Fave hits: Building a 150K strong community & completing a $105M exit, this is Michelle Cordeiro Grants story of LIVELY

Jul 18, 2022

40:40

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We’ve got Michelle Cordeiro Grant, the founder of LIVELY, talking us through how she founded and sold her company within 3 quick years for 105 million dollars. I. know. It’s crazy but the story is even crazier. I don’t want to give too much away but we talk through her unique launch that was a combination of strategy and luck, generating 130k emails in 48 hours.

LIVELY is a brand that empowers women and provides a sense of community. They deliver lingerie, activewear, swimwear, loungewear, and self-care that take the best elements of high-style and ultimate comfort from each category to achieve a brand new POV of lingerie called Leisurée.

But it’s more than its product — since launching in 2016, LIVELY has built an Ambassador network of 150,000+ members, opened four retail stores, developed several sustainable product collections, maintained its commitment to “Price Equality,” hosted hundreds of IRL and virtual events, launched a podcast, provided a platform for its community to share their passions and projects, and developed retail partnerships with Nordstrom, Madewell, and Target (launching a diffusion line called All. You. LIVELY with Target.com and select stores).

Growing from its concept stage, to $15m in funding to fuel its growth, all the way to an acquisition of $105M by Wacoal in 2019, LIVELY is poised to grow even more and make bigger and bolder strides towards its mission of inclusivity, community, sustainability, and accessibility. LIVELY is an experience and mindset that reminds, inspires, and enables its customers to live life passionately, purposefully, and confidently, doing what they love, with the people they love.

The key learning here is that Michelle is an absolute queen at building community. “The secret is to build a brand, with the world. Not to build a brand and try and sell it to the world. Let’s build this thing together.” This is two-fold. Building a community digitally, and also bringing women in physically. Build the relationship, and then build the machine. And they didn’t build the machine (LIVELY) until 1.5 years after the community was founded. It is important to get people on board that know how to take content, are passionate about showing their personal brand and then simply reach out to them. When it comes to the physical, the magic of focus groups is that they create invaluable data. Physical focus groups help you understand whether this is the image, this is the focus, or this is the tagline. It does take time. But when you know all your focus women are on board, you have the confidence that this content is going.

Now, let's get to it.

LINKS WE MENTION:

Michelle's Instagram

LIVELY's Instagram

LIVELY's Website

LIVELEY's Twitter

LIVELY's Facebook

Female Startup Club's Instagram

Doone's Instagram

Doone's TikTok

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