Pulse September 2015 | Page 60

SUCCESS STORIES Inspiring Tales of Startups, Growth and Overcoming Hardships BY CHRISTINA BUSWELL WILL STEIN President • Philip Stein Holding, Inc. • Miami, Florida PERFECT TIMING P hilip Stein Holding, Inc. was founded in 2002 by Florida-based entrepreneurs Will and Rina Stein, who combined their expertise in timepieces and marketing to create a unique line of functional watches that use natural frequency technology to help promote relaxation, focus, positive mood and sleep. German physicist Winfried Otto Schumann was the first to propose on the existence of natural electromagnetic waves in 1952. Eight years later, German biologist Ruetger Wever showed through experiments that the Schumann Resonances can positively influence health, performance and well-being. “The timing was perfect because the boom of alternative medicine, yoga and organic food was just starting. All of these were in line with what we had in mind,” says Will Stein. Beginnings When the company was first starting out, watches were only used to tell time, as status symbols, or fashion accessories. The founders’ biggest challenge was to educate customers on the well-being benefits offered by their watches. “How do you bring technology, which is not known and cannot be visualized, under one umbrella with luxury and well-being? That was our challenge,” Stein says. The Philip Stein Holding, Inc. sold their first watch in August of 2013. A month later, they received a phone call from Oprah Winfrey informing them that she received a Philip Stein watch from her good friend Madonna and that she would like to introduce the watch in her show “Oprah’s Favorite Things.” “You can imagine what happened after that. Luckily, we were able to produce enough and on time,” says Stein. From August to December of that year, the company sold between 6,000 and 7,000 watches. The following year, they went global and sold three times as m [