The killers killing DocuSign
and why CEOs might be getting an emergency hotline
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In today’s issue:
Beehiiv’s brilliant counterattack on a competitor
What words will instantly out you as an old person
Where you can shop the rest of my stuff
And more…
Notes from a messy desk
Last week, I held a sale with hundreds of my favorite dresses, jackets, shoes, handbags, and many a jumpsuit at Arcade Shops in Downtown LA. As I watched OG Nasty Gal shoppers and bona fide vintage freaks excitedly try on the last decade-plus of my style, it hit different. These were pieces I created memories, both good and bad, in. It was a first, in a way – at Nasty Gal, I curated what shoppers wanted. It never felt personal. But that night, my identity hung on the racks.
There were a few brief moments of seller’s remorse, but I reminded myself that until this sale, I’d already forgotten I owned many of these pieces. Ultimately, it felt good – like what I imagine it’s like to watch your kid grow up and go off to college to have new, hopefully wild and meaningful, experiences.
A bunch of stuff is still up for grabs at the store (along with a lot of other amazing things I can’t take credit for curating), but is also available online, with more pieces being added soon.
It was hard not to shop Arcade’s other amazing finds, but I couldn’t leave without picking up these incredibly cute and ostentatious Loewe sunglasses.
Wheels up,
Sophia
Collabs on my radar
Cult Gaia collabed with Raxxy on these architectural down jackets made with their patented 5D tech. Levi’s is partnering with Bob Dylan on historically accurate denim styles, dropping on December 25th. Harry Styles’ nail care brand Pleasing dropped a collection with JW Anderson with things like a metallic polish set and a sparkly leather dick keychain. Kith and Steamery made an ergonomic steamer/iron hybrid. Kyler Jenner tapped her mom as the model behind her new ready-to-wear collection with Entire Studios. Paul Mescal’s stylist Felicity Kay dropped the actor’s press tour wardrobe on resale platform Vinted this week and of course it’s already sold out. Samsung collaborated with five fashion brands on pieces that go with their flip phone. Fashion house Maison Margiela teamed up with tattoo artist Kozo on 18 one-of-a-kind pieces. Market Studios dropped its holiday Peanuts collection and you can get the iconic puffy coat Snoopy.
Links to make you smarter and more interesting
While the public takes glee in the murder of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO, it’s a scary world for CEOs. Last week, “wanted” posters appeared on the streets of New York, with X-ed photos of Thompson’s face and the faces of other healthcare CEOs, with a message “Health care CEOs should not feel safe.” New York State is considering rolling out a hotline exclusively for CEOs to report perceived threats.
On a personal note, I had dinner with the CEO of a public fintech company the other day who told me that people have walked up to him in restaurants while on vacation with his family to express their personal experiences, both good and bad, with the platform – some even angry. That’s scary.
Twitter cofounder Ev Williams (and Trust Fund investor!) launched a new social network with Molly DeWolf Swenson that wants you to hang out IRL. I’m already a superuser. Mozi is a private social network that lets users tell their friends if they’re going to be in the same place as you. It’s described as a “future focused, city-level” Find My Friends. “We’re not trying to keep people on the app,” DeWolf Swenson told the New York Times. “If we’re doing our job well, you’re finding that information as quickly as possible and then getting off the app.”
Agree.com is about to kill DocuSign. The platform, which offers free unlimited e-signatures (and feels more like Notion than a DocuSign), now has over 10,000 users with +200% month-over-month growth since launching publicly less than 4 months ago. And one-third of those users started as signers of an agreement. “The team did not expect to see the inherent network effects and virality of the platform to kick-in so quickly.”
Hailey Bieber’s Rhode made $40 million in November. Puck compared the brand’s success and strategy to Kim Kardashian’s Skims – both are smart in how they use the face, taste, and connections of their celebrity leader to drop sick collabs and marketing campaigns. Rhode’s recent collab with influencer Matilda Djerf on a candy cane lip gloss sold out fast and drove $15 million to the brand’s website.
The hot new trend at spas and hotels across Europe is getting naked in an aromatic sauna while enjoying a theatrical experience. It’s a subgenre of aufguss, a 15-minute German sauna ritual where you sit in a sauna infused with essential oils, now with some showtime.
Healthcare brand Julie, which sells emergency contraceptives, experienced 10x sales growth on Amazon after the election. So they rolled out an advocacy campaign called “Just because you had sex, doesn’t mean you’re f*cked” and tapped creators with a combined following of 2.5 million to educate their followers on the morning after pill.
You can now schedule an Instagram DM by holding the send icon and then selecting the date and time you want it to send. Currently you can do it 29 days in advance.
Vera Wang sold her company after 35 years of running it independently. WHP Global – which also owns labels like Rag & Bone, Isaac Mizrahi – acquired the namesake brand’s IP. Wang will stay on as founder and chief creative officer. “I am not going away,” she said.
Texting someone “call me” is one of the scariest things you can do, and will instantly out you as an old person. And while you’re at it, chill with the periods.
Mall brands like Gap, Banana Republic, and J Crew are making a comeback. As shoppers become more disillusioned with the price tags of luxury labels, they’re looking to mid-market brands to satisfy their desire for quality goods for more affordable price points. Vogue points out the trend toward these “mall brands” as the new dupe – rather than find a copycat, people are looking for reasonably priced fashion that doesn’t sacrifice quality.
Most shoppers will give up on a product if it’s locked in a case. Retail Brew polled their readers and found that 4 out of 5 people wouldn’t bother getting a product they went shopping for if it was locked up.
Birkenstock dropped a 688-page brand bible. The Book of Birkenstock is a sick flex – the brand tapped Bureau Borsche (who did branding for Balenciaga and On Running) to design the premium book, which drops during the brand’s 250-year anniversary. It has design sketches, brand campaigns and editorials, old ads, and unreleased archival images.
Beehiiv’s attack ad on Kit added $175,000 in revenue and got over a million social media impressions. If you follow founder Tyler Denk on LinkedIn, you already know his unabashed approach to promoting Beehiiv – the newsletter platform that raised $33 million to build a next-gen newsletter. But one campaign worked really well: Convert-to-beehiiv Kit offered a six-month free trial and launched during email-first operating system for creators Kit’s rebranding. Denk said it came together in five days and that they made six figures in sales.
Inc just profiled Denk on his founder playbook for the newsletter platform. “If I just tweeted about email newsletters, there’s only a small market of people who really give a shit about that. But if I tweet about building a business, raising capital, and hiring, I expand the market of people interested in learning more.”
25,000 people signed up for this AI therapist that talks like Gen Z. Calmi is a voice-based, on-demand chatbot that gives you the option to toggle into Gen Z mode. That’s probably why thousands of people signed up at launch (and broke the app) – there are plenty of online and on-demand therapy options, but not ones that say things like “that’s some serious tea” and “no cap.”
The founder of a chocolate bar brand drove 17 million views on LinkedIn organically last year. Building in public on LinkedIn is great for finding investors: The founders of Mid-Day Squares said that retail buyers and investors found out about the brand through LinkedIn. They’ve raised $17 million in venture capital and largely credit the professional network for their success.
Gen Alpha are settling up their friends’ tabs with Starbucks drinks. Move over, Venmo. A survey found that 30.7% of teens are paying back their friends by getting their Starbucks order “next time.” What stood out from the survey is that Starbucks was the only brand teens name dropped when talking about IOUs.
What’s new in Business Class
Peep the Instagram for Business Class, my membership-based course and community for entrepreneurs. When the grid gets wiped, it usually means something new is dropping soon…
This month in Business Class, Director of Content and Community Melanie Ehrenkranz is hosting weekly themed co-working clubs for members to craft their brand origin story and work on their 2025 marketing strategy. And we just dropped a new event for January: creative director Alexandra Lunn will host an interactive workshop on how to craft a visually compelling pitch deck and effective investor strategy.
If you’re a founder starting or building something, you can learn more and join the waitlist for Spring’s Business Class launch here.
More from my universe
Carry, the software platform that provides “tax alpha as a service” for business owners and W2 professionals, has a free end of year tax planning checklist that’s been super popular.
Want to buy or sell a small business? Check out Baton, where you can search for thousands of businesses and find verified buyers for your own. They’ll even broker the deal for you.
Have a B2B startup idea? Pitch Trust Fund here.
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That's great!
I needed all of this