‘One thing we’ve always done really well is take calculated risks’: Betches Co-Founders
Aleen Dreksler, Co-Founder & CEO of Betches Media and Jordana Abraham, Co-Founder & CRO of Betches Media, joins Yahoo Finance’s Kristin Myers and Alexis Christoforous to discuss the process of turning a side hustle into a multi-million dollar company.
Video transcript
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: All right, our next guest turned their college side hustle into a multimillion dollar multi-platform business by and for women. Joining us now are the co-founders of Betches Media, Aleen Dreksler and Jordana Abraham. Good to have you both with us. I know that your company turned 10 recently.
For those who don't know, this is a media and entertainment brand. You have things like articles and podcasts and even clothing that you sell on your platform. How have you been-- Aileen, this will be for you. How have you been able to navigate the business? What changes have you had to implement during the pandemic?
ALEEN DREKSLER: I mean, obviously, we had to switch completely to remote work. But because we're a digital media company, it was fairly natural to make that switch. We had real live events planned for this last year, so we had to switch them to virtual. And it was actually an OK change.
KRISTIN MYERS: So this one is going to be for you then, Jordana. I think that so many folks are listening to this story about how you essentially turned what was a passion project or a side hustle into a full-time career and job. I know that a lot of changes have been made to Instagram, for example. If there was another young person out there watching that wanted to sort of replicate what you guys are doing, turning their passion project into some sort of content creation platform, what would the advice be that you would give them?
JORDANA ABRAHAM: I would say one thing we've always done really well is take calculated risks. So knowing what to invest in and knowing what we do know well, which has always been content, but also knowing what, you know, is always helpful to get a second eye on or get a really good mentor is-- get your mentor's advice on. So knowing what you don't know is just as important as knowing what you do know.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Aleen, I know that you guys were in the enviable and unique position of not needing any outside investment to start up your company. You bootstrapped it from the ground up. Can you give us a window onto that? How are you able to do that? And what might other entrepreneurs trying to get their startups off the ground learn from that?
ALEEN DREKSLER: Yeah, I think because when we originally started it, we were college kids. It wasn't meant to be this business. And so we-- like Jordana said, we were taking seriously calculated financial risks. We didn't want to go too crazy. And we were very fortunate enough to be profitable year over year from the beginning. And of course, you never know. We might be able to-- we might need to take investment in the future. But right now, it's not something we need, and that, you know, we never took for granted that the creative freedom that awarded us.
KRISTIN MYERS: What changes are you both planning to make going forward? New platforms are cropping up every single day. Of course, we now have Clubhouse, for example. How do you imagine Betches Media changing over the next couple of years?
JORDANA ABRAHAM: Our team has always been really good at being very quick to adapt to the changing times. So, obviously, like, TikTok is something that's huge right now that our team has been at the forefront of. Clubhouse is another great example. And we've been lucky enough that our audience who was with us when we started 10 years ago has really grown up with us. So we've been able to really grow up with them and hit them at points in their life where we can give our same sort of honest, open, funny voice. For example, we just launched Betches Moms, which is our new platform, which is really amazing, considering we started with our audience in college.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Yeah, that is just-- it's awesome how quickly time is going by, right, that you're now offering these podcasts for millennials. Aleen, can you give us a feel for how you're monetizing all of this? Because you said that the company is profitable right now. And I believe you turned a profit very early on. So how are you able to do that?
ALEEN DREKSLER: Yeah, so we-- our revenue comes from advertising. We-- and also e-commerce. So we have built for ourselves both a platform where advertisers want to come and reach our audience of 43 million millennial and Gen Z women. But we also act as a creative agency for that same platform. So it attracts really great clients that align with our mission, our vision.
KRISTIN MYERS: So I want to ask you something about your experience as women founders of a company. When we talk to certain groups, whether they're minorities or other women, we often talk about the hurdles that these communities face and how they're disadvantaged because of their gender, for example. I want to flip that on its head. How did you find being female founders and entrepreneurs essentially help you as you were navigating this?
ALEEN DREKSLER: Yes, sure. I think also because, you know, it wasn't just one of us on their own. While we didn't have any investors, it was-- it's we're in a unique position where I-- myself, Jordana, and our third co-founder, Samantha, we started this business together. And while that's kind of unique because we've been friends since we were 10 years old, we were able to use that as this, like, strong trust network. And I think that that's what's helped us sort of get to the point where we are 10 years later. And it was a great way for us to work together and be so collaborative. But that trust was really important.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: All right, we're going to leave it there. Aleen Dreksler, Jordana Abraham, co-founders of Betches Media, best of luck to you.
