What I Learnt: Covid-19, Women & Vulnerability, High-Growth Companies

Happy Friday 13th (appropriately enough)!!!!

Here’s what I learnt this week:

1. Well, I learnt far more about COVID-19 than I ever wanted to know, but I’m still ricocheting wildly between a knot of fear in my stomach, feeling vaguely ridiculous for getting scared, and feeling na?ve for not being scared enough. If you can sympathise, then this BRILLIANT article on why we all feel this way is worth a read. If it helps, here are my 10 tips for managing your emotional resilience at this time. 

2. I’ve been falling down a major vulnerability rabbit-hole for the last 7 days. 

• It started with my IWD posts. One was on my favourite books by women—I noticed that they all deal with vulnerability in a raw, and brilliant way. My takeaway: it’s so much better when we talk! And we like people more when they open up—vulnerability really is like a superpower
• My other post was me talking about what I’ve learnt from failing. It wasn’t an easy post to write but I notice that the more honest I am, the more responsive people are. We’re all fighting the same demons. 
• I then listened to several podcasts where women talk about vulnerability. The following are all awesome: 
• Elizabeth Gilbert talking to Fearne Cotton on her Happy Place podcast. Gilbert says that writing is her hobby, but her full-time job is looking after her mental health. Her daily practices include meditation, dancing, and writing herself a letter from Love
• Bryony Gordon on the Happy Place podcast - an older episode but heartbreakingly honest on Gordon’s struggles with extreme OCD
• Julia Samuel on The Midult’s podcast, I’m Absolutely Fine. Key takeaway: we all have an internal "sh*tty committee” that beats us up regularly
• Ella Mills talking to Elizabeth Day on the How to Fail podcast. This was a fab conversation and Mills was exceedingly honest about her struggles. I also recommend Elizabeth’s appearance on the Deliciously Ella podcast, here.
• And if you need a reminder of why vulnerability is so important for human connection, you can listen to Brené Brown’s iconic TED Talk here
• Finally, I took delivery of Glennon Doyle’s new book, Untamed. It is quite literally jaw-dropping. Doyle takes honesty, pain and vulnerability to a new level and shows us how we have to rip ourselves open in order to live a life that’s as ’true and beautiful’ as possible. It’s one of the most quote-worthy books I’ve read.

3. There are some great, defensive high-growth smaller companies out there raising money. I attended a wonderful, inspiring lunch this week, organised by Adelpha and hosted by KPMG’s Emerging Giants team. These include 

• Slick (B2B SaaS with huge addressable market - here’s what Adelpha founder Addie Pinkster has to say about them)
• Yapster (workplace comms app for remote workers - topical!!!, FD is ex Just Eat FD)
• Moody (hormone-tracking app for women with incredible data—founder sold her last co to WPP)
• Origen Power (carbon-negative fuel cells)

Let me know if you want to chat to Addie about any of these opportunities.

PS - a great poem by Jack Gilbert for these times: A Brief for the Defence

Have a great weekend

Sara