Creator Spotlight: Jasmine Garnsworthy

What is Creator Spotlight?

Each week we'll feature a newsletter on beehiiv that's experiencing tremendous success with their content and growth. It's a two part initiative packed into a single day:

1. an email showcasing their content, tips, and goals (this email here)

2. and a live Twitter Spaces today where you can join the conversation and ask questions directly

Tell me about Female Founder World

Gatekeeping is out, collaboration is in, and we’re helping female founders embrace the shift.

Female Founder World is an educational universe where women build their consumer businesses. Twice a week on the podcast and regularly in video workshops within our community on Geneva, we bring female founders into our orbit to teach the specific superpower, skill, blueprint, strategy, or approach that’s driving growth and success in their CPG or consumer brand business.

Our newsletter is a free 10-minute email keeping 5k+ consumer brand builders in the know. All the best learnings from the week are curated here in one friendly place. We amplify the most interesting knowledge directly from the female founder community, like the TikTok strategy behind Gen Z period care company August growing to 3 million followers in under a year—and how that’s driving down the brand’s CAC.

How has the business world changed since the pandemic?

I’m hearing from founders that it’s never been easier to launch a consumer business, but with new brands popping up every minute, it’s also never been harder to stay relevant.

TikTok is the most powerful tool to get traction around a product launch right now, and most brands that have bootstrapped a launch in the past two years invested in TikTok. With the cost of a paid digital strategy rising, founders also have a renewed appreciation of content, community, and pursuing a true omnichannel distribution strategy. I’m seeing brands moving away from pure DTC distribution and look to stockists/wholesale partners. On a different note, we’re seeing supply chain issues across the board.

What challenges are women founders facing?

The biggest challenge facing women is the access to funding, it’s a huge issue. Last year, women received about 2% of venture capital funding and if you break that down to BIPOC women, immigrant, and LGBTIQ women, it’s even smaller. One way we support women is to bring in experts to provide workshops on accessing funding. We worked with Nisha Dua, a Managing Partner at BBG Ventures, to lead a workshop on perfecting an investor pitch. Nisha co-founded an early-stage venture capital firm that’s committed to supporting women founders, so her insight was really valuable.

I also believe that by supporting the female founder community now, we will see more women entrepreneurs secure bigger exits over the coming decade, and there will be more equitable access to funding available as those female founders invest back in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Advice for other founders

When I interview founders, I ask them at the end of our conversation for a recommendation, thinking they’ll suggest a book or a podcast. So often they talk about the importance of the network and the community around you. The advice is to go and build your community now, you’re going to need it around you as your company grows. When you're at an event, speak to the people sitting on either side of you. That so many people speak to that shows how instrumental and powerful that network has been in their success.

Tell me about the ‘Founder Finance Diary’ feature

We get a lot of feedback on these, people love them—there’s a voyeuristic quality to them. Sometimes they’re anonymous and sometimes they aren’t. We published a Founder Finance Diary with Christina Ellis, co-founder of Lit Rituals, a crystal candle company. She shared how her company made $60 grand in the first year and a million in their third year. It was so illuminating that we organized a group call so that everyone in our community could join and ask Christina what actions drove her growth, and where she’s spending in the business. This type of radical transparency is invaluable.

Why is it important for women to talk openly about money?

I have an editorial background. During the early part of my career, I was not embedded in the commercial side of a business—I’m brand first, content first and community first. So, this is a conversation that I wanted to be having personally, and the more I spoke with other women, the more I realized many felt the same.

…Why are there stereotypes about women being caregivers at work and home?