Have you ever wanted to jump on stage during an industry panel to ask a question? 4020 Mentoring Salons do just that. At last month’s Veuve Cliquot sponsored salon, three mentors. Kara Goldin, CEO and cofounder of Hint Inc., Randi Zuckerberg, bestselling author and founder of Zuckerberg Media and Katia Beauchamp, CEO and cofounder of Birchbox advised three rising female entrepreneurs on startup success. Our first mentee, Megan Grassell, the founder and CEO of teen friendly bra company, Yellowberry asked a question about the challenges of integrating a founder story and product story.
Grassell's Question: "When I launched Yellowberry, unprecedented PR took off around my story as a young founder. How do I evolve the brand DNA to focus more on the product and the Yellowberry community?"
At 17, Grassell took her little sister bra shopping and was shocked at the sexy push-up bras and ads targeted to emerging teens. She yearned for more cute, colorful options for girls at this stage of life when they are pressured to grow up before their time. So she took matters into her own hands. With a few samples, a Kickstarter and a mission to help girls grow up on their own terms, Yellowberry took off. The product line now includes athletic inspired leisurewear paired with inclusive messages, community building and positive imagery (no photo shopping).
Katia Beauchamp, CEO and cofounder of Birchbox on PR Strategy (Photo courtesy of Katia Beauchamp)
Beauchamp's Answer: Be strategic. Beauchamp credits Birchbox’s core growth to an early hire who taught her that PR is not luck, it’s a strategy. And you have to evolve. Says Beauchamp, "We launched the company [Birchbox] in 2006. It’s now 2016. No one is excited about the launch anymore."
Here's her approach:
Step 1: Find a strategic partner: PR is strategic if you find the right person who treats it like a strategy and not just a nice to have when you have news or a momentum number.
Step 2: Define the story you want to tell: Every year Birchbox defines their story arc. Then they break it down for internal, business and consumer. You have to decide what you want to give the press .
Step 3: Go right to the customer and tell their story. You have changes their lives. Birchbox sees their customers as representatives for all of their customers...and their stories matter.
Randi Zuckerberg, CEO and founder, Zuckerberg Media on building personal brand (Photo credit:... [+]
Zuckerberg's Answer: Continue to build your personal brand and story. Zuckerberg advised, "Founders can get so in the weeds of the startup that they forget that they are the best spokesperson. No will ever be as passionate about the company as you are."
She has a unique perspective as someone who jokes that she has had as many careers as her 35 years. As a result, she believes that the founder story can live beyond the founding company, saying, "You have an amazing idea and I think you are going to be working on it for a long time, but what if you decide that you want to step out, that you don’t want to focus on it anymore? You will be thankful that you built your own brand along the way for whatever comes next for you and whatever comes next for your company."
Kara Goldin, CEO and cofounder, Hint Inc. after the panel where she talked the staying power of the... [+]
Goldin's Answer: Don't be so fast to move away from your founder story. Goldin shared her experience as an 11-year-old brand, "We still proudly tell our story. It connects people to our brand. Continue to tell the story around the problem you are solving."
Hint’s story has lasting power. Goldin still gets stopped in the streets to tell the story of how her Coke addiction gave birth to Hintwater in her San Francisco garage. She added, “Brands that I admire today have a story and are able to say, 'This is why we did it.' Look at Birchbox, Spanx or Method. Sometimes VCs will tell you that you need to move away from the founder story in order to sell your company but there are plenty of success stories out there where people still know the founding story."
The mentoring didn't end the question. Grassell was also inspired by a story Beauchamp shared at the end of the panel: "When Katia sought advice from one of her mentors about the intense challenges on her plate, they replied, 'Well, yeah. And?' The mentor went on to say that building a company is exceptionally challenging because we’ve chosen to do something that is exceptional. That resonated deeply. Growing a company from nothing is difficult to say the least. But, the result is not just the potential to make something really great, it’s the opportunity to do something truly exceptional."
As the moderator, I was thrilled that the mentors provided a variety of perspectives. As customers continue to seek out products and companies whose values match their own, founder stories are more important than ever.
Watch out for discussion of the next two questions posed at the Forbes 4020 Mentoring Salon.
