Why you should copy more; The new genre of brand aesthetic; Everything about startup compensation & More
Why you should copy more; The new genre of brand aesthetic; Everything about startup compensation & More
Your weekly Newsletter on Women in Tech and Venture Capital
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. If you enjoy this issue, please like it above.
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Hi friends, this is issue No. 152.
Thank you for tuning in this Sunday. I’ve been listening to this remix from my favorite Brazilian indie band O Terno on repeat while writing this issue. Enjoy!
Here’s what we’re covering in today’s newsletter:
Why motherhood is an asset in the workplace.
Whether you need to include financials in a pre-seed startup pitch deck or not.
Everything startup employees need to know about compensation.
How to get a job in data science.
Insights
Morgan Beller, co-creator of the Libra digital currency, just joined the venture firm NFX as General Partner. A directory of women-founded YC companies. Femtech comapny Willow raised $55 million in funding. How to build community. 3 Female Founders share their lessons learned six months into the crisis and how they are re-thinking the way they work. Omsom founders on reinventing meal starters for a new generation. Blck VC, Lerer Hippeau and Anthemis team up to help Black professionals explore a career in VC. All Raise is collaborating with the Amazon Alexa Fund. A good essay on the Emily Ratajkowski effect. Mark Cuban has given Arlan Hamilton $6M to invest in underestimated founders. A brief history of a life online.
From The Investor
Deena Shakir of Lux Capital is reflecting on the legacy of RBG on women and motherhood being an asset in the workplace, offering a playbook for all of us.
"I invented nothing new. I simply assembled into a car the discoveries of other men behind whom were centuries of work. Had I worked fifty or ten or even five years before, I would have failed. So it is with every new thing. Progress happens when all the factors that make for it are ready, and then it is inevitable. To teach that a comparatively few men are responsible for the greatest forward steps of mankind is the worst sort of nonsense.”
-Henry Ford"
Lillian Li of Eight Road Ventures on why the Chinese tech scene is a battle royale and why you should copy more.
The Social Dilemma reminded many of us of the Crisis of Community we face as a nation today. We’ve structured our personal lives for "efficiency" instead of resiliency. Meera Clark of Obvious Ventures on whether connection, compassion, and community can cure our digitally distracted mindsets.
In consumer technology, everything old is new again. Gaby Goldberg of Chapter One goes deep into the comeback of the command line, which has created a user interface that’s both powerful and approachable to non-developers.
Elizabeth Yin of Hustle Fund on whether you need to include financials in a pre-seed startup pitch deck or not.
Faye Maidment of Unshackled VC on how Gen Z is turning content into community.
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From The Founder and Operator
Emma Ding of Airbnb on how she got 4 Data Science offers and doubled her income 2 months after being laid off.
If Instagram gave us Glossier, what will TikTok give us? Instagram’s rise to popularity led brands to design their products with the grid in mind. Now TikTok is taking over, we’re starting to see a new genre of brand aesthetic. Sarah Drumm wrote about how the world's fastest-growing social media platform is giving rise to a new brand aesthetic – one that's bold, bright, slightly wacky and made to be viewed in motion.
Emily Kramer, formerly at Carta, shares everything startup employees need to know about compensation.
Charity Majors of Honeycomb on how you can bond with your remote coworkers.
Events
🗓️ September 30
Female Founders Offline x Felix Capital
🗓️ September 30
RSVP to Founder Hour with Cleo Capital's Sarah Kunst
🗓️ October 7-8
The Opensource Business Forum, the first European conference to discuss opportunities and tackle challenges facing the development of commercial open-source software in Europe.
🗓️ October 7
Redpoint Office Hours with Medha Agarwal & Shopify’s Kaz Nejatian
How to start a company on a (H,TN,J,O,L,E) visa: Unshackled’s Roundtable 2.0 is a 12-week program to reach the earliest, undiscovered and underserved future immigrant founders in the U.S. and empower them with the resources to achieve their own version of The American Dream. Apply here.
And In Case You Missed It
8 things to think of when first angel investing - for members only
5 trends in data - for everyone
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
Thats’s all for this Sunday. I hope you learn something new every time you open this email.
See you next week! 👋
Comments, questions, tips? Send me a note
Written by Sarah Nöckel, Early-Stage investor at Northzone. All things workplace tech, data and enterprization of consumer. Born in Germany. Based in London. You can find me elsewhere on Twitter, Instagram and on my phone in the ☁️.