Hey! It’s Doone, your hype girl in business. Last week I set us all a goal to get things moving on TikTok (bc we miss every shot we don't take). So to kick things off today, let's quickly break down the viral series strategy which saw us reach more than 3M+ views - and how you can implement it too.

📍And if you want more than the bullet point version hit reply to this email - if we have enough interest we'll bring you the extended version!

• UNFILTERED: ✨authenticity✨ is still in and it's not going anywhere - the more unfiltered, raw, and close to your real life you can get, the better

• SHOCK FACTOR: take a leaf out of Nadya's book and hook viewers in the first milliseconds, my peeling face did the trick; so can a shocking statement 💥

• PROGRESS SHOTS: turns out the TT community loves a developing story 🎥; figure out a way to come back behind the camera daily with visual progress 

• CONSISTENCY: and so does the algorithm - consistency is really key to getting it on your side; post super regularly, even on boring days 🐢

• CHATTY CATHY: the more likes, comments & shares, the further your vid will spread; get super chatty in the comments to encourage a back-and-forth, having a mixed opinion in the comments is actually a good thing 💕 and lastly;

• BRINGIN' IT BACK TO YOU: I'm using this video as top of funnel awareness. Women are my target audience and in every video I drop a quick intro "Hi, I'm Doone and I'm the founder of Female Startup Club..." Millions of people have now been exposed to that tiny message and a portion of those folks will note that in their brain or even dig through our other content and become part of our world 🤝

Now, let’s get into it 👇

The sweet spot for a life-changing acquisition ($630M) 💸

I'm not just speaking for myself when I say I've caught myself daydreaming once or twice (or 100 times) about the day I walk away from signing that sweet exit deal that completely turns my life upside down. Walking away with more than half a billion is a whole other thing, and then there's the fact that Ju actually has her feet firmly planted in reality.

September last year headlines read that Church & Dwight signed an agreement to acquire the Hero Mighty Patch® brand for $630M. What we didn't see is the year-long process of going from a "let's do this" in the board room, to the exit deal being signed (or the four-year graft that led up to that point).

Ju was always building Hero with the intention of selling it at some point, she just didn't know that point would come quite so quickly. In this episode, I learned that hitting that sweet spot for your exit is not so much about what feels right, but more about when the numbers are right.

But the bigger you get, the harder it is to sell your company because your universe of buyers gets much smaller. So much so, that if Hero was looking for a billion-dollar valuation, they would only be looking at four potential people that would want to buy their company. No thanks!

The bigger the businesses, the bigger the problems. Ju didn't hesitate once in reminiscing on the $0-$10M building phase as her highlight through this journey. You know everyone you're working with. Every win is so great. The sweetness and exhilaration of those small early wins are what you'll cherish the most looking back, so don't spend too much time daydreaming and enjoy the scrappiness of where you're at right now. ‍💫

Listen to Ju on the podcast →

THE F-WORD: why to get your head out of the sand 💸

When Tash Williams was a guest on Female Startup Club last year, she mentioned how almost every business owner she has ever spoken to doesn’t have a full understanding of the facts and stats behind their finances. Guilty, so guilty 🙋‍♀️. That's why I'm so grateful that Fiona Simmonds came by to demystify our finance fears and show us the importance of financial modelling for CPG brands.

Fiona is the co-founder of Pinkie (a puberty company that makes the only organic, appropriately sized periods products for teens and tweens, you might've spotted them in your local Target 👀) and has an incredibly impressive portfolio of finance experience behind her with mega-firms such as American Express and Citigroup Global Markets. If anyone was going to get us comfortable talking about finance, it was going to be her.

She broke down exactly why you should get your head out of the sand when it comes to that dread f-word (finance!!!) with these 3 key pointers:

1. SUSTAINABILITY (do you make business sense?) 💚 You've got to know your unit economics and margins to understand if your cost structure is sustainable, it's as simple as that

2. COMMUNICATION (do you know where you're at?) 💬 Being able to have an informed conversation with potential investors (among others) to communicate your long-term vision is key

3. LIQUIDITY (do you know where you're going?) 💦 You've got to understand your cash flow to see if you have enough liquidity for your future expenses

Fiona also shared her business OP Model that some members of Majic quoted to have spent thousands on back in the early days of founding their biz; all available on the Majic platform of course.

Catch the full workshop in ✨Majic✨ →

• Michelle Obama enters the group chat

• Ceremonia founded by Babba raises a $10M Series A

• Victoria's Secret is coming back as a movie this fall

• Goldman to pay $215m for gender discrimination lawsuit

• Maxbone has been acquired by Wag! Group Co

• Reformation is eyeing up an IPO

• Thousands queue at Shein's Paris pop-up

• Meet the 11 women on the global Midas List of 2023

• US worker productivity is declining at the fastest rate in 75 years

• Is 'hustle' generation incoming (fast)

• eBay launches ‘Certified by Brand’ luxury resale

• Wanna learn about Angel Investing? It's coming

This month's GRANTS... 

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

• 🇨🇦 May 15th: Visa She’s Next Grant Program ($10K)

• 🇦🇺 May 21st: Startmate Accelerator ($120K investment)

• 🇺🇸 May 31st: Women Founders Network ($55K total)

• 🇺🇸 June 9th: Ebay Up & Running Grants ($10K)

• 🌎 June 30th: Cartier Women's Initiative ($30-$100K)

• + so many others!

This week's lineup...

This week's recommendations...

REMOTE 🌎

• Plant-based hair extension brand Rebundle is hiring a Junior Graphic Designer for an internship position. More info here.

NYC 🇺🇸

• Hearth Display, the early-stage family organizer touchscreen, is looking for a Marketing Manager to strengthen the team. More here.

• LatinX clean haircare brand Ceremonia is hiring a Marketing Manager to focus on copy & communications. Something for you? 

LA 🌇

• Business Class, Sophia Amoruso's 10-week comprehensive digital course, is hiring a Digital Marketing Manager! Apply directly here.

• Reimagined prenatal and postnatal vitamin brand Perelel is on the hunt for a VP of Brand Marketing. Apply here.

ICYMI: Here's the viral TikTok series in full swing..