Hey! It’s Doone, your hype girl in business. This one goes out to all of you still getting your head around last week: we saw the hottest day ever recorded on earth, flying cars, and, well, enough Threads to knit a comfort blanket to get us through it all. (But tbh I’m having so much fun in there, it’s the group chat we all needed).

Let’s get into it 👇

The Magic Pill to 10x YoY growth 🚀

Ok, I have to confess something. That Magic Pill? It’s not something I can give you. I know. You’ve been promised it a thousand times and you thought this might finally be it... Buttttt I can save you a bit of time by letting you in on a little secret: ✨you✨ are the magic pill.

When Laura reflects on her first couple of years building Kic with Steph Claire Smith, they totally didn’t have the budget, but they always made it work. They thought of ways outside of the box. Little did she know it was that approach that would be her magic pill. This magic pill meant that today they have such a strong organic brand presence which is otherwise super hard impossible to build (let’s just say you can’t get that by just spending money on paid advertising 👀).

You know your brand best, the work you can do, and the growth you can get when you are forced to think outside of the box (not just going the traditional route). You know that whenever you feel like you have to force something, it’s probably never going to be as successful as it could be. You know your community, and as Laura did with Kic, she knew exactly what products to create for them. This is the formula for a successful, solid & sustainable brand (and you don’t get that by outsourcing all the leg-work).

It might not be exactly what you wanted to hear, but it’s probably everything you need to hear. No fancy ad budgets, PR agencies, and marketing firms are going to compare to you solving these problems for yourself, every day. You don’t need to have all the answers, just a bit of patience, a whole load of tenacity, and a healthy dose of self-belief. Let’s go and build something fab!

Listen to Laura on the podcast →

5 Things I’m Doing Right Now for My Mental Health ✨

Mental health has been super top of mind for me this year. Last year was one of those years filled with a lot of lows, and to be totally frank, it was really shit. I just want to be as transparent as possible about that because it’s so easy to just see someone’s highlights on social media and think that’s the full picture.

Chatting with Wonderwind co-founder Daniella Pierson on the show reminded me just how much of a shared experience this all really is, and why it’s important to talk about it so we feel less alone. In that line of thought, let me share 5 of the things that I’m doing right now to give my mind that little pick-me-up:

1. Buh-bye Doom Scrolling 💀 Want to cut back on social media but have your business success all tied up in it? I FEEL YOU. For me, the solution was to draw a very clear line between what it means to produce content, and what it meant to consume content. Producing content was necessary for work, but consuming content was doing more harm than good for me personally - so it was time to cut that out.

2. Cold showers 🚿 Hear me out. They seriously build your willpower muscle. Starting the day doing something difficult and uncomfortable, and overcoming that so quickly has had such a huge impact on my mind for the rest of the day: “if I can do this I can do anything.”

3. Focus 🎯 I‘ve found that during the times when I’m able to stay on top of things, be that work or life admin, I also feel significantly better mentally. & things simply work better when you’re able to have total focus on the one big thing. Working out any kinks, creating a system for it, and only then allowing myself to move on to the next.

4. Connect ⚡As you probably know I moved back to Australia from the UK at the end of last year and what’s been difficult is missing my core group of best girlfriends. What we’ve started doing is treating our phone catch-ups like any other appointment and scheduling them into our calendar. Schedule your important calls with friends and family so you don’t realize that it’s been 3 weeks since you spoke to your grandma slash international friend slash busy bestie!

5. Deciding contentment 💕 Something that takes a whole lot of daily practice, and a whole lot of unlearning. I’m working on savoring the little everyday micro-moments of joy instead of chasing those big but fleeting highs, and through that finding true satisfaction with now.

P.S. even especially if you’re in a really great place right now - this is the time to be building those habits that support your mental health ongoing ✨

Listen to me on the podcast →

• 45% of European startups have no female board members, not ok

• Hello Alice unveils a $70M equitable access fund

• Introducing the Amazon Founders Program

• Menstrual health startup Guud raises $1.7M in seed funding

• Knix and Catalyst partner on first-of-its-kind documentary

• Alba Health secures $2M in pre-seed funding

• 71% of founders expect to prioritize work over well-being, eesh

• Is Shein srsly going to file for an IPO this year? Or not?

• Supercritical, co-founded by Michelle You, raised $13M

• It’s about damn time, Wimbledon 

• Are you as confused as I am over Naomi Campbell x PLT?

• The RealReal will start enforcing fees for returned consignments

• Threads clearly passes the vibe check for brands 

This month's grants...

Founders and future founders, you’re in luck this week as we have a bunch of grants & accelerators ready for you to apply to via our Live Grant Doc. And if you refer this email to a friend (👇👇👇), you can access the full list:

• 🌎 July 7th: Uber Sustainable Packaging ($10K packaging credit)

• 🇺🇸 July 14th: America’s Top Small Business ($25K)

• 🇺🇸 July 21st: Small Business Growth Fund ($5-$25K)

• 🇺🇸 Sept 30th: Fresh Start Business Grant ($2.5K)

• 🌎 Sept 30th: Giving Joy Micro-Grant ($500)

• 🌎 Rolling basis: Global Fund For Women ($5-30K)

• + so many others!

This week's lineup...

This week's recommendations...

Remote 🌴

• The brand selling the best premium synthetic wigs, Radswan, is hiring for the exciting role of Chief Operating Officer. Apply directly here.

• Sawyer, connecting children, parents & providers, is searching for a Sales Account Executive to strengthen the team. Apply here.

• Fem-forward community for creatives & founders, Girl Gang Craft, is on the lookout for a Social Media Manager to join the team. More here.

LA 🌇

• Kin Euphorics, a new category of non-alcoholic drinks founded by Jen Batchelor & Bella Hadid, is hiring a Senior E-commerce Growth Manager to manage their growth strategy. Read more here.

NYC 🗽 

• Pet insurance company Wagmo is looking for a Partner Success Lead to join the team. Something for you? 

That’s all for today folks! & BTW, if you want to watch my constant stream of thoughts as I enter my witty-girl-era come hang out on Threads 👇