Female Founders 💡
Canva: Melanie Perkins
Podcast Episode · How I Built This with Guy Raz · 2019-01-28 · 47m
PlanGrid: Tracy Young
Tracy Young is a cofounder and the CEO of PlanGrid. PlanGrid makes mobile construction productivity software. They were acquired by Autodesk in 2018 for $875M.
Jane App: Alison Taylor
Bootstrapped founder CEO to $100M plus in revenue.
Knix: Joanna Griffiths
Joanna Griffiths is the Founder and President of Knix, the innovative direct-to-consumer intimates and apparel brand. The idea for Knix started after she had a conversation with her mom about what women’s bodies undergo as they age especially when it came to post-pregnancy leaks. After doing research on her end and speaking to more women, she realized there was a massive gap in the market. So in 2013, she launched a Kickstarter campaign that placed Knix on the map not only for its intimates but for talking openly about the reality of women’s bodies. A decade later, the womenswear brand has expanded into a variety of categories, including bras, activewear, shapewear, swim, loungewear, and more. Joanna has built Knix into one of the fastest-growing intimate apparel brands globally. In 2022, Joanna decided to sell 80% of her business for $320 million, making it one of the largest exits by a female founder in Canada and one of the most significant sales of a brand by a female founder in US history. In this week’s episode, Joanna talks to us about her incredible journey building Knix, what she learned in her career in media & entertainment, and how it actually helped her disrupt the intimates industry despite having no background. She shares how she pivoted early on from wholesale even though they were doing incredibly well, how they ended up launching as a direct-to-consumer company, and why it was one of the boldest decisions she made. Joanna also opens up about how she dealt with depression even when she had major success with the brand, and the steps she took to manage this difficult time. We talk about how she dealt with difficult investors who didn’t believe she could run a high-growth company being a mom of three, what she did to prove those naysayers wrong, and so much more.
Hello Sunshine: Reese Witherspoon
We Are Supported By, hosted by Kristen Bell and Monica Padman is a 10 episode limited series podcast. Each episode deep dives with a woman who has put a crack in the glass ceiling. Episode 9: Reese Witherspoon
Galvanize: Laurie Schultz
10 Secrets from Scaling to a Billion Dollar Company - Laurie Schultz, Galvanize. Early-stage startups often act like pirates, fighting to scale in pursuit of treasure while being rough around the edges and breaking things along the way! ⚓ But eventually, it comes time to evolve into something more like the navy – still heroic, but disciplined and polished in its approach with a long-term view Laurie Schultz recently sold her company Galvanize for $1 Billion. In this session, she discusses 10 fundamentals every founder can use to evolve from pirates to navy admirals for high scale. Specifically, she discusses: - How to conquer the market and own your industry - What founders should (and shouldn't) prioritize through growth - Identifying and finding the right key early team members at different points along the way - Leveraging partnerships and new markets to achieve rapid revenue growth - Scaling globally without breaking your culture and ethical compass
A few podcasts and interviews from female founders I admire.