🗽We're coming to New York, DIY digital ads, Polly Pocket fever

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👇 Today we're covering

• 📓 Resource roundup

• 🗞️ Skim the headlines

• 💻 URL event: Group business coaching with Fable founder Sophie Doyle

• 📍 IRL event: Community Hang in New York City

• Get the press your business deserves—for free! The PR agency behind Our Place, girlfriend collective and Brightland is hosting a pro-bono holiday accelerator program and it’s open for applicants. 🔗 Tell me more

• Ecommerce Equation is the digital ads program our business besties swear by. Who Is Elijah founder Raquel Bouris says it changed her ecomm biz for the better, after she wasted thousands of dollars on growth agencies who didn’t convert. 🔗 Tell me more

• Black or Brown female founders based in NYC, Austin or Houston, this fellowship program will help you level up as a leader and put $5,000 in your pocket. Get on it! 🔗 Tell me more

• Influencer marketing is dead, and subtle product placement in social media content is in: That’s what this viral TikTok about the next big social media trends is predicting. 🔗 Tell me more

• Not an Excel girlie? Learn how to get AI to do all the boring spreadsheet stuff for you. 🔗 Tell me more

• Coefficient Capital, the venture fund behind brands like Magic Spoon and Oatly, surveyed 3,000+ US consumers to come up with this trend report. 🔗 Tell me more

• This founder shared how he increased sales of his product in a grocery store by 260% .🔗 Tell me more

• This smart newsletter by brand builder Lillie Sun shares the behind-the-scenes of building a consumer app every week. 🔗 Tell me more

• Another newsletter we’re into rn: Founder Fridays covers biz growth, management, development and fundraising. 🔗 Tell me more

TRENDS: Mobile gaming’s becoming a big channel for fashion and beauty brands. Fendi, Gucci and Prada have all joined Drest, a gaming company “creating exceptional, engaging virtual worlds”. Since launching in 2019, Drest has raised over $30M and recorded 250% annual user growth.

BEAUTY: True Beauty Ventures always spots cool new brands for its Bridge Mentorship Program. This year’s cohort includes DAMDAM, Salwa Petersen, and Viktor Michael.

Feminine wellness brand Lady Suite is closing after five years in business, and despite landing in stores like Free People and Detox Market. It sounds like inflation, more competition in the category, and rising marketing and supply chain costs are what did it.

INFLUENCERS: Sami Clarke, mega-influencer and the creator of fitness app Form, launched an activewear line that sold out on the first day. Co-founder (also named) Sami Bernstein said some customers spent $400+ buying the entire line.

MONEY: Fearless Fund, a VC firm for Black female founders, is being sued by a conservative activist for racial bias. The same guy was also involved in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision a couple of months ago to reject affirmative action in college admissions.

Consumer private-equity firm Bansk Group just closed an $800M fund to invest in the CPG space. They’ve previously acquired brands like Amika and Eva NYC.

POLLY POCKET: Prep your marketing calendars for Polly Pocket fever. After the success of Barbie, Mattel’s turning more iconic toys into live action movies. Next up, Lena Dunham's directing a Polly Pocket film featuring Lily Collins as Polly. For those running independent brand who want to land a product collab with Mattel, here’s a tip! Jennifer Ross, founder of beverage biz Swoon, dropped a Barbie collab this summer and says: “Showing visuals always helps bring it to life. Focus on what you can bring to them that [Mattel] might not be able to get from a large corporation.”

FOOD & BEVERAGE: Erewhon, the Chanel of grocery stores, unveiled a new app that’s a step up from the more basic website they were rolling with before. Justin Bieber, Kourtney Kardashian, and Bella Hadid love Erewhon’s IRL locations, and now the online experience is just as good.

TIKTOK: TikTok Shop is picking up momentum. The feature—which allows users to tap a little label with a shopping-cart icon to shop within the app—launched in the US last November, and aims to bring in $20B in sales this year. So far consumers seem hesitant to shop within TikTok, but as The Atlantic writes, “if TikTok wants to tilt the algorithmic scale toward e-commerce, it can and probably will.”

FORBES: The first-ever Forbes 30 Under 30 Local Lists went live this week. 371 entrepreneurs from cities like Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami, Puerto Rico and Toronto made the cut. But remember, most founders don’t even START their companies until their 40s. You got time, bestie.

LAUNCHES:

• Elavi, the gut-friendly nut butter brand, is landing at Costco.

• Annie Sablotsky and Morgan Lerner’s banana bread mix brand, GoNanas, is launching in Whole Foods across the US.

• Mia Khalifa just launched her own body jewelry brand, Sheytan World.

• Hero Cosmetics founded by Ju Rhyu expanded their OG Mighty Patch for acne to include a patch for fine lines.

• Origins, the natural skincare brand, dropped a limited-edition beverage collab with Erewhon Market.

• Fishwife, the buzzy tinned-fish brand founded by Becca Millstein, is collabing with women-owned brewery, TALEA.

• Topicals, founded by Olamide Olowe, dropped new active primer that visibly fills in acne scars while resurfacing skin. It looks good.

URL Event: Group Business Coaching with Fable Founder Sophie Doyle

🕒 Tuesday, 16 August, 6-6:30pm ET (originally scheduled for 8 August)

We've got a live Q&A with Sophie Doyle, the Sydney-based founder of The Fable, who sells $4.5 million worth of silk shirts a year.

Sophie started her fashion business as a burnt-out marketing exec who knew she needed a change. She sold her car for $7,000 to get started on the business, and has grown it now to 6-figures in revenue.

Join this Female Founder World Group Business Coaching call to chat with Sophie about the strategic partnerships that are powering growth, her email marketing strategy, and how to cut through as a fashion brand in 2023.

IRL Event: IRL Fireside Chat With Babba Rivera

🕒 Wednesday, 30 August, 6:30-9pm ET

Female Founder World's popping up at the new Ceremonia store (it's stunning, friends!). This is an intimate get-together for our New York community to hang, grab a swag bag, and join a fireside chat with Ceremonia founder Babba Rivera and Female Founder World creator Jasmine Garnsworthy.

Registration is free, but space is limited. You will need to show your email confirmation at the door.

🎧 Latest podcast episode: 23-year-old Raquel Bouris was an exec assistant when she had this biz idea. This year it’s on track to make $14M