Issue Highlights

THIS WEEKS MANTRAS
Part I — Release & Power
This week, I have been reflecting on this idea of “If this new week was a door, what would I carry through that door with me and what would i leave behind”….And One thing that came through really storngly was this mantra of" “I release what is not mine.”

For too long I’ve carried other people’s energy as if it were my own, masking, performing, adjusting, making myself the anchor in every room. But not everything I feel is mine to hold. Not every shift in tone or change in mood belongs to me. Not every silence is mine to interpret. What I carry forward now is the clarity that my steadiness does not have to be performance, it can be power. It is not about faking a mask of belonging, but about embodying a deeper truth: I belong anywhere I choose to stand.

Part II — Reputation, Resets & Resilience
I’ve also been sitting with this idea of reputation, the weight of starting over when people already know you as “someone who has built lot’s of success.” At the beginning, with zero, there’s no room for shame. You move without it, because shame is a luxury you can’t afford. But after success, when you’re rebuilding, it feels different. You carry networks, expectations, the eyes of people who’ve seen your rise and your fall. It can make you want to shrink, to move carefully, to protect what they think of you. But the truth is, reputation doesn’t cage me…it fuels me. Every reset is not a regression; it’s a refinement. And starting again does not erase my success, it proves my resilience.

Mantra:
I release what is not mine. I choose steadiness as power, not performance. Every reset sharpens me. Starting again proves my resilience.

🤍 EXCUSE ME SIR.™ PODCAST 🤍

Time is the most expensive currency in your business but most founders are leaking it without even realising it.

In this episode, I dive into the three biggest time leaks scaling founders face, founder habits, team inefficiencies, and broken systems with a deep focus on the founder-level leaks that silently cost millions in enterprise value.

We’ll cover:
• Why founders spend 8+ hours a week stuck in email instead of growth strategy
• How micromanaging eats up 7 hours a week and kills scaling momentum
• The hidden cost of context-switching and multitasking (hint: 9 hours wasted every week)
• Why wearing “all the hats” is startup culture, not a scaling strategy
• The mindset shift required to step out of operations and into enterprise growth

If you’re scaling toward $10M–$50M, this episode will help you reclaim your time, focus on valuation-driving activities, and finally stop bleeding hours that should be compounding into long-term wealth.

💸MONEY MOVES - THE CREDIT CARD TEST FOR EVERY BUSINESS EXPENSE 💸

Move: Before swiping for anything over $500 in your business, ask: “If this went on a credit card at 20% interest, would it still be worth it?”

👉 If yes → green light.
👉 If no → pause.

Why: It forces you to see the real cost of money and kills “just vibes” spending. A simple operator hack for sharper ROI.

 💄💋 Beauty, Billion-Dollar Lipsticks & The M&A Glow-Up: What JP Morgan’s Jeannette Smits van Oyen Wants You to Know

Let’s get one thing straight: Beauty isn’t just blush and bronzer anymore. It’s a $500B+ financial flex and Jeannette Smits van Oyen, JP Morgan’s global head of consumer and retail investment banking, just dropped receipts on how the real money moves in beauty and retail M&A are about to play out in 2025.

If Warren Buffett is the “Oracle of Omaha,” then Jeannette is giving “Oracle of Sephora.”

✨ The State of Beauty: From Billion-Dollar Brows to a Market Reset

First, the vibes check: 2024 was messy. Beauty valuations tanked, IPOs flopped harder than a cakey foundation, and brands that thought they were Rare Beauty suddenly found out they were… not. Investors pulled back, buyers got picky, and suddenly everyone was playing hard to get.

But Jeannette? She’s not writing off the category. In fact, she says the reset was a detox mask moment: painful, but necessary.

“There has been a broad derating in the beauty space during 2024 with really few examples of immunity,” she told WWD. Translation? Most brands got humbled. Only those with diversified channels, strong loyalty, and operational receipts kept their glow.

The Numbers the Girlies Need to Know

• 50%+ of small businesses fail within 5 years. (Yes, even beauty brands with chic packaging.)

• The creator economy is set to hit $528B by 2030, which means distribution and cultural cachet are as valuable as EBITDA.

• Beauty M&A surged in H1 2025:

  • e.l.f. Beauty dropped $1B on Rhode (Hailey Bieber’s skincare).

  • Church & Dwight scooped Touchland (yes, a hand sanitizer brand turned prestige girlie fave).

  • L’Oréal went shopping with stakes in Medik8, Jacquemus Beauty, and Amouage.

• Premium skincare + niche fragrance = the “It Girls” of categories. Investors will pay a premium here because growth rates and margins are hotter than a Dyson Airwrap.

Culture Meets Capital: Why This Matters

This isn’t just about beauty. This is about how we, as consumers and founders, are shaping valuation logic.

• Phase 1: Legacy brands = old money vibes (Estee Lauder, L’Oréal).

• Phase 2: Indie upstarts = the millennial disruptors (Glossier, Drunk Elephant).

• Phase 3: Celebrity + creator-led = culture is the moat (Rhode, Fenty, Maximum Effort).

• Phase 4 (Now): Buyers only want the haves, not the have-nots. Strong IP, loyal communities, and product lines that scale globally.

Jeannette calls this the “haves vs. have-nots era.” Think of it like dating apps: everyone’s swiping, but only the ones with proof of compatibility (community + margins + brand DNA) get the second date.

The Forecast: 2025 is the Year of Rational M&A

Here’s Jeannette’s crystal ball:

• Buyers are back, but choosy. They’ll stretch on multiples only if lenders and investors see you as safe and scalable. ( We have been screaming this from the roof tops )

• Fragrance & premium skincare = peak hot girl asset classes. Expect more LVMH-style snatch-ups.

• Retail consolidation continues. Legacy players like Selfridges and Nordstrom are basically on Raya for billionaires. The strongest will get scooped, others may go private.

• “Unlikely bedfellows” are in. Think EssilorLuxottica buying Supreme, eyewear + streetwear. Why? Diversification, darling. Don’t be surprised if beauty meets wellness, or fashion meets health-tech in the next wave.

• Valuations are recalibrating. No more vibes-only $2B unicorn asks (Selena’s Rare Beauty famously hit pause). The market wants clean books, sticky revenue, and realistic multiples.

So What Do We Do With This?

For the girlies who build, invest, or dream of an exit:

If you’re a founder:

• Stop banking on Brand Alone. Bank on unit economics.

• Share equity early. Carta benchmarks show aligned employees = stronger retention.

• Codify your IP. Proprietary formulas > “cute branding.”

If you’re an employee:

• Remember: equity isn’t just for founders. Early employees at Shopify, Uber, Airbnb cashed out 6–7 figures. Choose your seat wisely.

• Prioritize companies with care-first cultures + clear exit potential. Those are your wealth multipliers.

If you’re an investor/advisor:

• Focus on future-proof assets. Tech-enabled, loyal community, premium margins.

• Diligence is deeper now: not just EBITDA, but brand stickiness, retail media potential, omni-channel chops.

Think of 2025 beauty M&A like a closet clear-out:

• The Shein haul brands? Out. Too much noise, no resale value.

• The vintage Hermès scarf brands? In. Niche, authentic, timeless.

• The Hailey Bieber Rhode bag? Pricier than expected, but it holds value, so buyers pay up.

The Bottom Line

Beauty is no longer “cute” in the eyes of finance. It’s a serious, consolidating, billion-dollar asset class.

And Jeannette Smits van Oyen’s forecast is clear: the era of vibes-only brands is over. 2025 belongs to platforms with proof.

So whether you’re an employee eyeing equity, a founder dreaming of exit, or just a consumer watching the $165 lipstick drama unfold: remember this…

In beauty, like in business, longevity is the new luxury.

🎀 Why Being an Employee Isn’t Defeat… It Might Be the Fastest Way to Wealth 🎀

(Hyper-Individualism Is Destroying Our Collective Success)

I am aware that 99.9% Of The People Who Read this newsletter are business owners who want to grow their business…And I am still writing this anyway… Because I know that at least 25% Of you are questioning Why you are still here, Why you are slaving away for a business that gives you nothing in return & You are heavily considering entering back into the workforce. We’ve glamorized “founder” culture like it’s the only path to power. Be your own boss. Own your time. Build your empire. We’ve been conditioned to think that if you’re not a founder, you’re somehow settling. That working for someone else means you gave up, opted out, or “couldn’t hack it.” But let’s be real: that narrative is both outdated and deeply misleading.

Because sometimes? Being an employee is the ultimate wealth hack.

Let’s Talk About The Hyper-Individualism Myth…

This “founder or bust” energy didn’t come out of nowhere. It’s the child of a bigger cultural timeline, one that shaped how we think about work, loyalty, and money.

Sooooo let’s take it way back….

Phase 1: The Loyalty Era (pre-1980s)

• Job = identity.

• Stable pensions, benefits, and career ladders.

• If your employer asked for 12-hour days, you gave it willingly, because the social contract said: we’ll take care of you, if you take care of us.

Phase 2: The Breakup (1980s–2000s)

• Recessions, mass layoffs, offshoring, automation.

• Pensions? Gone. Career ladders? Dismantled.

• Employees learned the hard way that loyalty wasn’t always reciprocated. Work became transactional.

Phase 3: Hyper-Individualism + Hustle (2000s–2010s)

• Social media gave rise to the personal brand era.

• Gig work and side hustles became the dream — “I’ll work hard, but only for me.”

• The new equation: my grind, my gain.

Phase 4: The Burnout Era (2010s–Now)

• Wage growth lagged behind living costs.

• “Do more with less” corporate culture.

• Pandemic reset boundaries, normalized remote work, and made wellness non-negotiable.

• Result? Minimum viable effort for day jobs, with “real ambition” saved for personal ventures like entrepreneurship.

this history shaped the way you think, move, and measure yourself today.

• If you’ve ever felt guilty for wanting a paycheck instead of a startup, that’s hyper-individualism whispering that “real success” only counts if it’s solo.

• If you’ve ever been told loyalty at work doesn’t pay off, that’s the 80s/90s breakup still haunting the culture.

• If you’ve ever defaulted to minimum effort at your day job while saving your best energy for your side hustle, that’s burnout-era capitalism scripting your moves.

The Irony in this is that even though we have been fed the narrative That building a company solo is the only “worthy” way to own equity and upside…The Data Tells Us a Difference story. One that says that building alone often delays wealth.

Most founders don’t see a real return for five to seven years. Half don’t see one at all with 50% of small businesses failing within their first five years (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). ( Up to 70-90% If we are looking at startups )

Meanwhile? Employees in the right seats, especially in finance, tech, or consulting can leapfrog ahead in half that time, with equity, bonuses, and career acceleration baked in.

Let me put it this way…Imagine This

Two women graduate in 2015. Same ambition, same talent, different playbooks.

• Founder Friend: launches a service business. For the first 3 years, everything she earns gets reinvested. By year 5, she’s maybe paying herself a salary ( Usually between $40k - $100k) but profits are thin, cash flow is lumpy, and her “equity” is still locked inside the business.

• Employee Friend: joins a growth-stage tech company. She starts at $80K, climbs to $150K+ by year 3, adds performance bonuses, and holds a small equity grant. By year 5, she’s banked $500K+ in cash comp and her equity is vesting into something real.

Who has more optionality? Who has more liquidity to invest, to buy property, to walk away if they want to? Spoiler: not the founder.

The Smart Girl Math Speaks For Itself…The smartest play to generational wealth I can think of is building wealth on someone else’s dime.

If we want a world that values collective over hustle-alone, here’s the roadmap:

For Employees:

• Join mission-aligned companies offering equity + cash.

• Track your equity’s real value…not just “option envelope.”

• Seek environments with shared ownership models: cooperatives like Mondragon (where workers co-govern and profit share) show how collective commitment drives both satisfaction and innovation.

• Lean into companies recognized for care-first cultures. Nation-wide lists like People’s 100 Companies That Carehighlight firms excelling at empathy, wellbeing, and social capital, foundational for long-term retention and growth.

For Founders:

• Build WITH your team, not over them. Share equity early (Carta and Pear VC talk benchmarks; early equity is powerful alignment.)

• Commit to culture design: engagement, retention, trust metrics, the best cultures don’t happen by default. They’re shaped with intention.

• Model shared governance or profit-sharing can scale loyalty. Firms like SAS, W.L. Gore, Scanlon-plan companies prove collective models make business metrics better.

For Seasoned Founders Considering a Pivot:

• Stepping back to an employee seat isn’t surrender, it's insight. Build transferable skills, compounding comp + equity, then re-enter the boardroom bigger, wiser, and wealthier.

✨ The Bottom Line

Being an employee isn’t defeat. It’s strategy.

For some, entrepreneurship will always be the calling. But for many, the smartest play is to join the right table, build inside it, and use that springboard to own more later.

Because in this era? Collective success is the new flex.

🤍 Briefings They Don’t Want You To Hear that the SIR.™ Boardroom has been Gossiping About all Week 🤍
What Is Moving both the Market & Us

• PR girlies are playing M&A too: Studio Beauty just scooped up Powers PR, and the wellness-to-fashion pipeline is officially hot. HERE.

• Serena Williams x Ro are Rewriting the Stigma Around GLP-1 and are encouraging a new wave of Wellness HERE.

• Alexa, buy me a startup: Amazon snaps up Bee, the AI-wearables brand co-founded by Maria de Lourdes Zollo. HERE.

• Tatcha is Embracing the Beauty of Growing Into Ourselves HERE.

• My biggest Regret Come to Life HAHHAHA Okay Y’all, If you didn't Know, Mads and I started a Pet Food Company a few years ago that we didn’t end up doing anything with, thinking that we still have time, until that turned into us thinking we are now too late to the game…But Lilluvdog has reminded us that it doesn’t matter how saturated you think an industry is….There is always room for someone to come in and do it better. HERE.

• From SoulCycle to WeightWatchers: Julie Rice’s Peoplehood just spun its way into an acquisition. HERE.

• The $165 Lipsticks that have the entire Designer Consumer Landscape Talking…Some people are outraged, but I think this move was a Genius Pricing Strategy Move on Las Behalf HERE.

• Rent money goes girl math: Occupi, fintech platform tackling rental payments, announced an oversubscribed seed round of $3.1 million. The startup, founded and led by two women, Taylor Peake and Emily Leithauser Hart, brings AI-driven rent payment options to underbanked tenants. All four of Occupi’s VC backers in this round are female investors. HERE.

• “Women’s Preppy Outfits” Saw a 47,680% increase in searches on Pinterest this quarter & 4,428% increase in searches for "60s babydoll aesthetic." HERE. > Check out the other trends that will be covering your FYP in the next Quarter According to Pinterest’s Predictions.