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!

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We made some cute merch (!!!) 💖

Read on for how you can get your hands on it…

It has to do with this survey. It takes less than 5 minutes, and in return I’m giving away 5 x FSC merch packs that money can’t buy 😏 It’ll have the FSC sweaters you might have seen me rocking lately, some exclusive phone cases thanks to our pals at The Dairy, and a cute fun sparkly thing.

PS: it’s been really interesting to read the feedback so far! Thank you, thank you. One of the things that came up was a suggestion that we make our newsletter daily instead of weekly. Opposed to one big weekly juicy recap, splitting it up into quick segments daily. What do you reckon, readers? Hit reply to let me know if you have a preference.

Industry News You Should Prob Read 🗞

Auxxo is Germany’s first VC fund of $15M to solely back female-founded startups. Glossier goes above and beyond in mass return to retail. Atom Bank introduces four-day working week without cutting pay. A MUST-READ marketing resource. Creator-driven marketplace LTK, founded by Amber Venz Box, is now valued at $2B after raising $300M from SoftBank.

🔑 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. The Importance of Intent ⚠️

Intention = the thing that you plan to do or achieve - an aim or purpose. It will motivate you to do what you do every day. Your why.

EP241: We’re chatting with Farah Jesani, founder of One Stripe Chai Co., about her advice to entepreneurs in the beverage space coming into 2022.

Ask yourself:

• What type of beverage brand do you want to be?

• What channels do you want to be a part of?

• Do you want to raise money? Or be a lifestyle brand?

• Do you want to do this alone, or get a cofounder on board?

• Where do you work best?

Make sure you have an answer to these and an intention for your business. But also: take the plunge. It’s okay. You’ll totally figure this out.

2. One thing to remember about affiliates 💡

Affiliate = an individual or a company that markets the seller's product in an appealing way to potential consumers.

EP242: We’re learning from Erin Carpenter - the dancer turned entrepreneur behind Nude Barre who started with $3000 of her savings and now has Serena Williams on board as an investor.

Affiliate marketing has been a really great place for Nude Barre. Whilst I had always assumed affiliate marketing as only encompassing influencer affiliates, Erin taught us how the brand is using it two-fold:

1. Working with an influencer, (they maybe get a revenue share)

2. The publisher angle: some media outlets will also want you to be under an affiliate network, so they can post about or talk about your brand 

As with influencers, it is just as important to create and build relationships with affiliate networks and publishers that align with your brand. I had totally forgotten that publisher angle - which is so key to keep in mind!

And finally ❤️

👇 Quick resources to make your life easier in business 👇

1. Spark Tank: for founders who are looking for fundraising pitch practice opportunities. It's a monthly thing where you get to pitch your company and get feedback from serial entrepreneurs, angel investors and VCs, also giving you the opportunity to make great connections. Interested?

2. Marketing Plan: if you're in need of a comprehensive marketing template and calendar to plan out your year, I've linked a free download in my TikTok bio. It has made my life 10 times easier!

And 💖 Hype Club 💖

I feel like I haven't spoken about the Hype Club for a hot second. If you don't know what Hype Club is, it's our private network for badass women who are building ecommerce, DTC/CPG brands. I learn a crazy amount from this group of women. Sharing their wins and struggles, interesting resources, collab opportunities… It's a real vibe in there and I'm beyond excited for our 2022 plans.

Coming into January 2022 we are launching our new Q1 program to Hype Club members with a few killer resources that will help you whether you're pre launch or chipping away at building your business - and I'm pretty damn excited. You can learn more on the website or by dropping into my DMs or emails with any q’s.

🍷 A quick update on the non-alc brand 🍷

We are getting reeaaally close to having our branding done. I’m talking by the end of the year, if not early Jan. This week we made our way through the visual territories and my gosh - it’s going to be so freaking cool. Think old school French vibes. 1920s Parisian cafe culture - glamour & grandeur - provocative. 🖤

The designers will be coming on the show to talk about the journey we’ve been on for the last 5 to 6 months. You’ll learn all about why we’ve really taken our time on this to be so intentional about what the brand is. What it stands for. What we want people to feel, and all that good stuff.

✨ About those 5 minutes… ✨

You know what I’m going to ask you. I’ve put together a 5 min survey for our FSC crew, and will be hosting a give-away in return. It’s cute. Just hit hello :) 👇

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.

RaeDawn Brooks (Founder of Balaeyon) shared her Black Friday inspired WIN:

She got in the thick of it for a “BALAEYON Black Friday Times Square Take Over”.

As we often hear on the podcast, nothing really beats these face-to-face interaction opportunities. Especially in a post covid world. Go RaeDawn! 🎉

*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: Alexandra Fine from Dame - game-changing products for pleasure 💙

THURS: Denetrias Charlemagne from AVEC Drinks - premium, better-for-you mixers ✨

SAT: Doone's back - with a solo episode 🍷

Click here to tune in! 🎧

What to Read, What to Listen to 🤔

📚 Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman: time management for mortals, as nobody needs telling there isn’t enough time.

🎧 Hidden Brain, hosted by Shankar Vedantam for NPR: a conversation about life’s unseen patterns.

Job Alert Time! 💼

Check out these cool job listings on our radar:

REMOTE 🌎

• Maven, changing the fertility health of the world, is looking for Python Staff engineer to strengthen their team. Apply here.

NYC 🗽

• AVEC Drinks, the beverage company reimagining the mixer category, is hiring for an awesome Ops Analyst. Apply now on LinkedIn.

• VIOLETTE_FR, the beauty brand founded by makeup and beauty artist Violette, is searching for a Head of Product Development. Apply here.

• Rent The Runway, the subscription fashion brand in the news recently, has a bunch of really cool job openings. Check them all out here.

Keep shining bright! See you next week :)