Lucie Beecham is the co-founder of two of the UK’s most design-led consumer brands: Ripple+, the nicotine-free device that set out to reinvent what a “vape” could be, and Droplet, a modern British House of Scent that has since collaborated with Seth Rogen’s Houseplant.

She built both alongside her brother Sam. “We knew we wanted to build something together,” she tells The Modems – and, having grown up in an entrepreneurial family with a father who worked in cosmetics, scent and brand-building were never far away.

 

 

Ripple+ started the way the best ideas often do: as a problem its founders couldn’t solve for themselves. Living in New York in the early 2010s, Lucie and Sam had both turned to vaping to quit smoking, “only to find ourselves dependent on nicotine-filled devices instead.” The gap for “a cleaner, non-addictive and design-led alternative” was obvious, so they filled it – around the family kitchen table, with no formal business plan and no experience of building a brand.

 

Crucially, it worked. Ripple+ was bootstrapped and family-owned from day one, turning a profit early and reinvesting every penny – a discipline that later funded Droplet in exactly the same way, and has kept the siblings fully independent and in control.

Droplet grew out of listening to those same customers as their tastes shifted towards fragrance and the home around Covid. Its defining moment came with their Houseplant collab: two years of work, every contact called in, and a collection that gave the brand “a new level of cultural credibility.”

Ask Lucie for her best lesson and you won’t get a story about perfection. “One mistake we’ve made more than once is taking too long to launch because we were trying to make everything perfect,” she admits. “Real progress comes from launching, learning and improving.”

From the dictation app that changed how she works to the AI tools she’s testing to personalise Droplet’s shopping journeys in real time, scroll on to find out which tech powers her day…

The Download With Lucie Beecham:

I grew up in an entrepreneurial family…

So building a business always felt like a natural path. My brother Sam and I were always close growing up, and although we think and work very differently, our strengths have always complemented each other. We knew we wanted to build something together.

Ripple+ was our first business. While living in New York in the early 2010s, we had both turned to vaping to quit smoking, only to find ourselves dependent on nicotine-filled devices instead. We saw a clear gap for a cleaner, non-addictive and design-led alternative. We were our own customers, so when we couldn’t find the product we wanted, we created it.

Droplet, our second business, grew from our love of building brands and listening closely to our customers. We saw how their tastes, habits and spending were evolving before and after Covid, particularly around fragrance and the home. That insight, combined with our lifelong connection to scent through our dad’s work in cosmetics, became Droplet, our modern British House of Scent.

Ripple+ began around our family kitchen table…

We didn’t have a formal business plan. We had a problem we understood deeply and a determination to solve it.

Sam, our dad and I had all experienced nicotine addiction, so the emotional reality of quitting was very personal to us. We also knew we weren’t alone. Looking at the products gaining traction, we could see that so many people were facing the same challenge.

Our first step was creating a product that offered a genuinely different alternative, then finding the right way to bring it to market. Because the idea felt so new, we made a conscious effort to challenge the conventions of the category, from the product itself to its design and branding. We wanted Ripple+ to stand apart from everything customers associated with smoking and vaping. That instinct to question the expected and build differently has shaped both Ripple+ and Droplet ever since.

Everything was a first…

The first product, the first order, the first problem and the first big decision. We had no experience building a brand, so there was no part of the business we didn’t have to learn from scratch.

At the beginning, every challenge feels enormous. Over time, you realise that building a business is simply solving one problem and moving on to the next. You become more comfortable not having all the answers, because you trust yourself to find them.

Ripple+ has always been bootstrapped and family-owned…

The business became profitable early, and rather than taking that money out, we continued putting it back into growth.

That approach allowed us to keep building Ripple+ and eventually bring Droplet to life in the same way. It has helped us remain independent, stay in control of the direction and keep investing in what we believe in.

Our collaboration with Seth Rogen’s brand, Houseplant, was a defining moment for Droplet…

To even get to have a conversation with their team we tapped every contact and resource we had. We then spent two years turning that opportunity into a collection.

Pitching Houseplant and Seth – a brand and artist whose work we had grown up admiring – was surreal. The collaboration showed us the impact of truly great brand-building. It cut through the noise, made people pay attention and gave Droplet a new level of cultural credibility.

One mistake we’ve made more than once…

Is taking too long to launch because we were trying to make everything perfect. The reality is that nothing is perfect from day one. At some point, you have to put the product into the world, listen to your customers and keep making it better.

That doesn’t mean compromising on quality. It means recognising that real progress comes from launching, learning and improving, rather than waiting forever for a version that may never exist.

 

Sam is my partner in crime…

And we keep each other going. We are opposites in skill and style, which is what makes us work. We challenge each other constantly, but we are always aligned on the direction and what we want to build.

Our leadership style has always been simple: lead by example and love what you do. We eat, sleep and breathe the businesses, and that passion is shared by the team building them alongside us.

My advice to aspiring founders: keep asking, what’s new?

Don’t dwell on yesterday or become distracted by what everyone else is doing. Keep your eyes on what’s ahead, trust your own point of view and make it happen.

The three gadgets I can’t live without…

My iPhone, my MacBook and my wired headphones.

The platforms I use daily…

Figma is probably my most-used platform. We use it across product design, websites, advertising and almost every part of our creative process. Bringing everything into the Figma ecosystem has elevated how we collaborate and maximise our creative work in-house.

Notion is how we stay organised as a team. We use it for to-do lists, workflows and project management.

WhatsApp is how I stay in contact with everyone throughout the day.

My top tech tip is…

Whisper, the dictation app, has been a game changer for me. It works across all my apps, so I can dictate emails, messages and more. I’m dyslexic and have always found speaking easier than writing, so being able to turn my thoughts into words instantly has changed how I work.

How I stay updated with the latest tech trends…

Through social media, particularly X, YouTube and Spotify podcasts.

I’m particularly excited by AI’s potential to make the customer journey far more personal…

Historically, brands relied on one message to speak to huge groups of people. New AI tools can learn from customer behaviour and tailor how information is presented, while staying within clear brand guardrails. We’re currently testing platforms that can personalise landing pages, messaging and shopping journeys in real time. For me, the opportunity is to understand customer psychology more deeply, communicate more clearly and create a better experience for the customer.

One tech trend I wish people would stop doing…

Pretending AI can build an entire brand for you. It’s an incredible tool for working faster and smarter, but it can’t replace personality, creativity or human instinct. The real magic still comes from the people behind the company, their vision and the choices they make.

The podcasts that inspire me…

I love How I Built This for its honest, inspiring stories about how businesses are actually built. I’m also a big fan of David Senra’s Founders. I’ve never loved reading long biographies, so being able to get inside the minds of some of the world’s greatest founders, creators and philanthropists in a more digestible way is amazing.

The tech I’m loving at the moment…

Because I spend so much of my working life surrounded by technology, I actually prefer things to feel quite analogue outside of work. My one essential is the Anker portable charger that lives on my desk, because my phone is chronically out of battery.

Modems Byte-Sized Questions:

💻 iOS or Android?
iOS

🎧 Earbuds or over-ear headphones?
Earbuds

📱 Text or voice notes?
Text

📸 Phone selfie or proper digi camera?
Phone

💡 Dark mode or light mode?
Dark

💄 Filters or no filter?
No filter

💳 Apple Pay or designer wallet?
Apple Pay

📺 Netflix marathon or TikTok scroll?
Netflix marathon

📖 E-book or Audiobook?
Audiobook

🎶 Spotify playlists or YouTube deep dives?
YouTube deep dives

🖥️ Desktop setup or laptop on-the-go?
Laptop on-the-go

😀 Most used emoji?
👌