In short
Female Founder World’s new weekly group-chat episode on (1) Kylie Jenner’s pivot from alcohol to ingestible beauty via Sprinter’s K2O hydration electrolyte powder, (2) the rise of AI influencers and whether brands should partner with computer-generated personalities, and (3) how to show up at Coachella on a budget with human, scrappy activations.
Guests
Natalie (editorial & partnerships manager at Female Founder World; NYC-based; also a content creator; handles events/podcast execution) and Paige (co-founder of Benny energy drinks; launched in Target nationally in Nov; based in Canada/US; long-time Female Founder World team contributor).
Key claims
Gen Z is drinking less (stats cited) so brands are pivoting; AI influencers trigger “ick” and raise trust/product-usage questions; safest AI use is back-end, keep front-facing content human; Coachella ROI is hard to measure, but founder-led, IRL moments can outperform big spend.
Notable examples
Kylie’s “soft launch” on Instagram/TikTok; Liquid IV/powder origins; Good Girl Snacks’ pickle cart/content-house at Coachella; UGC/creator-style AI use cases; Natalie’s Claude email digests; Paige’s Heddle retail merchandising swap.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOMeet the Co-Hosts
0:45 to 2:19
Jasmine introduces her co-hosts Natalie and Paige, highlighting their backgrounds.
“learnings are for everyone who's out there building businesses and what they need to be taking away from the news and the stuff that you're scrolling every single day.”
Kylie Jenner's New Brand Launch
2:19 to 3:09
Discussion about Kylie Jenner's pivot from alcohol to a hydration product.
“So she launched this brand back in 2024.”
Analyzing Kylie's Launch Strategy
3:09 to 5:13
The group discusses the quiet launch of Kylie's hydrating product and its implications.
“I think after we've come off the back of this massive Alex Earl launch moment, the way that Kylie launched this feels really quiet and like a soft launch.”
Changing Drinking Trends Among Gen Z
5:13 to 7:11
The hosts explore the shift in drinking habits among Gen Z and its impact on brands.
“Even when you look on her page, like before this recording, I was like, let's check it out.”
Beverage Industry Insights
7:11 to 9:15
Paige shares insights on the beverage industry and how it relates to changing consumer preferences.
The Future of Party Culture
9:15 to 11:01
Discussion about the evolving nature of party culture and its potential return.
“And I know that this data is going so strongly one direction that honestly, I feel like in the next five to 10 years, it's going to hit a peak and go back to why aren't we partying the way we used to?”
Missed Opportunities in Marketing
11:01 to 13:00
The hosts speculate on missed marketing opportunities for Kylie's new brand.
“And we have a couple of girls in our group that are more of the Pilates gals, but they still get after it.”
The Rise of AI Influencers
13:00 to 14:06
Jasmine introduces the concept of AI influencers and shares a poll's results.
“She looks like a real human and she has like 60 ,000 followers and then she released a video saying, I'm not real, but look at the texture of my skin.”
Introduction to AI Influencers
14:06 to 16:45
The discussion begins with the concept of AI influencers and initial reactions to them.
“I grew this account from zero to 50K followers and over 15 million views in just 30 days.”
Consumer Reactions and Brand Considerations
16:45 to 19:26
Exploring the unsettling feelings about AI influencers and their impact on brand partnerships.
“I really just something about it makes me feel weird.”
Show all 20 chapters
The Future of AI in Influencing
19:26 to 22:22
Debate on whether AI influencers could replace traditional content creators and their implications for brands.
“They'll always want something tangible and physical.”
The Dead Internet Theory
22:22 to 24:20
A theory about the future of human interaction in a world dominated by AI and computers.
“And I think that the forward-facing content, your captions, your videos, the humanness needs to stay really, really human, at least for now.”
Marketing Strategies for Coachella
25:30 to 28:00
Exploring how brands can effectively engage with cultural events like Coachella.
“All right, the last thing I want to talk about, let's have a little Coachella brainstorm because that's coming up and Coachella really isn't just a music festival anymore.”
Understanding Consumer Perception at Coachella
28:00 to 28:54
Explore how brand saturation affects consumer perceptions at large events.
Memorable Brand Activations
28:54 to 29:34
Learn about effective brand activations that resonate with consumers.
“And sometimes the things that are most memorable to me are things like what Good Girl Snacks did, where they just had pickles and fanny packs or they were dropping them off for people if they were hungover or whatever.”
Case Study: Good Girl Snacks at Coachella
29:34 to 30:55
Discover how Good Girl Snacks achieved viral success with creative strategies.
“Or, you know, if I meet someone that has a brand and they're just walking around Coachella and they have samples or whatever, like Like it just depends.”
Innovative Marketing Ideas for Small Brands
30:55 to 33:18
Uncover out-of-the-box marketing ideas for small brands attending events.
“So they had all their friends wearing the merch.”
Lessons from Good Girl Snacks' Approach
33:18 to 35:46
Learn key marketing strategies from Good Girl Snacks' successful event presence.
“Or like have a lemonade stand or I don't know, something out of the box.”
Smart Swaps for Increased Productivity
35:46 to 37:08
Explore productivity hacks that can help streamline daily tasks.
“And you can even come up with a creative, eye-catching way to get people's attention even better.”
Mindset Hacks for Daily Success
37:08 to 40:08
Discover mindset apps that enhance focus and productivity in daily routines.
“It'll give me a digest where it's a summary of everything that's urgent or maybe medium urgency or like I don't have to respond.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00This episode of Female Founder World is presented by Omni Send. Hi everyone and welcome to something a little bit different from us. I'm Jasmine, I'm the creator of Female Founder World and I have been thinking about doing a show like this since day one of launching Female Founder World. This is our new weekly group chat format of the show. It'll be dropping towards the end of the week, every single week through season one, in addition to the usual interview format that you know and love of the show, which is coming back on Monday next week. and in this new series I'm going to be sitting down with two co-hosts to talk through the stories that we're seeing in the Female Founder World group chat and that we're talking about in the Female Founder World team Slack as well and we're really going to be going through our honest takes and opinions, we're going to be talking about the context behind the headlines and really what the learnings are for everyone who's out there building businesses and what they need to be taking away from the news and the stuff that you're scrolling every single day.
0:56You'll be hearing from me, plus I'm bringing in two people from Team Female Founder World. You've probably seen them on our TikTok, or if you come to Summit, you would have seen them at our event as well. I've got Natalie and Paige joining me on the show. Natalie, do you want to introduce yourself first? Hi, I'm Natalie. I am the editorial and partnerships manager at Female Founder World, but I don't know, my role kind of spans a little bit of everything, which is really fun. I handle events, our podcast, all the ideas that Jasmine comes up with, we pretty much execute. So it's been a lot of fun.
1:31I'm also based in New York City and I'm a content creator as well. Hi, yeah, I am Paige, as Jasmine said. I've been a part of the Female Founder World team for years. I'm now kind of a contributor in the group chat here, obviously, on this new segment of the podcast, which is such an honor. But my kind of now full-time day job is as a co-founder of Benny. So we make good for you energy drinks for caffeine conscious consumers. We are all over the place in Canada and the US. We just launched in Target nationally in November. So it's been a crazy, crazy time. Jasmine is actually one of the first people I ever told about this idea I had.
2:08So it's been so much fun building Benny alongside female founder world, just literally taking over the world. It's been such a fun journey. The first thing I want to talk about is Kylie Jenner and her canned soda brand Sprinter. So she launched this brand back in 2024. Things seem to take off really fast. And this was an alcohol brand. They basically did like a canned vodka seltzer type drink. And now she's pivoting really far away from that. And she's launched this hydrating electrolyte powder. And there are a few reasons why I think that's interesting. I think the way that she launched it is really interesting.
2:44I also think that what it says about Gen Z and the fact that they're drinking less is something worth chatting about. And I think with the whole, you know, Kylie cosmetics empire, it does make sense for Kylie to be shifting into ingestible beauty rather than maybe an alcohol product. But I do think it's interesting. And the first thing that I think is actually interesting, I'm curious what you guys I think after we've come off the back of this massive Alex Earl launch moment, the way that Kylie launched this feels really quiet and like a soft launch. She literally just posted to Instagram and TikTok.
3:24It's not even on her main grid, I don't think. This is K2O by Sprinter, our first line of advanced skin hydration mixes. We are hydrating our skin from within. We're hydrating our body. We're hydrating our skin. We're staying beautiful. All 2026 is about doing things outside of our comfort zone. Okay. This contains Varisol collagen peptides. They're the most studied collagen peptides with proven benefits. Increase skin elasticity, fine lines and wrinkles, hydrates your skin from within. Then we added hyaluronic acid and five different electrolytes we also don't have as much sodium as other brands because I was realizing other brands I was using before had a thousand milligrams of sodium which was like I was retaining water it was making me bloated and it's also too much to be taking every day so we put in the perfect amount to keep you hydrated every day and they're delicious this is our variety pack our flavors we have strawberry lychee, watermelon lime, and peach.
4:35Don't ask me to pick a favorite because I love them all. Very cute. Zero sugar, 10 calories, and no artificial flavors or colors. They drop Wednesday on drinksprinter.com and also on our TikTok shop. So I'll see you Wednesday and I can't wait for you to try and be beautiful and hydrated.
5:09How did you guys see this news? I saw this from like CPG accounts I follow. So I totally agree, Jazz. It was like quiet. Even when you look on her page, like before this recording, I was like, let's check it out. I think I saw mine on also like reposted accounts. So not even from the actual spot where it was posted, which I don't know, this is maybe jumping the gun a bit. But I think everyone just compares their launches or their brands to whatever's happening out in the world. And it just goes to show like not everything has to be a real actives launch. I wonder if it's a soft launch, though.
5:45Like I do wonder if Sprinter wasn't quite working and then they've decided she's decided to pivot and they kind of, I don't know, it feels like a real soft launch. Deep your toe in the water. See how it goes kind of thing. yeah which I totally know I agree and I'm like the first founder that really needs like media training and what we like share on our own like socials but I think this would have been so cool if Kylie did like a talking head video even if it was on like stories or like I think the Jenners are big on snapchat I don't really know but if she did like a peel back like this is why we're making this pivot like I think that would have it didn't have to be like a big campaign I don't know what you guys think if that would have been a moment I think that could have been really cool I think it could have reached a new audience if that's her goal because I know a lot of people that never even heard of Sprinter and now they've been talking about this so if that was their goal then great but I do think that for those of us who did know Sprinter shedding some light on the why would be really helpful because selfishly I'm not gonna buy ingestible beauty products which is just a fancy word for like supplements or like I have that I have hydration packs at this time I'm not planning on buying something like that but would I have bought something that had maybe more of a why I don't know maybe and there's still a chance like there I'd love to learn more and then try it myself and see like where she's headed but yeah I agree I agree with you Paige as always to me it kind of reads as if they've like seen they've seen some research and data about where the beverage industry and consumer trends are going and they've thought okay let's pivot this product because gen z is drinking less nearly 65 percent of gen z planned to drink less last year 39 said that they plan to go fully dry and when you compare that to 19 of millennials and gen x it's a really interesting shift and i wonder if they're looking at that and thinking this is not the time to launch an alcohol business or to build an alcohol business that is reaching kylie's core demographic of like Gen Z younger millennials let's build something that they actually want to consume and that is kind of like leaning into where this consumer trend is going I'm wondering like Paige you're in the beverage industry and you are obviously looking at the starter and looking at these stats I'm sure that you're kind of like pulling up this kind of thing when you talk about building a non-alcoholic beverage company when you look at the the shift for Gen Z and their drinking habits does that impact the way that you're building or you think about Benny yeah definitely and I'm like don't everyone go start an energy drink brand or do no don't we don't have to pretend that we want everyone to start a competitive but i think more power to you and you know hit me up we'll we'll message about the craziness but i think in our world we look a lot at like gen z and they're and even gen alpha and not moving towards or how they don't have the same hot beverage habits like a lot of like my brother is 21 he doesn't drink as much as i did when i was 21 and he doesn't do like a hot coffee in the morning like he would do like an energy drink or something like that which is it's really interesting I think it's a similar kind of like move definitely from like the beverage just like liquid and can like landscape when I hear this news I think of um liquid death or not liquid death liquid iv when they launched and like I'm 99.9 % sure they launched as a canned beverage and that was just like too expensive too hard to ship and they did their powders they were like the og powder so i don't yeah it's just interesting pieces that i'm confused how they even got to the sprinter of it all because 2014 like the whole like gen z doesn't drink anymore like that wasn't a new conversation and 818 seems like i don't know what's going on in there but it seems like a great hit like kendall jenner's tequila it seems like i feel like ironically it's the opposite so i'm I feel like 818, well, I do think that 818 is such an amazing presence.
9:39And I know that this data is going so strongly one direction that honestly, I feel like in the next five to 10 years, it's going to hit a peak and go back to why aren't we partying the way we used to? Are we not having fun? Why are we trying to be so perfect? That's what I think, because I've even seen a lot of content now, even straying from like the Pilates matcha girl and being like, why are we exercising on bachelorette parties? I want to be at the club doing something insane and so that's just like a small piece of the this is so interesting to me as you're like millennial grandmother over here Gen Z girlies on the team because I actually was I spoke at a conference in Sydney a couple weeks ago and um it was it was you know run by this like fashion company and the team are very Gen Z and I was asking them like do you guys party like what are you doing after this it was a Saturday do you you know do you party and she's like no we don't we kind of will go to a bar have a few drinks and um and then like we will like get up and do something in the morning together which just blows my mind because that is not the way that I existed in my 20s and I do I do think that it's a shame and I do think that there is a hundred percent going to be a cycle that moves back to this like party girl era for sure and I'll be really interested to see how long it takes that to happen I hope so I feel like we've protected our peace like enough like I think it's a symptom of COVID and like the real true Gen Z like younger Nat than you and I that like didn't have college years like you know in the streets they were on the zoom yeah I'm holding it down for all of Gen Z I honestly feel like you potty I feel I was gonna ask Nat I know I'm like I don't know my friends go out but my I have a group of friends that are pretty crazy like in a good way We have a really good time and it's really special.
11:33And we have a couple of girls in our group that are more of the Pilates gals, but they still get after it. And it's a beautiful thing. I also think I look at brands like Jade from 4AM Skin, and I feel like she's leaning into this resurgence of the party girl. Yeah, you read my mind, Jasmine, exactly where I was at. and even still you see there have been like whiny baby and girl beer are like these gen z like alcohol brands that have been acquired or growing really fast that i'm like i i get the like founder market fit maybe with kylie but why can't this be like a king kylie era and i am the first to like raise my hand that the kardashian car jenner's are like amazing business women but we'll see i don't know like is our chest in this one with the new k20 sprinter like i don't know will we just forget about original sprinter like kimono like was such like a you know scandal and now you don't even remember that and skims is is everything yeah i don't know what's emma greedy thinking i'm kind of curious when you guys think of kylie now in the era that she's in currently what are you thinking about are you thinking of uh you know supplement are you thinking of a hydration pack like because i'm not no her profile picture is like pink hair king kylie right now i think she's in her like timothy like let's party so i don't know this just felt like maybe this was a year ago in the making and it's too late now to take it back yeah it almost feels like a missed opportunity like they've seen they've read the data and they've decided to make the pivot and i think that they could have leaned more into exactly what you're saying page and um yeah it's actually probably a bit of a miss i think i think a lip kit would have been chef's kiss because i wasn't using lip kits when they were popular now I could I could I could use a lip kit if it was marketed in the right way I think that would be cute the next thing I want to bring to the chat is the concept of AI influences because I posted I don't know if you guys saw it in my stories this week I posted this uh this poll asking whether you would shop from an AI influencer knowingly and 99 % of people said they would not and it was really interesting because I did it based on a clip that I'd seen that was going viral and it is an influencer account that is essentially just like a talking head podcast like this.
13:58She looks like a real human and she has like 60 ,000 followers and then she released a video saying, I'm not real, but look at the texture of my skin. I look real. I'm not real. I'm AI. I grew this account from zero to 50K followers and over 15 million views in just 30 days. The visceral reaction that I had to that and like the ick that I felt watching that was so interesting for me to observe within myself that I wanted to ask others if they'd had a similar response. And when I posted and saw that 99 % of people felt really similarly, I wanted to bring the conversation to this group because I do think the concept of AI influencers is something that brands and founders are really going to have to reckon with.
14:49I think that there was early on in the last couple of years with ChatGPT and Claude, I think that we were all kind of looking for ways to create content, optimize our content workflows, write captions, create video using AI. And now there seems to be such a strong consumer pushback against that, I think it's actually a really dangerous way to go. And for people who don't know what an AI influencer is, these are fully computer generated personalities. They're built using AI and 3D modeling and generative tools. They post to Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, even Substack. Substacks actually have, apparently 45 % of sub-stack users are using AI to write their content.
15:35They very much have personalities and aesthetics and lifestyles and have hundreds of thousands of followers. So you could really not know that you're interacting with an AI influencer. And it's an interesting thing, I think, for brands to really try and grapple with. I'm wondering what you both think about this as you're, you know, Nat, you are an influencer and Paige, I'm sure you have looked at the influencer landscape. And is it something that you would ever do partnering with someone who is actually just an AI bot, AI influencer? When you said that it gave you the ick, that's exactly how I felt.
16:15Because I'm thinking, honestly, what's the point? This isn't a real person. Isn't the whole point of us taking suggestions and following along because it's a real person that we feel aligned with or something in common with or is aspirational to us. And if it's not a real person, I don't know, I maybe I'm wrong. And maybe I feel maybe I'm just like, a boomer. And I'm gonna look back at this in 20 years and be like, Oh, my God, that was not a big deal. I just feel like I really am not loving it. I really just something about it makes me feel weird. I think when it also comes to brand deals, if this AI generated influencer has never tried the product, how are we, where do we go from there?
16:57I don't know. I think unless it's like a very specific scenario, I don't know. Although I'm intrigued to see where this goes, but my first initial reaction was like, I don't know. Totally agree. It's so hard. And honestly, like I it's hard when the whole AI discussion you're like I don't want to be left in the dust I think I only really see it working and I've had conversations like with founder friends of mine my business is not very DTC heavy so we don't do ads we don't do a ton of like UGC and I think the only place I really see this living is like that very UGC like DTC really like you know you you guys know the content I'm talking about.
17:43I can't think of like a good word for it, but just that really like ad, like have they even tried it? Do you like, you're not, you don't know who they're following. It's just like a face. And while I still don't like it, like I do, I feel for brands that are more in the position than, than I am, that this is like a real consideration because obviously you can get way more content for way cheaper. And if all of your competitors are doing it, like that's where it gets tricky. So that's kind of how I see it as like a UGC creator and that's where it's like a bit gray in terms of like a real influencer like I follow my influencers and like my creators like a reality star like I like to see who are their friends like what are their relationships like and obviously AI I don't care about their AI friendships I don't know if they're getting there yet but that's what I'm looking for as I get like you know on the consumer end but it's tricky like for a brand hold on what do you mean you're looking at the friendship as in like you follow friendship circles yeah oh yeah I'm big and like with Benny so we don't do we don't do UGC in that way like for ads but we will partner with influencers as like the face of a launch and I personally like I tell my team I'm looking for like a personality hire like I want like the whole meal like obviously I want someone that's gorgeous and aspirational and like has like you know will look great in photos but I love like someone that like feels like they've got like a little bit of zhuzh and someone that is like their audience's best friend, but I don't know what's stopping, you know, AI from getting there.
19:09I saw this really interesting post a while ago from, do you guys know Charlotte Palomino, the founder of Doe or the co-founder of Doe? Doe, is that how you say it? Doe? Doe, the beauty brand. And she basically wrote this thing that I saved a long time ago and I returned to a lot. And it's basically that the way that influencers and content creators and, you know, forward-facing founders are talking about AI influences now is the way that magazines spoke about digital, where you would say, they'll always want to hold something in their hands. They'll always want something tangible and physical.
19:48They'll always want that human whatever. And then we shifted. and now it's so normal to have this parasocial relationship with people online and that's just the way that we consume content. And I wonder if we are maybe not really seeing where this is going to go and that it actually will just be really normal and that AI influencers are going to displace regular content creators and those brands who get on board with this early and create their own AI influencers. Obviously, you can have them geared towards exactly your brand messaging. They're not going to get canceled aside from the fact that they're AI.
20:24That's the most cancelable thing because you can have them saying exactly what you want them to say. They can be exactly engineered for the algorithm. I wonder if the brands that do that now are the ones that in 10 years will be the same as the folks who got on Instagram in 2014. Yeah, that's what like scares me. And you saw it like I'm like, I mean it when I'm like jaw on the floor. Like it is scary because you're like, is that really where the world is going? I think I go back to you and like I probably will like this is recorded we'll come back in a decade and see um Jasmine I remember when AI was like really like buzzy and like new probably like you know a year ago two years ago and it was an Addison Rae go Addison Rae quote of like you can't AI taste or really just like taste is going to be the cornerstone so we'll see how that like continues to shape I think like taste in the analog brawl like kind of moving towards that but I know I'm afraid that we're going to be like left in the dust for not exploring more.
21:23I don't know. Nat, what do you think? I feel like us three are very in tune with AI as much as we can be. We really use it to our advantage. And I think we're in that percentage of people who are using AI. And I think there's a large percentage of people who won't touch it at all. So I don't think we should be as scared as we maybe are. We're way more in touch than we think. And I think the window for influencers, AI influencers rather, to jump in and become even more popular, I think is what Paige said with UGC, whether it's like a hand or something like that, holding a product that could be a$10 ,000 shoot that they could save money on.
22:02And also an educational influencer, perhaps, who's maybe educating you on AI or how to use certain tools or even anything that's like technological um and I think that could be like the window into where things get into that gray area that Paige mentioned but yeah for the short term I really just I don't know it's just daunting but I'm interested yeah I think I think the safe way to use it for now is um anything that's not touching a customer you know anything that's on the back end and there is so much that you can be doing in terms of like data analytics and processes and organization workflows all of that, that AI has been really helpful for, for us.
22:42And I think that the forward-facing content, your captions, your videos, the humanness needs to stay really, really human, at least for now. Agreed. Have you guys heard of the dead internet theory? This is a bit of a tangent now, but I need to bring it up because I saw it appear on my feed last night. No. Okay. This is a theory and like, maybe this is where we're going with this whole AI influencer conversation. Basically there's this theory that humans will just exist and interact in the real world and the internet will just be computers talking to computers and it'll be and that's and we will become more human and more analog and more IRL and we will have the computers talking to each other doing all of the other stuff online and that is such an interesting and like maybe a little bit hopeful um end state for where this is going but I just wanted to like plant this seed of like things might not be the worst we could just have a more human experience if we just let the robot do all the chatting online that sounds like a hbo series to me very black mirror yeah i know i'm just like you guys behave on there you know like don't do anything crazy but i like it i think that's why honestly like i've noticed in the past year like my co-founder and i anytime we can get in front of someone like we'll take any flight in Jazzy or the queen and we'll take any flight.
24:02Um, just like that in person, like you can't, you can't beat it. And I think hopefully people like I get offers for way more in-person meetings than I ever have. So let's leave them. You go. That's an interesting data point. We've all had that moment when you're sending out an email marketing campaign and you're stuck in some clunky platform, drowning in features that you've never even touched, but you're definitely overpaying for. Then you go and ask customer support for help, please help. And you're hit with an AI chatbot. It's genuinely so frustrating. That's why Female Founder World is partnering with OmniSend, a reliable and easy to use email and SMS marketing tool trusted by over 150 ,000 brands just like yours.
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25:30All right, the last thing I want to talk about, let's have a little Coachella brainstorm because that's coming up and Coachella really isn't just a music festival anymore. It's basically this two week marketing masterclass and brands aren't just showing up with these little activations. They're building entire worlds in the desert. But if you're a brand with a limited budget, how do you tap into a cultural moment like Coachella? Some of the stats around this event, there's 125 ,000 people that attend every day. I can't even imagine what the reach is online with Coachella content, but around 40 % of the crowd is Gen Z.
26:05And the brands who I think we all notice and we think are really standing out are the ones that don't just kind of, you know, throw their logo up on a tent. They're really building these very immersive worlds. And Paige, let's kick off with you, because I know that you are very much like, you know, connecting with the girl who would want to be going to Coachella. I'm wondering about how you think about the budgets of showing up at an event like this and whether it's worth it, how you do it, brands that you see that are doing it well, give us the download yeah no I'm I'm excited to so this was our first year that we were really looking at like activating with Coachella we have some really awesome influencers and creators that are investors and kind of advise us and are really like you know in the Benny world and we were actually looking at doing a Coachella house for a bunch of them and I you know naively I was like how much could this cost like maybe 30k but it is insane like i think you really can't scratch without 100k in a big way we explored we actually this was an honor but you know got reached out to by some of the cooler like you know the big camp whatever's that we all know um and their low end of participation was mid six figures which is just bananas so i'm excited so we've we've shifted all of that we're just going to be doing a ton of gifting this year which is great like we're happy cans and hands i'm that's what we say um i'm curious so my co-founder julie who's amazing i do all of our marketing and she does you know everything else operations supply chain those crazy things so she when i was like working on my coachella budget she's like does anyone like who watches coachella content does anyone really care like do you remember what you've seen at coachella and I I think we've talked about this the three of us Nat and Jaz like looking at things as like a founder kind of lens and like the brand lens versus like what does like a layman like consumer that doesn't care about the marketing moment like what are they seeing so I'm really going to try and look at Coachella like that this year because it feels like it's like Christmas again and we're getting you know outreach from so many creators which is so you know it's an honor thank you creators but I'm like as a consumer do I even know what I see at Coachella like if we had a like a new launch that made a ton of sense maybe but it's just it feels like so much like saturation it's like does anyone care anymore when you're not on the brand side does that make sense yes is it just like an insider baseball kind of thing where we're all just yeah yeah you know we're seeing what the brands do because we care about brand stuff I feel like Natalie we're always talking about that like do I care because I care about brand stuff or like Does a consumer even care about this?
28:53I got to tell you, I've seen brands popping up at those camp pushes and 818s and all those things at Coachella, which is a blast. And sometimes the things that are most memorable to me are things like what Good Girl Snacks did, where they just had pickles and fanny packs or they were dropping them off for people if they were hungover or whatever. And for me as a creator, but also someone who's interested in brand, like Paige, I notice every little thing like that. I remember who was popping up and who wasn't. And to me, they take up the same amount of attention if the product is actually useful, relevant, makes sense, even if they're not necessarily popping up in like an enormous way or even like they're a sponsor.
29:39Or, you know, if I meet someone that has a brand and they're just walking around Coachella and they have samples or whatever, like Like it just depends. Like it's so hard to articulate what works and what's worth it. But Paige, yeah, I do think that like honestly spending that much on a presence at one of those events, I don't know, is it worth it? To some extent, yeah, but it's so hard to test the ROI on that. And unfortunately, a lot of these influencers go into those events and just grab, grab, grab, or like they don't really care. They don't really care. I don't want to speak for all influencers.
30:14I'm one of them. I've gone to these events. And, you know, when you're walking around, it's a long day. Sometimes you just don't want to carry a lot of stuff. The founders aren't usually there. So you don't really get to know anyone from the brand. They usually hire people to be on site to just like hand things out. So you're not really making those connections, which is what I feel like sometimes they lack. So I don't know. It's such tricky. Yeah. I feel like a lot of them are not present. when I look at um because you mentioned good girl snacks before we actually did a free workshop in our um launch lab series with Leah and um Yasemin the founders of good girl snacks and and if you're listening you probably have seen their hot girl pickle product is really viral and they had an incredible activation at Critella last year which which they did honestly with a budget of like a few thousand dollars it was wild um and they taught it in this workshop series if anyone wants to watch it I'll put the link in the show notes but some of the big kind of takeaways that I think they did really well it was very much what you're talking about Paige like yes they had a little they had a little pickle cart so they did have a physical presence but they also uh they didn't have a you know a budget for a content house so they basically turned their own festival accommodation with their friends into a content house and they like stocked the fridge with pickles and they were filming their friends like going to the festival and like creating content And I think in this era of anyone can go viral, it's kind of like, why would you, why would you be hyper-focused on a particular creator or influencer when you can just create this content yourself and actually will probably perform really, really well.
31:48So they had all their friends wearing the merch. They filled that fridge. And then they also DM'd influencers who were attending Coachella and they would just drive by and like drop them pickles and these like hangover recovery kits. and that led to them getting quite a lot of Instagram stories. Plus it was like exactly what you said, Nat. It was that founder presence. They were actually physically there. And so it just felt, I think, a little bit more human and easier to connect with. I have like an example of an idea of how you can make this work. And I'm actually not quite sure that this is legal.
32:22So take this with a grain of salt. I love it. Okay, no responsibility. On the way to Palm Springs, if you're driving from LA or most places, you'll have to drive to the area where you start to feel like, wow, you're really in the desert. And that's when they have these massive billboards. Sometimes there are artists who are going to be performing at Coachella. Sometimes there are ads. Usually there's like an 818 thing. And at that point, there could be traffic. So usually you're kind of like looking at these billboards. I don't know if you could call them billboards, but it's kind of like strange.
32:55I feel like there's like a tumbleweed and then an 818 giant poster. So if I were a small brand and I didn't have budget to maybe pop up in one of these event spaces or at Coachella and I knew I was going to be out there, I would maybe hold my own sign amongst all these other billboards. Because if I were driving by and I saw that, I would take a picture or zoom in or be like, what is this? Or like have a lemonade stand or I don't know, something out of the box. no that this is so good how bad is the traffic is it like stop it depends like we're really bumper to bumper like i'm like i'm gonna go run and give samples um i don't actually know because every time i've gone it's been later in the evening so i've been quite lucky i have to say with traffic but i've heard that it can be really bad at prime time um i also am not from la so i can't really attest during like what times are best but the couple times i've been it's just been like you finally feel like you're in the desert you're kind of in the middle of nowhere and then you start to see these signs and you're like okay we're almost there so that's just a what i don't know i don't even know if they have like park rangers and on that street it's so weird and desolate but alas that's my free idea you know what's the worst that can happen i um i know that we're giving good girl snacks a lot of airtime but something else that they did i think it was road had like a pop-up or something and they drove past and they had like a sign something about like Like if you're waiting in line, you may as well try some pickles or something like that.
34:25And they were handing out pickles in the line. Like they just – just stuff like that. I'm just like go tap into the moment. Like you don't – you can be really human and scrappy about it. You don't need to spend six figures on these big activations that at the end of the day can feel like really disconnected. We've been talking a lot about AI, AI influences, and how do you lean into the more human elements of building a brand and building a business. And I think that it is actually those really scrappy founder-led moments that are IRL and analog that end up cutting through and doing the most. Totally.
34:55Well, it's like with ads or anything, you want to have like that pattern breaking like moment. It's just like IRL. Like what is that like pattern breaking moment now? Do it. Paige gets arrested. I'm like, sorry. I will. That's my motto. Please ask for forgiveness, not permission. It'll be fine. Next week it's just me and Jasmine. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I don't think that you would have any trouble. But I was recently talking to a brand that does a lot of farmers markets. And the girl who was in charge of marketing was saying, I just wish that we could do more pop ups or, you know, be involved with the community a little bit more.
35:33And I told her, the only thing I can really tell you is just go wherever your audience is. They're based in San Diego. I said, drive up to LA and go to pop ups and stand outside and give samples. And And sometimes that's just all you can do. And it's free, technically. And you can even come up with a creative, eye-catching way to get people's attention even better. But yeah, good girl snacks. I mean, they just, they nail it. And there are a lot of other brands that do this too really well. But they just happen to be on the forefront of our minds. Paige and Natalie, I want to know what your smart swap is this week.
36:06So a smart swap is anything you're doing in life or work that's kind of moving the needle for you, getting you a little bit closer to your goals. And Natalie, let's kick off with your swap for this week. Okay, well, speaking of AI, I have been using Claude a bit lately. I am a chronic email checker on my personal and like influencer emails because I guess I'm excited for a brand deal or I just want to make sure everything is squared away. But it's become a really bad habit and I have a brick for my phone. But, you know, when I'm working, yeah, it's great. But sometimes I really just want to check my emails.
36:38so when I'm really trying to be productive I have recently started doing this on Claude where I have it give me email digest so it runs every three hours but during the night it'll give me one in the morning when I wake up so basically what it does is it chops up my you could do this any way that you'd like but I have it basically act as like a virtual assistant that will scan my gmail some people are uncomfortable with that I'm okay with it it scans for personal and my work needs. It'll give me a digest where it's a summary of everything that's urgent or maybe medium urgency or like I don't have to respond.
37:16And it's basically just a summary of the emails I've gotten in the last three hours and anything that's actionable. I honestly feel like I could do every five hours because usually there's nothing that's crazy that comes through in three hours, but it's great for when I wake up and I just want to get to work already. I have that digest and I'm like, okay, maybe when I finish up work, then I can like hop on emails and respond. it also will draft up uh an email idea in my tone then i could just copy and paste it which sometimes it's a hit or miss but anyway it's just nice it's peace of mind so i'm not scrolling and like checking constantly it's really bad i love that i don't know why i do it i mean same i do it too i'm addicted to the the dopamine hit of like once you you know an email can like change the trajectory of your day if it's good news so i am the same i'm constantly um constantly checking Paige what's your smart swap for us this week mine is so I feel like this is so industry crunchy like probably nerdy but I like love to nerd out on this stuff it's not sponsored at all the greatest team in the world so in retail you spend so much money on literal merchandising which is just people checking your shelves that they're like stocked okay and it is so expensive and like no one's doing that for you at Target they you need to pay for it yourself it's insane so we recently started swapping traditional merchandising to they're called heddle i'm gonna try find we'll put it in the chat but it's heddle retail i think is their website but that swap from traditional to heddle it's like it's kind of like home from college if you know home from college at all but for merchandising it's just like regular everyday people that come like they take a picture upload it and we have like a dashboard on how our merchandising is going so the data makes way more cents like it's way better but it is like one one hundredth of the price like it is like insanely more affordable and just like smarter we shouldn't be paying twenty thousand dollars just to make sure the shelves look okay so anyone in retail you need to get onto heddle i'm obsessed page is it like secret shopping yeah pretty much you could be ahead they're called hedalites i don't know if they do it in canada i can't be a hedalite yet but like no you could be a hedalite you could take a pack I think you make like 10 bucks if anyone wants you know a random side job while they're working on their business that's also you know okay mine is a little bit more uh mindsety it's an app called activations have you heard this app obsessed yes it's so good okay so I am a tbm girl like I love to be magnetic I've done all their deep imaginings it is very much this kind of manifestation program rooted in neuroscience it's a little bit woo woo So activations is similar to that in that you can listen to these positive mantras depending on what you're trying to manifest.
40:01I know it sounds woo-woo, but depending on what you're trying to bring into the world and what feeling you want to create within your body and what you're doing. So for example, you can listen to something that's like be the main character today and it's created for you to listen to while you're doing your makeup or something for while you're driving or something to, I don't know, like calm down or embrace your wellness goals or whatever it is that you want to, you want to focus on and you want to feel there is a three minute, a five minute, a 20 minute thing that you can listen to. I think it's about$20 a month on your phone.
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40:34So much better than going and listening to music. And I also love it when I'm going to meet someone and I've got it in my ears, instead of feeling like you're being interrupted with the song or the podcast, you kind of like take it out and you're like, oh, high and you are in that flustered state when you go and meet someone it's like you're listening to this thing that is preparing you to be really present in whatever you need to do next rather than taking you out of the moment and I just think it is the biggest hack if anyone's looking for anything to listen to obviously keep listening to female founder world but ditch the other podcast and listen to activations instead it is so good.
41:06Cosign no you reminded me Jaz it's literally life-changing. And that's a wrap on our very first group chat episode we'd love to know what you thought, what topics you want us to cover and which of these conversations you want us to go deeper on. Find us on Instagram, on TikTok, drop into our DMs, head into the Female Founder World group chat, which you can download on an iPhone, on iOS, in the Apple store right now. We'll be back with more next week. See you then.
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