Hi, welcome to Femstree't’s life online. I’m Sarah and this is the 244th edition of Femstreet.If you enjoy this issue full of goodies, please share it with your friends and like it above. Have a wonderful Sunday!
A few months after leaving Greylock, Sarag Guo announces Conviction, a $100Mfund investing in “Software 3.0” companies. Female Executive networking firm Chief launches in th UK. UK’s Ada Ventures, co-founded by Check Warner, reaches a first close for its second fund of £60M. A big L for Instagram solopreneurs as the platform pivots stubbornly to Reels. Degree not required: How GM scraps degree requirements for some jobs. “I need this ASAP!” Digital-born, venture-backed businesses are fuelled by urgency - here’s a good essay on why consumerism increasingly felt like a distraction from the bigger picture. Paris-based Sista launches €100M female founder-focused fund. IPO, yes or no? Notion hired Akshay Kothari as CFO. Did Kim Kardashian deserve that crypto fine? She probably did the crypto industry a favor. Melinda French Gates is investing $1B of her own money for women in the US. Fortune’s Most Powerful Women’s List is a good reminder of the progress made and how far we have to go. An early investor’s postmortem on The Wing’s downfall. Elizabeth Holmes is due back in court this month.
A message from Food Foundry
🥑 Do you want $75K in funding to grow your startup?
Food Foundry is a Chicago-based accelerator program built by Relish Works & Gordon Food Service for a broad range of early-stage startups disrupting the food industry. Apply here now through Oct 23rd if you’re looking for $75K in funding, early-stage curriculum and resources, dedicated mentorship, and investor networking opportunities.
How do you know your startup has a positioning problem?
Sometimes you as a founder don’t recognise that you have a positioning problem until you’re too far along in the founding journey. You may find yourself not having enough clarity around (a) the problem you want to solve or (b) the way you talk about the problem. GTM strategist Hema Padhu shares key symptoms of a positioning problem that don't announce themselves and how to recognise them…Read more.
Turning challenges into wins
You've been waiting for your engineering team to test a feature that wasn't delivered during the last release. Do you send a note to the head of engineering about the miss or do you re-prioritise the feature to the top of your backlog? There are a few ways to roll with the daily challenges: Know your objectives, put quality ahead of urgency and use pattern matching to group similar needs. Product Mananger Amy Mitchell discusses how to just roll with it when challenges hit…Read more.
The new social currency
Would you invest $10k in a friend’s startup? Are you friends if you don’t? Not everyone can afford it, though. Angel investing isn’t just about making money anymore. It’s also a way to flex your social connections, where they’re saying, "I have access, I was early" without properly understanding what the company does. I’d argue, that this is not a new concept, but we are starting to see more women on the guest list at the best club. Ellen Huet on how angel investing has become a key form of social currency…Read more.
Pro tips for storytelling and narrative design
Web3 companies have struggled to reach the mainstream consumer. They have been shaped by tech innovations, instead of consumer experiences. Therefore, products often feel too complicated and brands too techie. The average consumer is put off by web3 technical hurdles and risk. Julia Lipton shares how to better produce content in Web3…Read more.
Capital, talent, and user retainment
The pandemic catalysed consumption hours, eliminated most creators’ IRL channels to monetise and encouraged creators to monetise without IRL events. But the world has opened up and artists are going back to proven monetisation models that maximise creative freedom while making money. What does this mean to companies, creators, operators who want to remain in the creator world? Serena Li on the current state of the creator economy…Read more.
Baby steps
Can you start a family and work at a startup or start a company at the same time? Having children has also helped many move away from some of the more negative aspects of entrepreneurship, including the quiet obligation to work around the clock. Rae Witte on how having kids can change how founders treat their team and manage priorities…Read more.
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