Jared Pobre. Here, Jared Pobre shares how his tech background shaped Caldera + Lab, the challenges of entering beauty retail and where the brand is headed next. Inside Retail: Prior to launching Caldera + Lab, can you delve into your career background and how your path led you to becoming a brand founder? Jared Pobre: Before Caldera + Lab, I spent my career building and scaling companies in the AdTech sector. Over time, my interests evolved toward health, longevity and consumer wellness, particularly after living in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where harsh environmental conditions made me more aware of how underserved men’s skin was within the skincare category. I realized that men’s skin is thicker and often more exposed to environmental stressors, which require formulations specifically engineered for those needs, rather than repurposed products originally developed for women. That realization ultimately led me to partner with leading chemists and labs to launch Caldera + Lab, blending biotech innovation with high-performance natural ingredients to create clinically backed skincare designed for men. IR: For those who are unfamiliar with the brand, how would you describe Caldera + Lab? What gaps does this brand fill in a hypersaturated market? JP: Caldera + Lab is a premium men’s skincare brand built on biotech innovation, high-performance natural ingredients and clinically backed formulas. By combining cutting-edge innovation with naturally derived ingredients, we simplify skincare without sacrificing efficacy. The brand exists to solve a core gap in the market: most men’s skincare lacks clinical efficacy or is adapted from formulas not designed for men’s skin. Caldera + Lab was built to offer a more intentional alternative – streamlined routines that are effective, approachable and engineered to address concerns like dryness, environmental stress, aging and skin fatigue through a performance-first lens. IR: How did you first come up with the idea for Caldera + Lab and for the name of the brand? JP: Living in Jackson Hole, I was constantly inspired by the natural beauty surrounding us – with Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park right in our backyard. What fascinated me most was learning that Yellowstone sits on the world’s largest supervolcano and is also one of the most ecologically rich calderas on Earth. A caldera is what remains after a volcanic eruption – a place where immense natural power ultimately gives rise to renewal, richness and life. That idea deeply resonated with me while developing the vision for the brand: harnessing antioxidant-rich ingredients from nature and combining them with cutting-edge skincare science. The name Caldera + Lab was born from that philosophy. “Caldera” represents the extraordinary power and intelligence of nature, while “Lab” reflects our commitment to advanced scientific innovation and performance. Together, the name embodies the fusion of natural ingredients with modern skincare science. IR: What were the toughest challenges you faced in the initial stages of launching and running the brand? What strategies did you incorporate to overcome these issues? JP: Even though I had experience as an entrepreneur, Caldera + Lab is the first consumer brand I have ever built. It meant learning an entirely new CPG business from the ground up. For the first time, I had to understand how to create a physical product, how to market directly to consumers and how to build a world-class CPG team in one of the most challenging categories imaginable: prestige men’s skincare – a space filled with far more failures than successes. One of the biggest surprises was discovering just how complex and competitive the beauty industry is. From the outside, it can appear glamorous, fun and welcoming, but behind the scenes it is incredibly sophisticated and fiercely competitive. I knew I would need to learn quickly, adapt constantly and accept that mistakes were inevitable along the way. What gave me confidence, however, was realizing that as long as we created products customers genuinely loved, we would always have a chance to keep improving and moving forward. In the end, great products create trust and trust creates the opportunity to build a lasting brand. IR: What have been the biggest highlight moments of running the business thus far? JP: Building men’s skincare products that solve real skin concerns has been the most rewarding part of this journey. Our customers are sophisticated and discerning – they expect results, and at a premium price point, they simply will not repurchase if the products don’t perform. That creates a very high standard for everything we bring to market. What motivates us every day is hearing directly from customers who tell us our products have exceeded their expectations and become part of their daily routine. There is nothing more fulfilling than earning that kind of trust and recognition from the people you are working so hard to serve behind the scenes. IR: Caldera + Lab recently announced that it has developed a wholesale partnership with Nordstrom. How did this retail relationship come about? JP: The Nordstrom partnership marks a key milestone in Caldera + Lab’s retail expansion strategy, reflecting growing demand for elevated, performance-driven men’s skincare in prestige retail environments. The relationship came through ongoing category growth and alignment around bringing simplified, high-performance skincare to a broader consumer base through trusted retail partners. IR: In addition to Nordstrom, how else are you planning to expand Caldera + Lab’s retail presence? JP: We are approaching retail expansion in a very intentional and strategic way. As a prestige brand, it’s important to us that every partnership aligns with the elevated customer experience and brand positioning we’ve worked hard to build. We’re actively exploring additional wholesale partnerships with select luxury retailers, specialty beauty destinations, premium spas and high-end hospitality groups that naturally connect with our customer demographic. We also see significant opportunity in experiential retail, including curated pop-ups and immersive brand activations that allow consumers to discover the products in a more personal and educational setting. Because skincare is such a tactile and results-driven category, giving customers the opportunity to experience the textures, formulations and performance firsthand is incredibly powerful. At the same time, direct-to-consumer will continue to remain a major focus for us. It gives us the ability to maintain a close relationship with our customers, gather real-time feedback and continue refining the brand experience. Our overall strategy is not rapid distribution for the sake of scale, it’s thoughtful expansion that protects the integrity, desirability and long-term value of the brand. IR: What goal points do you hope to carry out with Caldera + Lab over the course of the next year and over the next five years? JP: Over the next year, our primary focus is continuing to strengthen Caldera + Lab’s position as the leader in prestige men’s skincare through innovation, customer experience and thoughtful expansion. We want to introduce new products that solve unmet needs for men, continue building deeper trust with our community and strategically expand our retail presence while staying true to the elevated standards that define the brand. We are also heavily focused on advancing our leadership in natural biotech innovation, which we believe represents the future of high-performance skincare. Over the next five years, the vision is much bigger than simply becoming a successful skincare company. We want Caldera + Lab to help redefine how men think about skincare, wellness and self-care altogether. Our goal is to build one of the most respected modern men’s skincare brands in the world, known for combining cutting-edge science, exceptional design and natural ingredients in a way that feels authentic, elevated and effective. IR: What is a piece of advice you would give to the day one version of yourself on your brand founder journey? JP: I would tell the day one version of myself to embrace patience and stay relentlessly focused on product quality above everything else. Building a meaningful consumer brand takes far longer, costs far more and requires much more resilience than you initially expect. There will be moments of doubt, setbacks and plenty of mistakes along the way. Great brands take time to build. IR: What is your current favorite SKU from the brand? JP: My favorite Caldera + Lab product is our anti-aging lightweight serum, The Great. It represents everything our brand stands for – advanced innovation, clinical results and uncompromising quality. In my opinion, it is the most technologically advanced men’s skincare product on the market and the only patent-pending, natural biotech-driven serum created specifically for men’s skin. It’s a product that truly showcases our commitment to combining cutting-edge biotech science with the power of nature for the best results. Further reading: How Augustinus Bader became the skincare brand everyone wants