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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Worth Shouting About 📢

🥂 LAUNCH PARTY IN LONDON🥂

The official launch date for YOUR HYPE GIRL (my book!!!) is the 28th of Feb (mark it in your diary!). I’m obviously very excited. BUT…

Ahead of that we thought it might be cute to host a little soiree. If you're in London on Thursday the 24th of February Female Startup Club is hosting an intimate book launch party.

Wanna come? You are invited, of course. Hit reply to this email to be added to the guest list.

*A little background… YOUR HYPE GIRL is a collection of my favorite episodes from the show distilled into 51 quick chapters with inspiring founder stories and key lessons and takeaways. Women like Ju Rhyu from Hero Cosmetics, Ann McFerran from GLAMNETIC, Ali Kriegsman from Bulletin, and Lil from Flex Factory (Flex Mami).

A modern-day handbook for lessons, failures, and tips when it comes to the world of eCommerce. ⁣📅 Mark your diaries! 💘

💤 HENRIE LAUNCH 💤

I want to take a minute to wish a huge congratulations to one of our Hype Club members, Larissa Hildebrandt, on the launch of her new startup, Henrie.

Henrie is a Canadian pillow brand that recently launched a completely adjustable pillow. To make a pillow that was both supportive and soft, they mixed a planet-friendly memory foam with kapok: A fluffy, naturally occurring material that’s renewable and naturally hypoallergenic. It’s adjustable, it’s conscious and it’s long-lasting. So if you’re like me struggling to find the right pillow, check them out. Rest is today’s reward and tomorrow’s investment.

Industry News You Should Prob Read 🗞

UrbanGeekz and Finance Savvy CEO partner to empower women. P&G Announces Lady Patch as winner of 2022 CES Innovation Challenge. FTX launches $2 billion Ventures fund, hires former Lightspeed Partner Amy Wu. The SCORE Foundation welcomes Liz Sara as President. 7 intentions to set for your career in 2022. How American workers feel at the start of this new year. New US quarter featuring Maya Angelou goes into circulation.

🔑 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. This week, we’ll be pulling out key insights from our Fave FSC Hits of the last year. The best of the bunch. Pens at the ready!

1. No idea? No problem.

EP257: Chatting to the co-founders of Goverre, Regan Kelaher & Shannon Zappala about their rollercoaster entrepreneurial journey.

They served up some wisdom in a quick reminder that you do NOT need a million-dollar idea to set your foot into the world of entrepreneurship.

Businesses start from the passion to build and fail because the entrepreneur gives up. Don't be discouraged if your gut is telling you to go for it, but it's difficult to get a clear concept in mind.

2. Seven Tips with Three Ships ⚓

EP258: I’m not kidding when I say this episode with Connie Lo from Three Ships was jam-packed with great tips for those looking to start a business.

She just kept firing. Below I've highlighted a couple of my favorite quotes from the entrepreneur that will be sure to spark some inspo...

• 💦 Consider sweat equity vs. spending money on an agency 💦

• 🛒 When you meet buyers and they're not into it, keep trying 🛒

• 📢 Continuously improve when pitching your business idea 📢

• 💸 It's all about persistence and keeping the hustle going 💸

• 🤝 Do NOT get a partnership and just leave it at that 🤝

• 📈 Just get started and continuously improve from there 📈

• 📞 Get some sort of sales experience and sales skill-set 📞

If you’re ever in need of a little push, I prescribe a listen to this ridiculously insightful episode. Connie’s a force to be reckoned with!

3. Beauty Brands: From product to market 🌱

EP259: I chatted to Lindsey Martin on her indie beauty brand, Kiramoon, which launched (at the time of recording) 3 months prior. She gave us super valuable insight into the steps required to bring a product to market.

STEP 1: MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR IP IN ORDER 🤓

Beauty brands can aim to trademark or copyright their brand logo, product packaging, and product design. Since brand name recognition and consumer loyalty are pivotal to success, Kiramoon needed to take measures to both protect their IP and assert their IP rights against counterfeiters and competitors.

STEP 2: FIND A MANUFACTURER 🏭

Two key questions should be leading the front:

• What is your specialty? You want to ensure you have matching values: for Lindsey, this meant having the history and longevity that she valued

• Can you work with our MOQ’s? You want to be clear from the get-go that the facility is able to accommodate your MOQ’s - barter if you can!

STEP 3: FORMULATION 🔬

After finding your manufacturer, and knowing it's a good match, you would hope to be able to visit the facilities. After this point, the formulation can take anything from 1 to 2 or 3 months, based on factors such as the efficiency of communication and working speed at the manufacturer.

Lindsey rounded off with the estimate that it’ll take you at least a year to get a product to market. If it's your first time doing it, plan for a year and a half.

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. One sure way to ensure a win? We’re big on goal-setting here at FSC. Let’s share some of the Hype Members’ ‘22 goals:

• Mellissa Epifano (Founder of Winnoh) wants to officially launch her shoe brand and start selling by Spring 2022

• Shenae Rae (Founder of SwearBySkin) aims to launch her 2nd product by June AND secure a retail partner by the end of the year

• Megan Broderick (Founder of a|dash) has a goal to attain 3x first years revenue and expand their product lines further

And most importantly, one of the members carved out the personal intention to take some well-deserved me-time each and every day. We’re SO here for that.

*We’ll be opening our doors to Hype Club again soon, so if you’re looking forward to joining the next round of intakes keep your eyes peeled for our memo!

What’s on this week? 👀

Let’s see what we have in store for you this week…

TUES: Doone's back - with a solo episode ✨

THURS: Kate Erickson from EOFire - award-winning biz podcast 🎙️

SAT: Fiona Chan from Youthforia - beauty without the boring bits 💖

Click here to tune in! 🎧

What to Read, What to Listen to 🤔

📚 My Life So Far by Jane Fonda: surprising & candid, My Life So Far is filled with insights into the personal struggles of a woman living a remarkable life.

🎧 Beyond the Beauty, hosted by Bobbi Brown: one of the most renowned names in beauty today explores the beauty industry, past and present.

Job Alert Time! 💼

Check out these cool women-owned job listings on our radar:

REMOTE 🌎

• Thingtesting, your guide to the latest modern brands, is currently looking for a Product Design Lead to join their team. Check out the listing here.

LA 🌇

• Freck Beauty, THE faux freckle brand, is hiring. If you want to work for an emerging innovative beauty brand, they have some exciting opportunities in Brand Marketing, Product Dev & eComm. Contact them directly here.

NYC 🗽

• The Conversationalist is looking for an NYC-based Videographer to produce their new Gen Z talk show POVz. Read more info here.

MONTREAL 🍁

• Mid-Day Squares is hiring a Brand Marketing Coordinator! To re-write the way marketing is done in the CPG space. Interested? Apply here.

HERO COSMETICS Brand Ambassador Program Spring ‘22 🇺🇸 - Hero Cosmetics is looking for multiple Campus Brand Ambassadors for the next semester, to spread their mission and raise awareness amongst college communities in NY, New Jersey & Cali. Check out this form to find out more & apply.

Lmk if you’re coming to the launch party by hitting reply ✨