Flycatcher Founder Chris Heiler on the Aesthetic Appeal Podcast

Flycatcher founder and CEO Chris Heiler was recently featured on the Aesthetic Appeal Podcast, hosted by Bill Walker of Aesthetic Brokers — a show dedicated to the business of aesthetics. In the episode, Chris talks about how a series of uncomfortable med spa visits as a male client sparked the idea for Flycatcher, and what it means to build a brand that finally puts men first.

The Origin Story: Why Men Deserve Better

Bill Walker: Hi everyone. Welcome back to Aesthetic Appeal Podcast. The Aesthetic Appeal Podcast is sponsored by Aesthetic Brokers. With us today, we have a very special guest in the world of aesthetics. Oftentimes, we look at things through the lens of a female client, and today's guest is taking that in reverse engineering to their soulmates that are out there, if you would. We've got a very, very interesting podcast episode today with none other than the chief flycatcher himself, the founder and CEO of Flycatcher, Chris Heiler of Austin, Texas, who is focused on men's health and wellness in the aesthetic space. All hail the chief Flycatcher. Welcome, Chris.

Chris Heiler: Appreciate that. I don't know if I'll ever get a better intro than that one. Thank you. Appreciate you inviting me on.

Bill: Chris, you take a very luxurious and such an impressive take on the interest that is rapidly growing momentum in men's health, and that is the aesthetic industry and how it influences the overall picture for how men think of themselves and want to take care of themselves. Can you tell us a little bit about your journey, Chris, into aesthetics and what inspired you to focus on men's health with Flycatcher?

Chris: Yeah, so a couple of things kind of happened at the same time about, I think it was seven years ago. I have another company, I actually own a marketing agency, but I was stepping away from that a little bit and looking for some other opportunities and I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to do something that had to do with men or helping men in some way, but it was very abstract. I didn't really know exactly what that looked like, but that was just kind of in the back of my mind. So I had that kind of lingering there. And then seven years ago, I met my partner Aurora, who's now my fiance and mother of two children. So we met and she's an aesthetician and a laser tech. So we met, she immediately on the first date, pointed out what was wrong with my face. I think it was my enlarged pores or something like that she was staring at. And being in business and marketing, I'm just always very curious about different industries and different models. So I was always picking her brain about what she did, and it was just so interesting. I went in to visit her a couple of times, got facials and chemical peels, and then I visited two or three other med spas, just some simple laser treatments for some sun damage. And it was very uncomfortable going into these places and the experience wasn't great.

Bill: Tell me why.

Chris: When I say that, I don't mean the treatment itself. The treatment was fine. The treatment was effective, but it was just like how comfortable I was there, how I felt like I was treated. And it was just very clear to me that men are an afterthought at most of these places. That's how it felt to me. And I knew, okay, I'm not the only guy who must feel this way when they come into these places. So it was just through personal experience that I saw this gap. And with my marketing background, it was this light bulb. It's like, okay, someone just needs to do the same thing, but for men, because I knew the business model's really good. There's a ton of money in the space. I did more research into men specifically, and I know men make up 15 to 18% of visits. I know they spend a lot of money per visit. So if there's this giant pie, the aesthetics industry, and men are the small slice, but that's a lot. It's still billions of dollars and the overall pie is getting bigger and bigger and bigger every year, as you know. So that slice is growing. So we're trying to, I guess, attack that slice. So I'm able to help men in some way, I kind of found that the thing that I wanted to do to help men, and so I jumped in. That's kind of how it all started.

Building the Brand: Art Deco, Old Hollywood, and a Space Men Actually Want to Be In

Bill: So expanding on that, can you share how — if anybody out there is listening and you go to the Flycatcher website or you see any of their social media — it really kind of, I don't know how to say this, I feel like it's like a 21st century Gatsby effect, if that makes any sense at all. Can you share what you think of incorporating luxury and the sense of success that men maybe want to feel in their life? And how does that incorporate into your customer experience at Flycatcher?

Chris: Yeah, I mean, it was no accident what you see online and everything, the brand, it is not an accident. It's really just a reflection of my own personal taste, I guess. So the whole brand and everything just kind of comes — it's just authentic to who I am and how I try to live. And I love the Art Deco aesthetic, which is from Gatsby, right? I love the old Hollywood aesthetic. That's the main thing I wanted to start with — Old Hollywood. It was a time when men really cared about taking care of themselves and looking their best. And that kind of inspired this whole thing. I wanted that to be the aesthetic for Flycatcher. So everything comes out of that. The interiors are mostly Art Deco — a lot of darker colors, things like that. Colors that are very different compared to any other med spa, but colors that I think men find comfortable. Each treatment room has a different theme. We have the James Bond room, we have the Frank Sinatra room, we have the Cary Grant room. All the artwork throughout is that old Hollywood kind of vibe. The music we play — we play a lot of forties, fifties, Sinatra stuff, the standards. We've got a big display TV out in the lobby. If you walk into most med spas, they're putting a bunch of promotional stuff up there. Well, we don't do that. We show classic movies. We might have James Bond Goldfinger playing.

Bill: I love the Bond series. You're singing in my heart, man. That's great.

Chris: If a guy comes in and he's sitting there for a few minutes, he doesn't want to be looking at an advertisement for Botox or whatever. So we put up something cool that fits with the vibe. So everything we do, I just try to do it different. If you ever remember that Seinfeld episode with George when he decides, I'm just going to do the opposite of everything I've ever done in the past — that's kind of the approach I take. I see how people are doing things, and I'm like, okay, I'm just going to do this differently.

Bill: For everybody out there who's listening that are in the Greater Austin area and beyond who are fascinated, like I am, about the Flycatcher experience — could you give us some coordinates on where you guys are?

Chris: Yeah, so we're probably about 15 minutes west of Austin. We're out in the hill country — the Bee Cave, Lakeway area. It's a beautiful area, the Texas Hill Country. But we're not far from downtown, 15, 20 minutes.

Bill: Ladies and gentlemen, we look forward to having Chris Heiler back on the show for an update as they progress. We wanted to get out in front of the story because I do think it's so cutting edge of innovation for men in the health and wellness space. All hail the Chief Flycatcher. Chris, thanks for being on the Aesthetic Appeal Podcast.

Chris: Yeah, I appreciate it. I look forward to catching up again. It'll be fun when I'm making a profit.