BiggerPockets Money Podcast

476: The Real-Life Girlboss: How I Built Nasty Gal to a $100M Business

Dec 5, 2023

Sophia Amoruso, the most famous 'Girlboss' in America, shares her journey of building Nasty Gal into a $100M business without prior experience. She delves into the challenges of managing growth, the downfall of her company, and the lessons she learned. The podcast discusses her upbringing, relationship with money, venture capital, and the difficulties of leadership. It also explores her success, decision-making process, and the challenges of being a public entrepreneur.

50:33

Episode guests

Sophia Amoruso

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Differentiation and customer feedback are crucial for creating a successful e-commerce business.

Feedback, improvement opportunities, and honesty play important roles in a founder's journey to success.

Deep dives

Sophia Amoruso's Journey from Nasty Gal to Girl Boss

Sophia Amoruso, the founder of Nasty Gal, shares her story of building her business to over $100 million in revenue, the challenges that led to its ultimate bankruptcy, and how she reinvented herself in her new ventures. She discusses the success of her book, Girl Boss, and her work in mentoring entrepreneurs through her Business Class program and her venture capital fund, Trust Fund. Amoruso emphasizes the importance of differentiation in the e-commerce space and the value of customer feedback in creating a successful business.

Introduction

5min

Upbringing and Relationship with Money

13min

Venture Capital and Investors

5min

Managing Growth and the Challenges of Leadership

6min

Downfall and Bankruptcy

17min

Reflections on the Guest's Success and Decision-Making

2min

The Challenges and Lessons of Being a Public Entrepreneur

3min

Nasty Gal went from an eBay side hustle to a business doing $100M in sales in under a decade. Behind it was the most famous “Girlboss” in America, Sophia Amoruso. She had no business experience, management training, leadership coaching, background in logistics, business financials, or running an online shop. Somehow, she built a business to heights few entrepreneurs ever reach, owning an extremely profitable clothing empire and finding herself on the cover of Forbes. But then, Nasty Gal went bankrupt. What happened?

Sophia joins us on the show today to explain it all. She’ll share her full financial story, which included watching her parents go bankrupt, eventually selling her business, and seeing it suffer the same fate. From entrepreneurial mistakesto risks Sophia took that led her to massive financial success, Sophia has seen both success and failure, and she has priceless insight to offer any aspiring entrepreneur or investor.

If you want to build a business, invest in one, or start a profitable side hustle, Sophia can help. She’ll also uncover what led to Nasty Gal’s downfall, the pressure “Girlboss” put on her, and why growing too fast can kill your financial future.

In This Episode We Cover

How Sophia turned a thrifting side hustle into a nine-figure business

Hiring your first employee and why you DON’T want to over-scale your side hustle

Venture capital, investing in businesses, and when you should give up equity

Going bankrupt and rebuilding yourself after a financial failure

What Sophia is investing in NOW that’s helping her build even greater wealth

Advice for new entrepreneurs and anyone who wants to sell online

And So Much More!

Links from the Show

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