E58. Alexandra Pluthero, Freedom Underwear - Challenges Of Funding A Non Tech Business
#ecommerce #friends&family #femaleproduct #consumer
Alexandra Pluthero is the founder and CEO of Freedom Underwear which is renowned for creating innovative non-wired bras in D+ cup sizes. She started her brand after experiencing the many pain points of bras and learning how to use a sewing machine on YouTube. Alexandra used her own savings to take the risk of quitting her job and developing ‘the world’s most comfortable’ bra.
Alexandra needed investment early on to launch, buy stock and begin marketing. Interest from family and friends led to her first round of £50K. Freedom Underwear launched in 2020 and Alexandra went for a second raise 6 months later. She realised the responsibilities as founder change as soon as you’ve launched from making bras… to finance, ops, and everything in between.
Finding investors to commit to her second raise was a challenge, and finding female investors was especially hard. Alexandra raised over £100K via the ‘next layer of the onion’ - her further-extended friends and family network. While it was scary opening up to more people, it worked!
Alexandra would like to see more transparency about what investors actually want so that entrepreneurs don’t have to spend the little time they have stumbling around in the dark.
In this episode you’ll discover:
- How to take the risk and put yourself out there
- How to build your story and have effective conversations
- Why being authentic will win over investors
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