CEO Corner: Caldera + Lab’s Jared Pobre on Elevating Men’s Skincare

Aimed at males between the ages of 35 to 65, Caldera + Lab has seen success with its premium skincare products that contain natural botanicals and proprietary ingredients at clinically effective doses

As the old saying goes, if you want something done right, do it yourself. 

That’s the route Jared Pobre took in founding Caldera + Lab, a fast-growing men’s skincare brand known for using high-quality, science-backed ingredients at clinical doses. 

A former ad tech executive, Pobre launched the brand back in 2019 after moving to the Wyoming mountains and noticing his skin was drying out and aging too fast in the high elevation. 

Pobre couldn’t find any men’s skincare brand he liked, so he decided to create his own, taking some inspiration from premium women’s brands in his wife’s closet. Caldera + Lab initially launched with one product: a men’s serum for dry skin. Today, the brand makes an array of products spanning skincare, grooming and hair care. 

Pobre sat down with Athletech News to discuss his journey in creating Caldera+ Lab, why there was a gap in the market for premium men’s skincare and why Caldera is going all in on creating its own ingredients.

The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Athletech News: Can you tell us about your background and why you decided to create Caldera + Lab?

Jared Pobre: My background is primarily in ad tech. I’ve been a bit of a serial entrepreneur in that category, launching my first business back in 2001, which I ran as a self-funded company until 2014-15, when I merged it into an ad tech roll-up. I’ve also had a series of other tech companies since then. 

In 2015, my wife and I got married and had a baby. We were living in Los Angeles but moved to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The whole genesis of the idea for this brand was a personal use case — living up in the high elevation, my skin became very dry. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a ski town, but you meet people who’ve lived there for 5-10 years, and they look like they’re 20 years older because of the lack of moisture. 

I started using my wife’s products because the men’s ones I was using were just making my skin worse. I found a couple of her skincare products to be exceptional. There was also this great movement happening back between 2015 and 2017 with clean, prestige beauty for women’s skincare — all these great independent brands were coming to market doing really high-quality work, but no one was doing anything in the men’s category. So we decided to do it ourselves. We kicked off the product-development process in 2017 (the brand officially launched in 2019).

ATN: What was the process like of launching a premium men’s skincare brand from the ground up? I’d imagine it took a lot of early research and product development…

JP: It was a lot of research. We had a two-part strategy. One was to thoroughly research the category and validate the path that I was going down — I put together a team of consultants to help me. Second was to find founding team members and founding employees to work alongside me.

We started reaching out to labs, scientists and biologists who work in the space, and pitch them on the idea of what we were trying to do, which was to create a singular product using botanicals wild-harvested from the Teton mountain range and surrounding mountain ranges of Wyoming to develop a first-of-its-kind men’s serum for dry, older skin. We also met with the top manufacturers in the industry to build the product. That all took about two years from start to finish.

ATN: How do you educate and market to male consumers about why they should spend money on a premium skincare brand, as opposed to buying cheaper products?

JP: We’ve tapped into a customer base that’s generally 35 to 65 years old. These men are generally professionals, and they’re at a place in their life where they’re focused on nutrition, fitness, wellness and longevity. As part of that process, they have become more interested in self-care and skincare as part of their overall well-being, and they’re curious about the products they’re going to invest in. They want to see that they have science behind them. 

So for us, providing stats on performance has been very important for our customers, and then diving into explaining to them the types of ingredients and the benefits that each ingredient provides for their skin. We put those ingredients in at clinically effective amounts. There are a lot of brands that say, “We have niacinamide,” or something to that effect, and they put in the absolute minimum amount. We put in the maximum for efficacy, at clinical levels. That’s why our products cost a little bit more than the mass-market products.

ATN: It seems like there’s been a post-pandemic awakening as to the importance of men’s health and wellness. How would you describe the market for men’s skincare today compared to when you launched in 2019?

JP: I think it’s grown significantly. I’ve seen data recently that over 52% of men in the U.S. now use skincare. I don’t know the exact number when we started in 2019, but it was probably a double-digit lower amount than that. 

We’ve also seen a lot of new brands come to market. And based on the over 150,000 customers we’ve sold products to, we’re seeing the market continue to expand.

ATN: What’s your balance like between online sales versus brick-and-mortar retail?

JP: Online sales are still our number one driver, although brick and mortar is starting to gradually become a bigger part of the business. Our customers love to shop online and do their research directly online. I think they’re more accustomed to that, but the brick and mortar is starting to grow nicely in 2025, and I think things are really going to take off in 2026. 

ATN: How is tariff uncertainty affecting Caldera + Lab, if at all? 

JP: From a supply-chain perspective, it hasn’t been too dramatic or too impactful because we manufacture here in the U.S. A lot of our ingredients are sourced globally, but packaging comes from Europe. So, we haven’t had a big issue there. 

We saw an impact when tariffs were first introduced in April — we did see a drop off in international purchases from our international customers. They’ve started to come back, but it did have an immediate impact on international purchases.

ATN: Caldera + Lab recently launched new patent-pending products accompanied by a branding refresh. Can you tell us about those changes and why they were important for the brand?

JP: On the brand side, when we launched, we used an agency back in Jackson Hole because we wanted to have Jackson Hole roots with our branding. Since then, we’ve evolved, so we came out with a refreshed brand identity, including refreshed packaging and a new website look.

We’re even more excited about the innovation side. Our proprietary formula is where we think we’ve built a moat as a brand. Now, we’re building proprietary ingredients. We just launched our first patent-pending skincare exosome, with two new products: The Great, which is a water-based version of our original hero product, The Good. Water bases are better for oily to normal skin. The Good was engineered mostly for dry skin and dry climates, so we’re going to be able to reach a whole new cohort of customers. The other product is called the Hydro Layer, which is a lightweight moisturizer. That product also addresses more oily to normal skin. 

ATN: Looking ahead, what’s your vision for the future of Caldera + Lab

JP: We wanted to deliver elite, clinically proven skincare designed specifically for men, combining scientific efficacy, clean proprietary ingredients and simplicity. We aim to be the leaders in this premium, clean, plant-based biotech skincare for men category.