💍 The jewelry biz making $1M a month, $20k grant, resource roundup

Fun events, smart workshops and resources are inside. 💌

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Female Founder World
August 15, 2022

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👇 Today we're covering

  • 📓 Resource roundup

  • 🗞️ Skim the headlines

  • 💍 The jewelry business making $1 million a month

  • 🚀 Launch lab: Kite Beauty

  • 🎮 Gen Z brands are using Roblox to reach younger audiences

  • 🎧 Latest podcast episodes

📓 Resource roundup

  • Nori Press founder Annabel Love built her business with the support of 30+ agencies and freelancers. She recommends Geneva Supply, Commerce 12, and Snow Agency to other consumer brand builders. 🔗 Tell me more

  • We know meditation is good for us, so why can't we make it a habit? Dandy founder Danielle Sobel recommends the Insight Timer app to finally get zen. 🔗 Tell me more

  • 84% of millennials say UGC on company websites has influenced the way they shop. MiniSocial helps you scale UGC content creation. 🔗 Tell me more

  • A $20,000 funding grant is up for grabs! 🔗 Tell me more

🗞️ Skim the headlines

PRODUCTIVITY: Google’s new ‘Simplicity Sprints’ gather ideas from employees on how to achieve better results in less time across the business. 'Why Simple Wins' writer Lisa Bodell says you can do this in your own business by simplifying any report or document that requires more than 30 minutes or three employees to complete, rewarding team members who create workarounds that simplify a frustrating process or time-consuming task, and by hosting weekly or monthly simplifying sessions.

TIKTOK: US lawmakers are not happy with TikTok—specifically, Beijing’s influence over the app. Chatter in Washington about TikTok seemed to simmer down after Biden entered office, but behind-the-scenes conversations amongst lawmakers suggest officials are still worried that TikTok poses a national security risk, and are getting frustrated at the President's lack of action. Soon, we might see some changes to policies that govern apps like TikTok with the potential to expose American data to adversaries overseas.

TECH: Shopify and Klaviyo are getting even tighter. After making a $100 million investment in the email and SMS platform, Shopify is naming Klaviyo the recommended email product for Shopify Plus and allowing Klaviyo early access to in-development Shopify features. Teams from the companies have already collaborated on a product that helps merchants generate custom discount codes for shoppers, and are now working together on a new product enabling customers to make purchases directly through text messages.

ECONOMY: Walmart and Target will release their second-quarter earnings reports this week, and experts aren’t expecting good news. Walmart lowered its profit forecast last month, blaming inflation for customers buying fewer electronics and clothing. The month before, Target pointed to similar problems and announced a plan to ditch leftover inventory it had accumulated as customer shopping habits continue to shift. When the reports drop this week, it will help signal whether inflation continues to temper spending or if the worst has passed.

💍 "I turned a blog into a jewelry business making $1 million a month"

Olivia Landau, cofounder of The Clear Cut

I didn't know what I wanted to do after college. My dad's side of the family has been in the diamond business for a few generations, so I decided to go to GIA (the Gemological Institute of America). I started helping friends source engagement rings, and then in 2016 created a blog. People started ordering engagement rings through Instagram DM. Then I knew there must be some white space in the market. In 2016, we got into Techstars. I really never thought we would get in because we were definitely not a tech company at that time. We were an Instagram account and blog. Today, we are truly a tech-enabled company—we built proprietary software where all clients have unique portals to work directly with gemologists. We carefully built trust with customers through educational content. The goal has always been to throw out as much educational material as possible for free. If you build a community and relationship with your followers, they feel empowered that when it comes time to make a big purchase, they're in good hands and know if they come to you, you're going to do right by them and get them a diamond you want want to wear yourself. We raised about $750,000 after Techstars and have been profitable since.

🎮 Gen Z brands are turning to Roblox to reach younger audiences

Here are the facts. The video game industry is larger than the music and film industry combined. Roblox is one key gaming platform getting a lot of attention, with more than 50 million daily active users—and while those users are young, they're getting older. For the first time, this year most Roblox users are older than 13 years old, and 17-24 is now the fastest growing demographic on the platform.

Nike, Forever21, Nars, Alo Yoga and Vans have experiences on Roblox. Nikeland is a space where "sport has no rules"—and gamers can style their avatar in Nike, ofc. Forever21 Shop City lets users build and manage their own Forever21 store. Alo Yoga offers Alo Sanctuary, where you can "collect positive affirmations" and enjoy meditation sessions and yoga classes.

Startups have found cheaper ways into Roblox. Building an experience like Nikeland is expensive, but clean hair dye brand, Hally Hair, found a cheaper way into the space by hiring Roblox's approved UGC creators to create and upload avatar accessories on behalf of the brand. Hally founder Kathryn Winokur told us the cost starts at a few hundred bucks for this kind of activation and suggests reaching out to UGC creators via Discord and Twitter.

Influencer marketing is big in gaming via Twitch and YouTube. Twitch is a platform where people stream themselves gaming. Roblox gamers also stream themselves playing on YouTube. Hally tapped Twitch influencers to do live hair-dyes, where the color develops as the influencer plays. They’re also working with Leah Ashe, a Roblox influencer who streams on YouTube.

Engagement is higher here. Winokur says the cost of tapping influencers on gaming channels is similar to Instagram, but engagement is higher because of perceived authenticity on gaming channels. Think about it: Gen Z grew up with sponcon on Instagram, while gaming platforms still feel raw and authentic. So, it makes sense that brands are reporting much higher engagement on games.

🚀 Kite Beauty's launch plan: Q&A with founder Nina Liu

Launch date: April 2022

Concept: On-the-go beauty designed for busy lifestyles and tiny purses. We are vegan, cruelty-free, minority and female founded, and made in the USA.

Founder story: My background is in consulting and finance.

I launched Kite while I was doing my MBA at Wharton, so I definitely had a strong business foundation to lean on to launch Kite.

Although I've always had a personal passion for beauty, I relied on many generous mentors and fellow founders in the beauty industry to answer my dumb questions specific to launching a beauty brand.

Idea validation process: I handed out 100+ prototypes of the Kite pods to women in Philadelphia, and told them to carry the pods around with them on the go, and tell me when they ended up needing to use a touch up on the go. Some of the testimonials were hilarious, and super validating to the need for on-the-go makeup!

We also surveyed over 500 women on what was the biggest 'need to have' in beauty and found it was concealer across the board. A lot of other color cosmetics end up being 'nice to have', but when you have a surprise pimple or dark circles, concealer is a life saver.

Suggested budget for beauty launches: 5-6 figures. I kept my full-time job in consulting in order to fund my business, and then relied on my own savings, and friends and family for any remaining gaps.

Launch expenses: 70% product development and supply chain; 20% contractors (web and product designers, photography, videography, legal); 10% launch party and marketing.

Launch lessons: I knew to differentiate myself in such a saturated market, I needed to make a really eye-catching and distinct product from what was already out there. So, I spent most of my money on testing, developing and perfecting our product formula and packaging to be the best I could make it for my budget.

Recognizing my background is more in business, I outsourced the design and web development to experts, and paid lawyers to make sure Kite was trademarked properly, which I think is crucial for a beauty brand. Ultimately, I don't necessarily regret the allocation, but do acknowledge that it cost much more than my original budgeting, so for fellow aspiring founders, would definitely take whatever you think launch is going to cost, and add 25-75%.

Launch marketing: Word of mouth and leveraging my own personal network was the most effective for launch. Keep in mind that nothing beats in-person interaction for understanding your customer, so even a small launch party I think is worth it to get feedback and celebrate your achievement.

Resource recommendation: The Female Founder World podcast episode with Nopalera founder Sandra Velasquez! It's a great example of hustling in the early stages, and really taking a brand from grassroots to scale with few resources.

🎧 Latest podcast episodes