The Story Behind the Skincare Brand That Changed What Men Put on Their Face | Mind Pump
August 11, 2026
AI Summary
5 min readWhen Jared started Caldera Lab, he wasn't trying to disrupt the skincare industry. He was a 40-year-old new father living in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, whose skin was falling apart in the high alpine climate. The products he had used since his twenties stopped working and made things worse. He started borrowing his wife's skincare—and a couple of them transformed his skin. That led to a question that would define the next several years of his life: Why doesn't this exist for men?
The Product First, the Market Second
Most men's skincare brands at the time were repurposed women's formulas with different scents. Jared saw that as a fundamental mistake. Men's skin is 25 percent thicker, produces twice as much oil, and is managed by testosterone. A unisex product built for female skin wouldn't optimize for that biology. So he spent nearly two years developing a single product—a serum called The Good—before launching anything.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (02:47) **Origin Story: From Dry Wyoming Skin to a Men's Skincare Obsession** - Jared explains how moving to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, drying out his skin, and using his wife's products led him to realize men's skincare was a neglected category.
- 2 (04:37) **The Core Insight: Why Men Need Different Skincare** - Jared identifies the biological and market differences between men's and women's skin, which became the brand's foundation.
- 3 (10:08) **The "Natural" Advantage & The Science-Nature Ethos** - Jared explains why the company prioritizes natural, non-toxic ingredients and the challenges of using them.
- 4 (13:22) **Overcoming the "Crazy" Label: The Marketing Challenge** - Jared discusses the initial industry skepticism and his strategy for reaching men who historically ignored skincare.
- 5 (16:36) **The Risky Launch: A $110 Product for a New Market** - Jared details the 2019 launch of "The Good" at a high price point and the immediate validation from customers.
- 6 (19:32) **Building the Moat: Custom Formulation Over Off-the-Shelf** - Jared explains how their product development process creates a sustainable competitive advantage.
- 7 (24:55) **The Hard Road to Growth: From Agencies to In-House** - Jared shares the pivotal shift from hiring outside marketing agencies to building an internal team.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
In this episode the guys sit down with Jared Pobre, founder and CEO of Caldera Lab, to tell the full origin story of how he created a new category of skincare for men. Jared shares how moving to Jackson Hole at 40 with a new baby wrecked his skin and led him to use his wife's products — and why that sparked the idea to build a premium natural skincare line specifically formulated for men's thicker, oilier, testosterone-managed skin. He breaks down the product development process including wild harvesting survivor plants from the Wyoming wilderness, running clinical trials before launching, why they use exosomes as a delivery system, and why natural actives that work with your skin's microbiome beat harsh retinol-based products every time. The guys share how they started working with Caldera Lab near the beginning — Adam's psoriasis, Justin's dry skin and Sal's oily skin all responding the same way — and why their audience became some of Caldera's highest value customers. Jared also reveals that Caldera is now Nordstrom's number two men's brand just months after launch, has nearly 70% customer retention, and is growing high double digits this year.
Caldera Lab: https://calderalab.com/mindpump
Code: MINDPUMP20 for 20% off your first order.
GUEST LINKS
Jared Pobre — LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredpobre
Caldera Lab: https://calderalab.com
Instagram: @calderalab
LINKS
Mind Pump Store: https://mindpumpstore.com
Maps Fitness Products: https://mapsfitnessproducts.com
Instagram: @mindpumpmedia
0:00 - Intro
1:03 - Why Jared started a skincare brand for men — Jackson Hole, turning 40 and a new baby
3:05 - How he saw the early signs of men caring about skincare before anyone else did
5:42 - Why men's skin is fundamentally different — 25% thicker, twice as oily, managed by testosterone
6:42 - Why he refused to copy women's formulas and started from scratch with actives
8:48 - How the skincare industry works — the dirty secret of white-labeling and brand shortcuts
10:45 - Why going all natural is far more complicated and expensive than chemical formulations
13:06 - Why every men's skincare brand before Caldera Lab failed — and why that was a green light
15:07 - How Caldera launched in January 2019 with 10,000 units and immediately started selling
17:47 - Customer loyalty nearly at 70% and why men are the most loyal customers once you win them
21:12 - How Adam found Caldera Lab, how he got Justin and Sal to try it and what happened More from this podcast