46 products everyone loves that come from female-founded startups
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- Some of the most innovative, memorable, and successful startups in the retail world today are founded and led by women.
- Despite the less-than-friendly attitudes and systemic roadblocks that women pursuing entrepreneurship must face, they're proving they're more than up to the challenge.
- Learn more about the backgrounds and businesses of these 46 noteworthy female-founded companies, which are disrupting industries like fashion, beauty, pet care, and home.
The startup ecosystem is not known to be particularly friendly toward women. In 2017, TechCrunch reported that only 17% of the 43,008 venture-funded companies in its directory CrunchBase have at least one female founder. It's a disappointing figure, but it reminds us that the only way to go from here is up.
A growing number of women are successfully breaking through barriers to bring innovative ideas and quality products to the market. As I learned about their stories, I was struck by how different and perhaps, even more compelling, how similar they were.
Many of these founders left their jobs at large and established corporations to pursue the rigorous, but rewarding journey of entrepreneurship. They faced countless struggles and experienced satisfying triumphs in the process of bringing innovation to their respective industries. They are mothers, wives, friends, colleagues, and classmates who are driven by the problems experienced by themselves, their peers, and their loved ones to create better solutions.
We've highlighted 46 female-founded companies below that inspire us to solve problems, create solutions, and support other women.
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Jen Rubio and Steph Korey: Away Travel
Shop carry-ons and other suitcases and travel accessories at Away
Luggage is the last thing you'd expect people to get excited about, but cofounders Jen Rubio and Steph Korey made it happen with their luggage company Away. As former Warby Parker heads (Korey was also a consultant for mattress startup Casper), they sought to bring the same direct-to-consumer excitement and success to the luggage space.
Their passion for travel and e-commerce is evident: In the beginning, they dug deep and interviewed hundreds of travelers to learn everything about how and why they travel, and ultimately translated their insights into lightweight, yet durable pieces of luggage that are much more affordable than high-end brands.
Melissa Mash, Deepa Gandhi, and Jessy Dover: Dagne Dover
Shop totes, pouches, wallets, and other bags at Dagne Dover
Dagne Dover is the women's handbag company we can't stop talking about — they just get work bags, weekend bags, and backpacks so right. Cofounders Melissa Mash, Deepa Gandhi, and Jessy Dover are now the CEO, COO, and creative director, respectively, of the company that is holding its own against Coach, Michael Kors, Kate Spade, and Tory Burch for the attentions of working women.
The founders come from UPenn's Wharton School and the Parsons School of Design and have retail experience from Coach and Club Monaco, backgrounds that certainly translated into their stylish and functional bag business.
Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Fleiss: Rent the Runway
Shop designer looks and/or sign up for an unlimited clothing subscription at Rent the Runway
Harvard Business School classmates Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Fleiss started Rent the Runway after noticing Hyman's sister didn't want to spend a lot of money for a dress she would wear only once to a wedding. The company rents out designer clothing for a fraction of the retail price and aims to change the meaning of the ownership of luxury experiences.
Founded in 2009, the company now has 9 million members, 600 designer partners, and brick-and-mortar locations in five major cities. It's also expanding past apparel into home textile rentals with a West Elm partnership, which launches in summer 2019.
Noura Sakkijha: Mejuri
Noura Sakkijha is a third generation jeweler who comes from an industrial engineering background and later earned her MBA from Ryerson University. Sakkijha always wanted to work in jewelry and brought her own twist to jewelry product design in 2013 with Mejuri, a brand that offers contemporary and everyday fine jewelry at accessible prices.
Sakkijha aims to create a trend of women buying jewelry for themselves rather than waiting for it to be gifted by someone else. The designs are simple and pretty, but the company stays fresh through frequent product drops and limited-edition collaborations. It has also thrived thanks to more authentic and organic exposure like word-of-mouth.
Kat Schneider: Ritual
After founder and CEO Kat Schneider became pregnant and had difficulty finding vitamins that didn't contain questionable ingredients, she decided to build her own: vitamin subscription startup Ritual. She says she's not only selling the vitamins themselves, but also the important habit of taking them. It certainly helps that she purposefully designed the pills and packaging to be visually appealing.
Schneider's vision to make women's health more transparent has attracted $40.5 million in venture capital funding and a cult-like following most vitamin companies can't boast. In 2018, it introduced its second product, a women's prenatal vitamin.
Jackie Kim: Maelove
Jackie Kim is an MIT grad and skin-care obsessive who wants to make skin care more accessible. Maelove's lineup of $28-and-under products — including the cult-favorite Glow Maker Vitamin C serum and hydrating Night Renewer night cream — are just that.
To reach this rare breed of affordability and effectiveness, she worked with a team of scientists and doctors to dive into the research of what skin-care ingredients really work, used artificial intelligence techniques to scan existing product reviews, and cold-called hundreds of people who worked at the luxury brands she admired.
Heidi Zak: ThirdLove
Shop and try on bras at ThirdLove
The beginning of Heidi Zak's journey with ThirdLove is one many women can relate to: she was frustrated by everything about bras, from the shopping process to the fit and poor quality. She created ThirdLove, which prioritizes fit and comfort through its Fit Finder Quiz, Breast Shape Dictionary, and half-cup size solutions.
The go-getter attitude that landed her positions at McKinsey, Aeropostale, and Google is evident in her approach to grow the brand, which has partnered with department store giant Bloomingdale's and raised $68.6 million in venture capital funding.
Christina Carbonell and Galyn Bernard: Primary
Shop children's basics at Primary
Moms, Harvard Business School grads, and Primary cofounders Christina Carbonell and Galyn Bernard met while working at the now-shuttered Quidsi (parent company of Diapers.com) and commiserated over the surprising difficulty of shopping for their kids. Despite doing their kids' shopping for more than 12 years, they still didn't have a go-to place to find affordable basics.
Busy parents can't thank Primary enough for simplifying the shopping process and ensuring their kids' closets are always stocked with quality clothes.
Alexandra Waldman and Polina Veksler: Universal Standard
Shop clothing at Universal Standard
Size-inclusive fashion brand Universal Standard, which has collections of minimalist essentials for an unprecedented size range of 00 through 40, has a unique policy that reduces the anxiety of shopping: its Universal Fit Liberty (UFL) allows shoppers to exchange pieces from its core collection if their size fluctuates within a year of purchase.
The company is founded by Alexandra Waldman and Polina Veksler, who realized one day while shopping together that they couldn't find stylish clothing at the same stores. Their friendship evolved into a partnership that pushes the boundaries of inclusive fashion.
Kathryn Duryea: Year & Day
This Stanford MBA grad and former director at Tiffany & Co. began taking glaze-making classes and researching the ceramics, flatware, and glass industries after she moved to San Francisco and couldn't find quality, affordable tableware options for her home. Kathryn Duryea's vision was to make the daily ritual of setting the table beautiful and sophisticated — it shines through in Year & Day's curated collection of semi-matte ceramic dishes and sturdy flatware and glassware.
In just over a year, it's been a direct-to-consumer hit, selling out of product on four occasions and experiencing average revenue growth of 40% per month. You can shop individual products or create a complete set on its site.
Jordana Kier and Alex Friedman: Lola
Shop feminine-care products at Lola
With Lola's 100%-organic cotton pads and tampons, cramp-care products, and sexual-wellness products (all available in kits and subscriptions), Jordana Kier and Alex Friedman are opening up the conversation about women's health.
What started as a conversation between the Wharton and Columbia business grads ("what's really in our tampons?") is now a successful online startup with $35.2 million in funding. It's making periods better for everyone, not only those with privileged access, and has donated 1 million tampons to women in need since 2015.
Hero Cosmetics: Ju Rhyu
Shop skin-care products at Hero Cosmetics
If you suffer from acne, you need to talk to Ju Rhyu, founder of Hero Cosmetics and the woman behind one of our go-to acne-banishing products. She's spreading the good word about hydrocolloid patches to clear out pimples and boost your confidence overnight with her bestselling, highly effective Mighty Patch pimple stickers (and the newer, "invisible" version can be worn in public).
From Kraft to American Express to Samsung, she's worked with innovative consumer companies galore and now leads one of her own.
Bouchra Ezzahraoui and Sophie Kahn: AUrate
My weekend brunches are hardly as productive as Bouchra Ezzahraoui and Sophie Kahn's, the friends and Princeton grads who founded NYC-based fine jewelry startup AUrate based off a conversation about the uninspiring, unaffordable state of jewelry today.
Ezzahraoui and Kahn left jobs at Goldman Sachs and Marc Jacobs to pursue their idea to make beautiful jewelry — and a positive impact while they're at it. AUrate sources its materials from ethical partners, uses 100%-recycled gold, and donates a book to a child in need for every purchase made.
Michelle Cordeiro Grant: Lively
Shop bras, underwear, and swimsuits at Lively
After working as a director and senior merchant at Victoria's Secret, Michelle Cordeiro Grant wanted to create a new experience and point of view in the lingerie category, one that delivers simple, quality products and reflects the healthy, confident, and beautiful women wearing them. In 2015, she founded Lively, a brand that blurs the lines of lingerie, active, and swim.
Its comfortable bra, swim, and activewear products are tackling the $13 billion lingerie category largely dominated by Grant's former employer.
Linda Avey and Anne Wojcicki: 23andMe
Discover your personal ancestry, traits, and health with a 23andMe kit
Linda Avey and Anne Wojcicki are two of the three founders of genetic testing company 23andMe. The direct-to-consumer company uses small spit samples to create over 70 reports about your health, bodily traits, and ancestry. A former health care investment analyst with a degree in biology from Yale University and current CEO of the company, Wojcicki is fascinated by the mysteries of the genome and what it can reveal about the human body.
She wants to help solve a bottleneck in healthcare, which is not knowing enough about predispositions to diseases, with the huge data set that results from over 5 million genotyped 23andMe customers.
Katrina Lake: Stitch Fix
Katrina Lake is the founder and CEO of Stitch Fix, an online personal styling service for men and women. As an associate at The Parthenon Group, Lake was inspired by a department store client she worked with and later joined a venture capital firm in hopes of finding the future of retail. When she didn't find that company, she applied to Harvard Business School and started working on the idea for Stitch Fix during her second year there.
The first Stitch Fix order was shipped out of Lake's apartment in 2011. Just six years later, she took the company public. In the 2018 fiscal year, it reported $1.2 billion in revenue and currently has $122.4 million in venture capital funding.
Ariel Kaye: Parachute Home
Shop bedding, bath, and other home products at Parachute
Founder and CEO Ariel Kaye made it her mission to offer high-quality, affordable sheets and inspire a community around sleep, wellness, and a comfortable home after returning from a trip to Italy. She was unsatisfied with bedding products that couldn't compare with those she experienced in her hotel in Italy and launched Parachute in 2014 with an assortment of bedding essentials.
Her career in brand development and advertising gave her the insights into purchase behavior and consumer trends necessary to now boast a 4x year-to-year growth rate and 40% repeat customer rate. The company also recently took a large step beyond texiles by launching a mattress.
Erika Shumate and Christine Luby: Pinrose
Take the Scent Personality Quiz and shop Pinrose fragrances at Sephora
In starting Pinrose, Stanford Graduate School of Business classmates Erika Shumate and Christine Luby had a vision to make high-quality fragrance a playful, effortless, everyday experience for the modern millennial. Shumate's research on synesthesia and the psychology of smell helped inform the brand's Scent Personality Quiz, which gives you personalized perfume recommendations.
Lead investors in Pinrose include Bonobos cofounder and former Trunk Club CEO Brian Spaly, and the brand is now available at top retailers like QVC, Birchbox, Sephora, and ipsy.
Mariam Naficy: Minted
Shop unique stationery, art, and home decor at Minted
Another Stanford Graduate School of Business alumna is Mariam Naficy, founder and CEO of Minted, a design marketplace that sells crowdsourced creations (such as greeting cards) from independent artists. In 2007, Naficy saw parallels between the rise of Internet bloggers creating good content and the potential for designers to do the same.
Though the company initially struggled, it has since raised $297.1 million in capital and is home to an international community of designers from nearly 100 countries.
Carly Strife: BarkBox
Give your dog the gift of new treats and toys at BarkBox
In 2011, Carly Strife helped found the popular monthly dog treat subscription box service that has since expanded into original content creation, an online marketplace, and mobile apps under the brand Bark. Strife utilized her experience from her time as a New York City operations manager at Uber to get new vendors on board with BarkBox, and is now COO of the company.
Strife and her cofounders recognized the connection between a owner's desire to please their pets and a dog's need for variety in play and food. They succeeded in capturing that connection and business exploded in 2012.
Lynda Weinman: Lynda
Find a course and start your free trial on Lynda
Lynda is an online learning platform that offers almost 6,000 courses in photography, development, business, web design, and video, and is part of the movement toward democratized education. Lynda Weinman, a self-taught web and motion graphics designer, originally started the site at the age of 40 with her husband Bruce as a way to communicate to the students in her very successful web design class.
The site's courses now serve students and employees from over 10,000 organizations. In 2015, Weinman sold Lynda to LinkedIn for $1.5 billion and currently ranks as No. 55 on Forbes' list of America's Richest Self-Made Women.
Shan-Lyn Ma: Zola
Start your registry and plan your wedding at Zola
Before becoming a cofounder and the CEO of Zola, a startup that is reinventing the wedding registry and planning experience, Ma was the chief product officer of Chloe + Isabel and general manager of Gilt Taste. Her extensive experience in product management has helped guide the success of Zola's retail business as well as its iOS and Android apps.
Ma told the Stanford Graduate School of Business (where she received her MBA in 2006) in an interview that her goal is to become a builder of great tech companies. With over 500,000 registered users and $140.8 million in venture capital funding, Zola looks like it will be one of those companies.
Karla Gallardo and Shilpa Shah: Cuyana
Shop bags, clothes, and accessories at Cuyana
Cofounders Karla Gallardo and Shilpa Shah met while touring prospective business schools, and while they ultimately did not attend the same school, they reconnected over their shared vision to create a lifestyle brand with a "fewer, better" philosophy. Cuyana is that minimalist fashion brand and focuses on women's essentials, like dresses, outerwear, and leather goods.
The company has opened brick-and-mortar locations in San Francisco and Los Angeles as well as popup shops around the country.
Sarah Lee and Christine Chang: Glow Recipe
Shop Glow Recipe skin care at Sephora
As former vice presidents of global marketing at L'Oréal, Sarah Lee and Christine Chang were the only two employees with expertise in both the Korean and American markets. This unique perspective put them in the perfect position to launch Glow Recipe, a place where beauty enthusiasts can find the best curation of K-beauty products.
The company has found huge success with its own products, like the best-selling Watermelon Mask and Moisturizer and is bound to continue the pattern of hits as Lee and Chang continue introducing K-beauty-inspired innovations with American audiences.
Amanda and Karen Zuckerman: Dormify
Style your dorm room at Dormify
Amanda Zuckerman's frustrating dorm room shopping experience before she entered her freshman year at Washington University in St. Louis inspired her and her mom Karen to start Dormify, the one-stop shop for affordable and stylish small space decor.
Amanda's understanding of and proximity to college students, combined with Karen's creative and strategic advertising skills, makes for a business that college students with an eye for design can't resist. Dormify has also partnered with large retailers like Macy's and American Eagle to offer exclusive collections and has licensing agreements with national sororities to produce additional merchandise.
Jennifer Chong: Linjer
Shop women's and men's leather goods and watches at Linjer
This Dartmouth grad is a cofounder of design studio Linjer, which makes minimalist Italian and Turkish leather goods and watches. After her boyfriend and cofounder Roman Khan had trouble finding a high-quality, affordable, and no-logo leather briefcase for work, Chong stepped in to design one instead.
Chong knew they were onto something when their initial Indiegogo campaign raised $185,000 in 2014. Her response to the rise of trendy, but wasteful fast fashion is paying off: In 2016, sales were projected to be $5 million and patient customers sat in six-month-long wait lists for their bags.
Claire Mazur and Erica Cerulo: Of a Kind
Claire Mazur and Erica Cerulo met as undergrads at the University of Chicago. They married Mazur's experience in arts management and fashion and Cerulo's love of telling stories in the print publishing world to bring the creations and stories of new designers to the forefront on their site Of a Kind.
Mazur and Cerulo are motivated by the desire to support new designers, create an engaged community of both designers and shoppers, and foster an environment for people who shop as much for the experience as they do for the product. Since Of a Kind's launch in 2010, they have featured over 350 up-and-coming designers.
Nina Faulhaber and Meg He: ADAY
Hailing from backgrounds in investment banking, venture capital, and fashion e-commerce, Nina Faulhaber and Meg He noticed there was little innovation in everyday fashion. Faulhaber is a former competitive gymnast and He is a certified yoga teacher, and both wanted that comfort from activewear in the clothing they wore every day.
ADAY's simple "wardrobe of the future" uses technical fabrics (e.g. breathable, thermoregulated, cooling, stretchy, offers UV protection), aims to be seasonless and versatile, and is sustainable so you can cut down on the wasteful pieces in your closet.
Nicole Gibbons: Clare
Shop paint and supplies at Clare
You might recognize interior designer Nicole Gibbons from her appearances on HGTV or the Oprah Winfrey Network. Now, she's the founder of Clare, a startup that's reinvigorating a oft-ignored category: paint. Paint doesn't excite many people — in fact, the overwhelming process of shopping for it probably scares most — but it's a $155 billion global industry that's actually ripe for disruption.
Gibbons believes in the creative and transformative power of color, and is helping you believe in it, too by offering safe and eco-conscious paints in a small variety of curated colors, as well as paint supplies like brushes and rollers.
Mia Saini Duchnowski and Laura Lisowski Cox: Oars + Alps
Shop men's skincare products at Oars + Alps
Oars + Alps founders Mia Saini Duchnowski and Laura Lisowski Cox realized they were onto something when they exchanged stories about their husbands relying on their wives' expensive creams and cleansers or chemical-packed men's products to treat their skin after a day of outdoor activities like rowing and cycling.
Their combined resumes are impressive, with education from MIT, Harvard Business School, and Brandeis, and jobs at NASA, Goldman Sachs, Bloomberg TV, Digitas, AOL, and Facebook. Such versatile expertise has lent itself to creating the best all-natural skin products for men. The company recently raised $1.3 million in a seed round of financing.
Jac Cameron, Maggie Winter, and Max Bonbrest: AYR
Shop wardrobe essentials at AYR
AYR, which stands for All Year Round, originated as a part of Bonobos and spun off in 2015 as an independent company led by Jac Cameron, Maggie Winter, and Max Bonbrest.
Cameron was a senior denim designer at Madewell and global denim director at Calvin Klein, while Winter had worked in merchandising at J.Crew for seven years, and together they brought this fashion expertise to create focused collections of high-quality pieces like jeans.
As its name suggests, the brand makes clothing essentials made for any season of the year, and consumers are responding. When they first launched the brand in 2014, their jeans sold out in two days. You can currently find AYR in real life in New York City and Los Angeles.
Emily Weiss: Glossier
Shop beauty products at Glossier
Hyper-popular beauty brand Glossier was born out of founder and CEO Emily Weiss' blog "Into the Gloss," where she profiled the beauty routines of women like Bobbi Brown and Karlie Kloss. As the site fostered a large and engaged community of readers, it made sense to utilize the knowledge and opinions of these readers to craft products they would actually buy.
Weiss understands the importance of staying connected with the brand's dedicated fan base and the customer-centric approach has translated into extraordinary demand (read: 10,000-person wait lists) for Glossier products.
Rosie O'Neill: Sugarfina
Rosie O'Neill is one half of the sweetest couple you'll ever meet. She and her husband Josh Resnick founded Sugarfina, the gourmet candy company that has adults embracing their sweet tooths again. Their idea for a gourmet candy boutique came out of a third date and resulted in $40 million in revenue in 2017 alone.
Coming from marketing for Barbie at Mattel, O'Neill infuses the same playfulness and creativity into Sugarfina's offerings, which are sourced from all over the world. Online or in store, you can create your own Bento Box of sweet treats as a fun gift and shop fun limited-edition collections.
Christine Hunsicker: Gwynnie Bee
The average American woman wears a size 16. One-third of US women wear plus-size clothing, yet it remains difficult to find stylish plus-size options. Founder and CEO Christine Hunsicker sought to help this underserved market with Gwynnie Bee, an online women’s clothing subscription service for sizes 0 through 32.
The company works with more than 190 brands and has shipped out more than 3 million boxes of clothing. Hunsicker says she is increasingly looking at boutique brands that align with Gwynnie Bee's business of making women look good and feel confident.
Rony Vardi: Catbird
Shop jewelry, beauty, and home products at Catbird
At first glance, Catbird looks like your typical indie jewelry boutique in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Unlike any old neighborhood shop, however, it made more than $10 million in revenue in 2016. Founder Rony Vardi is a former graphic designer who loves creating and selecting jewelry, and helping customers find that special piece, be it the brand's popular stacking ring or a wedding ring.
Catbird maintains its timeless vibe because Vardi doesn't pay attention to trends. Instead, she thinks long term and focuses on creating high-quality pieces with intrinsic value.
Hayley Barna and Katia Beauchamp: Birchbox
Birchbox was launched in 2010 by Harvard Business School classmates Hayley Barna and Katia Beauchamp, who envisioned a better way to shop for beauty products. The company sends monthly boxes with samples of beauty products to its subscribers, and the full-size versions of those products are available to purchase in its shop.
Barna and Beauchamp began by sending cold emails to the presidents and CEOs of well-known beauty brands to seek partnerships, only to be met with resistance about Birchbox's unprecedented concept. Today, the company has an additional BirchboxMan brand, more than 1 million subscribers, 800 brands in its shop, and an $86.9 million valuation.
Carolyn Rafaelian: Alex and Ani
Founder, CEO, and chief creative officer Carolyn Rafaelian is from Rhode Island, once the costume jewelry capital of the world and where her family began its foray into jewelry manufacturing. Her company Alex and Ani, named after her two eldest daughters, doesn't only sell bangles and charms. Through Rafaelian's leadership and artistic vision, it sells positive energy for consumers who want to share their personality through what they wear.
The Paper Store, Harvey Nichols, and Saks Fifth Avenue have all carried Alex and Ani bangles, and in 2012 the company also began licensing deals with Walt Disney, NFL, national sororities, and the US military. Rafaelian has a net worth of $1 billion and is No. 18 on Forbes' list of America's Richest Self-Made Women.
Urksa Srsen: Bellabeat
Shop Bellabeat wearables at Amazon
Founder Urska Srsen's passion for and expertise in sculpting brings a unique perspective to the world of product design. She leads design, production, and manufacturing at her Y-Combinator backed startup Bellabeat, a wearable and app that helps you track your steps, sleep, and period. It can also predict and manage your stress.
In an interview with Nordic Startup Bits, Srsen said being an entrepreneur is "a very creative process that demands everything you’ve got to give; knowledge, ideas, time, sweat and love. Much like creating art does." The process is paying off: The company has sold 700,000 Bellabeat Leaf devices and opened four offices worldwide.
Sarah Flint: Sarah Flint
Favored by official royalty figures like Meghan Markle as well as pop royalty icons like Lady Gaga, Sarah Flint's eponymous shoe brand is all about style without sacrificing price or comfort. She received her fashion and footwear design education from Parsons, FIT, and Arsutoria in Milan, as well as stints at Diane Von Furstenberg and Proenza Schouler.
Though you used to be able to find her flats and heels at traditional department stores, she made the decision to go online-only, which has allowed prices to drop from a range of $495 to $1,200 to a range of $195 to $725.
Shelley Sanders: The Last Line
Shelley Sanders, founder of glitzy jewelry brand The Last Line, has held many roles related to shiny jewels: head designer, creative director, and even "secret diamond concierge." Today, the Parsons grad leads the company that hopes to be the one and only place you shop for fine jewelry.
Her bold and confident voice translates to eye-catching options galore, from simple stacking rings to playful rainbow earrings. Thanks to weekly drops of 14k gold and precious stone pieces, you'll always have something new to lust over whenever you're looking to add to your collection.
Emily Sugihara: Baggu
Emily Sugihara has always considered herself a creative, but it was while working as a fashion designer at a large company that she realized she needed a more hands-on role. In 2007, she combined this itch for creative control and the personal frustration of finding a nice reusable bag into Baggu.
More than 1 million of Baggu's colorful nylon totes have been sold to date, and it's not only because they're cute. Impressively, these durable, lightweight bags can hold up to 50 pounds of stuff. In addition to these signature bags, Baggu also sells backpacks, purses, and travel bags made from leather and canvas.
Amy Errett: Madison Reed
Shop hair color at Madison Reed
Madison Reed is named after founder Amy Errett's daughter. The online hair care company focuses on hair-color products made from ingredients you can feel good about, meaning they're free from ammonia, phthalates, PPD, and other harmful ingredients.
Prior to Madison Reed, Errett was a partner at Maveron LLC and True Ventures, so it should be no surprise that her current venture is especially skilled at raising capital ($121.1 million as of March 2019). She has also served on the boards of several organizations, including GLAAD and Common Sense Media.
Eunice Byun: Material Kitchen
Shop kitchen tools at Material
Material cofounder Eunice Byun is a rare female figure in the male-dominated world of cooking, food, and kitchenware. She and her cofounder David Nguyen are food lovers first, and this basic passion for sharing great meals inspired them to start a company that helps them make these meals.
Its sleek and sharply curated kitchen essentials, bundled into a variety of sets, look beautiful and perform beautifully as well, rightly earning their spots on our countertops. The company recently brought on cookbook author Alison Roman as an advisor and continues to release new products to improve your cooking experience.
Jennifer Bandier: Bandier
Just like Sephora houses tons of beauty brands for you to shop and discover, Bandier collects more than 50 premium activewear brands under one roof. Jennifer Bandier founded this destination for stylish fitness apparel in 2014, introduced a boutique fitness studio in 2016, then launched four private brands in 2017.
Bandier is a former music industry executive who managed groups like TLC and nurtured new talent. Though she has shifted to the fitness world, some of those same skills, like having an eye for the next big "act" (or brand), still apply.
Gabby Slome: Ollie
Experiences at online startups Rent the Runway and Primary helped whet Gabby Slome's appetite for direct-to-consumer retail. After her rescue dog began gaining weight eating traditional dog food, she began taking more notice of what was going in the pet nutrition space and co-founded Ollie, an all-natural dog food delivery service.
Her love for dogs and determination to tackle the $29 billion pet food industry are paying off. More than 5 million of these human-grade, vet-approved meals, which are tailored to your dog's needs and preferences, have been delivered since 2015.
Abigail Cook Stone: Otherland
Having earned her bachelor's in art history, an MBA from Columbia, and experience as an art buyer for Ralph Lauren, Abigail Cook Stone set off on her own to marry her loves of art, design, and fragrance in candle startup Otherland.
They're one of our favorite candles to gift not only because of their luxurious, long-lasting fragrances but also because they're works of art themselves. In a direct-to-consumer world that leans towards minimalism, Otherland isn't afraid to stand out from the pack with its detailed, whimsical, and colorful designs.