In this episode we’re joined by Katie Lopes and Nicola Piercy, co-founders of the sustainable underwear brand Stripe & Stare.  Frustrated by the lack of comfortable yet sustainably sourced options, Katie and Nicola sought to create underwear, loungewear and sleepwear for the sustainable shopper who doesn’t want to compromise when it comes to style & comfort.

Katie and Nicola share their advice today on why building in sustainability at the beginning will make life easier when you scale and how to tackle the VC process as female founders.

Advice:

• When starting, pay attention to feedback; focus groups are valuable
• If you mean to be sustainable, go for external verification of your credentials;  going through the B-Corp process is a lot of work, but a B-corp leader can help a lot with this and it is worth the work
• Stick to your founding principles
• Only work with people you like and trust absolutely
• Co-founders who work well together tend to be opposites and have complementary skills
• Influencers, podcast sponsors and product gifting are all useful ways to gain publicity and customer loyalty
• When considering data, the important analytics to weigh up are customer acquisition costs and lifetime loyalty
• Angel investors can be invaluable initially; when looking for venture capital take your time to find the right investor.  Going for bank-funded venture capital can be less stressful and more predictable.  It’s also a lot of work but a growth partner who has expertise will be a great help
• When starting out, do your research thoroughly
• Female founders tend to be more accurate in their predictions which can make it difficult to find a backer; persevere!

If you’d like to contact Katie and Nicola you can reach them on [email protected] and  [email protected]

Head over to Speakpipe to leave your voice note for future guests too.

FF&M enables you to own your own PR.

Edited by Milun Haggipavlou. Recorded & published by Juliet Fallowfield, 2022 MD & Founder of PR & Communications consultancy for startups Fallow, Field & Mason.

FF&M recommends: 

• LastPass the password-keeping site that syncs between devices.
• Google Workspace is brilliant for small businesses
• Buzzsprout podcast 'how to' & hosting directory
• Canva has proved invaluable for creating all the social media assets and audio bites.
• For contracts check out Law Depot.

MUSIC CREDIT Funk Game Loop by Kevin MacLeod.  Link & Licence

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