Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / Greatest Hits: Isabel Aagaard of LastObject on How to acquire 40,000 email subscribers + the learnings of a Kickstarter campaign that generated $1.3M in funding

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Greatest Hits: Isabel Aagaard of LastObject on How to acquire 40,000 email subscribers + the learnings of a Kickstarter campaign that generated $1.3M in funding · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  Just wanted to let you know that I'm taking a quick and much needed break. And that means for today's show, we're going back to the archives from 2020 to bring you one of our favorite and most popular episodes. Happy listening. This is Isabel Agard for Female Startup Club.
• 0:27
  Hey everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. I'm your host, Doona Roisin, and joining me on the show today is Isabel Agard, one of the co-founders behind the sustainable startup Last Object. Last Object is creating sustainable, reusable alternatives to replace single-use items in your bathroom, like the Q-tip, tissues, and cotton pads, with many more to come.
• 0:53
  A big part of this episode is talking about the incredible Kickstarter campaign that put them on the map, reaching their goal in just 22 minutes and going on to raise over $1.3 million over the following months. We dig into how they built their email database and how much it cost to acquire the initial 40,000 subscribers that led to the success of the campaign. This is Isabel for Female Startup Club.
• 1:17
  Isabel, thank you so much for joining me on Female Startup Club today. Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to dig into this. I always start by getting you to introduce yourself, tell us a little bit about who you are and what your company actually is. Yes, of course. Well, I am Isabel Agard and I am a...
• 1:38
  I'm the co-founder of Last Object, which launched Last Swap as our first product. Now, I think we've been in the market one and a half years.
• 1:50
  We have four products now live, so it's great. We do reusable alternatives to single-use items. So it's your typical Q-tip that you use all the time. We've made a reusable version. We've introduced tissues, a more modern version of the handkerchief, and now also cotton rounds and spray and mask. So, yeah.
• 2:17
  It's so cool. It's so cool. I think I mentioned to you before, I came across you guys on Instagram about a year ago when you had launched Last Swab and you've been on my radar ever since. So I'm super excited to dig in and learn everything there is to learn about what you've been up to.
• 2:37
  Awesome. So happy when people find us through Instagram because we use a lot of energy on that platform. So it's great that it's working. It is. It is indeed. Can you take us back to your life before Last Object and what you were doing, what you were up to, what was getting you interested in launching your own business? Yes, I was a...
• 3:05
  What was I doing right before? It feels like 100 years ago, but it's really not. Well, I was working for actually some different hospitals in Denmark. I had my studies done.
• 3:18
  a design for chemotherapy, like a bag that could have chemotherapy so you could take it home. It was this whole new treatment form that we did in collaboration with patients and nurses. That was awesome. It was so great. And then that kind of weirdly, as a designer, it's not a typical place you kind of end up, but I just ended up in the healthcare system and there was amazing work. Great, great work.
• 3:43
  experiences, also tough. But yeah, so I was doing a lot of different things. I had
• 4:00
  But I think right before I had done actually a maternity ward. So I designed when you have babies delivered, you have to be really quick about having tools close to you. And there's a whole, it can, of course, typically go very smooth, but there can also be critical issues.
• 4:24
  the rooms, making sure that it was the most efficient, but also comfortable room to have a person. Yeah, amazing. So when you're saying you were doing design, do you mean you were like a product designer by trade? Well, by trade, I'm actually a co-designer, which is a collaborative designer. So what I specialize in is designing with people. That's why I kind of end up in these
• 4:55
  For example, when I was working at the hospitals, I would, with the hospital staff, I would design maybe a bag. Maybe it was a workflow. Maybe it was a service. Maybe it was an app. It could be anything. Like the outcome could be anything. It was more about solving a problem. That's so cool. I actually hadn't heard of that before. Love that.
• 5:17
  And at what point did you have like that light bulb moment that you thought, okay, I'm going to start my own thing now and I'm going to find some co-founders or I know your brother is a co-founder, but your, your two co-founders, how did you guys come up with the idea to start your own business? Yes. Well, um, my brother, as you mentioned, uh, who's the other, um, third of our company is, um, he's also a designer. He's more of a furniture designer, so he's very much about
• 5:47
  And Cole was his like longtime design partner. And they met at school. So they had a company where they were doing a lot of different things. They had actually bought like a huge building and they were renting it out to all these designers. They were doing something completely different. But we had an office space together, us three. So we started talking about just over lunch, I was doing, I was also doing some laser cut stuff for different companies. And so we were kind of spread out, but we kept like,
• 6:17
  coming back to the question, what do we really want to do and what actually inspires us where we feel like we were doing something that really meant something. And even though it's very meaningful for me, the work that I did at the hospital, I just felt like it wasn't what I wanted to do. So we started exploring it and sustainability just came really
• 6:43
  And we started talking about if we really had to go into something, we didn't just want to go in and, you know, make a sustainable chair. We wanted to do something that really had power, that could make a difference in very few years. And this is where we actually stumbled over single use. So we started to, we would already see that in the market we had straws, we had all these different alternatives to maybe the reuses.
• 7:15
  the movement was already starting and we saw there were a lot of design elements where nobody had really looked at them for many years or nobody had ever tried to actually solve it like the Q-tip. So yeah, this was our moment of, oh my God, this is actually a field. We could do a collection. We just have to start from one end to the other. And then Last Swap emerged from that idea and that want and that's,
• 7:45
  We felt like that design was very clean and very, it just really told the story about what we wanted to do. Gosh, that's so cool. Did you use your co-design mindset to meet up with people and figure out what they would want in something like this as a product? Well, actually, throughout everything that we've done, we've been very involved with
• 8:15
  It's not something that I go to work
• 8:18
  designer. I'm going to ask 10 people on my way to the office. It's something that we all just automatically do now. So for example, when we launched it on a crowdfunding platform, we actually used a lot of the amazing tools it is to have this crowd of people who look at your product and can come with feedback. Oh no, I wanted that color. Couldn't this be fun? So we already there had a digital conversation with
• 8:47
  already customers. So this was something that was very co-creation wise in a really big scale, but I had never done it like that. I was much more like one-to-one, but we did of course test our products and talk to, when we started doing the beauty version, we started talking to a lot of beauty people because I didn't actually know that much about makeup and the boys, weirdly enough, didn't either. So we, uh, so that's where we really needed, uh, more of a,
• 9:20
  do you use and how can we, uh, what would be the best for you? And yeah. And so when you had that, you've had the idea, you've started talking to people, you've realized that, you know, the idea would be validated. You've realized that people want this, there's the movement now. What are the next steps? Like, are you prototyping straight away? Are you building a website? What, what happens next?
• 9:48
  What we did was that we do as much as we can, possibly at the same time, because everything takes time and you just want to get your things out there. So as a designer, often you just kind of sit on your idea like, oh, my God, this is amazing design. This is just going to be great. And then you just run. And that's not necessarily that good of an idea, because if you think it's awesome, maybe not a million people would think that is awesome at all.
• 10:16
  So we prototype a lot. We have maybe done, you know, a hundred different iterations on a Q-tip and it doesn't make sense, but like just the surface, the texture, the material, and we've been, should we
• 10:31
  do it in bamboo? Should we do it in metal? Like we've been in so many different directions. And then there's the box, you know. So we've really been around everything and we've, we try to get it. We do design a lot on our computers. So we really try to, you know, get it 3D printed, get it out in our hands, get it into other people's hands. Tell us, explain to us, how do you feel this is? How is your experience? I would do like these small journals that people
• 11:02
  get to go all the way home with them while they're using it and then give us feedback. So that has been really important for us. And simultaneously, we did create some images, did a landing page so that we could test this on a bigger scale, not just the people that we have around us, but also do, is this a semi-sexual
• 11:30
  tested a lot in both pricing and different colors, different versions, different ways of explaining what it is so that we could get sharper every day. We got more and more. We would do A-B testing every day. So every day we also had a decision to make. Oh no, okay, we have to definitely do it blue. Let's try the red. No, still the blue is best. Let's try the green. You know, so we kept changing.
• 12:02
  story. And what were the kind of learnings you were seeing in terms of like the copy and the price point? What were people most resonating with? Well, of course, everything that we can get to. Everybody's just more willing to
• 12:21
  The cheaper, the better. But there was definitely a price range that was, you know, what does Q-tips, a box of Q-tips, what does that cost? There is something psychological there. And I think that is with all single-use items. And also, if you go and you won't buy one tissue, but you'll buy a pack of a lot of tissues. But what is the price of that? And you don't want to differ too far away from that. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
• 12:51
  And so at that point, were your products actually, was the last swap actually for sale when you were A-B testing? Or was that you still trying to figure out what was going to be like for the launch? Yeah, it was not for sale. We're still prototyping on the side. We hadn't decided on the specific materials. Even when we launched on Kickstarter, I think that we changed some of the materials along the way because we found out that something was stronger, better. So things do change.
• 13:22
  hands the final version at all. Wow, that's so interesting. When you were doing the A-B testing, how were you getting enough traffic to kind of build a, you know, a data, a set of data that was kind of enough to go off? We...
• 13:41
  We did a lot of Facebook marketing. I would say that's probably, we've done a lot of different things, but I think that's probably what has given us the most precise information and also something that we could scale pretty easily. So that's been our main, that and of course, Instagram. But that came later on because you have to, that wasn't something we were very sharp at in the beginning.
• 14:04
  And at that point, before the Kickstarter kind of comes into play, which we'll get to in a moment, how much had you invested of your personal money or how were you funding the business to that point? Well, we had also done a lot of.
• 14:20
  things up until. So we knew that we could run without a salary for a while. So we were self-funded and then we had put what would amount to about maybe 200,000 Danish crowns, which would be what, 20,000 pounds, maybe a little bit more. So it wasn't that much and it was very scalable. So if we saw, for example,
• 14:49
  when we had launched the Kickstarter, if we saw, wow, okay, we're getting clicks or email signups for this amount of money, then we could scale that up. We knew that we were going to get the money back because we knew typically approximately how many would actually buy. So it was more of a
• 15:11
  If we ran into some really successful campaigns, we could put more money. We didn't sit and say like, we're only going to use this amount of money. It was more of a feel and go.
• 15:24
  Right. So, okay, let's talk about the Kickstarter campaign because I'm super excited to get into this. I read that you reached your goal in something like 22 minutes. You obviously got massive exposure. You got a lot of money through the campaign. Can you talk about that process? Why you decided to launch on Kickstarter versus like going around and raising some money? And yeah, basically the whole story there. Yeah.
• 15:51
  Well, I think that we chose Kickstarter because of two reasons. First of all, like I also explained, we're kind of, we design with people. We design not in our little ivory tower because I don't think that that's very sustainable. And so what we wanted to do with Kickstarter was to validate, you know, is this something
• 16:16
  is this maybe we would do a little campaign and there were some that thought it was awesome. And then we would, you know, make sure that the products went there. But we didn't know how big this was. We didn't know like how well, how good this idea was. So for us, it was very much about the validation. We could economically have put it in production ourselves, but I don't think it would be sustainable to do it in that way.
• 16:42
  And then I also think that there was also this thought and this, the whole business is built around less trash. It's built around producing something that will make sure that something else in the future is not produced. And I think that it's very, very important when we do this that we also think through our own business model.
• 17:05
  So if I had gone out and I had put everything in production and then suddenly I had a warehouse full of something that nobody wanted or a color that nobody wanted or a version that nobody wanted, then that would have been trash. And and I didn't want to we didn't want to be in that situation. There would be the opposite of what we're going for. So it was also a way to be sustainable, to make sure that we could.
• 17:31
  We could order exactly the amount of green last swabs that people wanted or blue or, you know, and also introduce a whole different color that people wanted. So so that was kind of our two main reasons to to do a Kickstarter.
• 17:49
  And how long before the Kickstarter goes live did you actually start preparing? So start planning out, you know, video, start working on your email subscribers, start putting the message out to people. What was that timeline like? Well, I think that everything was done very simultaneously. But about two months before we launched our Kickstarter, we started to work on it video-wise and video.
• 18:16
  Everything went really fast, actually. But it was also because we were doing everything at the same time. So we're producing, you know, we had like spray painted the swabs that were used in the video. You know, everything. There was no like real prototypes. There was no nothing. Everything was kind of like, this is going to happen, but it hasn't happened.
• 18:39
  Yeah, right. And so what specifically were you doing in the lead up to kind of generate that interest so that when you actually went live, people bought? We had, we'd collected a huge email list. And this is something when, when people ask me if, if I have like a, some kind of golden, a golden ticket to how to make a successful campaign,
• 19:09
  It's a really good pre-validation of your product, but it's also a way to make sure that you get a really good first day on your Kickstarter. So what we did was that we had done a landing page explaining like, you know, here, get an early bird, 45% off of our Kickstarter if you sign up with your email. So we had a list of 40,000.
• 19:36
  And this was just like a couple of weeks before that we had kind of started building this list. So it wasn't an old list. It's very new. It's somebody that had just seen our campaign, our ad, and had said, okay, yeah, I want to hear more about that. So that gave us a really good big first start. And when you say that only happened a few weeks before you launched the Kickstarter, so obviously it's fresh in everyone's mind. That's amazing. But how did you actually get the 40,000 subscribers?
• 20:08
  Well, that was more or less our ads. And also we did a lot of outreaches to like mini influencers on Instagram. So we had like a list of a thousand mini influencers that had just, you know, maybe 2000, 5000 followers. And we had said that if this is what we're doing, we'd love to send you a sample if you
• 20:35
  if you wanted to hear more about this product. So this and then the email collection, which was more of an ads on Facebook that redirected to our landing page, which was write up your email here. So like these things kind of co-created the email list. And are you able to share the kind of cost investment that you used to get the 40,000 subscribers?
• 21:07
  Well, I think that was actually, uh, that was more or less those 200,000. That was what we use our money for. Right. Okay. Got it. We didn't use our money on anything else because you know, that's just our time. Wow. That's amazing. Okay. So launch day, you put the word out there. 22 minutes rolls by. Tell me about this moment. What happens?
• 21:32
  It was absolutely crazy. We had like, I think two weeks before we launched, my brother said like, I actually think this could, this could actually be pretty huge. Like we're converting really well. And Cole was also like, we were just sitting in the office, like kind of.
• 21:51
  I don't know. We're like, is this, did we really hit a nerve here? Cause we've done a lot of different, also Kickstarters. So we're like, so it was also like, okay, maybe, maybe this is actually big. And on launch day we were, we just, I think I used the whole entire day at just looking and then updating.
• 22:13
  number like oh my god we have 500 backers now oh my god we have a thousand backers what are we gonna do can we even produce this you know so had you found a factory or anything like that at that point yeah i think we had five different that we were testing out right right right okay and so how long did the kickstarter go live for a month if i remember correctly a month maybe one and a half yeah
• 22:40
  And then I think I read that you, I didn't see what your original goal was, but you made something like $700,000 and then you pivoted into Indiegogo. Yeah, I think that that could be right. I actually don't remember.
• 22:58
  Okay, so amazing, amazing all the same. What happens next? You raise a ton of money. You're like, okay, we've really struck a nerve. People want this. The world needs this. We actually hit the nail on the head. What happens next? We ran, we continued winning the campaign on Indiegogo, which was really nice because we didn't really have the web shop up and running. And then when we closed that down, we made like a pre-order campaign.
• 23:28
  And all of this simultaneously while we were working with a factory, with a couple of factories and still trying to make sure the quality was good enough and everything was like playing and the packaging and everything else and how we would ship it. Because from here was really a logistics problem.
• 23:54
  want everything to be shipped from one place because CO2-wise, that was just awful. And we had a lot of sales in the US, but we also had a lot in Europe. So what we did was that we found two warehouses, one in the US and then one in Europe and also one in Asia. And then
• 24:13
  We got everything like big shipments shipped there to then be shipped out. So this was a way for us to make sure that we could really, we had a very low CO2 outlet for transport. And yeah, so that was more or less what we used all those months for.
• 24:34
  That's crazy. I guess you forget about that kind of thing because it makes total sense. You want to build a sustainable brand, but then you've got to think about the things that are below the surface that the end consumer doesn't actually think about. They're thinking that they've just bought this amazing product. But yeah, if it's being shipped from all the way over the other side of the world, maybe it's not so sustainable. Totally. That's really interesting.
• 24:56
  And so what were the kind of learnings that came out of the Kickstarter that you've been able to take into your most recent Kickstarter? Was there anything unexpected that kind of happened that you were able to foresee now for the most recent campaign? So we're getting more and more sharp to how to build the campaigns, how long we should, you
• 25:31
  Also to explaining how, which is in general, actually, we also ended up changing some of the wording and how we kind of framed our whole project.
• 25:42
  throughout the campaign because we could see that people kept asking like, but I don't understand. Do you wash it? And we're like, yes, of course you wash it. Oh, shit. We have to actually put that in, you know, pretty far up. So there were there just like small things where you like how you use it very where I'm like, well, of course you wash it. But of course, that doesn't make sense when you just see the product and when you know it's a Q-tip. So as I think those things,
• 26:14
  It was also really nice for us to actually in the next campaign to already know how the packaging would be because it sells, especially when you are working with an eco-friendly, as an eco-friendly brand, you really want to make sure that you have as little things in the package as possible. So all of our packaging is sleek and all the information is on it. So there's no, there's nothing added to it.
• 26:41
  We also found out that it was actually really important to be aware of plastic in the shipments because shipping facilities are not very zero waste based. So explaining and wanting them to put paper into the into the packages or to not have plastic in it, that was actually very difficult. And we actually had to go away from a couple of companies just because they could not solve the problem.
• 27:11
  And so, you know, all these different, there are a lot of different learnings. And we still learn, like even the last campaign that we did last week, we've like sat down and just like noted 50 new things that we have to do next time. What are some of those things?
• 27:28
  from the campaign right now, we have to be, in general, we have to be very sharp with, people really love numbers. They love, okay, if I buy this, I will reduce this. And what does that amount to? Oh, okay, that is 10,000 liters of water. Or that is, you have to be really, because it, and it is, it's a very complex, sustainability in itself is very complex.
• 27:56
  because you could see it from so many different angles. And there's production, of course, and there's also chemicals, and there's also should it be organic or non-organic, and what is actually the right thing
• 28:29
  has to be as close to the reusable or to the non-reusable, the single-use item, and not pivot too much into being very formed, being very – it really has to look like the original item.
• 28:49
  That's a really interesting insight and one that I wouldn't have expected to hear. How funny. Yeah. I'm interested to know since that Kickstarter, the first Kickstarter campaign finished, how have you been growing and acquiring new customers since? Has it been more of the email subscribers or what's been your kind of main driver for growth? Well, I think like we always do, we, we do a lot of different things and we run on different parameters.
• 29:17
  We have, of course, our email list is important and it's really nice to build it with new customers. But there's also something really nice with the community in Kickstarter, which is nice to tap into. We've also done a lot of collaboration with other brands that do similar things like us, which is very valuable. This can really, really
• 29:47
  they have a list of people that want the same thing as your list. So, you know, merging those two lists are just very, very useful, especially if you can do it in a creative way and it's not like an email for an email because that doesn't really do that much. Social media, we have also been working a lot on getting into with different press releases, everything that we're talking about, using a lot of our energy in actually writing down
• 30:28
  why is bamboo not good or why is it good or why is cotton good or why is it not good? Trying to get into some of these conversations that I think are so interesting and so missed in our media right now. So that is something that we've also been working on. So we're doing 100 different things. I could keep talking.
• 30:52
  I'm interested to know if I can ask a little bit more about the, when you kind of co-collaborate with other brands who you were saying, you know, you have similar audiences that want the same products. What are those kinds of creative ways you can partner so that it's not just an email for an email kind of thing? We did this really cool collaboration with a deodorant company called Nude. And they're doing this awesome deodorant, which is like, you know, non-toxic
• 31:26
  And plant-based and plastic and everything. So it's a really nice company. They are about as big as we are having as many orders. So what we did was that we kind of, we got together and we wanted to, of course, share and be completely open about sharing whatever media platforms we wanted to. But also we wanted to make a story together.
• 31:53
  products, take a good picture with them together, talk about, okay, why is this really good? Well, we actually, we're using the same kind of plastic because it's really good, this plastic. And it is because of this and this and this. And, you know, they had at that point reached, I think, 200,000 armpits or something like this. And it was just, it was a great way of like, oh, and, you know, we're into cleaning our
• 32:22
  if you can kind of make sure that they can merge, it's two things that you want in your bathroom because they're awesome. So I think when you really work and not just promote other companies, oh, look at this, this is really nice. But you really like, everybody at the office had used the derodorant, everybody at their office has last swap. We really just merged ourselves with them and that made a really strong campaign.
• 32:52
  Yeah, it sounds awesome. Love that. What's next for you guys? Where's the business at at the moment and what's the future look like? Well, we have so many products that we want to create and we want to launch. We have some that are ready to start getting formed for a launch. We have versions of our existing products
• 33:24
  we're still really happy
• 33:33
  have a go at. But at some point, I think we'll move out and maybe get into the kitchen, you know, maybe get into the living room. So I think that's going to be really fun. I had a baby four months ago, so I'm also very affected about diapers and wipes and all of this trash consuming situation.
• 33:58
  So I think that there are different or I'm not saying we're going into diapers. I don't I don't really know if we are, but I know that we really want to do different things in different areas. And I think that whatever, you know, we are going through us three designers, I think that's going to be that will show in our products.
• 34:18
  Totally. You know, something I wanted to ask you, it just popped into my mind, your three designers, how do you kind of, who are the people that you're bringing into your team to kind of, you know, do the things that aren't within your kind of skillset outside of design? So things like marketing or logistics and operations and that kind of thing.
• 34:38
  Yes, I would say, first of all, we are three designers, but we're also three designers with kind of an edge into something else. So I also have a graphical design background. So I've done a lot of, you know, pictures and illustrations on the marketing side. Nicky or Nicholas, he is a very, very strong in business and has done everything about he's created the logistic system that we have. And Cole is absolutely amazing at marketing.
• 35:07
  just in general, creating a way for us to produce things sustainably. So he's working with a lot of the difference. So everybody has like a tap into something else. But with that said, we are so happy that we have a CEO now. That has been actually a really, really big thing for us to have somebody who's much more strategic, much more sales oriented, actually. So we got a CEO and then we got a CFO.
• 35:36
  That was also very, very important for us. And he's also, he's a CFO, but also a COO. So he's more about, you know, he's also sitting on all the logistics and they're top, like top high, high, high, high level people. They're much more.
• 35:53
  Like they're way, what do you call it? They're not out of our league. That's something different, but they are, they're really, really, really good. I feel like I'm a kid next to them. So, so that's amazing to have like really professional people on the team. Yeah, totally. That is amazing. How big is the team now? We are six people at the office. So we also, we just hired a CMO.
• 36:22
  And about, we have about 25 freelancers that are more or less full-time actually. Oh, wow. Cool. And what are the freelancers kind of, what, what roles do they fit into? What categories do they fit into? Yeah.
• 36:40
  Everything. I think we actually, we were really, when we started the company, we said that we didn't want to be more than seven people because none of us are really good at managing people and
• 37:00
  I think our wish was to kind of keep being the small, really intense, very high level core team, and then having all of these amazing freelancers that really specific in each category. So we could, you know, we have one that just knows everything about Google ads, nothing about any other ads. Like that's just the only thing that he does. And in the same way, we have one on social media, we have one on only PR and reaching out,
• 37:28
  We have one that's only doing graphics, somebody who's working on the websites, one person who's only looking at our emails. You know, it's very specific. But that also makes the people that we work with really, really qualified. So it's everything. Actually, the whole business is built on 25 freelancers.
• 37:51
  And I think in, you know, the current climate, what's going on in the world right now, this is something that I'm sure more businesses are going to look to replicate because you're able to scale up really, really fast. You don't have to worry about people, you know, having to get people out of your business as you reach certain levels and you change from, you know, very early startup into really that growth stage and then onwards from there. It's, yeah, I feel like we're going to see a lot more of that kind of thing. Yeah. I
• 38:22
  test when we actually started out wanting to build a business like this, but it's really been an amazing experience. And I think that in many ways, it's a much better organization that you're actually much more healthy organization. Absolutely. What advice do you have for women who have a really big idea and want to start their own thing?
• 38:47
  I think that it's a lot about passion. I think that I've also had a lot of good ideas, but in some way they didn't really meet the passion of what I wanted to create and what my actual inner dream was. So anybody who wants to start something up, it's such a huge thing.
• 39:14
  and it's going to consume everything in your life. So I think it's very important that you kind of, that the goal of the company is something that you're passionate about. For sure. That's definitely the case for me as well. We are up to the six quick questions part of the episode. Question number one, and we've probably touched on this a little bit already, but question number one is what's your why?
• 39:44
  Yes. Well, our why is that we did not want to create more waste on the planet. We wanted to make sure that we could create a product that would eliminate the single-use industry because it's devastating how much CO2 and how much chemicals and just in general, like how much waste that they produce.
• 40:13
  Totally. Totally. Question number two is what's been the number one marketing moment that's made your business pop? I think we had, we had a marketing moment on Instagram where we, uh, we did a campaign where we had like, it was very simple. It was just a swab in its packaging.
• 40:34
  But it was just so precise because it said exactly what we wanted to explain, but we didn't put it in the text. As soon as you're a little bit political or a little bit, if you have an opinion in some sense that could be political, then they kind of scrap your idea. So a lot of the things that we wanted to say about sustainability, we can't. But if it's in the image, oh, that's fine. So I think that was kind of our big hit. That was the packaging and our swap.
• 41:06
  I love the packaging and the swap. Looks really good. Question number three is where do you hang out to get smarter? What are you reading? What do you listen to? Who are you chatting with? Oh, I think to get smarter, what we do, we do a lot of meetups at the office where we're all talking and we're so different people that I think that's...
• 41:35
  and get inspired by how we see, how we want to individually solve a problem. I think this is an amazing platform. I think when I really want to get inspired, I look at other, not other zero waste companies, but I look at other companies that done really well. So, and this is such a classical example. But of course, if you look at something like getting a computer from,
• 42:05
  Apple is something completely different from getting a computer from Lenovo. You know, it's opening that package, just having everything wrapped in the way that really getting this gift. I think that inspires us a lot. So we look at other brands that are from not our category and
• 42:32
  the people we talk to that's other companies. Totally love that. Question number four is how do you win the day? And that's around your AM and PM rituals that keep you feeling happy and motivated and successful and productive. Well, I do lists. This is the only way that I can get through a day. I, uh, I would start any day with a cup of coffee.
• 43:00
  And then I do a list of the things that I want to have done. And then I mark the ones that I need to do today. So they get prioritized. And when I'm gone through that list, I have my amazing co-partners who've done a lot of lists for me that they think that I should get through or that we have to make sure of. And that's where I look at that. Love that. Love a good list.
• 43:29
  Question number five is if you only had a thousand dollars left in your business bank account, where would you spend it? I think I would remove two kilos of plastic from the ocean with plastic bank. That would be like the final voice.
• 43:51
  Perfect. Perfect. And question number six is how do you deal with failure? And it can be a personal experience or just your general mindset and approach. I think most of all, you have to win when you fail and in general, because it's not an if we all do it constantly. I think when we fail, we have to use humor.
• 44:14
  we have to really be able to laugh about it. And I think it's really hard sometimes, but as soon as you kind of reach the curve where you can laugh about it, and it's easier when you're around amazing people that you love, but then you've got, you've like, you've succeeded, you've gone through it and, and it's successful. So yeah, humor. Yeah.
• 44:41
  Amazing. Thank you so much, Isabel, for taking the time to be on Female Startup Club podcast today. I really love talking to you and getting to learn about your product and what you're doing to change the world. It's so inspiring. Thank you. Thank you for having me on. What fun questions. I'm really getting, I feel like I've been around things I don't usually talk about. So that's really fun. I love that. Great. Amazing.
• 45:11
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 45:36
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 45:58
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show, and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.
• 46:15
  Hey, it's Dune here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 46:39
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 47:02
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.