✨ NEW FEMALE FOUNDER HUB ✨

🤫 Insider Access to My Plan to Disrupt the Old Boys' Club

Author

Sri Varre
September 19, 2023

I need to come clean - I didn't actually finish the Glossier book yet. 🤥 I had one of the most real convos with someone I admire where I opened up about two of the most mentally challenging times in my life (both I’m still healing from). 🥺 More on that heavy stuff another time.

I've been figuring out how to ask for, take, and believe in my own advice vs others' input, ya know? I know it sounds super simple lol, but its the difference between you believing in yourself vs. believing in what someone else thinks is your best bet. It's tough. 💭 But I still give you my hot takes on Glossier!

My friend Kristen (my go to gal for all things brand partnerships) analyzed their new WNBA partnership. 🏀 Dope to see Glossier celebrating dynamic athletes and their multifaceted lifestyles. 💪 Women’s sports is my Roman Empire RN. Investments are 📈 as millions of fans tune in - 3.4M peeps watched Coco Gauff's first Slam win vs 2.3M for Djokovic's 24th!

Sports were my OG life playbook. 📖 Many athletes serve as my mentors from afar, like Coco Gauff saying haters only add gas to her fire 🔥 and make her burn brighter! 🙌

If you know a bestie/s that would find value from this newsletter,
I would be so grateful if you could send it to them 🫶🏽

LGC FOUNDER RESOURCE HUB

the gender funding gap doesn’t exist

  1. FUNDING
     🖼️ $100K Pitch Competition in SF | Canva | Forum Ventures 
    *early-stage B2B SaaS founders who have raised under $1M USD
    Amount: $100K | Deadline: September 28 | Application

  2. NON-FUNDING RESOURCES
    💄 Sephora Accelerate
    *must be a US-based early-stage beauty startup
    Deadline: September 25 | Application

  3. FOUNDER COMMUNITIES & FUNDRAISING GUIDES
    📈 How to Set Up Your Data Room | Twitter Thread | Stevie Cline 

  4. PODCASTS & BOOKS
    🛒 Costco | Acquired | Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal

  5. EVENTS 
    🗽 NYC Female Founder Talks: How do you build for better health? | Female Founder House
    Date: September 22 | Time: 5PM | RSVP 

    There’s so many amazing events IRL in NYC, LA, SF, etc. but would love to share more online ones too! If there are any events you’re attending or hosting that you would like me to add, please let me know!


    🧩 For the full list of resources, bookmark this Airtable! This will be updated on a weekly basis.

HELP A SIS OUT (WITHOUT LEAVING 🛌 )

Luxury tea brand Leaves of Leisure is in the final days of their crowdfunding campaign that allows you to invest and earn interest! Help them reach their goal of $25K. Here are ways you can support!

1️⃣ Join the Movement: Become an investor for as little as $100.

2️⃣ Earn While You Support: Your investment doesn't just show your love for the brand and founder; it grows with interest! 11.25% to be exact- that's 2-3x more than a high yield savings account. It's like sipping on success.

3️⃣ Can't invest? Share on Social: If you are unable to support financially at this time, we would love for you to consider sharing on social or sending to even one person in your life that you think could and would be interested in investing. The more people see the campaign page, the greater chance they have of reaching their funding goal.

🎙️ GET FEATURED IN LGC: If you’re a female founder currently:

💸 fundraising
🎤 hiring
🫱🏽‍🫲🏾 looking for brand partnerships
🥳 promoting an event or product launch
🧪 product testing

I would love to include you in a future edition of LGC. Please respond to this email ([email protected])!

🥰 Share your thoughts on this week’s newsletter here HERE!

When I read this CNBC piece about Embedded Ventures at the beginning of this year, it reminded me of the two security studies’ classes (taught by the first Muslim American woman to work for the DoD - Farhana Qazi) I took at GW because of their focus on the role of women in national security issues.

It was so refreshing to see a woman in the defense tech and as an emerging fund manager! To be completely honest, this isn’t a industry I follow super closely. However, I think there is so much opportunity to think about how VC and the government can truly be strategic partners with one another.

I have so much respect for Jenna, her partners, and the rest of the Embedded team because she made her “unconventional path” of being a tech recruiter that helped diversify engineering team at Snap, Tinder, and other VC-backed tech startups in the early days a major asset as an emerging fund manager.

Jenna has been one of the few VCs that’s given me the time and day because she really values the insights and perspective from a young and intellectual curious person. She’s always encouraged me to look past “industry standards” and embrace being a multi-hyphenate. Historically, emerging fund managers have the best performing funds because they’re the first check in and their ability to serve as a value-add partners to founders.

If you’re a GP, investor at a VC, or an angel investor that has a focus on the deep tech space (specifically space and defense tech) or knows of any, feel free to reach out to Jenna on Linkedln!

🎙️ GET FEATURED IN LGC: If you’re an angel investor, emerging fund manager, or work at an early-stage VC that is prioritizing:

👩🏽‍💼 sourcing more female-founded startups
🎤 hiring
💻 promote their founder-specific resources, programming, or events

I would love to showcase your brand and work in a future newsletter. Please respond to this email if you’re interested ([email protected]).

💼 VC INTERVIEW TIP

Join a Mentorship/Fellowship Program:

💫 Gen-Z VCs (idk if another mentorship cohort will launch but recommend going through all the available resources)
🔘 Venture Cooperative | Laconia Capital (free VC 101 program)
💪🏽 Aspire to Her Mentorship Program (a lot of badass tech and VC mentors)
🌳 Seedling | Crown Affair (I just saw this on LI and applied!)
🌱 Seed Stage (Allie Mullen runs a group for early-career women - it’s helped me tremendously with landing interviews, networking, salary negotiation, etc.)

Halle Tecco’s Guide on How to Land A Role In VC (founder of Cofertility, Rock Health, Natalist, angel investor & LP, and Adjunct Professor at Columbia University)

📖 BOOK REVIEW: GLOSSY

  1. Emily Weiss secured major VC dough from investors like Kristen Green (Forerunner) and Josh Kushner (Thrive Capital) #goals. 🤑 Having those connections def helped but she also had the vision and intellect to make Glossier happen. 🧠 👓

  2. Going solo as a founder is no joke! 🥵 Always good to have a work wifey or work hubby to balance you out. But she didn't let that stop her from building her beauty empire. 👸

  3. It’s no secret that Emily had privilege working for her (but you probably didn’t know she was on The Hills alongside Lauren Conrad). 💁🏻‍♀️🚘 Not all women start out with fancy degrees, family money, and high-profile media jobs (Teen Vogue, W Magazine, etc.) like she did. But that’s no excuse to continue female founder takedowns and blame them for everything girlboss culture has become! 🙄😒

  4. But we gotta acknowledge those glossy founder stories from Walter Isaacson and shows like WeCrashed glorify dudes like Adam Neumann and Travis Kalanick without showing the mess they created. 😳📺 Inspiration porn ignores the real-world consequences for people and society.

  5. So while Emily and Glossier def had some drama, I'd rather have more books sharing diverse founder journeys than just exposes of male founders. 📚👩🏾‍💻 The youth need multifaceted stories to build their own dreams, not just follow bro founder blueprints. 📖 🚫

  6. Next female founder book needs to be outside the retail/consumer space though! Us ladies be out here crushing it across ALL industries (fintech, cybersecurity, space tech, etc.) not just beauty and fashion! 🛍️➡️💻

LAZY GIRL APPROVED FAVES

 💝 OVERUSING & GIFTING…

▶️ HITTING PLAY ON…

🍬 How She Built a $360 Million Candy Company by the age of 26 | Female Founder | Food & Bev | Shelby Church

🎙️ Female Produced & Hosted Podcasts (list curated by yours truly 😌)

 📖 UNDER THE COVERS READING…

fiction books with POC and interracial relationships »»

 The Long Game | Elena Armas | Author of The Spanish Love Deception

✨ no ego sports romance of a recently retired professional goalkeeper and a soccer team heiress trying to turnaround a local soccer team of nine year old girls in the middle-of-nowhere North Carolina

🎞️ CANCELLING PLANS TO WATCH…

got me in my feels because of the impact of female friendships

🎂 Sitting in Bars With Cakes | Amazon Prime | Based on the true story of Audrey Shulman (movie & book about “cakebarring” to find a boyfriend)

🏈 Kelce | Amazon Prime | Gotta support my Ohio talent | New Heights (top tier football podcast - weekly recap of games & BTS on their personal lives)

🤓 fun fact: Growing up, I really wanted to be a sports broadcaster & go to Northwestern like Rachel Nichols (hence why I am long on women’s sports and so excited to see the investments out of Kara Nortman’s fund Monarch Collective).

🤓 INTELLECTUAL AMMO FROM…

👵 How Teens Got Hooked on Anti-Aging | i-D | Daisy Schofield

The Medical aesthetics space is, but should teens and Gen-Z really be part of the target demographic?

🚘 Fasten Your Seatbelts: A Female Car Crash Text Dummy Represents Average Women For The First Time in 60+ Years | Forbes | Eva Epker

I know POC have to “play the game” and be bold to make it, but its not okay to lie about life or death scenarios - this is the reason why we get cancelled and lose opportunities faster.

😍 PARASOCIALLY OBSESSING OVER…

@itsidaonline

This is the key first step to begin reconditioning and rewiring your mind #firstgeneration #firstgenerationamerican #corporateamerica #re... See more

👩🏽‍💻💞🧘🏽‍♀️ Ida | Career & MBA | Relationships | Wellness

👩🏽‍🔬 TESTING…

Hormonal health is sexy

protects from UV & blue light

🧪 Brightening Support (Vitamin C Serum) | Veracity | Allie Egan

🎃 Pumpkin Stuff at Trader Joe’s | Overnight Oats | Pumpkin Brioche Bread

🔮 MANIFESTING…

decor inspo for my future apartment

  • 🎾 more winter and summer friends that are consistent

  • 🏡 action-driven mental health & suicide specific resources for Gen-Z

  • 📺 career & life mentor that just gets it

Obsessed with this community? Here’s how to show some extra love if you wanna help a delulu girl out:

📱Screenshot your fave part of this newsletter and share it on Twitter or Linkedln (tag me so I can retweet and repost!)
🗣️ Drop your suggestions for topics you want covered in future editions HERE. I wanna help y’all on your journey as a founders/operators/investors! 
💌 Forward this newsletter to someone in your tribe who needs these good vibes in their inbox. Tell them to join the fam! 🥳