Hello! We’re bringing back the FFW weekly email after giving it a visual update. It’s my solar return—aka my birthday month—and now felt like a good time to refresh one of my favorite parts of Female Founder World.

Did you see Jade from 4AM on the show? She’s been steadily building her beauty business for years, but in the past six months things clicked with the launch of Clean Sheets, a Target deal, and a $4M fundraise. Jade shared the product development and TikTok Shop affiliate strategy that helped get her here. I’ve dropped the best bits in the email below.

More brands are taking a page from the online course creator playbook, but are leveraging educational content to sell products rather than courses. Saie Beauty just launched its online platform, “The Makeup Class.” It’s interesting timing, because I just met Jordan Harper, the founder of a 9-figure beauty brand, Barefaced. Her brand grew on the back of educational content. Right now she gets 100K+ views on Instagram Stories (and captures email addresses) by following an Instagram Story education framework we’re breaking down on the show. I truly think this is something all of us could pull off.

Hanging out IRL is what makes FFW so special and this week we kicked off our Coffee Shop Cowork series with a meetup at Chillhouse in New York. You asked for more, so we’re now rolling this out to members in other cities. If you want to meet and work alongside other ambitious and entrepreneurial FFW members, RSVP in the group chat.

Hit reply to this email and let me know where we should visit next!

Jasmine

✶ If you've raised under $750,000 you might be eligible for this cash grant, even if your business is pre-revenue. 🔗 Tell me more

✶ Dara Denny is a great resource on YouTube to learn how to DIY your Meta and TikTok ads. (Thanks Jade from 4AM Skin for the recommendation.) 🔗 Tell me more

✶ This influencer marketer shared how she uses Claude Code to reach out to influencers at scale. 🔗 Tell me more

✶ Beauty Independent uncovered the creative agency behind Alix Earle’s business Reale Actives, plus Rare Beauty and more consumer brands you know. They’re called Established NYC. 🔗 Tell me more

✶ Australian and New Zealand female founders should apply to Moodi’s $15,000 cash grant competition. 🔗 Tell me more

✶ If you want to get inside the head of investors and know which categories and founders they’re backing and the trends they’re seeing, @kate__mcandrew is a great follow. 🔗 Tell me more

✶ The Verizon Small Business Super Pitch competition is a chance to win a grant and a free trip to the FIFA World Cup 2026™ Final in New York. 🔗 Tell me more

May 26 ✶ 2pm to 4pm

We’re know you want to hang out with ambitious and entrepreneurial people IRL, so Team FFW is rolling out coworking meetups for members in major cities. The next one is happening in New York at Talea tomorrow! Bring your laptop and work alongside local female founders in your community.

It took four years for beauty brand 4AM to have its breakout moment, but that moment is here and is serving a masterclass in brand and business.

Jade Beguelin and Sabrina Sade started 4AM in 2021 with $69 face serums. Last year, 4AM launched ‘Clean Sheets’ a spin on the makeup wipe, and it was an instant hit. The business grew 4x YOY, sold out of Clean Sheets four times, raised $4 million and received a DM from Target that let to a nationwide launch.

I had her on the Female Founder World podcast and need to call out two things she’s doing well that are core to the brand’s success: 4AM’s TikTok Shop and affiliate strategy and her approach to product development.

Jade and Sabrina launched three products before making their hit SKU, Clean Sheets: 2 serums ($69), then a reusable eye mask ($16). They learned some hard lessons about product and pricing:

Jade learned from every mistake and Clean Sheets was engineered to be a home run:

Until October last year, 98% of 4AM’s TikTok Shop sales came via the founder or brand accounts. Jade wanted to shift that by getting more creators and affiliates to post about the brand. She followed this TikTok affiliate strategy and it worked—last month 1,200 videos were posted about 4AM and now just 57% of sales come via the brand or founder accounts.

4AM is now gifting about 800 products every month, but it didn’t start here.

Jades says the first 200+ sales on TikTok Shop should come from your own content. TikTok Shop flywheel is real—rankings are visible, so when 4AM ranks highly for cleansers, they get a flood of inbound creator requests, which results in more affiliate content, and boosts the ranking higher.

Jade made another smart move and opened affiliate commission to everyone. Any fan of the brand can get 10% for referring a customer.

She also uses Trybe to manage UGC and affiliate content. The best performing TikTok Shop videos also become high performing Meta ads pushed out via the creator’s account.

SAIE BEAUTY ✶ Saie’s expanding "The Makeup Class," which started as an IRL makeup class, into an online beauty education platform that includes virtual tutorials and more IRL events.

DAIRY BOY ✶ Paige Lorenze’s clothing brand is opening its first-ever flagship store in Nantucket.

SLEEP OR DIE ✶ True Beauty Ventures, the fund backing Crown Affair and Dieux, just wrote a $1 million check to sleep brand, Sleep or Die

ARRAE LAUNCHES BLOAT GUMMIES ✶ Arrae’s new launch came with a whimsical photoshoot and partnerships with Jasmine Tookes and Rosie Huntington Whitely, plus large meme accounts on Instagram. They delivered locally around LA with a vintage farm truck.

OPENAI IPO: The company behind ChatGPT, OpenAI, is preparing to IPO over the next few days or weeks, WSJ reports.

BLAKE LIVELY’S BEAUTY BIZ: Blake Brown, the biggest haircare launch in Target's history and once predicted to hit $100 million, is now reportedly doing roughly $90,000 per week at Target. Puck reports the brand is “quietly collapsing” and its Italian partner, Give Back Beauty, wants out.

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Keep scrolling for this week’s Smart Swaps from Team FFW.

Lately I’ve found myself listening to the Activations app rather than my usual playlist. It’s such a good hack for getting in the right headspace and lifting your mood before tackling new tasks or switching from family to work.

I’ve been using a Dosey x Anthropologie pill case, rather than keeping my supplements in a kitchen drawer where they get forgotten. On Sundays I put all my supplements in for the week and throw it in my purse to take when I’m on the go. I never forget to take my supplements now.

Switching from coffee to Benny in the afternoon is the best way to get a hit of energy without the jitters or crash. This is my business, and we’ve cut the nasties like added sugar and artificial flavors, and added in 500mg (a full daily dose!) of our proprietary adaptogen blend: lion's mane and ginseng.