Matt Orlic, co-founder and CEO of skincare-tech brand Qure, first got an up-close look at entrepreneurship when he was just 17. He worked on lead generation at a business coaching firm. “I was calling businesses all day, trying to set appointments for business coaches to come out and see them,” Orlic tells Entrepreneur. “That exposed me to hundreds of businesses every single day.”
Image Credit: Courtesy of Qure. Matt Orlic.
About six months into that role, Orlic was ready to strike out on his own. One of his mentors agreed to support him in starting a business that provided lead generation services to business coaches. Orlic sold that company at age 20 and went on to found Pro Sports Group, which manufactures soccer training products, and Inspire Brands Group, which develops and sells consumer brands.
But when Orlic was 25, his then biggest client, billion-dollar Australian retailer Dick Smith, went bankrupt. The young entrepreneur lost $5 million overnight. “ I pretty much lost that whole business, lost millions of dollars in cash,” Orlic recalls. “And that’s when I started the digital journey — because I understood [that I was] at the mercy of all these retailers. That’s when I went to a digital-first approach with brands.”
Orlic admits that a “victim mentality started seeping in,” as he’d spent so many years building his business just to see it fall apart. But he didn’t want that cycle of negative thinking to hold him back, so he considered all of the ultra-successful founders who’d experienced an early, devastating loss — and seized the opportunity to write his own comeback story. ”I felt like it was just my piece of debt I needed to pay [for success],” Orlic says.
”She’s like, ‘Oh my God, what’s that? I want one.'”
Because he’d become an entrepreneur at such a young age, Orlic had already reached a point where “nothing really felt good” in the business before his 30th birthday. He turned to psychologists and spiritual advisors, who introduced him to the idea of “authentic money” versus “inauthentic money.” Essentially, Orlic realized that he’d made a lot of “inauthentic money” selling products he wasn’t passionate about, and he wanted to change course.
What’s more, Orlic didn’t want his sister, Kristina Orlic, to make the same mistake he had. Kristina is the operations and brand manager at Inspire and the co-founder and CEO of Qure, which the brother-sister team started thanks to her passion for skincare.
When Matt lived in Croatia, Kristina would send him skincare packages with post-it notes on how to use the products. Then, Kristina came to visit and remarked on how well the products were working — and Matt had to admit he wasn’t using them at all.
Matt was using a massive LED light panel he’d bought in China; he’d learned about it while researching biohacking. ”She’s like, ‘Oh my God, what’s that? I want one,'” Orlic recalls. The panel wasn’t at the most consumer-friendly price point: It had cost $5,000. For the Orlic siblings, though, it was a priceless “lightbulb moment” — perhaps they could make the technology more accessible for people at home.
Image credit: Courtesy of Qure
“At the time, I truly believed that that was my original idea,” Orlic says, “[that] no one else had thought of a face mask. But I went online, and [there were] few of them. But that’s where the idea started. [We wanted to] make these clinical treatments and bring them [into homes] because beauty shouldn’t be a luxury — it should be a fundamental right. Everyone deserves to feel confident in their own skin.”
It took the Orlics about two years to develop Qure’s LED light therapy mask, which they created with the help of a design firm based in the Netherlands. Although there were other LED masks on the market, Kristina wanted to use clinical-grade LEDs and customizable features to set Qure’s apart. Now, Qure’s Red Light Mask Q-Rejuvalight Pro is an FDA-cleared device that treats acne, fine lines, wrinkles and dark spots. The wireless mask can target five facial areas to address specific skincare concerns in three-minute sessions.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Qure
“Having world-class products is the single most important factor [in success].”
Qure officially launched in 2022, and it’s on track to reach $50 million in revenue by the end of 2025. In addition to its LED mask, the brand boasts a range of other products, from its red light neck and chest mask to its micro-infusion patches, face serums, shower filter and more.
“Having world-class products is the single most important factor [in success],” Orlic says. “Because we have those world-class products, we’re able to get world-class dermatologists, influencers and doctors to support our brand. Because they want to associate their brand with upper-echelon products.”
Related: They Designed One Simple Product With a ‘Focus on Human Health’ — and Made $40 Million Last Year
Orlic looks forward to investing more in Qure’s product development and continuing to expand its line.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Qure
As a serial entrepreneur who started his first business younger than most, Orlic has some words of wisdom for aspiring founders: Have the tenacity to start and stay focused.
“I had 13 businesses at one stage, which was a horrible idea,” Orlic says. “I coach a lot of young entrepreneurs today, and they still have this concept of owning multiple businesses; [there’s] something sexy about it, which I don’t really understand too much. Just stick to one thing, have courage and persistence — that’s it.”
