AVP Avon Products Inc

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif.—Supermodel and talk-show host Tyra Banks will raise funds from outside investors next year for her self-funded cosmetics company after facing what she described as a setback in how it generates revenue.

At the WSJDLive global technology conference here, Ms. Banks discussed her past failures, including an ill-fated attempt to develop an app, and steps women can take to assert themselves.

Every woman needs "eff you money" to "have to be in control of her future, control of her present so she can make decisions," she said.

Ms. Banks' company, Tyra Beauty, relies on independent sellers who earn commissions much like Avon Products Inc. or Mary Kay Cosmetics Inc.

Previously, the company got a cut of every sales kit it sold to sellers, but now it won't get paid until customers start buying its lipstick, mascara and other products from the sellers.

The change is "hurting us a little bit," Ms. Banks said.

Despite this recent change, the company is growing, she said. That means she'll have to veer from her standard practice of self-funding her ventures.

"Based on our growth, I'm not going to be able to afford to carry it forever so we're going to be raising some money next year," Ms. Banks said, wearing a gray shirt printed with the words "I'm an entrepreneur, bitch."

Tyra Beauty is one of many of Ms. Banks' projects, including her reality show "America's Next Top Model," which is slated to end this year.

Ms. Banks reflected on her failed attempt to create an app in 2012 called "Smize Yourself." The app would tweak a user's photos to make them look as if they were smiling with their eyes or in Ms. Banks' parlance, "smizing."

But there were kinks in the app's facial-recognition technology that were being tweaked 48 hours before launch. Ms. Banks described the decision to launch an inferior product as one of her biggest mistakes.

"I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have put that in the marketplace," she said. "Now it's like, if it ain't working, we don't launch."

After that experience, Ms. Banks began cold-calling prominent executives, including Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh , who also spoke at the WSJD conference Tuesday, for advice on how to run a company. Some of those advisers will have a more formal role next year when Tyra Beauty creates a "legitimate board," she said.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 20, 2015 16:25 ET (20:25 GMT)

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