Negotiation coaching from an Investor; How to find your zone of genius; Why killer products are opinionated
Where women in tech lead, shape and fund the future.
I’m Sarah and this is the 191st edition of Femstreet, a weekly newsletter featuring must-read content by female CEOs, operators, and investors. If you enjoy the content, please like it above and share it with friends.
Insights
Why Silicon Valley’s many Asian Americans still feel like a minority. The NYC-based enterprise software focused fund Work-Bench co-led by Jessica Lin announced its third fund of $100M. The Indian beauty ecommerce business Nykaa filed for IPO at $4B. Falguni Nayar is the founder of the first woman-led Indian unicorn to go public. Moderne Ventures co-led by Constance Freedman and partner Liza Benson closes second fund with $200M. Dating app Bumble to give employees a collective week-long holiday twice a year. Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine has been sold for $900M. The number of women running Global 500 businesses soars to an all-time high but still only counts 23 female CEOs. The year that everyone became a creator. Can SPACs give women a way into investment, the C-suite and boards? Meet China’s new gaming underclass, seriously skilled femlae gamers. Why women are the future of space travel. A glimpse into the new comeback playbook for female founders. How to go from volunteer to CEO. 4 lessons I learned trying to find a tech co-founder.
This week’s newsletter is sponsored by…
Launch and accelerate your career in tech.
How many times have you told yourself that you’re finally going to learn SQL? Tableau? Or even product frameworks and KPIs? And it never ends up happening? Enter Skillful: the world’s first cohort-based program dedicated to business careers in the tech industry. Think roles like Strategy & Operations, Product and Growth. At Skillful, you get access to programs that are built and led by operators from some of the best companies in the world. And you’ll join a tight-knit community of grads who have been hired by employers like Stripe, TikTok, Uber and more.
What founders, startup operators, and investors are talking about…
The enterprise approach to product-led growth
If you’re pre-product-market fit, does it make sense to go ahead with product-led growth? Sandhya Hegde on her approach to product-led growth, when to use it, and how it fits into your GTM strategy…Read more.
Killer products are opinionated
Make it faster. Remove all friction. These are the catchy mantras of product building 101, but they also happen to be misleading. Friction isn’t always the villain. Linda Zhang on why positive friction creates memories, and memories are how customers remember you…Read more.
How to find your zone of genius
A lot of people find themselves spending time on tasks that drain their energy. But there's another way: to find your zone of genius, and to progressively move to a job where you spend 80% of your time in it. Mathilde Collin of Front on how you can do to figure out what activities fall within your zone of genius…Read more.
Gen Z is redefining ROI
The investing landscape has evolved to encompass more options than ever, and Gen Z has grown up in an uncharted era in which “spending power” extends far beyond our ability to buy products. Priyanka Suri of Forerunner Ventures on why for Gen Z a return on investment isn’t always entirely defined by a dollar amount…Read more.
Lessons in leaving a job you love
Are you currently thinking through your next adventure and what road to take? Keji Mustapha, formerly Connect Ventures, shares a checklist and the questions to ask yourself when you’re thinking about moving on…Read more.
The local minima of suckiness
No one becomes a good software engineer by themselves. But in an industry that has always prided itself on the myth of the superstar ninja, the lone wolf, the self-taught genius, it can seem like good developers are not born - they rise out of the ground, fully formed and churning out PRs in their wake. Vicki Boykis of Automattic on how we can help ourselves become better developers…Read more.
Negotiation coaching from an Investor
Confused by negotiations on valuation and dilution? Tired of not being heard by men? Feeling like the underdog negotiating against an investor who has 20x the deal experience? Enter this ground-breaking interview with Alda Leu Dennis of Initialized Capital…Read more.
Hypergrowth Playbook: from startup to scaleup
A quick reference guide for founders and Heads of People by Dipti Salopek of Snyk to help navigate scaling your org through a period of hypergrowth. A must-read resource for founders and people leaders to get from startup to scaleup. Read more.
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Want to get in front of Femstreet’s finest? Featured job posts sit on top of the feed, get promoted in our newsletter, and will be tweeted. New jobs drop every Friday!
Featured Jobs this week
👉 Growth Manager & Sales Exec @Sealed
👉 Sales Director @Capdesk
👉 Product Manager @Appsmith
👉 Analyst @Touchdown Ventures
👉 Head of Platform @Emeerge Education
👉 Director, Product Management @SwagUp
👉 Senior Scala Developer @Yonder
👉 Digital Marketing Exec @Sifted
👉 Reporter @Sifted
👉 Community Expert @Noice Care
Check out all of the open roles or post your own here.
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And In Case You Missed It
What is equity, and why does it matter. - for everyone
A straight-talking deep dive into the equity terms that matter for founders. - for everyone
Is your cap table broken? Mistakes to avoid. - for everyone
The future of media, community-driven knowledge networks, and the ownership economy with Sari Azout - for everyone
How to set up a modern GTM motion for a SaaS startup. - for everyone
Are sports cards the future of retail investing? - for everyone
Community-led product growth - for everyone
How to hack media messaging and effectively bootstrap PR - for members only
8 things to think of when first angel investing- for members only
5 internal processes to increase customer retention- for everyone
How to build and scale a remarkable startup without compromising on people or culture - for members only
The Athlete CEO- for everyone
’Til next Sunday 👋
Comments, questions, tips or raising your Seed round? Send me a note
Written by Sarah Nöckel, Seed Investor at Northzone. Born in Germany. Based in London. You can find me elsewhere on Twitter and Instagram.