Knowing me, knowing YOU; You better be beta testing; Enjoy the ride 🚘
Where women in ecommerce come to get their key insights, tips and tactics.
Hi! I’m Doone, your hype girl in business. This is your weekly source of inspiration & information on all things in the e-commerce and CPG space, read by like-minded Entrepreneurs - that happen to be women - like you. If you find value in this content please like & share above, or forward it to someone in your network. I love it when you do that!
Let’s get to know eachother 💖
Hey there, girl. I want to get to know you better. What you do. What you enjoy. What you’re up to. All so we can keep improving our products and services.
Do you have a hot sec? In return I’ve put together 5 x FSC merch packs that money can’t buy 😏 You could be cozying up in your FSC sweater by the end of the month, and sporting your cute new (read: exclusive) phonecase courtesy of The Dairy. Just hit the link.
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Industry News You Should Prob Read 🗞
Sex toy company can finally advertise on NYC subways. Spanx attracts high-profile female investors. Type:A beauty brand gets celebrity backing. NY startup Daily Harvest is valued at $1.1 billion after latest round of funding. Casper goes private and president Emilie Arel becomes CEO. Join TEDx Sydney Online. Productivity tips from women in business. Entrepreneurial culture among women is an ingredient for innovation.
🔑 Insights From This Week’s Episodes on the Female Startup Club Podcast
Directly from the women building the world’s most exciting businesses in the e-commerce and CPG space.
1. You better be beta testing ☝️
Beta Testing = the product team gives a nearly finished product to a group of target users to evaluate product performance in the real world
EP238: We’re learning from Dr. Amy Divaraniya. She has more than 10 years of experience as a data scientist and has more recently founded Oova, a women’s health company that helps women having difficulty conceiving.
Their urine test captures your hormones, their app translates your results and gives you actionable steps to improve your chance of conception. It’s genius.
As with any product, but especially a product as sensitive as this one, it is absolutely essential the product works well. We’re talking ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐.
“We did a BETA where we 3D printed 300 cases and hand sealed them all. Now, let’s get 300 women to test this out and see what their reaction is.”
Where do you get 300 women from? 🔎
“I had joined a bunch of facebook groups whilst on my own fertility journey. I posted that I was on this journey. I had wanted to solve this journey. That I built this test. And I would love for people to test this out.”
Within 3 days they had 600 women sign up. There’s a lot of be said about tapping into your own network and not underestimating that. 🕸️
The feedback received from the BETA tests was absolutely fundamental for the next steps of the business. The product was changed to add quantitative progesterone testing, and the data formed the foundation to a successful pre-seed round with their first venture capitalists.
“No branding. No market testing. No messaging. But we had a prototype that worked, and a tonne of feedback.”
And as of this summer, a whopping $1.2M Seed round raised. Thank you beta! 💰
2. Enjoy the ride 🚘
EP239: We have Lulu Liang on the show. Girlboss CEO. Entrepreneur. And all round legend. With a wonderful mindset we should all take note of.
Lulu’s biggest takeaway from last year is learning how important it is to let go 🌞
“It all changed when I started letting go of unneccessary stress. Things I can’t control.”
At just 23, Lulu joined Luxy Hair and quickly became the ultimate operator within the company. By 25 she became CEO and took the brand through an exit. This exit was her big destination. But she quickly learned there was so much more.
“The destination is great. Maybe it’s a dream for you guys one day. It’s great to achieve it, but the journey is actually the most beautiful part.”
This is a reminder that whatever milestone your chasing, don’t forget to slow down and enjoy your day to day. Or else you’ve already lost before getting there.
Nothing is ever going to be perfect. Selling your business won’t make your life perfect. Enjoy it as it’s happening.
FSC Mini-Series from the Founder ❤️
It’s Doone, your Hype Girl. In this mini-series within FSC, I’m taking you on the journey while I develop a non-alc wine brand and build it in public. I will be sharing what’s happening in real-time, as well as what I’m learning along the way.
This week: 1 resource, a cheeky non-alc update, and a HUGE favor to ask ⭐
Today is a bit of a blend, with a resource, a big favour, and a pretty cool update on the non-alc wine company. Let’s get straight into it.
👀 1 Resource 👀
unbounce’s Smart Copy: is “the simplest way to create content for your brand”. This really is a super simple tool to create interesting content that’s AI powered. It can help you with the wording you need on your landing page; google ads; tag lines; you name it. I’m pretty impressed. And it’s sure to save hours and hours of valuable time.
🍷 A Cheeky Non-Alc Update 🍷
You might remember that we went to Europe to spend some time with our production facility and lab. Well, we tried our top wine samples and had a very, very clear favourite. Whilst we really love it, all these conversations through FSC have taught me a thing or two about ensuring a seamless product market fit.
So, it’s time for some non-biased feedback before pressing go. We’re going to create a small focus group within our target market, that’s not in our immediate circle of friends. We want honest opinions and answers to:
What do you think?
Would you buy this?
Is this something you would buy again?
If you happen to know anyone that happens to be pregnant or can’t drink for any particular reason, and loves a glass of vino 🍷, HMU. I would love to have them join our tiny focus group in London. Let’s get some feedback. We’ll make this a fun night. Do we take this thing to market, or head back to the lab and get some more samples? Drop me a message on IG or just hit reply.
🙋 Can I ask you something? 🙋
Last but not least, I have something to ask you. And something to give you in return. You might’ve spotted it at the top there. I’ve put together a 5 min survey for our FSC crew, so we can get to know eachother better. I did a round of research interviews last year, but so many more people have joined us since then. I want to get to know you all better, so we can keep improving FSC and get a really good idea of our listener demographics.
In return, I’ve put together 5 x FSC merch packs to give away to respondents of the survey. If you want to be in with a chance of sporting your very own FSC sweater & phone case by the end of the month, take a few mins and hit hello. As always, I’m eternally grateful for you!
Biz Wins & Failz 🎢
Here’s a cracker straight from Hype Club.
We’ve got an ongoing Biz Wins & Fails chat going in HC. This is where we can learn what we can hopefully avoid in our own journeys, and what keeps us feeling like we are not in this alone. A lot of us are seeing a lot of highlights, but tbh there are also so many downs and things that go wrong.
Kianna Magelaki (Founder of KIANNA) shared her fail this week:
“I tried generating a 40% discount code for one customer, didn’t turn it off, and had a few orders processed with it on 😂😂😂 They are lucky I never discount so they will be receiving almost wholesale rates.”
Been there girl, been there. 🤦
*Our pricing is currently $59 per month, cancel anytime. Come join us in Hype Club if you want to build your network and meet other female founders going through the journey.
What’s on this week? 👀
Let’s see what we have in store for you this week…
TUES: Farah Jesani from One Stripe Chai Co. - hand-crafted chai 💛
THURS: Erin Carpenter from Nude Barre - skin tone underwear & hosiery 💫
SAT: Doone's back - with a solo episode 🍷
Click here to tune in! 🎧
What to Read, What to Listen to 🤔
📚 The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks: go beyond your internal limits, conquer your hidden fear and take life to the next level.
🎧 Startup Therapy, hosted by Wil Schroter and Ryan Rutan: the no BS version of startup life that you’ve been looking for.
Job Alert Time! 💼
Check out these cool job listings on our radar:
REMOTE 🌎
Gloria Chou PR, the award-winning small biz PR expert, is hiring a part-time Social Media Manager to join her team. Read more here.
Three Ships, the natural skincare company, is looking for a (paid) Marketing Intern to join them this winter. Check it out here.
NYC 🗽
Glossier, the fun and free digital-first beauty brand, is looking for an experienced Influencer Marketing Manager in the big apple. Apply here.