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! If someone forwarded you this email you can subscribe here:

Bulletin 📌

We are happiest when we connect 🦋

Humans are social beings, and we are happier, and better when connected to others. Fact. We have evolved in this way, right back from the days when our survival depended on having at least a small social network; which is still very much in our system. I like to say that community is central to the human experience. We’re hard-wired to connect (yes, even introverts! I see you!). That fuzzy feeling you get from knowing your neighbors by their first names. The relief that our Hype Club members feel in sharing their weeks’ trials and tribulations...

We no longer need to worry much about the eradication of our species and we're seeing more ways to connect than ever before. And, tbh, it can get a lot (👩‍💻📲💬🌐🔔). In a world where the opportunities to connect are in abundance (to say the least) the time has come to focus on the quality of those connections. Get picky about how you connect and the kinds of connections you make. That's what Majic is here for. We're launching on November 14th and we know you're going to love it. Pop your name on the waitlist to be the first to know!

Industry News You Should Prob Read 🗞

Daye launches world’s-first tampon-based @ home screening kit & raises $11.5M in latest funding round. Personal carbon-cutting app Joro raises $10M Series A from Sequoia. Europe now has new fund that backs gender-diverse founder teams. How women can save with the Inflation Reduction Act. Angelink announces $4.5M seed round for female-centric social crowdfunding platform. Why burnout is leading more women to redefine success. Mason raises $7.5M seed round to scale its no-code commerce engine. Three top strategies every female entrepreneur needs to consider. Breast Cancer AI screening platform Vara raises $4.4M in funding. There's an increase in entrepreneurship despite the pandemic. The 'glass cliff' is a serious problem for women in corporate America.

🔑 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. Lean Luxury: a paradox or the dream? 💭

EP430: Olivia Koennecke, Founder of luxury pyjama brand Maison Essentiele, talks us through building a luxury brand (on a budget).

You wouldn’t be alone in thinking that starting a luxury fashion brand would require a hefty bit of capital to get you off the ground. I sure thought so. Liv really turned this on its head for me.

What’s the secret? 🤫

When it comes to a logo, website, designing packaging… There are so many great tools that you can use right now that are so much lower cost. Those are a lot more cost-efficient than agency packages. For example:

• Outsourcing websites: Fiverr, Upwork, 99Designs, Writer Access, Toptal...

• Instagram: have a scout for up-and-coming designers, it's a win-win!

In this way, you can pay by the hour or by the project, and save those pretty pennies for other areas of the biz.

2. Don’t be boring, be interesting 🤪

EP432: the 101 of landing a retailer. Amy Liu landed her dream retailer for Tower28 with a pretty memorable pitch. I won’t give away too much, but let’s just say it involves a boombox, popsicles, and lipgloss.

The lesson? Make them feel your brand. Animate it. Stand out. ✨

You want your dream retailer to say yes, but you don’t just want them to say yes. You want them to be SO excited to be doing this. So… Make them. Create that excitement. I seriously love a cool out-the-box story like this one. It’s so inspiring.

If you have something similar to share, I’d love to give you a shout-out! Just hit reply to this email 📢

3. Focusing on focus groups 🕵️

EP428: chatting to Cherie Hoeger, the founder of the mission-led company aiming to modernize reusable period care, Saalt.

When Cherie came up with the idea of Saalt she was not sure if it would be viable. To prove the concept, a target was set. A Facebook group based around their product, with an aim to get 1000 members on board. The success of this would both prove there was interest there and that there was something that they could sell.

The group morphed into so much more than this...

• The focus group was used to compile large amounts of information and research towards the kind of product they wanted to create 💁‍♀️

• This relationship with potential future buyers of their product prepared the founders for many of the problems they needed to address as a customer service team and also helped to gain confidence in the product itself 😎

• To this day, the community continues to provide an advisory element to much of Saalt's strategic decision-making, with users regularly asking for their opinions on aspects from design to communication 💭

Using the free power of Facebook, Cherie ensured a 1000-strong army of involved product supporters for Saalt Co, an absolute testament to the power of organic community. Don't you forget it!

Biz Wins & Failz 🎢

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 alone in celebrating those highs.

This week, Pinkie's founder Fiona Simmonds had some serious cause for celebration following a TikTok hit (that you might've seen):

Pinkie's TikTok game is SO strong, and what a joy to see it blossom. Go give them some love! & check out the video here 💗

What’s on this week? 👀

Let’s see what we have in store for you this week, as we'll be replaying some of our favorite episodes from the last few years...

MON fave hits: Cyndi Ramirez-Fulton from Chillhouse - the new-age spa offering self-care treatments for a chiller you ✨

WEDS fave hits: Becca Millstein from Fishwife - making ethically-sourced, premium, and delicious tinned seafood a staple in every cupboard 🐟

FRI fave hits: Charlotte Chen Pienaar from Everyday Humans - inspiring people to get out, do stuff and live IRL under the sunshine 🌞

What to Read, What to Listen to 🤔

📚 The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton M Christensen: a look at when new technologies cause great firms to fail (the management of innovation and change)

🎧 Brown Ambition hosted by Mandi and Tiffany: helping you unapologetically build wealth by saving, investing, and making smart career choices

Job Alert Time! 💼

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

REMOTE 🌎

• (UK-based) LOVE the world of EVENTS?! Non-alc brand Caleño is on the hunt for a full-time Events Manager looking to take the lead. More here.

• Self-care brand Silk + Sonder is actively hiring a Chief of Staff to be a right-hand person to the founder (Meha Agrawal). More information here.

Australia 🌞

• Gretta van Riel's Hey Influencers is still looking for 1-2 people to join their cohort of Interns. Such a cool opportunity! More here.

Are we friends on TikTok? Say hello @dooneroisin✨