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Launching and growing a consumer brand in the US is exceedingly difficult. While digital platforms such as the internet and social media give brands unprecedented access to tools to expand their reach and further communicate with consumers, everyone simultaneously has access to these tools. This has led to an oversaturation in the market, making it incredibly difficult for new brands to stand out from the crowd. Fortunately, Cyrille Bessiere, a CEO, investor, and board member, has found his own unique path to success amidst the chaos of this crowd.
By working efficiently with investors and steadily expanding concentrated marketing efforts, Cyrille has overseen numerous successful brands to blossom into full-blown success stories. He is currently the CEO of one of the fastest-growing consumer brands in the US. As Cyrille says, “Launching and scaling consumer brands has always been my forte. I am passionate about branding, marketing, and business development in general.”
Cyrille’s International Business Roots
Cyrille’s roots are in France, where he grew up and began his career before coming to the US to grow various businesses and invest in others. As a child, he was much more passionate about business stories than he was about French literature, often to the dismay of his parents. He attended business school at HEC Paris and graduated in 2004, beginning his career in earnest shortly afterward in the US at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), one of the leading strategy consulting firms. At BCG, he was able to take the business knowledge he had acquired in college and push it even further with hands-on experience and real-world scenarios. During his six years at BCG, he worked for several high-profile corporate clients across a wide range of industries, including retail, banking, and healthcare.
Upon moving on from BCG, Cyrille acquired an abundance of first-hand knowledge regarding numerous industries and was ready to take his career to the next level. His first role overseeing a brand was at Palais des Thés from 2010 to 2018. In just seven years, he turned the company into the #1 premium tea brand in department stores across the country, such as Macy’s, Saks, Neiman Marcus, and Bloomingdales. Furthermore, he got the tea company’s products into palace hotels such as The Plaza NY, Ritz Carlton, and St. Regis, all while serving the brand’s fans directly through an e-commerce website. Under his leadership, the brand even became the partner of choice of prestigious brands such as Chanel for their retail stores in the US, a monumental achievement.
Finding Capital Ground
At Otium Capital, Cyrille successfully invested in a variety of consumer brands, including Dossier (fragrance), Ana Luisa (jewelry), Bradery (marketplace), and more. Through his high-profile and active support of the launch of the fashion brand Polene in the US, he was able to bring a significant pillar of French culture to the States with him. This was the first retail store for the brand outside of its core market in France and was remarkably successful, resulting in the US market now making up over 30% of Polene’s global sales.
As a board member of Ana Luisa since 2018, Cyrille led the company’s Series A financing in 2022 and helped the brand switch from direct-to-consumer to omnichannel. He also utilized his expertise in retail and wholesale to oversee the opening of the company’s first retail store in NYC, which was successfully launched at Nordstrom and Bloomingdales. In the years since, Ana Luisa has become a leading jewelry brand for Gen Z, becoming the choice of a new generation.
Building an Empire
Over the course of the last few years, Cyrille has been primarily focused on his work with Kids Empire, whose 100th park is expected to open in February 2025. He has overseen the rapid and successful expansion of the company in only four short years. Kids Empire had a single park open in early 2019, and COVID-19 greatly inhibited their initial plans for expansions throughout 2020 and 2021. But now, thanks to Cyrille’s guidance, Kids Empire has become a leading entertainment brand for young children and their families. The brand serves communities in 25 states and has partnered nationwide with top-tier US mall owners such as Simon, Brookfield, and Macerich.
Regarding his incredible successes, Cyrille Bessiere is quick to deflect praise and instead simply says the key is to “hire the best people. Finding the right people to execute the strategy is any CEO’s #1 challenge.” While that may be true, Cyrille’s track record of success over the past few years speaks for itself, standing heads and shoulders above the rest.
This post was authored by an external contributor and does not represent the opinions of “Stocktwits” and has not been edited for content. The information contained above is provided for informational and educational purposes only, and nothing contained herein should be construed as investment advice. “Stocktwits” does not make any recommendation to buy or sell any security or any representation about the financial condition of any company.<