Veronika Sonsev

Successful retailers partner with DTC brands! Check out Charm.io's new report on the three key strategies for how retailers can use data-backed insights to partner with DTC brands to grow sales, and avoid the "retail apocalypse". https://lnkd.in/eTP8sswD #retailgrowth #merchandising #dtcdata #ecommerceanalytics

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This article really resonated with me, especially the section below about founders knowing their numbers. What skill set should a founder starting a brand today have?  Drew F.: "Now, more than ever, you have to know your numbers. You have to be able to describe your unit economics, not only certainly to any prospective investor, but also to yourself because the odds that you’re going to get any capital are near zero. If you don’t know your unit economics and cash flow, you won’t have a business. The founder that knows their numbers and how to scale the business in a healthy and efficient way is the founder that will prevail." Scaling a beauty brand has never been easy, but it has gotten increasingly more difficult over the past few years. Capital efficiency and a focus on margins and profitability have also become more important for investors seeking to deploy in the category. True Beauty Ventures Cristina Nuñez Rachel Brown Beauty Independent #beautyinvesting https://lnkd.in/egBiFhPC

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Love these high-level takeaways from my due diligence discussion with Cherub today! So many actionable insights for both founders and investors.

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I’m excited to share that Motion has raised $30M in Series B funding, led by Inovia Capital with participation from Threshold Ventures as well as our existing investors Headline, Abstract Ventures and Sugar Capital. In recent years, as audience targeting on ad platforms became algorithm-based, growth leaders shifted their focus toward creative. Very quickly, creative became the biggest lever for success in paid social. Terms like “creative is the new targeting” were popularized across the industry and we entered a new era of digital advertising. In a sense, it’s a pivot back to the old-school advertising principles of the David Ogilvy era. Conducting customer research, storytelling, and craftsmanship are all essential once again. But while the principles are timeless, the digital world is a very different environment. The creative strategist is the modern-day Ogilvy. They know how to blend art and science to ship winning ads. They are as creative as they are analytical and they bridge the gap between media buyers and creative teams. They live by data but know how to move beyond the numbers and let creativity run. We believe the creative strategist is the most critical role in performance marketing today and will be even more so in the age of AI. Soon enough, AI will drive the cost of new creative production to near zero. Which means that the most valuable question teams need to answer is: what to create? We raised this capital to accelerate our product roadmap and to build the command center for creative strategists. Motion’s customers are the best-of-the-best in paid social, and creative strategy is at the core of their workflow. Our goal is to build the tools that creative strategists need to succeed their craft. Over the last 12 months, we've doubled our team to 50 people and we've grown ARR by 3x. The Motion team is on 🔥 and we're hiring across the board. We are fully remote and looking for the most talented people anywhere in the world. If that's you, please get in touch with me or Libby Moyer and tell us about your superpowers!!

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There continues to be more and more sources of funding for specialized startups. This is in retail technology.

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Loved getting the chance to sit down and catch up with Katherine D'Zmura Friedman, CEO of Thumbprint Furniture. They’re creating a design tool for the commercial furniture industry that engages interior design teams and furniture manufacturers. Time to augment some more clunky processes with technology (and by default, yes, AI). 🕰️🛋️🪑🏭🏢 Watch the video and learn more below!

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💡 Interesting article from McKinsey & Company https://lnkd.in/epAPVffD Thanks for sharing! YouKnowMeBest Tea Shashaj InnovaticGroup. Create the Future Now innovaticgroup.com #Innovation #Growth #Technology #Entrepreneurship #Investors #BusinessAngels #VentureCapital #LPs #GPs #DigitalTransformation #Digitalization #Startup #Scaleup #StartupInsights #InnovaticGroup

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*Not doing* something must be an informed decision, not just plain inaction. Inaction is expensive. In this week's edition of TakeFortyTwo's B2B Insights, we'll share our handy discovery framework to uncover the real reasons why we should do anything, and when. Our piece is focused in the context of #b2bEcommerce technology adoption but it can be easily ported to many scenarios. The right questions tend to work everywhere. Chesterton once wrote: “Do not remove a fence until you know why it was put up in the first place." Understanding how we got here, and what to do (or not do) is essential to managing any business decision. Our questions will help you drive a constructive conversation and discover the real, underlying circumstances. 💯 Check it out: https://lnkd.in/dG3Cm-qz 📩 Get our insights every two weeks: https://lnkd.in/dhQV3MsK #b2bstrategy #b2becommerce #decisionmaking #procurement #alignment #digitaltransformation #jumpingfences

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I just wrapped up a panel with the Marketing Leadership affinity group within the How Women Invest community with my hero Auntie Nancy Hayes, aka the Yoda of board membership, angel investing, and general badassery. We talked about different ways to serve on boards, a role in which experienced Marketers seem to be often underrepresented. Why? If I had to guess, I'd say: 1 - Most heads of marketing are women 2 - marketing is undervalued, especially under sales/revenue experience 3—Compound the first two with the messages you tell yourself about your own worthiness, and suddenly, you're a great marketer for everyone else but yourself. ___________ For those who are interested in getting closer or into the board room, there are so many ways to start/get experience: 1—Board Observer (one of my current board roles)—you represent the investor but have no votes. It is unpaid, but/and hugely essential to act as a bridge of visibility and communication between the fund you've invested with and the company in which the fund has invested. My role brings value to both sides with much less bias than the other VC board seats. 2—Corporate board director—There is much governance but not much influence on the product, as the company usually has big enough teams for that. There is a lot of hiring/firing CEOs (read: drama), which can still be fun, especially for those fresh-popcorn-in-my-bag swag kinda folks (both grossly generalizing and way understating this role's fiduciary importance, but you get the idea). 3—Independent board director—this is another of my favorite places to sit. It is much like the Board observer role but with voting rights and equity (although not always, as these terms are negotiated and influenced by the shareholding board seats). You are NOT representing a VC fund (typically), but you might have subject matter expertise in the product or are a generalist boss gal like myself and bring a sense of neutrality and balance to the board. 4—Advisor. Advisors are similar to IBD in terms of influence and type of advice but are not part of the board or its meetings. This role is usually paid in some combination of equity and cash. It's another of my faves. (Are you seeing the trend here?) We have not even touched non-profit boards (where I got my start and am currently sitting on my sixth), but we will save it for next time as it's a whole 'nother Oprah. If you want to learn more, How Women Lead is hosting its 5th annual #getonboard week, starting October 21. Hybrid virtual and in-person. Check it out: https://lnkd.in/diizwv8j #womeninleadership #boardofdirectors #howwomenlead #governance #boarddiversity #corporategovernance #boardservice #businessleadership #leadership Julie Candelon Susan Greenwood Schroeder Mikayla Ludwig

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Lotan Levkowitz of Grove Ventures is a rising star in the VC landscape! He is super intelligent, kind, and very articulate with his words. I really enjoyed talking to him about Deep tech investing, Grove Ventures, and the US elections, among other shenanigans and rhymes. Check out the interview and subscribe to the channel! It is a command, I mean, a request, I mean, do what you bloody want. https://lnkd.in/d6gjSvdQ

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Snap Q2 2024 earnings: brand revenue languishing, continued push into DR With brand revenue in systemic decline, Snap seems to be contending with the much more competitive brand advertising landscape wrought by the Everything is an Ad Network dynamic: Snap must square off against relatively new channels like Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, and the entire retail media ecosystem for brand budgets. With stagnant user growth in North America, Snap appears to be losing those contests. Meanwhile, Snap is progressing with its DR infrastructure and SMB recruitment efforts, but from a low revenue baseline and with a multi-quarter handicap, having not taken seriously the threat of Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) privacy policy from the start. The result is tepid growth as Snap's advertising platform is rehabilitated for the new operating environment.

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The consumer news, brands, people, places, things that captured my attention last week: 1. Kiehl’s starts selling on Amazon — (from WWD) https://lnkd.in/gxA2mDWH 2. Gap raises full year forecast and Zac Posen bets on celebrities to revive the brand — (from WWD & Vogue Business Instagram) https://lnkd.in/gxA2mDWH 3. The flat lay is back — (from Glossy) https://lnkd.in/gxA2mDWH 4. DTC Briefing: Startups are pursuing a mix of credit and equity amid fractures in funding — (from Modern Retail) https://lnkd.in/gxA2mDWH 5. The fight for influencer marketing dollars heats up with a lawsuit — (from BoF) https://lnkd.in/gtWGAb6A 6. 96% of Ulta’s sales run through their loyalty program — BoF Case study on loyalty — (from BoF) https://lnkd.in/ghZ9Gx-u 7. Abercrombie’s stock surges 24% as they capitalized on “wedding weeks” — (from CNBC) https://lnkd.in/guzQKu8U 8. Golden Goose sells $500 dirty sneakers — they’re raising €100M in an IPO — (from WSJ) https://lnkd.in/gi94ff54 9. L Catterton leads $40M Series A investment for Squared Circles — (from PR Newswire) https://lnkd.in/gdJzvTij

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At SKYEFOX VENTURES - SFXV we are enabling brands to scale successfully to reap the rewards of success. Thank you to our friends and partners at BeautyMatter! Scott Gurfein Matthew Wenzler Socket Managed Services #partnerships #business #supplychain #entrepreneur #share #businessmodels #architecture #scalability #teamwork #socialnetworking #culture #socialentrepreneurship #entrepreneurship #startupstrategies #leanstartups #startups #startup #leanmanufacturing #manufacturing #management #productmanagement #projectmanagement #operationsmanagement #executivesandmanagement #futurism #future #innovation #productivity #strategy #consultants #managementconsulting

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Major Stitch announcement!! Stitch Adds Sanja Partalo to our Board! I recall meeting with the High Alpha partners back in 2022. It was one of our early working sessions about Stitch, and the team was already pushing me to think longer-term about making a big swing at landing a killer independent board member. I knew the ideal person: Sanja Partalo. We had recently met up after coffee in NYC, and I had made an early pitch about her helping us at Stitch. But the timing was off. She was building a new organization, and looking back, Stitch wasn’t quite ready either. Fast forward. It’s official. Sanja is now part of the Stitch team, and I couldn’t be happier. I met Sanja in San Francisco in the fall of 2019 during Salesforce’s Dreamforce event. I was introduced to her when she was a strategic leader at marketing giant WPP, leading many of their tech partner relationships (including Salesforce). At the end of our first meeting, I knew I had to find a way to work with Sanja at some point in my career. I became very intentional about keeping in contact with her. Persistence and follow-up pay off. Some of the reasons why I love Sanja: - She’s such an incredible and inspirational human being. - Throughout her career, she has had direct experience in our world, understanding both creative and tech partner services. Meaning she gets exactly what we do. - We have a history and appreciation for each other. She followed the Lev story all through Stitch’s launch to today. - International experience. - Has a vast network of connections in our space - Understands what fantastic services companies look like and can guide how to get there. - Diverse background in MarTech - A remarkable fact: President George W. Bush painted her portrait I could go on. I’ll stop for now. Bottom line - she is a badass. Speaking of being a badass, she’s one of a small group of women running a fund (S4S Ventures). So why was it essential for her to be on our Board? I want to be pushed, to think differently, to be challenged. I couldn’t think of anyone who could do that better than Sanja. Again, this is a big win for us. Welcome, and thank you, Sanja!

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One of the things I love most about being in business is meeting and learning from other incredible people. Doreen Brown is one of these amazing individuals. I had the pleasure of being on her "Let's Get Visible" podcast, where we discussed: 1️⃣ My journey into the web industry. 2️⃣ The importance of choosing specialists in web & digital. 3️⃣ How the Contain Your Brain app helps reduce work-related stress & anxiety. Check it out through the link below: https://lnkd.in/gHeFZkFX

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The strategic value-add of cultural leaders: How their involvement goes beyond capital to include mentorship, network access, and brand endorsement 👇 Megan Holston-Alexander, Derek Dolin, and Deborah Embaie, MPA, Partners at a16z Cultural Leadership Fund at Andreessen Horowitz, offer valuable insights on how to strategically engage cultural leaders as investors and partners in “Influence Meets Innovation: How Founders and Cultural Leaders Can Work Together”. Check out the key insights in the attached presentation 👇 ───── 👉 Follow me, Alexander Small, for tactics and strategies for building startups from industry-leading Founders, Operators and Investors

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Everybody needs a place to put their love. - Karina Dresses tagline, circa 2012 In 2012 I made my first investment in a #femalefounder who also happened to be 50+. At the time I had no idea how unusual these founder traits were. I just knew the founder was passionate, authentic, experienced, perfectly aligned with both the product and the market. Most importantly there was a strong emotional bond between the product and the customers who bought it. 🤷🏾‍♂️- it just seemed like the smart thing to do. Not a lot of my investor buddies agreed at the time- probably not so surprising. Fast forward 10+ years and the value of my investment is ~20x & the amount of free cash flow distributed to equity holders is substantial & still increasing YOY. My takeaways: ✅Invest in authenticity, passion and intimacy (customer)- no matter what the founder profile looks like relative to others. ✅Follow your gut. ✅Not every deal is venture scale worthy. But there’s a potential investor for every deal. ✅Be the best version of you, not a lame version of someone else. Works for both investors & founders. :) Congratulations to Karina and the team at Karina Dresses! Proud as punch to be on this journey with you all🚀

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