Patagonia's without a Guide; Social e-commerce in China; Collab Capital; Productivity Apps & Pop Culture
Your weekly Newsletter on Women in Tech and Venture Capital
Welcome to 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. Join our premium membership today to connect with and learn from peers and experts, leverage resources and discover career opportunities.
It’s been a week of high profile departures for top female startup founders. I talked about the huge inconsistency in how we portray fallen female founders in the media in a previous issue. And unfortunately, it continues… Audrey Gelman, co-founder of The Wing, stepped down from her role as CEO after accusations of racism and so did Yael Aflalo, the founder and CEO of Reformation, and Leandra Medine of Man Repeller.
With Rose Marcario leaving Patagonia, the company “starts its summer trek without a guide”. Literally. She crushed it during her six-year tenure as CFO then CEO as sales quadrupled and she helped turn the company from a popular outdoor apparel brand into an environmental activist machine. But there is likely more to the story of her departure…
Femstreet contributors
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Note: We can’t guarantee you a spot but we will always consider your articles for our Sunday newsletter.
And onto other news...
Insights
Collab Capital launches a $50 million fund with a mission to help Black entrepreneurs and focus on profit sharing to power early-stage entrepreneurs. Glossier launches a grant initiative for Black-owned beauty businesses. White female founders face a reckoning over racism. 2 simple things venture firms can do to promote greater diversity. Work-Bench launches a database of Black CEO & co-founders of enterprise software startups selling to Fortune 500. Lo Toney of Plexo Capital has some ideas about how to (really) bring VC into the 21st century.
From The Investor
7 hacks for building and scaling B2B marketplaces. Julia Morrongiello / Point Nine
Here’s n interview with Ada Yang of Pinduoduo on perspectives on social e-commerce in the US and China and how new models of e-commerce can enable the Passion Economy and the idea of monetizing individuality. Li Jin / Working on something new
Got someone in your team who’s constantly questioning the company culture, pushing back against tasks and responsibilities and being annoying? Here’s why you should seek to hire the challengers. Shripriya Mahesh / Spero Ventures
“Founders can help influencers and champions get buy-in inside a fund by demonstrating the breadth and depth of their market expertise through simple, visual communication that minimizes time spent on back-and-forth emails and calls.”
Key tips for a successful fundraise in 2020 and beyond. Joyce Liu / Pegafund
Most companies think strategically about the product but don’t about the pricing. Here’s why a good pricing strategy is critical to success. Vani Kola / Kalaari Capital
“How do we build workplace camaraderie while sitting alone at home? How do we prevent loneliness and the feeling of isolation when there’s no-one else physically in the room? And how do we notice mental health issues, when we don’t see each other on a daily basis?” On the future of work and what is still missing. Sanna Westman / Creandum
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From The Operator
Valuable wisdom from a marketing leader at Segment, Envoy, Mulesoft, and Salesforce. Hollie Wegman / Redpoint
The Mantle of “Girl Developer” and why it shoulnt’t exist. Sanchia Sukraj / Derivco
How to be pro-Black at work. Abadesi Osunsade / Hustle Crew
On ML infrastructure tools for model building. Aparna Dhinakaran / Arize AI
Featured Jobs from the Community
Product Designer@ online events platform Hopin / Remote or London
The team has recently been funded by Accel, us at Northzone, Seedcamp and Slack Fund and is seeking a UX/UI Designer with 3+ years experience who is self-driven, passionate and ambitious.
Product Designer@ the collaborative BI platform Graphy / Remote or London
Backed by top tier VCs and Angel investors, my portfolio company Graphy is hiring its first full-time product designer. Send your CV to me.
Virtual Events
🗓️June 17
Apply for January VC’s Virtual PitchCollective
🗓️June 17
Celebrating Female Entrepreneurs: Anne Wojcicki, 23andMe and Thorold Barker, Wall Street Journal
🗓️June 23
How to drive revenue by increasing customer retention by Hustle Fund
🗓️June 30
Female Founder Office Hours by Anthemis
More Things I Consumed This Week
💡“A lot of these new productivity apps feel like ‘pop culture’ in same ways as social apps. They’re bets on psychology, behaviour, and ways of feeling about workflow. You can’t analyse the TAM: you look for a graph, the team, or your instinct.” Ben Evans on why productivity apps are no longer just utilities, they are pop culture.
📺This live streaming queen at 34 can sell anything and rules the $60 billion world of live online shopping.
🇯🇵Learned something new: “Most people want to become wealthy so they can consume social status. Japanese employers believe this is inefficient, and simply award social status directly."— Doing Business In Japan
And In Case You Missed It
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
VC interview tips and templates with Going VC- for everyone
Thank you for being part of Femstreet this Sunday. See you next weekend 👋
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Banner image credits: Fortune, Forbes, Glossier, All Raise, Canva, Ethel’s Club, OV, NYSE
Written by Sarah Nöckel, Early-Stage investor at Northzone. Born in Germany. Based in London. You can find me elsewhere on Twitter and Instagram.