, it's so hard. And you have to make a decision. Like, what are we going to win out? What are we going to be best at? Because that is read. And especially at your price point, it's a really competitive business. And I think you've actually done a very good job. Like I know if I want a cashmere sweater for five, $600, like you do them beautifully.
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Chapter 7: How does Goop decide which product categories to focus on?
And I think as women, we struggle to do that. I also think that when we do that, you know, it becomes a much more interesting story in the news than when men do that. Like, I don't read these stories about Google cutting, you know, doing their, you know what I mean? Never. Right.
The stories don't.
And they do it all the time.
The stories don't get written.
No, they don't.
Because it's much more a story on the other side of how they've cultivated a, you know, like excellence within the workforce, right? It's written that way. It isn't about like, oh my goodness, she over, you know, she over-egged the pudding. She over-expanded the business. And now there needs to, you know, 20 people need to get fired.
Have you figured out a way of, you know, I always talk about it as like killing my darlings. Like when I, when I decide like, project is over, a moment is over, we have to make a big change. How have you kind of figured out how you can do that without feeling the heavy burden or is it just always heavy?
You know, now I feel like I've gotten more clinical about it. You know, it's like, I think it's great to try. I think it's great to take risks. And sometimes the product market fit is just not there. Yeah. And it's not your fault, you know? Or sometimes maybe it could have been there, but you don't have the budget to, you know, like pour tens of millions of dollars into marketing something.
And so you just sort of, have to let it go. And I think it's important to admit defeat early. Like that's something that I've learned too. It's like, if it doesn't, if it's not working, let it go.
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Chapter 8: What does the future look like for Goop under Gwyneth Paltrow's leadership?
Shopify is the best thing since sliced bread. I mean, honestly, it's just amazing. Right. So why did I do that? I don't have an ad from Shopify. If you want to, if Shopify want to be here. Please come because I am the shop, the advocate for Shopify over here.
Okay. Well, I got off of it. Someone talked me out of it. They were like, you have too much revenue to be on Shopify. Get out of town. They're the biggest company. I mean, Skims is on Shopify. Well, this was when it was like, you know, right. Exactly. Oh, I need, you know, I need to build it yourself. Right.
You know how much money I've wasted? Oh, I can't imagine. Yeah. Yeah. And I do feel like, again, there's so much advice for female founders. I can't tell you how many people I talk out of building their own warehouse or their own 3PL. I'm like, that's not your business.
But I do feel like, especially with businesses where there's a talent at the kind of forefront of the business, there's a moment where you kind of have this period where there can be such incredible acceleration in what you do. And you either jump in that window or you ever so slightly miss it.
And it's frustrating to me because I feel like in every company I've ever been a part of, I can look back. Even though I feel like I lean into it as much as possible, I can look back and be like, oh, goodness me, I should have been more, should have, could have, would have.
And it's hard when it's you as well. Like, because, you know, again, like the weirdest thing about me, I think is that I'm actually an introvert. I don't like being in front of people. I don't like being in front of a camera. I don't, I hate public speaking. So I think that's also hard for me because my first career was all about that. And my second career is about that to a certain degree as well.
So sometimes I'm like, it's the best thing for the business for me to lean into this, but I don't want to do it.
Do you give advice to younger founders? Like, do you find that you're there doing that? Because I know you invest in like a lot of companies and especially in female founders. What is your advice that you like to give most, most frequently?
The most important thing I always say to founders, like, is it going to kill you not to do this? Oh, that's a good question. Because otherwise don't do it. Like you have to know with every fiber of your being that you are alive to do this business. Otherwise, don't. Don't do it. Don't do it.
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