Startup Life with Karen #4 – 100% Me

Startup Life with Karen is your go-to for exploring transformative solutions, following the Our Kinds journey to redefine reuse, and equipping sustainability leaders with insights?to create lasting, regenerative impact. Your weekly "not-a-newsletter" newsletter.

I’m not the same as you and I am questioned – A LOT!?

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Here’s a sample:?

“Why can’t you write a newsletter?”?

The purpose of a founder’s newsletter is to ‘sell’ the founder, as that’s what investors first consider—the founder fit. First followers follow founders.?

I don’t read instructions. I don’t thrive with structure. I don’t write quickly. I bombed out of school and then out of uni. While I do research my topic online, it’s inspirational and incidental.?

Instead, I immerse myself, hands-on in the problem and then problem-solve through trial and error.?

Through that, I strip away the complexity, find simplicity, and get sh*t done.?

A newsletter requires structure, research, fixed deadlines, and predictability—that’s not me.?

So, if the newsletter, now ‘not a newsletter’, is to truly represent me, it must be my voice, my thinking, my way of behaving. It must be me.?

This way, the people looking for a founder like me can find me.?

Of course, we have an incredible team, advisory group, and champions at Our Kinds. We find solutions together, so our business and outcomes are absolutely a team effort—but this ‘not a newsletter’? It’s 100% me!?

(Except for the amazing Renee Cheah checking grammar, fixing the format, and uploading it for the chick who never learned grammar—true story.)?

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Where does your courage to challenge come from??

The dinner table.?

Every night, we explored different topics with a family who all thought differently. My mother and father cancelled out each other’s votes at most elections, yet they have the most loving, respectful, tactile relationship of any couple I know. Unconditional love—unbreakable.?

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Why aren’t you freaking out right now??

Would it help??

Find yourself freaking out often? Check out this talk by Luvvie Ajayi Jones.

Why don’t you get a real job, a predictable income, and reduce your stress right now??

Hmm… how would that work??

I am a 61-year-old woman who has held leadership roles in transitional environments across corporate, NFP, government, health, finance, production agencies, festivals, media, start-ups, and more.?

Recruiters don’t get me.?

For years, I’ve approached businesses I want to work with directly and pitched how they would benefit from my experience. It’s produced incredible opportunities, but it takes months to achieve (even when I was 30).?

Thank you Daniel Tippett, Madeleine Preece, Tyson Carr, Dave Marshall, ?Athina Georgiou, and Grainne O’Loughlin for taking a chance on me.?

The real answer is that I am ALL IN with Our Kinds. I am 100% committed to eliminating single-use waste, and I LOVE the solution we’re about to launch.?

We’ve raised $385,000 in investment and more in sweat equity, and I honour my fellow risk-takers.?

We’ve got this, and those who’ve been with us on this journey see that. The world will too—soon.?

BTW, a ‘real’ job? My job is REAL, baby. As real as it gets.?

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Why don’t you pitch to Starbucks??

We’ve created a business model for the world, trialled in small but challenging environments—remote cafés, high streets, small to medium office buildings, and leisure precincts.?

We’ve discovered the blockers to change, continue to identify solutions, and are preparing to scale in exemplar precincts.?

As we prove this model, we anticipate that our exit will be through acquisition by an organisation like Starbucks, Lion Nathan, Coca Cola, Visy, or BioCup—as long as they continue our legacy to eliminate single-use cups.?

These organisations rely on recycling. We make recycling redundant. At some stage, they’ll have to pivot.?

BTW, BioCup purchased Huskee this year to gain a foothold in reuse. Some cafés trialling the Our Kinds?model already use Huskee cups as part of their solution. We’re not competitors—we’re collaborators.?

Pitch as a product/service/consultant to Starbucks now, or sell to Starbucks as a global business model later??

What would you do? What do you reckon our investors would prefer??

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Do you think you’re a pattern breaker??

Thank you Tobin Trevarthen for recommending Pattern Breakers by Mike Maples—we tick every box.? ?

Are you worried about your financial security for the next 30 years??

Hell yeah—and I’m working on it.?

But being reminded of it at dinner parties, on walks, or in phone calls? That doesn’t help. It immerses me in the problem.?

If you’re worried about my financial security, think about how you might help—whether it’s no-risk or shared-risk.?

• Like, comment on, or share this post.?

• Follow Our Kinds and encourage others to do the same.?

• Think about who you know that could support our growth.?

• Open doors to sponsors, investors, suppliers, and more.?

• Invest in our current SAFE note raise.?

• Join our 2025 crowd fund raise (for as little as $100). DM me to indicate your interest.?

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You seem to only talk about cups??

Yep. We’ve built a business model to eliminate single-use waste and are laser-focused on one culprit—500 billion of them are produced globally every year.?

We know what it takes to achieve 100% reuse. We’re redesigning the supply chain and influencing a new habit for the world to make this goal achievable.?

That’s your 100% real from this 100% founder in a ‘not a newsletter’.?

If you’d like more of this format, let me know.?

Either way, send through any burning questions you might have.?

Let’s go!?

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Photos L to R:?

• A founder’s gotta do whatever it takes—even climbing fences.?

• Winning the Victorian Premier’s Design Award for Service Design for the world’s first Parenting Concept Store (Dan Pike, Grainne O’Loughlin, me, and Tyson Carr).?

• Learning to slow down, recover, to go fast.?

• Hands-on in just the start of the solution.?

• Narrative Mosaic—my resumé for the future by Tobin Trevarthen, Spatial Shift.?

• Riding from Melbourne to Phillip Island to camp in the rain—at 17.?

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JOIN THE OUR KINDS MOVEMENT?

We’re not just talking about change—we’re making it happen together. Join us as we continue to build this movement and BE the change we want to see.?

Three ways to get involved and support us:?

1. Comment on this weekly newsletter, tag someone who might want to read it, and share it with others.?

2. Follow Karen Monaghan for daily posts.?

3. Subscribe to our monthly Our Kinds investor update newsletter (launching soon).?