A day in the life of Marc Briant-Terlet

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Marc Briant-Terlet is Horace’s co-founder. Everyone at the office is fascinated by his routine: day in, day out, he’s the first in the office and the last one out, he pretty much rides his bike everywhere, and somehow finds the time to both run our company and regularly attend yoga classes. After all this time, it only made sense for us to finally ask him about his day-to-day life.

When we first brought the idea up, Marc was underwhelmed. He postponed over and over again, until he couldn’t any more. The fact that our desks are right next to one another, and my constant nagging had finally paid off. We negotiated, and agreed the best time to talk would be for the release of our new Horace products. Which brings us to now, 9:30am on a Saturday morning, in Paris’ 18th arrondissement, where he lives.

Hi Marc, can you introduce yourself to our Horace readers?

Sure. My name is Marc, I’m 30 and I founded Horace in March 2015.

Where did the idea to create Horace come from?

It’s a simple story really. I was trying to renew one of the products I was using, Baxter of California’s Hard Water Pomade, and I realised it was rather complicated for men to find the grooming products they needed. That was in March 2014. Back then I worked in an office and couldn’t go buy what I needed from shops as they were closed by the time I’d finished working, and buying online proved to be much more difficult than I’d expected.

So you decided to solve the problem yourself?

The incubation period was quite long. At first, I spent some time learning more about male grooming products, and wondering if I was the only one with this problem. Things only really clicked when I was on holiday in Praiano, on the Amalfi Coast in Italy. I finally realised there was nothing out there to suit my needs. I talked about creating a solution to this situation with Kim Mazzilli - a friend I’d attended HEC Business School in Montreal with - and we decided to start Horace.

At that time you were inexperienced with regard to the industry you’d just set foot in.

Correct. My background was in the fashion industry. I first started working at Vans, where I held plenty of different positions before becoming Head of Marketing for France. I then decided to leave Vans to start working in consulting. As things would have it, my first client ended up being Vans, which I advised on their web strategy. My area of expertise was restricted to the fashion industry before I joined a big company where I got to work with clients such as Google and Dulux Valentine. It was enlightening: you got to witness first-hand how even companies as big as Google are lagging behind in certain fields. Towards the end of February 2015 I quit my job and started building the Horace team with Kim.

I learned on the job. I bought a load of books on the topic of male grooming, read every study I could find, and mostly spent hours talking with our customers, and men in general. Now I’m proficient enough to discuss subjects as specific as our products’ formulas with the laboratory, and make the most complicated aspects of male grooming easily accessible for our customers.

Horace quickly transitioned into product development.

Yes. We’d initially identified service-related issues, only to quickly realise the existing product offering was unsatisfactory. Neither the ocean-scented fragrances, the fluorescent packages, nor the ultra-pricey luxurious products really met our needs. I started engaging with certain brands as early as February 2015 and I instantly knew it would be very complicated to find good products.

What’s the process for choosing the products which are sold on Horace?

Each product we choose to sell has to fulfil three requirements. The first one is efficiency: quite simply, the product has to work. Then comes the quality of the ingredients. We refuse to sell products with mineral oil content - as they are often petroleum-based - as well as phoney ingredients such as taurine. And last but not least, the packaging has to look good.

Obviously, Horace products fulfil all three of these requirements.

We decided to launch products that would best answer the needs of our customers - and men in general - both in terms of efficiency and design. We also try to sell them at the most appropriate price. This is an industry where there are so many middlemen that the prices enforced by brands go up very quickly. Horace products go straight from the lab room to your bathroom. We are super detail-oriented, but also have a completely different approach to the rest of the industry. We stay far away from the usual communication used to sell grooming products to men, i.e., “buy our shit and you’ll be banging chicks in no time” or words to that effect. Under this rationale, once you’ve hooked up, do you stop taking care of yourself? Nonsensical.

What are the specs of the upcoming Horace products?

We are launching a moisturiser and a cleanser. While I don’t really like the word “authentic” and the way it is used to describe everything and anything, I really believe it’s the best way to qualify our product development approach. The products’ active ingredients are concentrated, we use real herbal oils, and work hand in hand with our customers and the lab.

Walk us through the product development process.

It was extremely long. The formula itself took a full 9 months to develop in collaboration with the laboratory. Our intention was to create formulas that were perfectly suited for the modern man. For example, our moisturiser is easy to apply, even if you’re unshaven or have a long beard. Our cleanser contains high levels of zinc to regulate sebum production, meaning you won’t finish your day with skin shinier than a bodybuilder’s pecs. From the get go we’d set the bar very high in terms of the quality of the ingredients used. We only work with ingredients with clinically substantiated benefits, as opposed to taurine, for example.

We also spent quite some time talking to men to better understand what they needed; we went through numerous blind tests, and only settled for our formula once it beat all other products.

Okay, now let’s talk about you. What’s a typical morning like for you?

I have two different rhythms. One for the week, and another for the weekend. On weekdays I set my alarm at 7am and get up after an appropriate amount of snoozing. Which is dangerous because my Braun alarm clock doesn’t have a snooze button and once it’s off, it’s off. I switch my phone off between 11pm and 7am. I stole the idea from Lionel Benatia after reading his routine on the website.

What’s the first thing you do after getting up?

I immediately start working. I switch my phone on and catch up on everything I might have missed on the website, Facebook, Instagram, and my emails. I then squeeze in a 7-minute workout session. It’s a fantastic way of getting in a super intensive workout in less than 10 minutes. After that, I hop in the shower.

What products do you use?

For my face, our Horace products. I’ve tried each of the different versions of both products, our moisturiser and our cleansing gel. I’ve been using them for more than a year now. My skin is rather sensitive and they’re still perfectly suitable as the formula was designed for all skin types, even very sensitive ones. Once a week I’ll use our konjac sponge to exfoliate.

As far as my hair is concerned, I try to keep it short (I have appointments with my hairdresser - la Barbière de Paris - every fortnight, which I book 3 months in advance), and I use Sachajuan’s Normal Hair Shampoo as it’s very gentle. When I’m stressed, I tend to get dry dandruff, at which point I switch to Sachajuan’s Scalp Treatment, which is a moisturising cream for your scalp, to put it simply. It works very well.

For my body, I use Dr. Bronner’s soap and like to switch between fragrances: peppermint, tea tree, eucalyptus. Currently, I’m in a tea tree mood.

The real essential component of my morning routine is the water filter I installed in my shower. The water in Paris is hard, so I invested, and this filter has proven to be a game-changer. The water is much softer, my skin is less dry, and my shower is also cleaner.

When do you get in the office?

As soon as possible. I take my breakfast at the office, which is the same every day: a chocolate chip viennoise. I make my way to our offices in the 17th arrondissement on my bike. I’m sometimes a bit hot by the time I arrive, so I wash my face to freshen up a bit. I’m in the office at 8:30am, and leave at 8pm at the earliest.

You don’t really switch off, then.

Between 11pm and 7am, which isn’t that bad. Outside of those hours I’m always available. It’s to be expected really, when you’re managing your own company. Even more so when the company in question is still small. I try to stay off my phone when I’m eating with my girlfriend or friends. It isn’t easy though. I’m working on it.

What are your weekends like?

I get up a little later, around 8:30am. I quickly set off to Bob’s Bake Shop, which is right next to my flat. I try to get there as early as possible, when it’s still calm. The same calm I enjoy when I’m on my bike at 7am, the calm I loved when I used to get back from clubbing in the early morning, although it hasn’t happened for some time now!

You have your breakfast at Bob’s?

Yes, I love the place, it reminds me of the time I spent in Montreal. It reminds me of my favourite diner over there, they had the best salmon bagel in the city. Bob’s cinnamon rolls are excellent.

How do you keep busy for the rest of the weekend?

I work from home, mostly because the offices are empty over the weekend. The rhythm is more relaxed. I walk a lot, to get regular breaths of fresh air. Sometimes I’ll work while watching “Terrace House”, a Japanese reality TV show which is available on Netflix.

You see, it wasn’t that hard, was it? Thanks for finally accepting to do this!

Thank you! And see you on Monday!

Photos : Louis Muller