When is it time to quit your start-up? Reader Q&A.
Because you do deserve to be able to pay your bills and to be able to sleep at night and to be able to take a vacation and to be able to buy the fancy mustard at the grocery store.
Hey friends! So many new faces here (again!) this week, and I feel so excited and happy to have you. If you need quick context on who I am, scroll up and hit the green link in the header above. Here and here are my two most recent letters. It seems like many of our new friends here work in beauty, which is exciting, because I started my new role in beauty & personal care this week. 💕
Today we’re answering a reader question from a founder. It’s on the heavier side. Before we dig in, let’s get into some harmless industry gossip, no?
There feels like a really palpable shift in the hormonal & fertility categories— whether on the services side, businesses like Tia (I’m a loyal customer/patient) or Perelel (another brand I purchase from). Most women seem to have PCOS suddenly which I don’t think even existed when my mother or grandmother were my age. This new launch really solidifies that trend for me, and while it seems like a really narrow niche (helping women “detox” from birth control, which often happens right before someone wants to get pregnant), I’m not sure how I feel about the category: I think mostly good, as someone who is affected by these same women’s health concerns, so long as the products are efficacious and not influencer snake oil. Do I wish that we never made PCOS happen in the first place? Well, yeah.
- published an update a few days ago on how Skims scored worse than Shein on a fashion accountability report… I already kind of hated myself whenever I bought Skims (especially when the products were good, which they mostly were), this is the official end for me. It’s just not worth it, and the ~skin-tight~, ~bodysuit~, ~tucked-in-top~ thing has never been for me.
Been having so many conversations in the Substack app (if you don’t use it it’s really good/the only form of “social media” I allow myself on my phone— reminds me of Tumblr) along the lines of my piece below about living above our means, influencer economics, etc. The comment section has been getting really interesting.
published something similar and put out a request for comments on how people feel post-fashion-week insanity that has lead to some really interesting discussion.I used to be a big Death Valley Nails customer back in my Eco Bitch era (new readers— this whole thing, my start-up and the evolution to this newsletter— all began with a small newsletter I wrote reviewing sustainable beauty and household products that I cheekily titled “Eco Bitch”). Their rebrand looks really really nice and honestly a little reminiscent of the visual identity my friends at Wooden Spoon Herbs designed. (Shout out to Sarah Kennedy and Leila Register, who worked on both Wooden Spoon Herbs and Goldune and are my two favorite creatives to work with. Disclosure, Leila is also one of my best friends now!) Smart of Death Valley Nails to launch body care. I kind of want all of it.
If you haven’t heard of Lauryn Bosstick, she has probably still affected the media you consume— blogger turned podcast network owner (she and her husband founded Dear Media, which is a roll-up of many women’s interest podcasts) turned consumer brand entrepreneur. I’m not a consistent listener of her podcast, but feeling *very LA* today, I thought I’d scroll through to see what sort of wellness content she might have for me, and stumbled upon a solo episode where she goes in on our culture around fillers & botox and predicts that we are beginning the end of the facial filler boom…
I actually agree! I think by 2030 thin lips will be in. (This makes sense if you think about the way our world is bending towards Ozempic and the ultra-thin.) It’s already beginning, but it’ll start with people like Lauryn who popularized the filler trend in the first place. I think we’ll go back to wellness-y facial treatments, lasers, skincare, etc. What do you think? Agree or disagree?
Let’s get into questions! I’d be interested in hearing if y’all like this format/topic, so please let me know in the comments if you don’t mind.
New readers, if you’re wondering why the fuck I am answering founder questions, I really like the way this page in my meditation book this morning put words to the answer.
“Good decisions come from experience, and experience comes from making bad decisions.” Being a “failed” founder means that I have made a lot of bad decisions. There’s no substitute for making bad decisions and learning from them yourself, but in today’s Q&A, I try to offer up some of my fumbles in hopes they might make the road easier in the longterm for the kind reader who wrote in.
Without further ado, let’s hear from a current founder who reached out to me knowing I had transitioned from founder to working-for-other-people…
While I have put my heart and soul into a new consumer product line (an extension of/pivot from my existing business I’ve operated for a few years) the cash required just for product development alone has left me very little to launch and market the product. I think often about how it may not work out and I may need to get a job. It keeps me up every single night.
Everything you said in your newsletter about finding a job as a former founder -- transferrable skills, succinctly distilling your story arc, finding the right people who understand your value, and conveying you want to be a team player -- was extremely helpful. Where do you think I should start in case I need a plan B?
Sincerely,
Capital Intensive Clara
Dear C.I.C.,