The Two Percent

To kick off Season 3, Anu chats with Katrina Lake, founder of Stitch Fix, an online personal-shopping service transforming the way people find clothes they love. Katrina walks Anu through her journey scaling Stitch Fix from seed to IPO and beyond, including how her leadership style has evolved alongside the platform, experiences navigating the transition to a public figure, advice for founders thinking of going public, dealing with early critics, and much more. She speaks passionately on the importance of authenticity, representation, transparency, and self-care with personal anecdotes that any founder will relate to.

Join us for this bonus Q&A episode to learn more about the host behind The Two Percent and Female Founders Fund Founding Partner, Anu Duggal! Anu sits down with FFF investor Adrianna Samaniego to answer listener questions across a range of topics from fundraising to networking, and much more. Anu shares stories and lessons learned from her formative years, her early-career as a consultant, her time in culinary school and as a founder of two successful food ventures, to eventually entering the VC world as a solo GP with Female Founders Fund in 2014.

Today’s guest is FFF portfolio founder Shivani Siroya of Tala, the leading financial app across three continents in emerging markets including Kenya, Mexico, the Philippines, and India, serving over six million users. Shivani shares how her global upbringing and background in finance and data science inspired her to enter the world of fintech, how the platform has evolved to meet user needs, how Tala has been able to maintain first-mover advantage, and why she uses ‘radical trust’ as a core value. She discusses her experience innovating and managing a global team and customer base through COVID, fundraising for a product that is not catered to the US market, and more.

Anu is joined by four time entrepreneur and ex-investor, Amy Errett of Madison Reed, the beauty company revolutionizing hair coloring. Amy shares how she pivoted her staff and supply chain throughout lockdown to overcome extraordinary challenges and take advantage of unprecedented demand, reflects on 2020’s silver linings and leaning into her strengths as a leader. She emphasizes the importance of building a strong company culture, shares her top learnings for founders working to cultivate trust, and why she believes people are everything.

Today’s guest is Female Founders Fund portfolio founder, Shan-Lyn Ma of Zola, an online platform reinventing the wedding planning and registry experience. Anu and Shan discuss her experience learning from product experts during her time at Gilt Groupe and Yahoo!, how customer feedback has guided Zola’s growth, and the future of events and weddings post-pandemic. Shan shares her best fundraising tips, how to expand beyond core product offerings, building a culture that encourages innovation, and much more!

Today’s guest is Morgan DeBaun, Founder and CEO of Blavity, the leading media company for Black culture and millennials. This conversation is jam-packed with Morgan’s top learnings building Blavity and her valuable advice for female founders around topics like growth hacks to reach your first million users, using your emotions as a motivator, managing the added weight female founders carry in the public sphere, building your early team, switching your mindset from founder to CEO, and much more. Morgan shares her thoughts on the pandemic’s impact on the future of media, what it will take to bring lasting racial change to the industry, and her vision for Blavity’s future.

Anu is joined by FFF portfolio founder, Michelle Kennedy of Peanut, a social platform designed to provide support, connection, and community for women throughout every stage of motherhood. Michelle has built a safe space for women unlike anywhere else on the internet, where two million users feel comfortable asking questions, engaging in intimate conversations, and finding support with complete strangers around traditionally taboo topics like IVF, miscarriage, and other "silent struggles”. Michelle dives into the lessons she learned working at Bumble and Badoo in the early days, why she’s building Peanut’s community with safety, authenticity, and empathy at the forefront, how her app is breaking down societal stigmas, and more.

Anu chats with Female Founders Fund scout investment founder, Beatriz Acevedo of SUMA Wealth, a revolutionary financial wellness brand with a mission to close the Latinx wealth gap in the US. They discuss the unprecedented power and growth of the US-born Latinx population, what marketers and brands are still getting wrong in connecting with this demographic, and why the future success of all American businesses is predicated on the financial inclusion of this group. Beatriz dives into the opportunity she saw to bring her expertise as a marketer and community builder into the world of fintech, and why building trust and community is critical for any financial brand looking to build lifelong brand loyalty.

Anu sits down with Female Founders Fund portfolio founder, Kate Ryder of Maven Clinic, the first digital health clinic for women. Kate dives into the opportunity she saw to disrupt the healthcare system, her experience building women’s healthcare as a new category, and how the landscape has evolved since founding Maven Clinic in 2014. They discuss the future of women's and family healthcare, explosive telemedicine growth amid the pandemic, and what all of this means for long-term adoption of digital health. Kate also shares her candid advice for female founders who are fundraising, and for leaders looking to build culture in a remote environment.

Today’s guest is Mellody Hobson, President and Co-CEO of Ariel Investments, the first Black owned asset management firm. Anu and Mellody discuss their shared belief of diversity as a strategic advantage, the passion Mellody feels towards her work at Ariel, the responsibility she has in boardrooms across the country, and in her role as a national leader for greater financial literacy. Mellody shares what has kept her at Ariel for 30 years, her advice around how businesses can be braver on addressing issues of racial inequality, life lessons that every female founder can take notes from, and candid stories that will keep you laughing along the way.