Meet Brian DeRosa

We were lucky to catch up with Brian DeRosa recently and have shared our conversation below.

Brian , thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?

I keep my creativity alive by constantly feeding it. I make a point to consume a wide range of content—design, tech, culture, long-form journalism, podcasts, even niche corners of the internet—because the best ideas usually come from unexpected places. I’m always collecting inputs, connecting dots, and letting those sparks influence whatever I’m building. Creativity, for me, isn’t something you wait for; it’s something you actively cultivate by staying curious and exposing yourself to as many perspectives as possible.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I’m Brian DeRosa — founder and CEO of CLEO. I’ve spent my career intersection of beauty, wellness, and technology, and what drives me every day is the belief that aesthetic care should feel accessible, modern, and deeply personal. I started CLEO because I saw an opportunity to rethink how people experience skin care and laser treatments — not as one-size-fits-all procedures, but as individualized journeys with respect for comfort, transparency, and high standards.

What excites me most about CLEO is watching it grow from an idea into something real that impacts people’s lives. There’s something special about giving someone confidence, or helping them feel more like themselves. For me, building a brand that blends professionalism with warmth — that feels inviting rather than clinical. I care deeply that CLEO reflects a different standard of care: one where people feel heard, respected, and truly taken care of.

Professionally, I’m also active as an angel investor. I’ve spent years building and investing in next-generation consumer businesses — supporting founders who share a vision for innovation, strong user experience, and thoughtful growth.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Resourcefulness has mattered more than anything else. Building a company means constantly running into problems you’ve never seen before. Early on, I had to get great at figuring things out with limited time, limited context, and usually limited resources. For people just starting out, the best way to build resourcefulness is to ship things before you feel ready. Put yourself in situations where you’re forced to learn fast — it builds confidence quickly.

The second is taste — the ability to recognize what “good” looks like, whether it’s brand, product, user experience, or team. Taste isn’t some innate gift; it’s trained. You develop it by consuming a wide range of high-quality work, asking why it works, and raising your own internal bar. I’ve always spent a lot of time studying design, consumer experiences, and category-defining brands — not to copy them, but to understand the underlying principles.

And finally, resilience. Things will go wrong. A lot. You have to be able to absorb the hits without letting them derail you. The best way to build resilience is simply to start — take on real accountability and give yourself permission to struggle. Progress compounds once you realize that setbacks aren’t signals to stop; they’re signals that you’re actually moving.

If you intentionally strengthen those three muscles — resourcefulness, taste, and resilience — you’ll be able to navigate almost any challenge that comes with building something from the ground up.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?

One book that played a surprisingly influential role in my journey is Dream Big, which tells the story of 3G Capital. What stuck with me wasn’t just their operational discipline — it was the intensity of their focus. 3G built world-class businesses by obsessing over simplicity, efficiency, and high standards. That mindset shaped how I think about building CLEO: keep the mission clear, hire exceptional people, and remove anything that doesn’t meaningfully move the business forward.

The book also reinforced something that’s easy to forget early in your career: bold goals aren’t unrealistic — they’re often just uncomfortable. Reading about how 3G approached scale and operational rigor pushed me to think bigger about what was possible, while still staying grounded in fundamentals.

Even if you don’t subscribe to every part of their philosophy, Dream Big is a reminder that ambition paired with discipline is a powerful combination. It’s one of those books that permanently resets your baseline for what “serious execution” looks like.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://cleoskinandlaser.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cleoskinandlaser/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-derosa-a91925121