Startup Renegades

Sarah Sommers is currently on a mission to close the funding gap for women entrepreneurs as the Co-Founder & VP of Brand Strategy and Partnerships at IFundWomen—the go-to funding marketplace for women-owned businesses and the people who want to fund them. She has spent the last decade developing & executing high-impact solutions for women-led brands through strategic partnerships, integrated marketing campaigns, and original video. 

In this episode, Sarah talks in-depth about:

• Being specific with your “why” when crowdfunding and tailoring your message for each individual you reach out to
• Gaining as much data as possible in the early stages of your startup before moving forward with your marketing efforts 
• Focusing on what you and your company can bring to the table to create mutually beneficial brand partnerships

Listen in as Shauna and Sarah have a raw conversation about starting up and what is making IFundWomen the powerhouse brand it is today. Check out Sarah's show notes here.

Connect with your host on Instagram @shauna.armitage and visit www.startuprenegades.com/become-a-renegade to join the free Renegades Community.

Angela Sutherland is the Co-Founder & CEO of Yumi, the company redefining the future of baby food with freshly made, nutritional and science-backed delivered meals. It is now the fastest-growing DTC kids food brand in the country. 

When pregnant with her first child, Angela learned that scientists widely consider nutrition in the first 1,000 days to be the most important factor in development. However, as a working mom, she struggled to find options at the grocery store that she felt good about. It became the story Angela and co-founder Evelyn couldn’t stop thinking about. 

It was clear that there was an opportunity to build a healthier generation, by creating a new kind of food company.

In this episode, you will learn:

• How to become comfortable with things that are uncomfortable in your startup journey like asking family and friends for money
• Why collecting consumer data and knowing how to utilize it is essential to your ability to scale
• How to find your product-market fit and knowing when it’s time to pivot

Listen in as Shauna and Angela discuss how Angela and Evelyn grew a thriving CPG brand in a saturated market and learn what it takes to become a true Startup Renegade. Check out Angela's episode here.

Connect with your host on Instagram @shauna.armitage and visit www.startuprenegades.com/become-a-renegade to join the free Renegades Community.

Sofia Yen, MD. is the CEO and co-founder of Pandia Health. It is the only doctor-led and founded, women-led and founded birth control delivery company. She graduated from MIT, UCSF Medical School, and UC Berkeley’s MPH program and has 20+ years of experience in medicine. She is a Clinical Associate Professor at Stanford Medical School and a mother of 2 daughters.

In this episode, Sophia discusses the strict regulations of the medical space and how she has to navigate them from a business perspective. She also talks about how to balance your customer acquisition cost (CAC) with your customer lifetime value (LYV) to save money while gaining new customers. 

Listen in to hear about the trials and tribulations Sophia went through with using advertising and also turning customer engagement into conversions. Check out Sophia's episode here.

Connect with your host on Instagram @shauna.armitage and visit www.startuprenegades.com/become-a-renegade to join the free Renegades Community.

Kelly Lyndgaard is the Founder and CEO of Unshattered—a 501c3 social enterprise whose mission is to end the addiction relapse cycle by employing women in recovery to help them build a path toward economic independence and sustained sobriety. The success of Unshattered has been lauded as far as the White House who recognized Unshattered for their creative and effective work in fighting the opioid crisis.

In this episode, Kelly talks about how Unshattered started as a fundraiser that grew to become not only a successful business but an inspiring company that helps women recovering from addiction. She discusses the importance of word-of-mouth advertising and how sharing the Unshattered story on social media helped customers connect with the brand in a meaningful way.

Listen in to this encouraging story of how a business with purpose can successfully grow and help those in need.

Connect with your host on Instagram @shauna.armitage and visit www.startuprenegades.com/become-a-renegade to join the free Renegades Community.

Yaa Birago is a tech entrepreneur, Co-founder and CEO of FemmeBnB Inc., the first social networking vacation and short-term rental platform that allows women to rent their spaces to other women in hopes of maximizing safety, peace of mind, and comfort. Yaa started the company to provide safe space and peace of mind for women travelers after she had a terrifying experience as a solo traveler in Rome. 

In this episode, Yaa discusses the importance of market validation to help find what your customers really need so you can provide better solutions to them. She also talks about the utilization of a waitlist to acquire customers and gain interest before a launch. She’ll share the importance of having a strong story for your startup in order to get press for your growing business.

Join Shauna as she sits down with Yaa to find out how FemmeBnB came to be and the strategies she used to launch a successful travel-based startup during a global pandemic. Check out Yaa's episode here.

Connect with your host on Instagram @shauna.armitage and visit www.startuprenegades.com/become-a-renegade to join the free Renegades Community.

Want to know what  “the thing” is that’s helped so many startup companies take off? Or how to know when it’s time to take your company in a new direction? 

In this episode, Nick Dennis, the Founder and CEO of fitDEGREE and self-proclaimed “accidental entrepreneur,” sits down with Shauna to discuss the challenges of being a CEO of a 2 person team, his “aha” moment, and how advertising helped with fitDEGREE’s scalability. 

Nick talks about what it was like to do the work of what would normally be done by a team in a larger business all by himself when fitDEGREE was just starting out. He also talks about the original direction fitDEGREE was designed to take, when he figured out his original idea wasn’t going to pan out as he’d hoped, and how he was able to shift the focus of his company to make it into the successful startup it is today! He also talks about the effects COVID-19 had on not only his company but his clients as well and how he was able to navigate these trying times to save his clients and keep fitDEGREE moving forward.

Whether you’re a brand new entrepreneur looking to get your idea off the ground, or a startup that’s lost its momentum and doesn’t know where to go from here, Nick will walk you through his journey and tell you just what made him a Startup Renegade! Check out Nick's episode here.

Connect with your host on Instagram @shauna.armitage and visit www.startuprenegades.com/become-a-renegade to join the free Renegades Community.

When Women's Collective Box founder Rashelle Whiteharris became a mother to her first child Charlie, she decided that it was time to become her own boss. She saw first-hand how women, their ideas, and their products flourished within communities that valued their voices and empowered them to succeed. This experience inspired her to find new ways to harness the limitless power of women supporting each other's dreams. ⁣

The Women's Collective Box delivers a collection of items from exclusively women-run companies that represent the thoughtfulness, resolve, and artistry that set women apart. Each box brings the treasure hunt of conscious shopping to your front door, telling the story of the incredible women behind every product. 

In this episode, Rashelle and Shauna discuss how to turn your connections on Instagram into conversions for your business by finding people who want to engage with the community you’re starting. This is also what helped her subscription boxes become so successful in such a short amount of time. She focused on building a community and creating genuine relationships which then turned into loyal customers who want to support her and the community she created. Rashelle also talks about the importance of knowing your numbers to help your startup grow at the steady pace it needs to. 

Tune in to learn how Rashelle was able to scale Women’s Collective Box into the extremely successful startup it is today in just over a year, and learn how she did it without paying a cent in paid advertisements. 

Connect with your host on Instagram @shauna.armitage and visit www.startuprenegades.com/become-a-renegade to join the free Renegades Community.

Erin Erenberg, the now mother of three, followed her desire for work-life balance when she founded Totum, a community-powered platform to help women feel supported in motherhood. Totum, which originally launched as a mother’s support cookie has grown and evolved into the space of workplace support and the advancement of working mothers.

Totum provides products like a mother's support lactation cookie featured in Goop, an Insider Guide to postpartum wellness, a nursing-accessible, cause-supporting tee that became an instant favorite of women like Kate Hudson and Meena Harris, and community events like the monthly “Totum Talks” series that brings experts into the homes of women looking for help, connection and a place to grow.

In this episode, Erin talks about the difficulties of being both a mother and entrepreneur and how she found the balance between them. She also discusses the importance of networking not only to help your business scale and turn a profit but to connect with your consumers as well and find out what they are lacking and how you can provide a service to help with it.

Join Shauna and Erin on this deep dive into motherhood and the impact networking can have on the scale of your startup!

Connect with your host on Instagram @shauna.armitage and visit www.startuprenegades.com/become-a-renegade to join the free Renegades Community.

Beginning in 2008, Rana Lustyan started perfecting recipes, finding the best suppliers, refining manufacturing, and building a product and brand she is truly passionate about. Seven months pregnant with her daughter Riley, Rana launched Edoughble in November 2013, quickly securing a cult following amongst dessert enthusiasts. 

In this episode, Rana discusses the power of word-of-mouth advertising and the best way to invoke emotions in the consumer to create a connection with your brand. She also discusses the struggles of entering the CPG business and how eCommerce helped her company thrive, especially amid the pandemic. 

Tune in to hear Shauna and Rana discuss the “chicken or the egg” of scaling your company and how to grow your business through word-of-mouth marketing!

Connect with your host on Instagram @shauna.armitage and visit www.startuprenegades.com/become-a-renegade to join the free Renegades Community.

Dini Klein is a food host, recipe developer, former private chef, mom of three, and founder of Prep and Rally.

In this episode, Dini discusses the importance of authenticity when scaling your business through Instagram and how the platform is a great tool to gain feedback from your followers. She also talks with Shauna about the difference between pivoting your business versus expanding it and knowing which is more beneficial to you. 

Join Shauna, Dini, (and Solomon!) as Dini shares how she was able to take her personal brand and market it into the highly successful, profitable business it is today through feedback, partnerships, and authenticity.

Connect with your host on Instagram @shauna.armitage and visit www.startuprenegades.com/become-a-renegade to join the free Renegades Community.