LOS ANGELES _ Dollar Shave Club founder and Chief Executive Michael Dubin began using an app this year to track the time he spent on different tasks.
The finding: Organizational issues were eating up his day. Since consumer products giant Unilever spent $1 billion a year ago to buy Dollar Shave Club in the biggest startup acquisition in Los Angeles County history, Dubin has pored over organizational charts, new marketing ideas and big hiring decisions to set up his discount razor seller to take on bigger goals.
Unilever bought into the idea that Dollar Shave Club could sell more lucrative products than razors and that it could win over consumers abroad. But the initial results of what's expected to be a multiyear transition _ Act Two, as Dubin calls it _ have been underwhelming, according to two sources familiar with the company but unauthorized to discuss it.
The shuffling of departments, a few layoffs and an even bigger number of new hires have upset the company's cheeky, underdog culture, those people say.
There's work to do, Dubin said in an interview at his lofted, corner office near Los Angeles.
"Did people just naturally grab (new grooming products) without being told why they should? They haven't," he said. "It's about changing perceptions, which begins this fall with a big campaign. You have to take some steps to get there."
He disputed assertions that missteps over the next couple of years could threaten the corporate independence he won from Unilever as part of the buyout. Another Unilever subsidiary, Ben and Jerry's, has been able to maintain wide autonomy since being acquired 17 years ago. But Dubin acknowledged that he's one voice, alongside three Unilever executives, on Dollar Shave Club's new board of directors.
"Anything can change at any time, but that's not in the cards," Dubin said.
In regulatory filings, Unilever described Dollar Shave Club's growth in the first half of 2017 as strong and said that it "will preserve" the independent unit's "entrepreneurial approach, taking valuable lessons for the rest of our portfolio."
In a statement, Kees Kruythoff, Unilever North America's president, said he expects Dollar Shave Club's success shipping directly to consumers to carry forward as "we work toward accelerating growth and expanding into new categories and regions."
