Hi! I’m Doone, your hype girl in business. This is your weekly source of inspiration & information on all things in the female e-commerce and CPG space, read by like-minded Entrepreneurs like you. If you find value in this content please like & share above, or take 60 seconds to fill out our anonymous survey at the end of this email.

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Our private network & digital membership for e-commerce entrepreneurs is launching soon…

FSC is gearing itself up for its next step: introducing you to The Hype Club. We’re taking this community to the next level, and we want you on board! The platform will allow us to provide all the valuable resources and content we’ve so been wanting to provide you with, such as:

• Direct mentorship from our extraordinary guests

• A community of like-minded women from the e-commerce/CPG space

• Access to our team! (including a resident business marketing coach, Facebook ad expert, systems & process queen, copywriter + more)

Any tips on what you would like to get out of this community? Just hit reply, and pop us a note with your thoughts. We love to hear them!

Three 🔑 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. E-Commerce Power 🦍

If you’re here reading this, you’re pretty familiar with the potential power of e-commerce (obviously!). Female Startup Club is all about about delving deeper into the inspiring female-owned businesses of the e-commerce and CPG world.

EP172: Chatting to Debbie Wei Mullin about specialty coffee brand Copper Cow Coffee this week reminded me just how powerful e-comm really can be. Copper Cow has seen their growth explode since moving from 90% wholesale to a 70% e-commerce model. But, what is exactly facilitating this growth?

- Customer Insights 👀

You get to know so much more about your customer. You build a relationship with that customer. You own the data.

When someone’s buying directly through your website you know everything about them. You know who’s actually buying your product.

- Ads, ads, ads 🎥

Digital ads, quick gifs and videos allow quick education on what the product is. This is so much easier than to try and communicate this via a box on the shelf. Within 5 seconds the person knows what the product is. Being able to communicate the brand and get it in front of people. That is two things digital can do, that retail stores haven't been able to do for Debbie.

- Surveys 📝

With e-comm, Copper Cow has been able to survey their customers every quarter. Thousands of people love to respond. This is so easy compared to the manpower of getting just 30 people to ask this in the store. Learning about your customer through survey should be a core part of your strategy across multiple channels (e.g. Instagram polls, email surveys and post checkout surveys).

2. Beauty Manufacturer 💖

EP173: This week, I straight-up asked Priyanka Ganjoo, the Founder behind ultra cool brand Kulfi Beauty, what advice she would give to a beauty entrepreneur looking for a manufacturer in this saturated space. She didn’t have to think twice.

Walk the floor - meet people - meet vendors - see their expertise - repeat.

You’ll quickly find out through their conversation: what are their expertise? What are they known for? Speaking to other beauty founders at the shows; do they have experience working with this vendor?

Confidentiality 🤐

Sometimes this manufacturer information is fairly confidential. It’s not easy to get access to it. But walking the trade shows, meeting with the vendors, knowing which brands they work with. That will give you the confidence you need to shortlist vendors. (Btw, it’s also the kind of information we’re working on to bring into our private membership for founders to access.)

Trial and Error 👍👎

It’s definitely trial and error. Prinyaka told me that even if there was a vendor that might work for a certain product and brand, it may not work for you and what you are trying to do. Trade shows give the opportunity to both speed up and streamline this process.

3. Getting Into Stores 🛍️

EP174: Sally Mueller from Womaness shared her learnings and step-by-step questions to ask when launching your brand into big-box retailers like Target.

1. Filling The VoidRetailers are primarily looking for whether the brand fills a void in the assortment. Is there a need for it? How many options are out there?

2. Sizeable MarketSecondly, the market itself should be both valuable and sizeable.

3. Product Next, product positioning. Is the quality, design, and price point proposition going to resonate?

1. StoryIs the marketing story also going to resonate? A captivating founding story. For example, minority owned brands are top of mind right now.

2. ScalabilityLastly, does the brand have the potential to scale? Who are their investors? Do they have the capital to back them? Do they believe in the time?

Dusting Off The Catalog: Breaky 🥣

A short but sweet collection of our episodes with women delving into the breakfast space. All the tips, tricks & know-how in one handy place.

• EP175: (Margaret Wishingrad, Three Wishes)

• EP149: (Emily Griffith, Lil Bucks)

• EP129: (Emily Miller, OffLimits)

• EP128: (Ali Bonar, Kween)

• EP120: (Erica Liu Williams, Gr8nola)

• EP104: (Roxana Saidi, Táche)

What’s on this week? 👀

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

TUES: Margaret Wishingrad from Three Wishes Cereal - The high protein, low sugar, grain-free cereal brand 🥣

THURS: Taran Ghatrora from Blume - Clean skin, body, and period care 🌺

SAT: Cristina Ros Blankfein from Swoon - Zero Sugar Simple Syrup, mixers & 🥤

Click here to tune in! 🎧

What to Read, What to Listen to 🤔

📚 The Lean Startup, Eric Reis: How today's entrepreneurs use continuous innovation to create radically successful businesses.

🎧 Dare to Lead, by Brené Brown: Conversations with change-catalysts, culture-shifters and more than a few troublemakers who are innovating, creating, and daring to lead.

Job Alert Time! 💼

Check out these cool job listings on our radar:

BOSTON 

• Sh*t That I knit, the female-founded and female-crafted ethically sourced high-quality knitwear brand is looking for a superstar Ecommerce & Digital Marketing Sr Manager to join their lean team. Email them directly here.

LONDON 🎡

• Unmind, the workplace mental health platform, is looking for a Head of Brand Strategy to take their startup to the next level. Apply here.

NEW YORK🗽

• The Founder of Ambrosia Meals (Lexi Smith-Taylor), the food as medicine delivery company, is hiring for an open role as Co-Founder. Think you might be a good fit? Email her directly here.

Hey, from the Founder 👋

It's Doone here, host of the top-ranking Female Startup Club podcast and your hype girl.

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