Nowadays: Modern household cleaning. Powered by cubes, not clutter.
- KLS
- a few seconds ago
- 9 min read
For the 251st feature of our "Together Talks" campaign, we collaborated with Nowadays and Founder, Dana MacDonald. Nowadays is a modern household cleaning brand designed to simplify everyday routines through a more efficient, waterless, compact product format...the cube. Built for today’s consumer, Nowadays delivers convenience, performance, and a more thoughtful approach to home care.
"Together Talks" feature 251: Nowadays presented by KLS - Your Trusted Shipping Solutions In The USA
What separates you from your competition? What have been the biggest challenges? Goals for upcoming year + Next phase of the company?
What have you learned since becoming an entrepreneur? What aspect of entrepreneurship do you appreciate the most? Share a decision that you made that was detrimental? What is your why?
Story of how it was created?
I spent about 23 years in the consumer packaged goods industry, primarily in the beauty space. Most recently, in the years leading up to launching this venture, I was working in the household cleaning category.
I worked for a well-known laundry detergent and household cleaning brand that unfortunately experienced a global product recall. Every single product had to be removed from the marketplace. Fortunately, we were able to relaunch the brand, and that’s exactly what we did. Within about eight months, we rebuilt the business, worked closely with our retail partners, and successfully relaunched the brand.
Unfortunately, the sales never returned to where they needed to be. They were only a fraction of what they had been prior to the recall. As a result, the company had to restructure, and a portion of the organization was let go, including my entire sales team and me.
My background is in beauty, and one thing I’ve always loved about the beauty industry is the constant innovation. There are always new trends, new ingredients, and new ways to engage consumers. Household cleaning, particularly laundry care, is very different. It’s a category that can feel pretty boring.
If you walk down the laundry aisle at your local Target, you’ll see a sea of red, orange, and white packaging. Everything looks very similar.
Because of my experience in the household cleaning industry, I understood what consumers were increasingly looking for. They wanted plastic-free alternatives. Laundry detergent sheets had become a rapidly emerging segment, and through countless conversations with retailers, I kept hearing the same thing: this is what consumers want.
I was able to leverage all of that information, along with the relationships and industry connections I had built throughout my career, to start this brand.
I found a supplier, then packaging partners, and we went through the entire startup process of building a company from the ground up.
And that’s how Nowadays was born.
What separates you from your competition?
I could clearly see the trends within the laundry care space. Laundry sheets were becoming the fastest-growing format, and I knew retailers were actively looking for plastic-free alternatives.
At the same time, I wanted to create something that stood apart from existing laundry sheets and detergent tablets. I started thinking, “What if we could develop a laundry detergent cube?”
That’s exactly what these are—small cubes, roughly one inch by one inch. You simply toss one into the drum, add your clothes, and it cleans effectively and effortlessly.
Another major differentiator is our commitment to being completely plastic-free. The market is flooded with plastic packaging and plastic components. Our products contain absolutely no plastic. There’s no PVA film around the cube, no plastic jug, and no plastic packaging whatsoever.
What you see is a compact five-by-five-inch box that’s only one inch deep, yet it delivers 25 loads of laundry.
One of the other things that truly sets us apart is our fragrance development. We worked incredibly hard on our fragrances. We partnered with an expert in household cleaning fragrance development, and she went through multiple iterations to create scents that people genuinely love.
Consumers are obsessed with them.
We launched with four SKUs, and one fragrance alone accounts for 48% of our total sales.
People absolutely love it.
What makes it even more unique is that it’s not named something traditional like “Spring Meadow” or “Fresh Rain.” Our best-selling fragrance is called Barefoot Somewhere.
Not only does it smell incredible, but the name itself creates a different experience. It helps us stand out from the competition and makes the category feel a little less sleepy and a lot more fun.
Our lineup includes Barefoot Somewhere, a fragrance-free laundry option, and two toilet-care products. In toilet care, we offer Sunday Morning and a fragrance-free version.
Our toilet cubes are designed for simplicity. You simply drop one into the toilet bowl. There’s no need to lift the tank lid, deal with blue, sticky residue, or use plastic applicator wands.
We wanted the experience to be as clean, simple, and plastic-free as possible.
One thing we discovered unexpectedly is how much kids love the product. Consumers constantly tell us that their children actually want to use it. The cube effervesces like a bath bomb when it hits the water, making the experience satisfying and engaging.
Many parents have told us that this is one household chore their kids genuinely enjoy helping with.
We’re also very intentional about appealing to younger consumers. Our marketing is aimed squarely at the next generation of shoppers.
Initially, we thought our audience would primarily be college students, but today our core demographic is really ages 18 to 34—people who are entering the workforce, moving out on their own, and making purchasing decisions for themselves for the first time.
They don’t necessarily want the same giant orange detergent bottles that previous generations grew up with. Much like they’re making different choices in beauty, personal care, and wellness, they want different options in household cleaning as well.
That’s really how Nowadays was born.
What have been the biggest challenges?
One of the biggest challenges has been getting the packaging right.
Because these products are cubes, maintaining their integrity throughout shipping and handling is critical. We needed packaging that was compact and sustainable while also ensuring the cubes would arrive intact on consumers’ doorsteps.
That required several rounds of product development and packaging refinement.
Another major challenge has been building the right team. Making sure we have the right people in the right roles, with the right experience, is incredibly important when launching a business.
Finding those people and assembling a team capable of bringing the vision to life has been one of the most important parts of getting this company off the ground.
Goals for upcoming year + Next phase of the company?
We are deeply committed to innovation.
Product innovation is a huge focus for us. We want to continue developing offerings that consumers truly value while expanding our plastic-free cube format into different areas of the home.
The second major priority is expansion.
Right now, we’re sold exclusively through our website, but we have no intention of stopping there. We know consumers value convenience, and in this category, convenience means accessibility.
People want to be able to purchase products wherever they prefer to shop.
Retail expansion is therefore a major focus, alongside continued product innovation. Those are really the two biggest priorities for us moving forward.
What were your concerns to transition to starting your own business?
I think the biggest concern was having the courage, confidence, and resilience to believe I could bring this vision to life with the right people around me.
The ultimate game changer was finding a supplier who could actually execute on my vision.
From the beginning, I envisioned a concentrated cube that could be used in the washing machine or the toilet. Finding a supplier capable of producing exactly what I had imagined was critical.
I found that supplier through my network, through someone I already knew professionally.
Once that happened, everything started to align.
The biggest question early on was simply, “Can this actually be developed?”
Once I learned the answer was yes, we doubled down and fully committed to launching the business.
What have you learned since becoming an entrepreneur?
My career has really been split into two phases.
The first decade was spent at larger companies, including L'Oréal and Johnson & Johnson. The second half of my career was spent at smaller startup organizations with anywhere from 10 to 50 employees.
That experience gave me a strong understanding of what small-company life looks like and the unique challenges that come with it.
When I transitioned from large companies to startups, I was able to contribute immediately because I understood what structure looked like. Whether it was sales strategy, planning, cross-functional collaboration, or S&OP processes, I knew how successful organizations operated.
I could roll up my sleeves and say, “This is what we’re going to need if we want to scale.”
When I started this company, I relied heavily on that combination of experiences—the corporate foundation and the entrepreneurial mindset.
One lesson I’ve learned is to always strive for excellence, but recognize that perfection doesn’t exist.
At one point, we thought our product was perfect. Then we launched and discovered numerous opportunities for improvement. We optimized, adjusted, and made changes that improved future production runs.
Perfection can actually slow you down because you’ll never fully achieve it.
Trust your instincts. Take calculated risks.
Another major learning curve has been moving from a sales-focused career into a CEO role.
I spent more than 20 years in sales. I understand retailers, distributors, brokers, large brands, and emerging brands. I feel very confident in that area.
But becoming a CEO means learning every aspect of the business.
You suddenly need to understand functions you may never have directly managed before.
For me, that has meant staying hungry, remaining relentless, and constantly learning. I spend a great deal of time educating myself on areas where I’m not the expert.
Fortunately, I also have an incredible group of advisors who help guide me.
You have to be willing to learn continuously and prepare for challenges you may not even see coming yet. Entrepreneurship requires foresight—constantly thinking about what could go wrong, what opportunities lie ahead, and what needs to happen to achieve your long-term goals.
What aspect of entrepreneurship do you appreciate the most?
Flexibility.
That’s the biggest one.
At large companies, there’s very little flexibility. Smaller companies offer more, but it’s still somewhat limited.
When you’re running a company with fewer than five people and building something from the ground up, flexibility becomes a tremendous advantage.
If we learn after ten days that something isn’t working, we can immediately change direction.
In larger organizations, those decisions can take months or even years to approve.
We’re able to move quickly, make decisions quickly, and adapt whenever necessary.
That flexibility is one of the things I appreciate most about entrepreneurship.
Share a decision that you made that was detrimental?
We’ve had plenty of learnings throughout this first year.
If I could go back and do things differently, I would spend less time striving for perfection.
Perfection simply doesn’t exist.
Your brand will continue evolving long after launch. You’ll keep refining it, improving it, and making adjustments as you learn more about your consumers and your business.
If you wait for everything to be perfect before launching, you may never launch at all.
The other lesson has been the importance of having the right team.
We experienced a few false starts along the way, and those experiences reinforced just how critical it is to have the right people in place to help take the company to its next stage of growth.
What is your why?
My kids.
They are my motivation every single day.
There are days when I look around and think, “This is overwhelming. This is a lot.”
Then I look at my children and remind myself why I’m doing this.
I have a 16-year-old, a seven-year-old, and a six-year-old, and they are incredibly proud of what I’m building.
When things get difficult, I think about them.
They keep me going.
Everything I’m doing is for them.
Do you have a moment that brings you the most joy?
Going live on our website was probably the most rewarding moment.
I actually flew out to our warehouse for the launch.
The team there told me it was unusual for founders to come out in person when products went live, but for me it was a huge milestone.
I wanted to inspect the products firsthand. I wanted to build relationships with our vendors because those relationships are incredibly important to me.
And I wanted to be there when the website officially launched.
Watching that page go live was an unforgettable experience.
That first weekend brought in a tremendous amount of support from friends and family. People had been waiting a year and a half for this launch, and seeing orders come in and consumers engage with the brand was incredibly rewarding.
It was probably the most stressful moment of the journey, but also the most rewarding.
Since then, the business has continued to evolve.
We’re working on influencer partnerships, retail expansion opportunities, product innovation, and new concepts for the future.
Today, we’re growing beyond launch mode and truly becoming an organization focused on long-term growth.
Piece of Advice
Because of my background in sales, I’ve always been obsessed with data.
My advice is to stay hungry for it.
Pay attention to trends within your category, but also study trends outside of it.
That’s exactly how this idea came to life. I saw how rapidly beauty was evolving while laundry care remained largely unchanged.
I kept asking myself, “Why does it have to be this way? Why does this category have to feel so stale?”
Data doesn’t always mean reports and spreadsheets. It can mean understanding how AI is evolving, how consumers are changing, or how different generations approach purchasing decisions.
How is Gen Z behaving differently from older generations? What emerging behaviors are shaping future demand?
Make time to understand those shifts.
Be obsessed with data, because ultimately it will guide your strategy and help shape the future direction of your business.
In Closing
KLS wants to thank Nowadays and Founder, Dana MacDonald, for today's "Together Talks" feature. Follow along for their journey with their social handles below!