A playbook for how to build a company in public; The Participatory economy & How to build an impact-first organization
Your weekly Newsletter on Women in Tech and Venture Capital
Welcome to the 546 new subscribers since our last issue. This is Femstreet, a weekly newsletter featuring must-read content by female operators and investors. I try to make this one of the best emails you get each Sunday morning.
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Annnnd we’re back from our summer break 👋 Did you miss us?
Here’s what we’re covering in today’s newsletter:
A playbook for how to build a company in public.
Advice for junior VCs and first time fund managers.
How to build an impact-first organization.
The 4 phases of company growth and what breaks at each stage.
Insights
Valence, the online community dedicated to increasing economic opportunity for the Black community, has raised $5.25m. Our friends Judith Dada and Jeannette Fuerstenberg at La Famiglia in Berlin launch their second fund to back seed-stage European B2B startups. Françoise Brougher, Pinterest’s former chief operating officer, said she was fired after speaking up about mistreatment. Debby Soo replaces Steve Hafner as CEO of OpenTable. Stripe has poached General Motors’ chief financial officer Dhivya Suryadevara. Writer-Comedian Sarah Cooper — known for Donald Trump parodies on TikTok — just landed a Netflix deal. Why Stitch Fix is likely a $100bn company within 10 years.
From The Investor
Venture is a two-sided business matching great entrepreneurs with capital. But where does the capital come from? The “front” or entrepreneur-facing side of the venture industry has been demystified over the last 10 years, the back-end of the business, or how venture firms emerge and raise funds from limited partners remains opaque. Here’s advice for first time fund managers, what you need to prove and the types of LPs. Alda Leu Dennis / Initialized Capital
20 hot new data tools and their early go-to-market strategies. Priyanka Somrah / Work- Bench
“The Participatory economy can be understood as filling empowerment gaps and evolving our thinking from consumers as users to customers as people.”
Ever wondered why Femstreet’s content is available for everyone to read and consume, but not for everyone to participate? Sari Azout of Level VC dives into the mechanism of the participation economy.
Snowflake is a heavy-hitting data warehouse company that’s poised to make a big splash when it goes public in the next few months. Here’s a deep dive into Snowflake and an S-1 Preview. Annika Lewis / Vanedge Capital
How to build a career in venture. Samantha Wong / Blackbird VC
5 fairytale VC tactics as taught by toddlers. Deena Shakir / Lux Capital
Products constantly grow and evolve and building in public allows startups to take their audience and community along for the ride. Here’s a playbook for how to build in public. Gaby Goldberg / Chapter One
Comprehensive advice for junior VCs trying to become GPs by Sarah Tavel of Benchmark
Work your butt off
Source great deals
Find a great mentor
Find your edge
More here.
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From The Operator
How to build an impact-first organization. Mathilde Collin / Front
Must-Know Statistics for Data Scientists. Ramya Vidiyala / Infosys
How this founder raised an Angel round for a pre-launch startup using just Twitter..as a new grad and tips for underrepresented folks to build a presence on social media. Gefen Skolnick / Couplet Coffee
How to consistently write trending content. Julia Enthoven / Kapwing
The 4 phases of company growth and what breaks at each stage. Lara Caimi / Servicenow
Events
🗓️ August 24
AngelList Connect: Women in Venture
🗓️ August 27
Women in Product: WIP Virtual Hangout with Board Member Deb Liu
🗓️ September 9
How to hire a good CTO?
🗓️ September 9 deadline
All Raise Seed Bootcamp
🗓️ September 9 deadline
Humans in the Wild, a unique, 100-day incubation program by Human Ventures for founders who are in the early stages of developing their next big idea in the Future of Work. Apply here.
Opportunities
Blockchain.com Ventures in SF is looking for an investment partner via a blind application process - all applications will be anonymous and they will interview only the candidates who provide the best 1-page investment ideas. The future team member will source, diligence, and lead deals into the best new crypto companies and projects that are at the earliest possible stage. Passion for crypto is a must. Apply here.
And In Case You Missed It
5 internal processes to increase customer retention- for everyone
Tips for founder personal brand building - for members only
How to build and scale a remarkable startup without compromising on people or culture - for everyone
6 lessons from building a business in a downturn - for members only
Effects of hype and exclusivity on launch strategies- for everyone
The Athlete CEO - for everyone
Thank you for being part of Femstreet this Sunday. I hope all our readers in Cali are safe 🙏🏼
Comments, questions, tips? Send me a note
Image credits: Banner (Fortune, Forbes, Glossier, All Raise, Canva, Ethel’s Club, OV, NYSE)
Written by Sarah Nöckel, Early-Stage investor at Northzone. All things workplace tech, data management and enterprization of consumer. Born in Germany. Based in London. You can find me elsewhere on Twitter and Instagram.