Hi, thank you for being here today. I’m Sarahand this is the 182nd edition of Femstreet, a weekly newsletter featuring must-read content by female CEOs, operators, and investors. This issue is full of goodies to bookmark, inspiration, and opportunities. If you enjoy the content, please like it above and share it with friends. You da best!
Insights
Fromt left to right: Modern Fertility Co-founders Afton Vechery and Carly Leahy, Naj Austin of Somewhere Good, Janine Sickmeyer of Overlooked Ventures
Angel investor and founder of NextChapter, Janine Sickmeyer, launches Overlooked Ventures, a $50M fund to deploy capital into untapped talent. Ro acquires fertility at-home hormone test company Modern Fertility co-founded by Afton Vechery and Carly Leahy in a deal north of $225M.With a growing waitlist of 5,000, Naj Austin’s Somewhere Good just raised $3.75M reinventing how social media looks and feels, and with community and people of color at the core. The market is a fairytale.Bumble’s growth marketer Chelsea Cain Maclin joins Lunchclub as the networking startup’s first CMO. Handling bias in Data Science.Maven, a platform for cohort-based courses, co-founded by Wes Kao raised a $20M Series A led by a16z.Decentralized Komorebi Collective launches to back female and nonbinary crypto founders.Creandum expands its investment team with two strong female hires. DAOs and Creators: your resources to get started today.Feminist Futures Hackathon.General Catalyst partner Katherine Boyle will head up a new investing vertical specializing in "civic tech."What European founders need to know about flipping to a U.S. company structure. A meditation on the changing landscape of leadership and the demands of leaders of color.When Lisa Su took over chip powerhouse AMD in 2014 it was a $2B company, now it’s worth $90B.
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What founders, startup operators, and investors are talking about…
Do you actually need an investor?
It’s never been easier to start a business and many think raising a lot of money translates to success. Sophia Amoruso, formerly Girlboss, argues why you don’t necessarily need investors to build a business…Read more.
Gamification of Chinese consumer tech
To engage with the Chinese metaverse is to play endless games. Every Chinese super-app seems to have a mini-game tucked away in its offering. Gamification features like player status ranking and luck-of-the-draw mechanisms pervades the tech user experience, they are retention machines when done well. As a product booster, gamification features open up new dimensions for an app. Lillian Li explores why every Chinese super-app has a mini-game or five…Read more.
Parenthood and Venture Capital
How do you communicate with your investors, portfolio companies and team about trying to have children? Do I have time to be a good mother and successfully co-lead a company or fund? What if you experience challenges in getting pregnant involving miscarriages, IVF and other complications? Following the launch of Diversity VC's Parental Leave guide Check Warner of Ada Ventures on why it matters and what needs to change in the venture world…Read more.
Who to hire to raise a €10M+ Series A?
How do companies get to the point that Series A leadership hires become a possibility? What about the first part of the journey from starting out to Series A?Maddy Cross of Point Nine Capital analyzed early hires of 15 top B2B software companies in Europe to help you structure your team the right way…Read more.
How startup equity really works
“Golden handcuffs” is most often used to describe the inertia experienced by big tech employees who make a ton of money and have a hard time leaving. It also applies to startup employees who make a ton of paper gains and have a hard time coming up with real money to keep them. Linda Zhang explains you how stock options work and what you should know before joining a tech company…Read more.
The confidence curve
Company building is the biggest personal development journey you’ll ever go on — you learn and grow so much in the process of creating a business that you change as a person in the process. The level of confidence (self belief, mental fortitude and decisiveness) can dictate the course of your company more than the right product, tool or strategy ever can. Ellen Donnelly on how the way you navigate the dip is what will make or break you as a founder and why it’s ok to get support…Read more.
The link between gaming and gambling
Auto Chess continues to expand but showing problematic game mechanics that mirror the mechanics of common casino games. Is it more addictive than cocaine? Lia Zhang, a passionate gamer and investor at Primary VC goes deep on the new level of addictiveness found in games…Read more.
Honing on your skills as an investor without a long operating career
Anne Lee Skates of a16z recommends you develop a personal strategy based on what you do better than anyone else, find and build a small, close tribe of fellow investorsand and shadow others with lots of experience to hone your style and judgment and decide what elements you want to adopt…Read more.
WEIRD as a Service
Digital fragrance as NFT, a $40 billion Dogecoin market cap, unprecedented stock market speculations...Has the ultra weird become the biggest post-pandemic market? Marie Dollé on why niche business have found their playground and WEIRD is the new black…Read more.
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