Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / TomboyX Co-Founder Fran Dunaway on the importance of a hero product, and how a pivot lead to major success

Transcript

TomboyX Co-Founder Fran Dunaway on the importance of a hero product, and how a pivot lead to major success · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  This is Fran Dunaway for Female Startup Club. Hey everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. I'm your host, Doon Roshin, and joining me on this episode is Fran Dunaway, founder of Tomboy X. Hi.
• 0:25
  When Tomboy X founders Fran Dunaway and Naomi Gonzalez started the company out of their garage, they did so because of one simple fact. They wanted underwear that fit who they are, not who others told them to be.
• 0:38
  It became very clear quite quickly that they weren't alone. Tomboy X is dedicated not only to making high-quality apparel that fits everyone who loves it, but also striving for an ethical supply chain, deep community engagement, and pushing the apparel industry out of the box and into the future.
• 0:56
  In this episode, we cover how Fran and Naomi, partners in love and business, saw a huge gap in the market and launched Tomboy X with a killer crowdfunding campaign, had the courage to change direction, which, spoiler alert, majorly paid off, and how they've built a brand and community that's allowed them to work organically with superstars like Lizzo. And if you've missed the last few episodes, you'll have missed my call out for listener research help.
• 1:25
  I'm leaving my direct email in the show notes. And if you're a fan of the show, I would love for you to get in touch to answer a few quick questions. And if you're a super fan of the show, please do subscribe and rate and review the show on the podcast app so other ears can find us. It might seem insignificant, but it actually truly helps me and I appreciate it and you so much. Thanks for letting me into your ears today. This is Fran for Female Startup Club.
• 1:53
  Fran, hi, hello, welcome to the Female Startup Club podcast. Hello, thank you very much. I'm excited to be here. Me too. I'm very excited to be here chatting with you this afternoon, morning for you, I'm presuming. Yes, indeed. Indeed. Do you want to start by introducing yourself and what your business actually is? Sure. First, I want to thank you so much for doing this because I know when we were starting out,
• 2:22
  We were looking for this kind of content and would devour anything we could find. So I think it's a great service. Thank you so much. Yeah. My name is Fran Dunaway, and I'm the CEO and co-founder of Tomboy X, and we're a gender neutral apparel company.
• 2:38
  Started in underwear and now I've expanded into loungewear, sleepwear, swimwear and coming soon, activewear. So exciting. And I know you have such a great story. I'm really excited to dig into it. Let's go back to life before you started Tomboy X. You know, pre-2013, what was pulling you towards entrepreneurship and starting this brand?
• 3:04
  Absolutely nothing. I was perfectly happy. I was perfectly happy in a successful career that had things like paycheck, vacation, and time off, all of those things, other perks that come with a good job. And Naomi was the same. We were both happy in our careers. The opportunity came up really out of frustration.
• 3:32
  I love to wear a collared shirt or a button up shirt. And I was having trouble finding something I loved. And so it really was frustrating to go into the stores and you could go to the men's department and find excellent quality fabrics with fun details under the collar and, you know, clothing with a personality that appealed to me.
• 3:55
  And so, you know, it was one of those moments where Naomi, my then girlfriend, now wife, said, well, how hard can it be to start a clothing line? And so pretty hard, I dare say. Yeah.
• 4:10
  Had we known? Exactly. So you scratched your own itch. You were interested in creating something for yourself and then it turned out to be a bit bigger than that. What got you started? Was that the light bulb moment when she said that or did you have to ponder about it for a while before it became something?
• 4:28
  Well, yeah, we decided that we'd just do this little side business in our one-car garage and keep doing our careers. And yeah, scratch that itch of getting a nice, beautiful shirt like a Robert Graham or Ben Sherman made for women. So we found a friend that had designed clothing before because at the time, Naomi and I didn't know a knit from a woven nor a P&L from a balance sheet. So we had no idea what we were doing and just kind of took the leap of faith.
• 4:58
  And we were able to spend our own money, bootstrap a sample, kind of a prototype of a shirt and actually a couple of different shirts and a blazer. And that was going to be this thing that we brought into the world. And we were going to do a Kickstarter campaign. And then when we're kicking around different names, we landed on Tomboy because we thought it was cute. We were able to get a trademark and
• 5:23
  That was something that we thought would be a great thing. So we launched the Kickstarter campaign once we had the prototypes and reached out to all of our friends and network and everything to kind of promote that.
• 5:34
  And it was really fascinating was that the name Tomboy was resonating in such a powerful way among women and girls around the world that we started hearing from them and saying, yay, finally a brand for me. Someone sees me for the first time. And, you know, my wife and I had been always in very purpose-driven careers and
• 5:56
  So, um, we were a little bit anti-capitalist, if you will. And so it wasn't really that kind of an endeavor for us, but we, because of that purpose-driven side of ourselves, what we realized was that we kind of felt a sense of responsibility to this community that wanted to be seen and heard by the fashion industry. And so in keeping with my activism, that seemed like, oh gosh, something that we felt compelled to respond to. And then also, um.
• 6:26
  we had an instant brand. And so we had this instant brand recognition just because of a name that was very powerful. So we recognized that. But then we also wanted to balance this thing of, okay, capitalism, our values and whatnot. And so it became very important to us. We were going to do this. We sat down and had a very thoughtful conversation and said, if we're going to do this, we're going to imbue our personal values
• 6:53
  into this company every step of the way. And so what does that mean so that we didn't feel like we were abandoning what was important to us? And what were those things you identified as, you know, your key values that were really critical to building the business?
• 7:10
  I'd say first off is inclusivity, a big part of the LGBTQ community. We certainly understood what it's like to not be seen, not to be recognized or not to be valued. And so we wanted to make sure that we came out from a place that was about positivity and kindness. And so that's everything from inclusivity in the model choices that we make and the body types that we show. And also making sure that we we offer all of our styles in an extended sizing.
• 7:39
  at the same price. So we didn't want that subtle shaming of coming in and going, oh, I need to go to this section to shop for clothes because of the way I'm shaped. Or, oh, I have to pay more because I have a bigger body than a small. And so that was important to us, but it was also important to us to only work with factory owners and factories that take care of their workers. We wanted to make sure that we took care of our own workers. And so we wanted to, you know, we offered benefits
• 8:09
  paid health care benefits from day one when we first hired employees. And so, you know, it was those kind of things. Also, the environment is very important to us. So working with sustainable fabrics and, you know, water reduction processes. So all of those things come into all of our decisions. It wasn't about just going out and making a buck or, you know, selling underwear. It was more important than that.
• 8:35
  And then what it kind of changed to, which was really fascinating, when you take those things that are important to you and your values, is that it became imbued in everything that we did. But then it also became kind of turned the fashion industry, the notion of telling you how to be cool, that aspirational, wear Tomboy X and you'll be cool. It wasn't that. It was, we think you're so cool the way you are.
• 9:02
  And we think you're so wonderful. We want to celebrate that. And so that was kind of where it landed, not intentionally, but just because of the journey we were taking and the way we were thinking about it.
• 9:15
  So beautiful. I really love that. And it's so cool to say that, you know, it's not about wearing this to be cool. It's just about being you are cool as you are. And I read something that you said in an article and it was along the lines of we're not for everybody, but we're for anybody. And I thought that was really nice to read as well. And just to circle back about the name. I mean, it's also just quite clever to be able to have chosen a name that people can instantly see it and be like, I know what this is about.
• 9:45
  This is a brand for me. It's genius. Marketing genius. It's powerful, isn't it? It is powerful. Yeah. You know, we did a Google trend of the word at the time and it was kind of under the radar, which I think is why we were able to get the...
• 10:00
  Trademark, you know, I mean, we actually had the word Tomboy trademarked. We've since trademarked Tomboy X. But that was just a really amazing thing. And I think that it was just such a kind of an old word that people weren't using. But you're right. It's incredibly powerful. You know, it takes a long time to build up that brand equity. If you have a swoosh or if you have a, you know, something called a Coke or, you know,
• 10:25
  It's just not easy to you. It takes a lot of time to help people understand what that means. And so, yeah, that instant recognition. And I think because of our background we had, you know, in politics, I think we saw the fervor and felt the the passion behind it in a way that we were like, wow, this is this is big. This is bigger than us. This is bigger than a shirt.
• 10:46
  what is that going to be? What is that? And, you know, started reaching out, listening to podcasts and reading books and LinkedIn stalking people and, you know, trying to find anyone that would sit down and talk with us about what their journey was. And I remember early on finding a connection to Bobby Infield, who was one of the founders of Tommy Bahama, another Seattle-based clothing company, and got on the phone with him. And he said, you know, two things. First of all,
• 11:15
  You think you're tapping into a vein and you're going to hit an artery, which is what we did as well. And then the second thing he said, which was equally important, was you need to find a hero product that you can build your brand around. In their case, it was a quarter zip hoodie. And...
• 11:35
  And that was what they built their entire, you know, they funded the development of everything else. So that got us to thinking and, oh gosh, what is it one product that we could have? Because at the time we, we launched the Kickstarter. We raised $76,000 in 30 days. We put the shirts into production here in Seattle. And then we started kind of curating a look that was in our minds, a tomboy look. So we, we added jewelry, you know, we drop ship and,
• 12:03
  And we added jeans and shoes and scarves and hats and all sorts of things that were kind of this look and feel. But none of them felt powerful enough to be like that iconic. What are we building the brand around? And we we got blanks. So we also would get a lot of blanks and just put our logo on it. See how you know, knew that that was a powerful thing. And we had found these whitey tidy kind of.
• 12:28
  underwear made for women that were blanks and they were in different colors. And so we put our logo on those. And when we were thinking about what's our hero product, it was just me and Naomi. You know, we worked for the first three years without a paycheck. And so she was doing customer service and she said, I am getting a lot of requests for boxer briefs for women.
• 12:50
  And we said, really? So we looked at what we started. We did an analysis of our orders and we realized that almost every order had a pair of this underwear that we didn't make. It wasn't very comfortable that only went in small through extra large and the extra large was more of a large. And so we.
• 13:10
  We started increasing the price just to see, because you could go onto Amazon and buy the same underwear for five bucks without our logo. And so people would continue to pay. So it was like, okay, so there's something here in this marriage between underwear and the Tomboy X logo. What is it? What is that thing? So that's when we said, you know, we're getting a lot of requests for boxer briefs. And I was like, nobody does that. So went on to Nordstrom.com, typed in boxer briefs for women, and up came a pair of Spanx.
• 13:40
  And so we were pretty sure that wasn't what our customer was looking for when they were talking about boxer briefs for women. And so we set out to make the best damn pair of boxer briefs made for a cis female body that had ever been made. And we happened to this, you know, I had a lot of rainbow unicorn moments along the journey. And one of them was when this amazing woman walked into our lives with 30 years of production experience and
• 14:05
  sourcing experience. And she said, I want to help. I love what you're doing and I want to help. And so we said, great, go make excellent boxer briefs. And off she went. And we pre-sold them two weeks prior to their arrival, hoping we'd sell enough to pay for them because we didn't have the money. And they sold out before they arrived. Six months later, we tripled our revenue and we said, we have not only found a hero product, but a hero category.
• 14:33
  which was really perfect fit for Tomboy X because it's about how you feel on the inside. So underwear was like the first and the next of skin experience that seemed to be perfectly with what we were trying to do with the Tomboy X brand.
• 14:49
  Oh, love that. So cool. I just love it. Imagine all those customers who are probably still with you today who were requesting that in the beginning and, you know, they changed the course of your brand. That's so exciting. I want to talk more about this time. What kind of year are we talking here? Let's see. We started the Kickstarter campaign in 2013 and in March of 2013.
• 15:14
  And then in September of 2014, we introduced the first boxer briefs. And then in July of 2016, we did a rebrand. So we got rid of the old logo. We worked with a branding agency and came up with a very different look and feel.
• 15:33
  and got rid of anything that we weren't making, including the shirts. And we went all in focus on that hero category next to skin. And we got rid of everything else. And so the middle of July 2016 was when that happened. So gone were the shirts, the jeans, the shoes, all of that, and just focused on underwear. And then we continued to add different categories and swimwear,
• 16:00
  those types of things. But that focus was really what was important to our success, because then we could hone in and continue to build upon that. We were never going to get to the same place had we kept all of the other distractions, if you will. We knew what our golden egg was. We needed to hone in on that and let that build our brand because you can get more volumes. You can get more customers and bring them in through one point and then
• 16:30
  there's some consistency across the board. Got it. And I imagine that's also the time then 2016-ish
• 16:38
  when it started to, it was a really tipping point because you had your clear focus, you got rid of the clutter and you're able to go like this. I want to talk more about the marketing side of things because I imagine you had, you know, a great posse of people from that early crowdfunding campaign where you were able to generate awareness, get those first kind of early eyeballs on what you were doing. But when you were sort of getting to that point in 2016, yeah.
• 17:05
  How had your marketing evolved and what were you doing to find new people and new customers? Yes, great question. It's a continual challenge and we're continually iterating. And it's so interesting to see how far we've come. You know, I look at our marketing team today and we're so sophisticated in the analytics and we're down to the granularity that we can get to. At the time, it was much more of a shotgun approach.
• 17:33
  and just trying to kind of figure out what we were doing. In the early days, in the very early days, when it was just me and Naomi, I would literally turn on a Facebook ad and wait until we hit our goal and then turn it off. And that was this level of sophistication. And then as we added people, you know, to our team, that changed. But you've hit on a really important piece, which is we were fortunate in that we were chosen by a very well-known advertising branding agency that's quite large.
• 18:04
  And they had a window of opportunity for two years where they were trying out this new business model where they wanted to share on the upside of brands they were helping to build. Rather than just charging an agency fee, they chose a brand or a cash equity split model for a couple of years. So there was this small team within the agency that was allowed to choose a couple of companies a year that they wanted to work for for these two years. And so they chose us. And.
• 18:33
  We had been looking for someone to help us with that right voice. Naomi and I aren't marketing people. And so we knew we had something, but we were lacking someone to give it the voice. And so we were introduced to this woman that worked for this agency that happened to be in this division. And we met for coffee and a 20-minute coffee turned into a two-hour conversation. And seriously, five minutes in, I knew we had found the woman that was going to give our brand a voice.
• 19:03
  And Courtney Loveman is her name. And she's an amazing, amazing marketer. You know, she has a long history of great brands. So fortunately, they accepted us and we were able to negotiate a deal. And then they worked for almost a year on helping us really refine the look and feel. Otherwise, we could have never afforded to do that. You know, when you're when you're working with an inventory based company, all your money has to go into inventory if you're going to keep growing.
• 19:31
  And so cash was a continual problem. And so we had to keep a real close tab on what we were spending on and out. And so that was a rainbow unicorn moment where they came in and helped to give us this beautiful look and feel. And you can still see their impact, obviously, on our website. It's changed considerably and it's recently gone through another major change.
• 20:01
  iterating on. But that brand work was so important. And then it helped us hone in on different target audiences. And at the time, what we did was we broke our categories into our customer base into kind of three different categories. One was our, what we called the kind of status first, people that were looking for a new brand, the artists that were looking for the latest and coolest product.
• 20:27
  And that want to get behind a brand that has shared their values. And so that was one category. And then the second category we called our function first and, and, uh, which also inspired our first line of box briefs. And those are, those are people who are in service industries or, or wear uniform to work every day, like firefighters, police officers, um, athletes and people who wear scrubs, you know, that have loose fitting clothes that traditional underwear just doesn't work. And it's just, it's uncomfortable.
• 20:57
  And so that was our function first that needed for their line of work. Firefighters stripping down to get into your uniform, right? You want to be in something that gives you a little bit more modesty so that you can jump in your uniform and go. And then there was our comfort first, which was our LGBTQ population as well as our plus size population that just wants something comfortable. That's the most important. And that was probably and still is our largest category of customers.
• 21:27
  I'd say it was easy targeting the LGBTQ community because that's a target in Facebook. And then, you know, likenesses and whatnot. So that was kind of how we built the foundation. And we recognized early on that it was much larger than just a niche LGBTQ brand. And it was really amazing because it coincided the timing with the Me Too movement. And now people are.
• 21:55
  Of course, they're making plus size closing because they see market share opportunity where we did it because we thought it was the right thing to do out of the gate. And so, yeah, so it's continually evolving. And we know that we've got a lot of our customers are supportive of the LGBTQ community, not necessarily identify as.
• 22:16
  And so, you know, progressive people that have progressive values and that want to get involved with a brand that's making a difference and that makes very comfortable underwear, then Tomboy X is the place for you.
• 22:31
  I love that. I'm particularly interested just to go back for a second in the, you know, you were saying about this deal that you struck with this branding agency. Can you just dig a little deeper on what it means to do a cash equity split and for them to take the benefit on the upside for anyone listening who is like, oh, that's a light bulb moment. Maybe I could do something like that. Sure. Sure.
• 22:54
  Yeah, I wish that more companies did something like that, especially for early stage. So obviously cash flow, cash is king, especially in the early days when you're not profitable and you're just shooting for growth. And so we were able to negotiate for a percentage of the company, a small percentage of the company, and in exchange for growth.
• 23:16
  services. And then we also did, we, I actually structured it in a way that we didn't have to give up cash because my argument was, well, if you own shares in the company, if you own a percentage of the company, then why would you want us to spend our cash paying you when we could spend that on something that's actually going to grow the business? So it took a while, but we finally got to an agreement to where they then did a rev share.
• 23:46
  I said, okay, so for X amount, we're going to pay you cash, this amount, and then the rest you're going to get in the equity. And so, but I'm not going to pay you that until after we've launched with the new brand look and feel. So you have to do all the work up until then. And then we'll give you a percentage of the revenue every month until we pay back this initial amount. So we set an amount. We're going to rev share once we've launched and the rest you're going to get when we
• 24:15
  when we have a liquidity event. And so they finally agreed to it. And it was pretty entertaining because they kept repackaging, you know, they would come to me and say, well, how about this way? And I kept, I would say, we have no money. We have no money. You're not listening. Exactly. And so they go and they repackage it, you know, their branders and they come back and they present it another way. And I'd say, we still have no money. And so finally, it sunk in that we had
• 24:46
  and get it done was to do this rev share deal. And so that's what they did. And we paid them back that. And then we had a liquidity event and they walked away pretty happy.
• 24:55
  Nice. Win-win for everyone, it sounds like. Yes, exactly. I think that's a great insight for people who are out there and looking for different ways to approach deals like this. Sounds really cool. Sounds really interesting. I want to go back to more of the marketing side of things to find out how you've been able to scale and really grow your customer base and acquire new people. What's working for you now?
• 25:22
  You know, that is our number one goal is new customer acquisition. And that is the full team effort right now. You know, we have a great opportunity in terms of awareness. There are a lot of people that have never heard of us. And so how do we find them? And the big way that we're going about that right now is in our storytelling around the brand and how we're reaching out to people. So we might have three different story paths.
• 25:50
  And depending on what your interests are or, you know, what your lookalike marketing person is. And so we bring you in through these different stories because we want you to know who we are. We want you to know about our sustainability, if that's important to you. Or if you're just a, you know, plus size looking for nobody making 6X, especially not a cute print with really soft fabrics, then we're the one for you. So.
• 26:17
  It's that engagement and that's that personal connection with our customers. And so a lot of different ways. We're also branching out into new channels this year that we've never done. We've got an ad on Hulu right now. We've got some podcast advertising going out. We advertise on KEXP Radio, which is a global radio station. And we're sending out mailers for the first time this year. And just really trying to reach people in new ways.
• 26:47
  and not rely explicitly on digital. I imagine there's lots of fun opportunities when it comes to things like Pride Month and Pride parades and floats and all that kind of thing as well that would be really fun and out there. Absolutely. We own Pride. Pride is our Christmas.
• 27:06
  And it's very important to us. And we also love Halloween. So those are our two biggies. And we have rainbow collections that are continually in, but we also really want to celebrate, you know, the LGBTQ community. We also get very involved and we've been giving back since the beginning of the company. And so it's very important.
• 27:29
  to us to support causes that matter to us. And for example, you probably heard of the killing of Black men in the United States and the systemic racism that has kind of reached its peak, hopefully. So we were able to donate $50,000 to the Black Lives Matter movement a few months ago. And so that's another important part of who we are and our give back to the community today.
• 27:56
  And we have a lot of causes. Arlene, my assistant that you spoke with. Shout out to Arlene. Shout out to Arlene. She's the heart and soul of the office. And, you know, she does food drives or clothing drives every month, takes them to local homeless shelters. So it's really an ethos that's important to not only me and Naomi, but to everyone that works for us. And we're really blessed in that way. Mm.
• 28:23
  Gosh, it just sounds like such a nice community of, you know, people that you've built working around you, but also for the people who buy your products and are involved, whether it's just on social media or the, you know, the wider community. Sounds really cool. I love it. And yesterday you had a very special woman posting about you. Can you share a little bit about what you told me earlier? Yeah.
• 28:47
  Yes. Boy, my phone was blowing up. I heard from so many people and every different way that you can reach out. Yeah. Lizzo was touting our underwear once again. Now she's done it repeatedly. In fact, the first time she did it was probably over a year ago. And I woke up and, you know, the first thing I do is kind of check sales. And I was like, oh, we're up this morning. What's going on? Why are we selling so many avocado underwear? And sure enough, Lizzo's out there dancing and,
• 29:17
  I don't think it was TikTok. I think it was a story on Instagram at the time. And she's dancing in avocado print. And so we send her product. And she doesn't have to post it. We don't have any agreement. We don't pay her anything. But she really loves the brand. And it resonates with her in a powerful way. So yeah, yesterday, she even went so far as to wear
• 29:38
  the bra inside out so that the viewers could see that it's our logo and read it, that it wasn't flipped. And so that's true. That's true. Love. Oh my gosh. And my 10 year old niece thinks I'm the coolest. Oh my God. But you are the coolest. That's amazing.
• 29:58
  And I guess the thing that it comes back to is that you have a strong brand, you have very strong values, and she really connects with those values. And she obviously heard about your brand at some point. But are you able to talk about kind of how it got to the point where you were able to send her stuff? Like, do you know how she found the brand in the first place?
• 30:17
  I do, actually. I do. She was here at a Pride Festival. I think it was a Pride weekend. And she was doing a main stage up on Capitol Hill outside. And a friend of mine that used to work for me worked for the agency where she was using as a green room.
• 30:35
  And so she reached out to me and said, Hey, you want to get anything to Lizzo? And I said, you bet I do. And unfortunately, I was in London at the time of the concert. So I didn't get to go, but some of our employees went and yeah, they just left her a care package. And then, um,
• 30:52
  we reached out to her agent and we have a relationship with her. And so that was how it started. But we see things. Willow Smith most recently posted a great video. She's playing a song and she's wearing Tomboy X and we have no idea. She must've found us. And so, uh, you know, we're, we're trying to reach out to her to get her some more products. Cool. So people find us and then, uh,
• 31:17
  We feel really good. And look, Lizzo is perfect for us because she stands for everything that we stand for. And, you know, that body positivity and body image and just kindness. I just think that she's so smart and she's so savvy and she's really making a difference in people's lives. And that's what we aspire to as well. Love that. That's heartwarming. Love it.
• 31:42
  I'm interested to talk to you about your technology. What's powering your business and making it easy for you to do your job? Gosh, it's almost like you attended our three-year strategic session. New customers, technology. I'm on the inside. That's right. That's right. That's amazing. So technology is a big focus for us this year because we're, in some ways, we are very manual still, spreadsheets.
• 32:12
  and whatnot. But early on, you know, we wouldn't be where we are. We couldn't have done what we did if it hadn't been for something like Shopify, a phenomenal platform that has all these plug and play things that you can do to build a store online. And that was just unheard of a few years prior. Without that, you know, setting up a commerce platform, way too expensive, way too daunting. I think we actually priced it out when we were looking at it and it was, you know,
• 32:41
  $50,000 or something at the time. And on Shopify, we could pay, what, 50 bucks a month. And so that's the most important and powerful technology for us. And then we just have added different platforms or different applications, depending on how we want to return. And we've constantly upgraded. The software that we used at the beginning that worked great for us, like MailChimp was a great beginning company
• 33:10
  email platform, then we moved to Klaviyo because it had more capabilities and it was more robust. And the same with our CSR, so our customer service. We continue to upgrade and iterate on that. And, you know, now we're reevaluating. Maybe it's time to move off of Shopify onto something else that we have more control over. So it's a continual iteration. But this year is the big focus. And look, you know, we're eight years in now.
• 33:38
  it takes some time to get here. It isn't as though we should have done it this way in the beginning. It's that we didn't have the resources either in people power or financial to make the change. And so now we want to get a software platform that connects all our back end and that our analysts, we have a marketing analyst as well as a financial analyst.
• 34:01
  They are constantly looking at trends and ways that we can improve. And, you know, I mean, our goal this year, it will be our first profitable year. And so we're looking at ways to increase our efficiencies and technology is one of those ways.
• 34:16
  And all these platforms and companies that are making our lives easier, they really lower the barrier for entry. They make it possible for, you know, anyone to start a business and anyone to give it a try. Whereas, like you said, back in the day, if you had to build a $50,000 website and buy inventory and potentially hire staff, it was really a high barrier to entry for just the average Joe. Absolutely. And it's a great way to test out your ideas.
• 34:45
  You know, I think one of the critical things of being an entrepreneur is being able to test and learn and not just get set in your ways about what you think is the exact way it's going to be. And, you know, you mentioned earlier, you recognized earlier that we listen to our customers and that we continue to listen to our customers. That is a critical part of our success when we're.
• 35:07
  we don't just decide, oh gosh, I wonder if they want swimwear. No, they're clamoring and banging on our door, make swimwear. And so, you know, I think that listening and then being able to change your path, but that these platforms are great ways for you to test your idea. The same with like the crowdsourcing where we were like, well, if we can't raise this money, then it's an idea that isn't going to work. And so we raised the money and then that kind of
• 35:36
  it is a great thing. It's, it's a wonderful thing. I've always been an early adapter of technology and I continue to love what the power that it gives us. Absolutely. Gosh, TikTok as a new platform is just so crazy. So powerful. Oh my goodness. From what I've read, you raised recently around $17 million in capital. I'm wondering what that allows you to do now and what that brings for
• 36:03
  Yeah, we actually raised about $10 million from a London firm. And then they also bought out about close to $7 million in secondary. So they own a lot of the company, but the investment itself in the business was only the $10 million. And so, you know, it's game changing. We built the company to, gosh, over $7 million in revenue without anyone that had any e-commerce experience at all.
• 36:33
  Wow. You really hit that artery. We did. We did. And so we were just kind of, you know, flying by the seat of our pants. And also, we didn't have the resources to bring in experts. We couldn't pay them. And so it was really...
• 36:52
  put together and built the company to that large of a company, which is a pretty successful company by any standard, with a group of passionate people, individuals that were passionate about what we were building and why we were building it. And so there was a lot of just, well, let's try this, let's try that, spaghetti at the wall kind of thing. And so bringing in investment, we brought in a Series A at the end of 18,
• 37:19
  or the middle of 18. And so that really allowed us to add some people to the team. But then when we brought in this recent 10 million, or year and a half ago, $10 million investment, that really helped us to level up. I mean, we were able to bring in several more people that really have some strong e-commerce background. And so they came in and really restructured, you know, at every stage of the game,
• 37:48
  you have to evaluate if the team is the right team for where you are. And so as hard as that is, you have to make some hard, hard choices because the scrappy little hard scrabble team that's going to throw the spaghetti at the wall can get you to here, but are they going to be able to get you to here? And that's not often the case. And so
• 38:11
  We currently have a new team. We brought in a new head of marketing a year ago, actually. Last week was her one year. And she changed everything. She re-orged the entire team. And she's brought in all of these experts. And this is going to be a breakthrough year for us because of the team that's in place and the expertise. And I sit in these meetings, and I'm just in awe at how smart they are, how powerful
• 38:39
  They clearly understand every lever out there and what's going on with the business, with the core business and in a way that puts us in charge. And we aren't just trying to figure out what works and what doesn't work or something isn't working, why it isn't working. We now have all of those answers and a team that is really rallying behind growth scale and taking us to the next level, you know, as we continue to grow.
• 39:09
  So we grew 48% year over year last year. That's our goal for this year, at least 50% again. And so, you know, it's a growing concern, but it's very, very different. And, you know, to your listeners, especially people that are just starting out, one of the very important things that I learned is that it's important not to look at where you're going in the long term, but at what you need to focus on today.
• 39:38
  So if you're looking at the success of Tomboy X and saying, oh, you need to get all this, you know, these people or all this technology. No, no, no. You need to look at what you need today to get you to tomorrow to next week and then take it in the bite sized chunks that you need that you can keep going. Because if you're just looking at, oh, my gosh, the overwhelming picture of how you're going to get to there, then you're going to get lost and you're going to be overwhelmed and you're going to get tired.
• 40:08
  and burnout. So just take it a bite at a time. Absolutely. And I think that, I don't know, everyone says it, but if you just focus on the things that you can do today that move the business forward, just get that one thing done. Even if it's one thing, just do that one thing. And then tomorrow do that thing again. And slowly that compounded effect will, you know, one day you'll wake up 10 years from now and you'll have a tomboy X on your hands.
• 40:38
  Totally. What advice do you have for women who have a big idea and want to start their own business aside from what we were just speaking about? Well, I think that it's super important to find mentors that have experience in what you're doing. And, you know, people are always, we have found that people are willing to give of their time and their advice and their expertise.
• 41:06
  You know, take them out for a glass of wine or a cup of coffee and just pick their brains. And, you know, it's important not to go in with that. Can I just pick your brain? It would be go more in with here are my three questions I've got for you today, you know, and get them to get involved in that. And the other thing is that even if you are raising money.
• 41:28
  You know, it's important that you remember that people don't want to just write a check. They want to bring their expertise. They want you to ask their advice. They want you to bring them into it. And that's why if you look at someone whose portfolio of investing is always in tech and you're building a flower business, you should probably not go talk to them because they don't want to talk to you. They're not just going to go, oh, my God, I love this flower idea. They're going to be like, I don't know anything about flowers. I know about tech.
• 41:56
  So focus in on where you need to be, find a mentor. And in our case, what we did, and it wasn't intentional. And so it's only in hindsight that I can say this, but it worked very well for us to have two different mentors that were very involved with us and also investors. But early on, they were just mentors. And one is eternal optimist. Everything's going to be OK. You've got this.
• 42:22
  It's all good. And the other is an eternal pessimist. Oh my gosh, this is, what are you thinking and how can you possibly be there? And then you've got to know when to call which one. And so we don't want to call the pessimist when you're down, you know, you, you want to call the optimist. And, and then when you're flying high and you think, Oh, there's no problems in the world. Then you call the pessimist to help you remember what you need to be focused on. So,
• 42:52
  That was a big lesson for us in terms of finding people that will help in your specific industry that can help spoon feed you the things you need to get you to what do I need to do today to get me to tomorrow. Amazing. I love that advice. We are up to the six quick questions part of the episode. Super fun. Question number one is what's your why? Why do you do what you do? I guess. Yeah.
• 43:22
  I like to make people feel good. I like to, I like to make people laugh. I like to, you know, impart kindness and, um, and be uplifting in some way. So, uh, it just, uh, maybe it's a hedonistic instinct. I like to feel good. And, um, yeah, I think laughter and kindness is, is the key to happiness.
• 43:43
  Totally. And love. Love, love. Definitely. You can't have one without the other. Absolutely. Question number two is, what do you think has been the number one marketing moment that's made your business pop? Number one marketing moment. I would say the branding, the rebrand that we did with the agency, that you can clearly see it, as you pointed out earlier, and it was indeed a spike.
• 44:12
  And so that rebrand really kind of put us on the map. Love that. Question number three is where do you hang out to get smarter? What are you reading? What are you tuning into podcast wise? Do you subscribe to any newsletters? Yes, yes, yes. Consumption. In the early days, I've got to say, because we didn't know much, our favorite podcast was Loose Threads, which is a phenomenal podcast.
• 44:40
  podcast out of New York, Richie Spiegel. And that was a really helpful one in terms of how to think about how people did business. And he asks the same questions every time. And so it's a really great format that helps. And today I'm listening more to Brene Brown on how to be a leader and, you know, kindness is clarity, that type of thing. And
• 45:06
  You know, being holed up and trying to keep myself busy, I like to listen to books while I build puzzles. And so I recently listened to the WeWork, you know, the Billionaire Loser. And then also now I'm listening to Flash Boys, which is about the whole Wall Street thing. Oh, I haven't heard that one. Oh, yeah. It's a fascinating story. And then...
• 45:32
  you know, I read the New York times and Washington post every morning, we get the Harvard business review and the New York magazine. Um, so just lots of, lots of different things. And, you know, the other thing that we're doing that is new for us is we've embraced capitalism and, uh, we feel as though we can make a bigger difference, but my, my latest, uh, kind of passion is getting more economic equity for women. And, um,
• 46:01
  by population so that we can be out there making a difference. The money isn't going to come to us. We're going to have to go and get it. And we're going to have to help each other. And we're going to have to, you know, we're involved in some investment funds that invest in women entrepreneurs or in companies that support female causes. And, you know, we have to get more wealth in the power of in the hands of women so that we can make a difference and be out there because that is the power.
• 46:28
  and that's been wielded and continues to be wielded against us when you look at the statistics and the data. So help your friends, bring them along, and this is how we're going to correct the imbalance of the economics of this world. I love that. I saw Arlen from Backstage Capital just launched a new, I guess you would call it like a crowdfunding investment
• 46:55
  situation where she invites everyone if you want to be part of it to join. And I thought that was really cool. I love what she's doing. Yeah. Yeah. She's done amazing things. Yeah. She's really turning it on its end, the whole investment community. So yeah. Yeah. She's amazing. Very cool. Question number four is how do you win the day? And that's around your AM or your PM rituals that keep you feeling happy and successful and productive and motivated.
• 47:24
  Oh, gosh, if I can make my wife laugh before, you know, first thing in the morning and at the end of the day, that's a pretty good day. She's got a great laugh. You know, especially around COVID, it's if I can motivate myself to do something physical and make sure that the dogs get some physical activity and that we have a nice meal. You know, food is important.
• 47:54
  a ritual for us around here. So making a beautiful meal and just enjoying our time and, and figuring out, you know, what, what's next. We got a new puppy seven months ago. And so she's the light of our lives. And so there's no lack of laughter in this household on a daily basis.
• 48:13
  It's funny. I was actually saying to my husband, maybe it was yesterday. COVID really makes you appreciate just the small moments, just the nothing moments, way more than I've ever thought about before. And like I said before the show started, I also have a new puppy and she is just such joy. And I'm like, my life is perfect. Every day is perfect. Like, you know, if I just have my little moments with my dog, that's the best I can ask for.
• 48:39
  it's so special yeah that's so true it's it's so weird you know I would have if you'd have told me I could be holed up in my house pretty much for a year and be content I would have laughed you out of the no I love to travel I love to go out with friends you know all of these things and not that we haven't found ways to get out but
• 49:01
  Yeah, it is. It's a very different mentality. I think that it's changed us all. Absolutely. Question number five. I'm going to speed through these last two ones. I can see the time creeping up on us. If you only had $1,000 left in your business bank account, where would you spend it? Where's the most important spend of a dollar for you? I would, let's see, $1,000. That's not much.
• 49:31
  I think I, well, I turned immediately to, I'd probably go to crowdfunding. I'd spend it on crowdfunding. Great. Great answer. Get some more people involved. We're going to get some money. Totally. I think I lived that for four years. Question number six. Last question. How do you deal with failure? What's your mindset or approach? Yeah.
• 49:58
  I always like to look at what the lessons, what I learned and what I can do with that, how I will do things differently because of that lesson. And so I think that's that's really important is just finding the lesson and what you take forward from that.
• 50:17
  Amazing. Brand, thank you so much for taking the time to be on the Female Startup Club podcast today. I've loved learning about your brand and what you're doing for the world. It's amazing. Oh, thank you so much. It went so fast. It went really fast. No doubt. Yeah. Well, I hope to see you in person sometime and thank you again for what you're doing. This is a wonderful thing.
• 50:46
  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.
• 51:11
  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.
• 51:33
  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. Thank you.
• 51:50
  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.
• 52:15
  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.
• 52:37
  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. Thank you.