An Insurance Startup Runs One of the Most Talked-About Cafes in Tech

I say that I didn't start the fire, but I poured gasoline on the fire and that's my job here. You are the head of community at Corgi and we do ecosystem partnerships, new media, cafe marketing. You learn a lot of hard lessons. What are some of the hard lessons that you carry with you?

So, one of my favorite quotes ever is from Charlie Mer and it's the safest way to get what you want is to deserve it. I even went viral recently for a selfie and there was a lot of noise about it. So, as a woman building my personal brand in tech, I sometimes feel the pressure to choose between being visible and being taken seriously. So, how do you think about that balance?

My give a f muscle has gone down cuz I have a habit tracker. It's a monthly calendar and I just put in 20 habits and then I check off whether or not I did them every day and then I just focus on myself and I invest in myself, take care of myself, like those bare bones basics. The cafe is described as a watering hole for founders and VCs. So, we are creating the third space for builders across tech.

So, you're going to be opening one in New York and then London, too. Is that right? Oh, yes. London that is opening soon, too.

We have a great team out there already. Some of our investors TCV led our most recent series B. So, they have been hitting us up saying they want a guest barista at the Corgi Cafe. We want to go big and be really ambitious this year and open more.

And that's why I'm here in New Brooke. Hi. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you so much for being on the podcast.

Where are we right now? We're in Madison Square Park in New York City. New York City. Wild.

We're here. What are we What are we doing in New York? We are chatting all things tech media content. I'm here for tech week.

I'm here representing Corgi. We're building the Corgi Cafe in New York. Got a lot going on. That is so exciting.

So, how's uh tech week been for you so far? Have you been meeting a lot of like ecosystem people, partnership people or yeah, what's the cool people? Oh my goodness, I have been up and down the six train all week long. Uh going from the Upper East Side to Tribeca just meeting everyone in the ecosystem.

Uh different folks who do what I do at their startup and folks in the new media sector in particular. So, a lot of companies are building out a new media team just like what you're doing at Composeio. Um, so I'm really excited to chat with you today and like explore our synergies between our companies. And Brooke, you're so amazing.

I mean, like you are the head of community at Corgi and um you do ecosystem partnerships, new media, cafe marketing. You have such creative marketing too. I think IRL marketing is becoming so much more prominent and you're like just you have such creative ideas and I'm really excited to like dive into those. So, first let's start with a a little bit more fact.

So, Corgi opened a 247 cafe in San Francisco as a marketing strategy for an insurance company. Whose idea was that? How did it start? Were you at the company when it started?

Oh my goodness. Yes. I inherited the Corgi Cafe. So, I don't get to take ownership for the idea.

That was our CEO, Nico, and our chief of staff, Josh, who sat in a room together, and decided what to do with the first floor space of our office because we work out of the fifth floor of the same building. So, it used to be a former barber shop. And there was no zoning or permits for a coffee shop. They spun it up within a couple weeks.

Uh, and I joined the company two weeks after the coffee shop opened, but it didn't have the hype that it has today. So I say that I didn't start the fire, but I poured gasoline on the fire and that's my job here. It's it's the brand already exists. There's the corgi orange has already been decided.

There's a lot like a full year and a half history that existed before I joined. So my directive and the way I'm understanding the mandate from Nico and our CEO and the vision that he wants for the company is to pour gasoline on the fire he already started. So it's like with great respect to like the start and the roots of Corgi, but we're just getting started and it feels that way across all areas of the business, not just marketing. And when you first got the role had a community, what were like the expectations going into it?

And now how does the reality look like? It's very similar to what you you expected to go into. It is not what I expected, but I will say I had no expectations. So I had a fast turnaround from when I interviewed to when I got the position.

I was already in San Francisco. So it was a plug-and-play situation. I just had to Uber from my place. I live in Marina District to financial district where Corgi Cafe and our Corgi HQ is.

So that was the only shift for me in lifestyle is just okay, new commute, new team. Let's figure it out. U I'm eight years into my career. So I've seen a lot and I most my career is out here in New York actually and it's a pretty doggy dog world out here.

It's very competitive. I have a financial services and tech background in sales uh which is It feels like a dog fight a lot of times. So, I I just feel like I've learned a lot of like hard lessons through my work experience. So, I'm prepared for anything.

Um, and when I walked in, I couldn't believe how collaborative and kind a lot of the team was compared to some of the experiences I've had in my career. Um, and everyone is extremely smart but generous with their ideas. Like, we share knowledge across the org really seamlessly across different sectors. So I'm constantly talking to our product team, our sales team.

Uh like there's a clear line of communication between all of us. We're just in one floor of an office, but we're quickly outgrowing it, by the way. So more to come for us. But yeah, it it's it's been tremendous.

It's been beyond my wildest dreams and expectations. It's like getting close to a dream job. We have a lot more to accomplish. So I don't want to say that yet.

Um, yeah, it's it I I never could have imagined to work some place like Corgi and it's been good to me so far and I hope I've contributed a lot back to the team. That is amazing. And so you mentioned how you were working um so in sales before and you learned a lot of hard lessons. What are some of the hard lessons that you carry to with you?

O, anyone who's been in sales knows this, the commission splits fight. So when you are bringing in deals, you're an AE and if you're a top performer on the team, it gets even more intense. Uh because there can be tall poppy syndrome, which is an idea from Australia where if one person is sticking their neck out too much or earning too much, then the rest want to revert to the mean and bring them down. So it can be tough to be on a team where the whole team's supposed to perform, but there are some outliers.

Some people just work harder than others and um other folks have rent due and they want to come for you and and so I've I've spent a lot of years in very tough sales teams and I think that's built a lot of resiliency. I've learned a lot about human psychology and behavior as a kind of byproduct of that. And I do a lot of EQ work on my own time and dime. So I'll invest in these leadership retreats.

I did leaders in tech last year, last December in Soma. So I flew out to the west coast right before I moved and I do those things to help me be a better person in my personal life and professional life. And so that's like a reaction to just meeting reality as it is. Like I don't wish for some organizations to have a different culture.

I just want to be better and like be a leader in the company. Um so that's kind of my mo and how I've like directed my career so far and have gotten to where I am today. I love that mindset like outlook and like the personal development. I know that on your ex like I see that you read a lot of books and you're always like it's it's super amazing.

Um so there are plans to expand. Oh the cafe is described as a watering hole for founders and VCs. What does success look like? Is it like insurance signups, brand awareness or like something harder to measure?

Oh gosh. So like what is the true goal of the cafe? Yes. Why?

Uh so it's con it's contrarian to what other startups or even venture funds are doing right now especially in tech week in New York because there's a lot of popups. We are not a pop-up. I cannot stress that enough. Nico likes to vertically integrate everything in the company.

So we like to own and operate everything we do. My colleague Erica, head of brand, she's wonderful. You would love her. She started a physical newspaper and she prints it every week and now she just bought a newspaper printer like a huge industrial printer to be able to print the newspaper in our office.

And so that's an example of how we vertically integrate everything. We do it all ourselves DIY and that is what we're doing with the cafe. So we are creating the third space for builders across tech. So hackers, early adopters to AI products, founders, early stage venture back founders, venture funds themselves.

We're attracting all kinds of folks all across the ecosystem to gather and it's 24/7. So builders need to grind late nights, early mornings, whatever the case is, we provide the space for that. We have a ton of outlets, Wi-Fi, and bathrooms. I call that the trifecta of cafes that very few in New York have.

You'd be surprised. It's like you you go into man and they say shot your laptops. So, uh I'm constantly taking notes of like what other cafes are doing, what they aren't doing, and what feels brand aligned to Corgi. And I'll gut check it with the CEO to make sure because it's his company.

I want to be respectful of Corgi. And making sure that the vision that I'm building within the subsidiary of Corgi Cafe LLC, which is what I'm helping operate internally, is like a whole different company line. um making sure that that is successful and that is in line and um synonymous with the rest of the brand because we have our huge B2B SAS insurance business. So beyond the B2B insurance business, these cafes are a way to bring in our ICP.

We don't only sell startup insurance which is some people are not aware of um because our our website talks about startup insurance. Uh we have all different types of insurance verticals that we'll be more loud about later this year. But those cafes are a third space for all of our customers on the insurance side of business and just folks who want to be more familiar with corgi or get a cup of coffee. Like it doesn't have to be such a strong ROI.

Uh it's okay if someone just wants to come in and spend $6 and we only make like a very slim margin on that $6 cup of coffee and that's fine and we keep it moving. uh because it creates a brand halo effect and it's just a positive sum effort for us and the whole ecosystem to do this and we want to go big and be really ambitious this year and open more and that's why I'm here in New York right now. Wow. Yeah.

So, you're going to be opening one in New York and then London too. Is that right? Oh, yes. London.

We that is opening soon too. We have a great team out there already. Some of our investors TCV letter most recent series B. So, they have been hitting us up saying they want a guest barista at the Corgi Cafe and be really hands-on.

So, one of my teammates is going to bring one of our investors, a partner in TCV through the demolition site because we're redoing it and he'll he'll get to see the behind the scenes. So, it's really cool to bring in people like all across Corgi nationwide and globally who are believers of Corgi. So, our investors obvious believers because they put their money where their mouth is. But there's tons of people in the ecosystem.

Like even you all have been amazing brand partners to us who bet on us and have a drink at the Corki Cafe. Yeah. So, Composio has a has a drink at the Cork. I have yet to try it.

I'm moving test like next week. I'll be there like fulltime. So, I'm going to buy it. I'm going to like film my like react taste test.

So, yeah. I'm excited. You're going to love it. I know.

I'm so excited to talk about more about like that initiative, that campaign because that's been so unique. And another thing you might find like really uh I mean such like a compliment is like yesterday I was at at a panel and I was like listening to these um you know founders like talking and then they have like mentioned they mentioned the panel like the interviewer mentioned how mentioned Corgi cafe and how this is the only cafe that lets you stay like 247 like always there and there's no other cafe. Are there any other cafes like that or where it's not to my knowledge where it's just founders coming and building and it's just very like you guys are so like you have such a unique like a you know place in the market and yeah it's very like I mean you guys are selling like insurance right yes so like this is just a plus like on top of that it's super very good and so okay so plans to expand core geek cafe to New York City London other cities what does it look like to take a of a community IRL from one city to another like how are you going to make community like is what's the strategy with that? Yes.

Well, content marketing is life-changing. It's a pipeline for a lot for what I do at Corgi. So, it's content marketing is a pipeline for hiring. It's a pipeline for sales on the insurance side.

It's a pipeline for sales for our drink partners, aka just like an ecosystem play. And the drink is one way that we're able to work with folks um and help put other brands in our cafe. So they're getting the eyes and ears and like early adopters and access to our cafe patrons who is their ICP. And it is the funnel for community overall because it connects me to people globally.

And I realized this from a personal side many years ago on X. I love X. That's my favorite platform. I haven't graduated to video yet, so you're inspiring me.

Uh, but I love X. And on X, I realized many years ago that I could train and race for marathons and set these really ambitious fundraising goals, capture all of those funds, like now it's been tens of thousands of dollars over the past couple years with marathons around the world. And I'll go through my donor list after every fundra. And I'll write thank you notes to everyone.

And I'll read through the addresses for people who put their address down. Some people want to be anonymous. It's fine. And over 20% are global.

And like this the representation across the United States of my following on X and people who have put their money where their mouth is and invested in me and my running career and donated to my amazing charities that I've chosen. It's it's across like 30 plus states in the United States. So I have a really strong reach just very globally. And that's that's a real manifestation of like, okay, I am not shouting out into the void whenever I make a post.

Like there's real people around the world and around the United States that I could never meet or shake their hands in person maybe one day if I travel enough. Um, and they're paying attention to me or I resonated with them or I changed their life in some way or I help them plan a workout the next day like I influence them in some way even if it's a tiny increment that like changed their life. And so thinking about that impact that I've done in my personal life in a company side, I think I I see that responsibility when I make content for Corgi and I try to build our community in other cities and like it it starts from content and because it starts from awareness like that's the top of the funnel in a way and people's attention is their most valuable resource because our consciousness is all we have. And if for our waking hours, those 16 hours that we're up and moving throughout the day, there's so many opportunity costs.

There's so many different things that you and I could be doing in this hour block instead of sit down with each other. But this is valuable for both of us. And so thinking about like every time someone picks up their phone, like why would they care to see my content? And having that in the back of my mind of like I need to add value, not people should see me because they XYZ.

Like there's no ego attached to it. It's actually like with great respect and honor of people's time because that's how I consume. I consume very intentionally and I want to elicit that. I want to earn that.

I never want to be given followers. That's why I could probably have a lot more followers than I currently do, but I don't do growth hacks. I don't have a team making content for me for personal or brand. And I don't, for lack of a better word, post or do something that like elicits a certain response out of people that just doesn't feel right.

long term. I think play the long game, be authentic, and then also just make the ask. Like I've having been in sales for quite some time, I've been reaching out to people and I have a folder in my email for each city of all the asks that I have lined up for Chicago, Dallas, Austin, Atlanta, London, like you name the city and we have the ask like archived in my email already. So I do think what's the missing weapon here in terms of content marketing?

Maybe a lot of people can go viral and go viral consistently, but can they convert that to real leads, real dollars, real new hires that they've closed and that are working at the company? So, the conversion is kind of this missing business piece. It's just the business fundamentals, but moving people down a pipeline and and directing them to the right people internally, making sure everything's closed, not dropping a ball. Um, I'm I'm an email ninja.

I'm inbox zero, so I'm always like in archiving everything in my email. Um, so it's it's these skill sets. It's a culmination of things. It's like the business fundamentals.

It's knowing how to reach people. And I think just social media and going viral consistently is just a byproduct of being really good at communication. And so it's communicating face to face in person. But a lot of what I do on X is async.

So it's like photos, videos, or just like written form. So it's just like learning how to communicate with people. like how do I make something that actually resonates and actually changes their lives, inspires them, like feel make them feel compelled to do something or just stay memorable. So getting the reps in and constantly making content is it's it's important.

I post every single day. Oh my gosh, that I'm learning so much. You're like so knowledgeable on this. Like you are Oh my gosh, that's incredible.

And so you're running new media for an insurance startup. What does new media even mean for you? new media. So, this is some lore, okay?

Because eight years ago, I got my degree in new media and it wasn't a thing back then. It wasn't a thing. And and I still joked at the time. I thought, um, I thought that this is a joke.

No one's going to take me seriously. No one cares what is new media. Because at the time, new media was social media. And I would sit in school and I would hear the instructors talk about ad buying on television and commercials for the Super Bowl and like all sorts of media buying and out of home.

That just felt so antiquated versus I would like scroll on my phone and be an early adopter on Instagram and X making content, sharing stuff on Pinterest and Tumblr. And I would just be like, what am I actually in school for? because the textbooks are outdated. My new media is on my phone right here.

Um, so that was unique. So, my degree is in advertising, new media, and entrepreneurship. All of which sound really valuable today, but didn't it I I was truly only following my passions and interest. Um, so I've just been a geek and like a total nerd in the industry, in the space.

I've been following people in the space forever. I went to Can Line for the first time when I was 20. I just like I'm a I'm a perfect example of someone who's gone through life with the third door mentality. Like everything in my life has been earned, not given.

I'm climbing climbing to get to where I want to go and do what I want to do. And I think that has given me a lot of slow success. And so part of new media and like how I've got gotten to watch it evolve is it's gone from social media to now it's much more experiential because with AI we can do a lot more. Um, and at Corgi, I really want to implement that and make the cafe be very tech friendly, tech forward.

We get a lot of inquiries for robotics to have that more incorporated into our cafe. I know our partner 11 Labs, they have a robot serving coffee this week and they're going to launch at Corgi in a couple weeks with a drink just like you have. Um, so we are constantly trying to disrupt ourselves and I think that's the most important thing with new media because there's always a frontier. There's always something else.

if you're not going there and trying it and tinkering with it, then you're going to be left behind or you're just not as efficient or effective and then eventually you'll be left behind. So whether it's a leading indicator, lagging indicator that you're not going to make it. Um and and when I say not going to make it, I I'll be more specific. I mean that you're not going to stand out amongst the crowd because there's more and more noise, especially with AI sloth.

And for your brand to continue to be relevant and cool and hip and on the front edge, you just have to be thinking about every day, how do we do something better today than we did yesterday? And last night, I was sending video content internally because we need to hire a video podcasting person. So, if you know anyone, let us know. Um, so I was sending content at like 10 or 11 o'clock Eastern time and we were all online in the chat.

Our co-founders, my media team, we we were talking all day long every day about how to disrupt ourselves because first round had a really cool video segment that they put out. Um, so I sent it to the team. I was like, "What are we doing like this? Like how can we innovate?

How can we do this? " So I think just being chronically online helps too. What was the video you said that was like um that you sent the team example? Oh.

Um, I believe it was Founders Fund. Oh my god. Yes, the the mafia. Yeah, the mafia.

Oh my god. Yes. I watched a little bit today. That is so good.

What are your thoughts on like Tell me more about What are your thoughts on that? Like I just think it's unique. It's cool. It breaks people's shells to be in that environment.

So, I like seeing different personalities than like the the names and faces that we're used to. Well, I'm pro like meeting your heroes anyways. Like I love meeting people who I look up to online or who had big careers and seeing their real personalities. Um but I thought the editing was great.

I thought the camera work was great. Like the fundamentals of the video production was awesome. The idea was great. Execution was great.

And it's founder fun. So they're iconic. How are they going to not put out great work? And so they have this brand affinity.

Like even what I just said, I assume that the video is good before I even click on it. And so I would love to get to that position at Corgi where we're making content that people want to tune into every day the way people used to want to tune into TV shows when they were live every week, every Tuesday. That's why on my ex now my bio says posting daily. So people have the expectation.

They know when they click on my channel, quote unquote, like what they're getting. It's just like when they used to tune on tune in to ESPN, they know what they're getting. That's a sports network. They're getting live sports.

So when they tune in to my channel, they know exactly what they're getting. And so being very sharp and clear about what Corgi can deliver in the media sector and especially with video is kind of our next frontier internally beyond just the cafes. That's awesome. Yeah.

Your whole background is in building communities around personal stories and how do you bring that energy I mean you kind of you talked a lot about that to a B2B product that most founders only think about when would you say only think about when something goes wrong? Yeah. Yeah. Well, hopefully people don't get insurance only when something goes wrong.

Okay, that can be true. I'd hope that's not the reactive thinking that founders are founders are operating with. Um hopefully they're proactive with insurance because for for our life and health, we operate that way. So hopefully for their businesses, they operate that way too.

Um like get insurance when you're healthy as a business and as an individual. Uh, not financial advice, just general human advice. Yeah. So, well, I will say the industry is boring.

Like, who wants to get on a call with an insurance rep from Geico or you name fill-in- thelank company in insurance. So, uh, I I inherited the brand. So, I inherited the name Corgi and that was extremely smart. That was our two co-founders who in the inception of our company coming out of YC, they were naming it and they acquired a corgi.

So our company owns a corgi. Her name's Trudy. She lives in the office and they decided to name the company Corgi for many reasons, but one of them is that a pet is beloved. They're warm.

They're friendly. A lot of us have dogs at home and when you see a dog it evokes like a very visceral sense of wanting to take care of the pet or wanting to pet the dog and that is antithesis to the insurance industry which is boring old and no one wants to get on a call with the rep or respond to an email with the rep. So it kind of counteracts and kind of acts as this like justosition of insurance with like pets which everyone loves and you want to take photos of. So they were really smart to find a mascot early and Geico has a lizard.

So we're like what who is what is our brand and so I got to walk into a company that already had this built out and so uh that was really genius of them and it helps shift our B2B SAS company into something that feels more real and tangible. I will say with all of the different entrance verticals that we're going to be more public with over the next year or two, people will be very impressed and surprised of how we've grown the business because it's it's really fun internally. Like we have offices all across the nation that are acquiring pets themselves and our our I'm trying to think what I can and cannot say, but our different subverticals because we're going after different verticals in the insurance space. They're named after different pets.

So each office is acquiring the dog of what that service vertical is named after. So we're not all corgis internally. We have some other pets and I'll let time reveal itself of like what offices are acquiring what dogs, but it's super fun and it's it's an extension of our brand and it's it's something that we know has worked and we're doubling down on it. And we're very tough operators internally.

Like we cut to the chase, we double down on what's working. We cut the fat. We remove immediately what's not working and we're focused on profit in all areas of the business. Same with the cafe.

So that is the way we're operating and how we're kind of differentiating ourselves and building a real strong business that is anti-fragile and can weather any storm across the entire insurance market. And yeah, I mean that would be that would be my buyer beware like my caveat to any founder in the industry is like get the insurance right when you need it. I have a buddy who just raised from Coastal Ventures and um now he's in the position to need insurance and we're onboarding him ASAP. Like I'm seeing him tomorrow because I'm like we got to get you on insurance.

Like you cannot not be insured with the responsibility you have to your fiduciary investors. So um hopefully people are making the right decision and getting insured with Corgi. Let's go. Oh my gosh.

Amazing. Oh, one thing you mentioned how you quickly cut things that aren't working. Yes. What like didn't work that you had to cut?

Oh, well, when I first started, I didn't know where I fit into the business yet. And every day I would wake up and think, how can I add value? That's also the way I approach content. I wake up and I think, how can I add value today?

So, that's a really good framework for a lot of different areas of life or even with friendships. That's good. U So, with Corgi, when I first started, we were traveling a bit doing popups and we would do, and this wasn't pop-up cafes, that's separate. Uh we would do popup like I I called it Corgi House at different conferences.

And so the reason why we did this at first is because Nico had to speak at an event in LA. So we got an Airbnb, we hosted there and we did a pop-up corgi house and then I thought, let me try this in South by Southwest. So I would fly out to Austin right after LA and I did a corgi house in Austin. And then it turned out to be really expensive.

It was hard to get community across cities last minute. Even though it's pretty impressive what we've accomplished because we would plan these things within a day. We have very fast lead times internally because we we like to run experiments very quickly because kill it if it's not working but double down if it is. Um and we move very fast because we're always on.

I know Nico's talked about that. So I'll let him cover that news. Um, but we're we're pretty responsive teams because we have a lot of work to do and we have a lot of venture capital to deploy. So, we have all the resources to run and not a lot of internal blockers.

And like that's a testament to our two co-founders who do so much for us as employees. Um, but so I tried Corgi House in different cities and that was a huge lift. " So, I went back to San Francisco, doubled down on the cafe that we have, focused on our community there. We're not hosting events outside the Corgi Cafe HQ um in San Francisco at all whatsoever.

We get asked to sponsor and do splashier events all the time and we say no to everything. So, we're saying no all the time. And then we are building what's currently working. So, building everything in-house at Corgi.

All events at Corgi um filter to our San Francisco location and soon it'll filter to all of our locations nationwide. Uh, so I think being really generous with the no with the word no is a powerful move. I do think we're positioning ourselves based on every decision we make internally to make corgi venture scale and to maintain power in the ecosystem and continue to prove ourselves. Of course, it's not given, it's earned through the way that we show up for our people, our customers, um, our employees internally.

Yeah, that's a long rant, but uh I I I didn't think Corgi House had longevity there. Maybe it'll come back one day. So, that's like another thing in the back of my mind. I have a couple ideas that are brewing and I'm like that would be really fun, but it doesn't make sense because every individual has probably two or three people's work on their plate.

So, I know I do a couple p a couple different people's work. Like, you could definitely split my job into multiple roles. And so, because of that, we have to be really focused with what we're executing on to be able to do it well. Like I can't do five things well.

I can maybe do one or two things exceptionally well and then delegate or manage like how the rest get done if they get done by a team or other people. So yeah. Awesome. Yeah.

You wrote a LinkedIn post talking about how you guys had this idea for the cafe brand partnerships in at Irwan in LA. Uh yeah. So tell me more about the story of how this company sponsored drinks came to be. Yes.

So, back to the Corgi House, LA. That was that was it. Okay, that was it. That was the origin.

So, okay, cool. Yeah. Right out of the out of the airport, we went straight to Airwan and we were taking photos of the cafe and we're like, what can we do that would be really iconic for Corgi? Awesome.

Sick. What made you think brands would go for it? Oh, because I tested demand. Oh, yeah.

Having a sales background, I sat down with people in the ecosystem and would run meetings in the cafe itself and say, "How much would you pay for this? Do you want this? " So, I would say it's more of a service than a product because paying for cardboard sleeves, it's like you can get that anywhere with your name on it and then just like insert it onto a coffee cup, I guess. But what's unique about us is like all the service we provide.

So the media and the marketing machine gets activated on your brand and we put a lot of eyes on it. Um you're able to do a corgi cafe takeover, put your logos all over the cafe and then it's a strict non-compete. We don't have competitive companies at the same time. So we have one payroll provider, one credit card provider.

Uh so I guess for a period of time because there's seasonal menu, we choose favorites, but long term we are pro the entire ecosystem. We want everyone to get rich and be successful here. Um but for one at a time we do non-competes um on the menu and then we also yeah we have like this whole value offering and different services that we provide in the Corg cafe drink contract. Um but a part of that was just sitting down with people and saying like what price makes sense what sounds fair.

We did quarter we did monthtomonth and then quarterly because that's how a lot of budgets are panned out. So it was more so a co-creation of the pricing and the structure and the terms with people that I would just meet with. And then once we found a contract that we sold once, I was like, "Okay, we're not touching it for a couple months. " So, we sold the pilot for about a month and now we've been live for a month.

So, it's been about two months operating this from the ground up. And it's been really fun because I get to use all my sales skill sets of how to manage a pipeline and then how to take care of people and customer service and build a team around it because now we we have a whole sales function with it and we have to build a team around it for cafe marketing and sales and ecosystem. Um but I think that's like my biggest takeaway and advice to anyone looking to sell a new product internally. It's like test the market.

Like just talk to people. Talk to your customers as much as you can in person. Ask what they want. and ask what price seems to wear.

Don't be afraid to ask for that. Like it's it it is it does cost money to operate. Like we we front all the cost of drink R&D, the sleeves itself. So it's okay to charge a little bit.

Like it doesn't have to be crazy. Like we're not making a huge profit off the drinks at all, but it's an ecosystem play and it's the right thing to do for Corgi and for all of our partners. So yeah, it happened kind of naturally. Let's go into more advice.

So, as a woman building my personal brand in tech, I sometimes feel the pressure to choose between being visible and being taken really seriously. So, how do you think about My give a f muscle has gone down. I just don't care about anyone who's not a believer in what I'm doing. So, I learned this in New York.

I just in person and online for many years posting and working different jobs um some jobs of which were more serious about my content. They would make side comments. I've gotten a lot of backhanded comments my whole career. I've gotten comments from bosses and employees telling me to repost their company's stuff because I had a bigger following than the company did.

" And I just, it's not like I didn't want to do it. Like I've been proud of where I worked, but I pushed back hard. So, I've gotten to develop really thick skin and I just don't really care as much as I used to. I think that's a product of being in my late 20s and I hope in my 30s I'm even more unapologetic.

So, that's my biggest advice is like just don't care. Like, and the best way to build that muscle because it has to come through experience. No one can teach, no one can tell you that and then immediately you just don't care. Is to focus on yourself.

Like the one way I did this is I have a habit tracker and it's a monthly calendar and I just put in 20 habits and then I check off whether or not I did them every day. And so I I call this a getting my needs met. And so when I use my habit tracker, if I'm focused on someone's mean comment or if someone at work says something sideways about con content that I make or if anything comes into my orbit that I shouldn't even have read in the first place because people will project a lot when they see someone being successful or being very visible, especially if they're a woman. I just go to my habit tracker and I think like am I getting my needs met today?

And then I just focus on myself and I invest in myself take care of myself. like those barebones basics like do your like take your vitamins like do your stretches like little things that matter if that you do all 20 in one day. Granted we have busy lives so I don't do all 20 every day but it holds me accountable to just focus on me reenter and then I just go about my day and eventually I've been able to just like let things go and I not I don't ruminate but it takes a lot of work. I I protect my nervous system like it is the most expensive thing I own because it is because I can't afford to develop chronic stress.

Of course, we have so much stress in our days, but I don't want chronic stress because that leads to disease. It's a onetoone correlation. Um, so if I can do one thing to set myself up in the future, it's yes to earn a ton of money and like take care of myself in retirement because no one else is going to like I'm not a trust fund kids or I have to pound the pavement and work, but I also and ideally I retire early, but also I want to protect my nervous system because I don't want to be 40 super successful and have a chronic illness. So, it's this these two opposing forces that I take care of.

And those things are so crystal clear to me to build wealth for myself and my future family and also protect my health and wellness and well-being that I just kind of care less and less about the noise. I even went viral recently for a selfie. And there was a lot of noise about it. And I I I think I handed it well because I'm like, "Okay, I've been through this before.

Like, I've dealt with this in person online. " So, be resilient and build that resilience because it doesn't come overnight. A that's so sweet. Thank you.

That's going to help so many like girls and Yeah, that's amazing. What do you wish someone had told you early on about showing up online as a woman in the startup world? I h you know, it's hard because like would I do what I do now if I knew what I know now? Then I think yes, absolutely I would do what I'm doing now.

I'm digitally native, so I've grown up with all the apps and the social media, and so it feels very second nature to make content. Yeah. I think I would have focused more on video in the past. The reason why I haven't, and I'd love your take, is because I'm scared to lose my privacy completely.

Okay. Like I I typically only talk in first person on my content. Okay. I do have advice on this.

Maybe it's not answering your question fully. No, it's okay. But I do think content is like making content about your own life with your own face and your own name is productizing yourself. And I'm very intentional about what areas of my life I productize.

Like it feels like very safe like neutral Switzerland ground for me to productize my reading or my running. These are kind of like everyday things that I'm proud of that I feel integrity with and that I'm okay sharing in my personal and professional life and all all across the internet because that stuff has been everywhere now. Um, but then like my my friendships, my dating life, like my relationships, my family stuff, like I I want to keep relationships, like friends and family offline as much as possible out of respect of other people's privacy. And so I'm a bit concerned that if I put a camera on that that's going to be exposed more and more.

And then I also love to just like walk around and not be noticed. Like there is something really cool about just being anonymous wearing my Uggs and like a baggie tea and going to grab a coffee in the morning and like running around. And so right now I have what I always wanted which is I guess like industry notoriety or like fame for lack of a better term. And so I love that.

I really want everyone in the industry to know who I am, know what I'm building. I think that's the perfect level of awareness. But you don't get to live life like that. Like you don't get to choose how other people perceive you.

like that's just out of your control. There's it's like the Warren Buffett thing. It's like there's things in your control, out of your control. Focus on what's in your control, in your circle of competence is how he words it.

So, it's in my control of what I put out into the world. It's not in my control of like who receives it, who sees it, all of that. Um, so I would say focus on who you are. Have a lot of integrity with what you put online.

Everything I put online is who I am in person. I don't do any activity. Like someone invited me to a rooftop tomorrow and I he was like it'll be good for content. I was like I don't want to go because if that's the only reason I'm going to go do something that's not worth it for me.

Why would I do that? And so it just it has to be aligned. Like I go to Barry's almost every day. So I post about it a lot because it's aligned.

It's actually what I'm doing. And that level of integrity when someone can meet you and they know stuff about you and it's genuine. You're not fronting. I think it's real.

I think it's I think that integrity and authenticity matters even more for women because I think we have far farther to fall. Um Dave Portoi the founder of Bartool is writing a book called cancel me if you can. I don't think any woman on planet earth could ever write a book like that because it is just not possible. We will be cancelled for things that don't me aren't even a big deal.

Like my selfie gate with this guy who called me out for my selfie. He was he was like women can't post selfies and be successful in their career. And I was like that's crazy. And everyone knew it was crazy.

That's why it went viral because everyone was dogging on him. Um, but those kinds of situations happen in person all the time. Like I've probably had some of my earnings cut or limited because people profiled me. And whether or not that's true, that could just be like my perception of how they viewed me, whatever.

Like there's so much dogma and stigma that people grow up with that's against women. And unfortunately, that's the reality. It doesn't serve us to pretend like it's not in 2026. Uh, so it it's just about like being yourself and forcing conditions to like work in your favor, like creating your own luck in a way.

And I think about freedom a lot. Freedom is my guiding light. Integrity is my highest value, but freedom is like a guiding light and how I optimize a lot of choices. And I think women have a opportunity to create generational wealth for themselves making content online.

And in a way that we did not have climbing a corporate ladder 10 or 15 years ago before social media democratized access to the internet. And I think this is our shot to like really run for it and take it. And I'm seeing that a lot of women who are also business operators and very serious in their own careers like even in law practice or you name it. They all are also creators and also have a personal brand.

So we have to just be aggressive and own the moment because this is our window to like really get in and like take money and take back like eyes for lack of a better term and like attention and also narrative. Like I get I got to control the narrative of that guy talking about my selfie because I posted on my own personal account saying things like like in in counter countering what he was saying that I I have come across Paul's in my career and I that's why I move across the country for new job opportunities to avoid being limited by people like Paul's perception of women and so I got to talk about that on my LinkedIn and my ex and that was like meaningful for me and women and other people in the ecos. system. So, it's all about just like owning your own channels, having a voice, creating that platform for yourself because it's permissionless.

No one is stopping you from making content. Okay. I want to a question about also like the hate comments like because you know like there's some advice like don't respond to hate comments like when when in what situation so like if you see hate comments in what situation should should you respond in a very because you did in a very graceful way. Yeah.

Like when when do you know when to ignore and when to like fight back and like kind of without Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like how do you know that?

Oh my goodness. So my approach and my philosophy is that you can't change a hater. Haters are going to hate even if they you might like I don't have the I don't have the instinct to want to change a hater's opinion on me because they're going to hate. Like even if I do short term change their opinion on me, they're gonna go back to hating because that's that's their comfort zone, that's their what I call emotional home and they only hate others because they hate themselves.

So it's it's just like knowing the psychology of it all makes it feel not personal. So that's really hard to do to build the muscle of not taking things personally because there's so many keyboard warriors, dejents, and incelss, especially on X, my platform of choice. I know, look at me choosing this for myself. Um, but then there's like the 1% of people on X who are the smartest, most successful people in the world who check it every day.

Their DMs are open. You can respond to them with anything. You can chat them anytime you want. Like those really, really successful people who I would never be able to reach on any other platform and who share their ideas and knowledge who I've learned from for almost a decade now.

Like they are why I'm on X versus other platforms. So I'll caveat that. I have to focus on the people who I want to reach, not all the DJs who still see my content anyways. Like the the big investors, the big entrepreneurs that are on that ex platform.

And now I'm posting more on LinkedIn. So I'll say the same for LinkedIn, too. Like they're the reason why I post. And then all the people who do resonate with my content who I don't even know yet, who actually genuinely want to see what I have to say.

So thinking through like why I do this, it's important to me. The tradeoffs so far are important to me. We can use the word fame, for lack of a better term, the fame game. It's important because it opens up my visibility, which opens up my career opportunities, which makes me more money, which allows me to pay for things like private healthcare for myself and my family.

So ultimately, it's worth it. Uh, but again, you can't control the beast of fame. You don't get to decide like which way the wind blows. So all you can do is focus on yourself.

So, with the Paul Gate, the like selfie thing, um, the the comments I chose to reply to were few and far between. Actually, I don't think I replied publicly to a lot. U, so that's a that's a huge part of it. I don't fight publicly.

I don't Sometimes I'll like intellectually debate publicly or say something a little snarky or like a strong point of view, but I try to keep it pretty neutral because you don't know how something's going to be received. There's a lot of nuance lost in text, which is why maybe I'll benefit more from video platforms. And uh I I usually just share my own content. So when when he posted that selfie thing, he intentionally didn't want me to get more followers because he didn't tag me.

He didn't repost my photo. He like screenshotted it. So it didn't go back to my page. So actually X just instituted a new policy with creator payouts where if someone uses your original content, even if they didn't attribute it to you, the algorithm will pay out the original creator.

So like I got the payout from him. So that's on him. Uh I don't know if he got paid too, probably whatever. But u I appreciate that cuz then I got more visibility, whatever, more followers and then I got that creator payout for his content.

Uh because they ex did the right thing. But the the issue with posting on social media is that you're building on rented land. I don't own the land. com.

com/brookblanc. So it's different. And so I am at the whim of the algorithm. So, I have to I actually have relationships with a lot of people at X because that's like the best way for me to feel more safe and secure as a creator who sometimes gets visibility on post.

Um, especially like with my running content if I'm in a sports bra or like a a tight jacket and then people get weird about it because there there's a lot of uh sexist and then this is also my professional platform. I'm like, I don't want my boss seeing these comments, but you know what? He's going to see it anyways and we're going to have to move on as a company. So that's just the reality that we're living in.

So part of it is like accepting reality exactly as it is. I don't wish it to be any different because it can't and that's out of my control for it to be different. Knowing who I am and what I want to put out into the world, which is completely in my control. And then uh kind of like maintaining power.

So I spent a lot of time a couple years ago like studying personal power and like what that means and how do I implement that uh in my social channels. And part of it is just making really strong statements. So what I did with the Paul thing is I chatted people privately. I had a bunch of like big accounts and names in the space that we had all know and love who reached out and said keep going.

Like people with millions and millions of followers who were like just ignore him. You're doing great. I see you all the time. Like people who I already had a relationship with or new people that I got in front of for the first time which is special.

And then beyond that all of that love which was great. Um, I realized the value of my relationships matters so much because a lot of people stood up for me when they didn't have to because also his argument is very baseless. Hope hopefully I never get cancelled for something that's actually legitimate, like a real claim. But that was kind of baseless.

Um, but I had so many people show up for me which is special because I'm like, okay, I do write by people in person, which is translated online. Cool. And and that's my real reputation. And so a couple of the lines that I put on my ex were like, I don't build a platform on hate.

even if that caps my growth, that's okay with me because I just I don't post the way he posted. I'm not gonna talk about him. I already forgot about him. But like, thanks for all the comments about my good hair.

And so, I kind of just like counteracted it because I'm like, listen, my life's got to move on. We had a lot We had two fundraisers last month that we announced for Corgi. So, my job was crazy. I was like, I don't even have time to like micromanage this.

Um, luckily everything turned out okay. But, um, like the life life goes on, the show goes on. And compartmentalizing is something is another skill that like not taking things personally, compartmentalizing, building a strong skin, uh being resilient and anti-fragile. All of these things have come with a decade of life/career experience in my 20s.

So I hate that advice because that's not really actionable. It's just like let time pass, but make the most of the time that you have and get the experience. Like feel the pain. My 20s have been a lot of pain because I felt the pain for the first time of going viral and or having hate comments or getting cyberbullied.

And um I just keep going despite it all because what's most important to me is to open up my awareness funnel to make more money, to gain more opportunities, and then therefore like provide a better life for myself and my family. Like it's just so obvious and clear. And with more money and more attention comes more responsibility. So, I feel like I want to become the type of person that deserves power and responsibility and leverage because these are big words.

Like the I don't know how many women are talking about this stuff, but I personally think about it all day long is like power, leverage, money. Uh I don't aspire to fame, but like that is an ingredient here. Um so like these things are always top of mind of like how do I become the type of person that deserves that success. So, one of my favorite quotes ever is from Charlie Munger, and it's uh the safest way to get what you want is to deserve it.

So, I don't think I'll ever be given a huge check. I think I'll earn it, and I think I'll deserve it by the person I become. And so, I constantly try to embody that in person, online, and that quote is so deeply internalized for me because I think we would all be very happy if every single person in this park clearly knew what they wanted. " I don't know how many people could do that, but for me, I'm like very crystal clear.

And then the best way to get what you want is to to deserve it. So for me, if I want to be an Olympic athlete for marathoning, like, okay, I got to deserve it. That's got to be a lot of work that I got to put in and I got to hire the right coaches and I shouldn't get another femur fracture because I've fractured my left femur twice now in the past year. So I've gotten multiple stress fractures.

So it's like there's little things that just it's it's just makes life so much clearer when you're clear on who you are, what you want, and then your online persona reflects that. So I feel like everything that you see Bickl Bunk online or hopefully the person you meet in person is a culmination of so many years of contemplation, self-development, and a neverending work because I never think it's done because the second you like take your hand off and you're like you slap your hands together, you're like, "Okay, I'm done. " and like the artwork is complete is when kind of things start to deteriorate because the natural law of nature is that we're we are dying and so uh you want to beat inertia. I use that term a lot for my life and journaling.

I say like I want to beat inertia like it is I am not getting fitter without a ton of hard work year over year. Now I can compound the hard work and get stronger in 10 years from now than I am today. But my body is naturally going to deteriorate if I don't develop it. And so the same is true in my fitness life with marathoning as it is in my mental health, like with my brain, with my everything.

And um I think I have just like a really sharp strong awareness. And that means like I don't really watch TV. Like it comes back to like how I spend my time. Like I don't I don't own a Netflix subscription.

I don't even have a TV. I haven't had a physical TV in many years. I have a library. And so it's about like choosing choosing what's worth it for me.

Like if at if I'm 80 and I watch a ton of Netflix shows that doesn't fulfill me versus if I read many hopefully thousands by that point books that would will have made me a stronger healthier smarter richer wiser person. And so it's very clear I call them like razors like my razor's edge like how I view things and all my actions and behaviors that lead up to it. And so back to your point about haters like how do you block them out? you just focus on yourself but like to a really extreme degree and then obviously your relationships but I try to keep that private so I don't talk about it a lot.

So what are your favorite books that you would recommend for for someone to start reading if they're maybe trying to build a reading habit? Oo something like yeah like psychology something in like tech. Yeah. H well if you're trying to build a habit I this is James Clear framework but start with the easiest units so like whatever feels simple to you.

Yeah. So like okay I've I actually haven't been reading a lot this year. Like I'll start books but I haven't been reading cover to cover which is my ideal situation is to read cover to cover uh because Corgi has been crazy and I'm online all the time talking to our co-founders. Um so with less screen time I'm able to read more.

So, I'll caveat that. Uh, but if I wanted to get back into reading cover to cover and like really diving into books, I would start with something easy. I would start with something that feels familiar and comfortable, but maybe like 1% out of my like knowledge zone. So, like a little little discomfort or like a little like exposed to new knowledge, but maybe something that feels like a layup for me.

So I read in non-fiction almost always like 99% of my shelf is non-fiction and it's memoirs, biographies, health and wellness. So it's a lot of the areas of life that I'm currently developing in my personal life. So it's it's a lot of like psychology, behavioral psych, finance, business, economics, some science. I'm reading a lot more science because being in the tech industry, I feel like how can you not like nerd out on the science of AI and the future of things?

Um, and then learning about history is really cool. So, I just got like an econ book and it's tiny. It's like a flip-rough book and I can just throw it in my purse. So, that's another James Clear habit is just like make it make it easy, make it simple.

Like, it's so small that I can fit it in any clutch that I go out with. And I love reading on the subway. Uh, helps distract me from the crazy happening around me. And so, I grab that and so that's like super frictionless for me to have in my bag.

So, that's easy in that regard. Um there so I have a good readads shelf. I made it public because people were banging down my door to share books and so like by fine. So so I made a public good readads.

com/bookoflanc and I have a favorite shelf with like 50 books that I like and it's almost all productivity, mindset, health and wellness. So it's like these non-fiction categories we can like chop it up based on like what feels relevant to you, what resonates with you. Um, last year I had a strong theme of reading female memoirs. So, memoirs from women like Ena Gart's book was really spectacular.

Paris Hilton's book was fun. Um, and that was because I did Hoffman which was a big therapy retreat. And so, I wanted to see how I felt about my own life through the stories of other women. And so, I feel like I kind of theme books around like my my um interest.

Does that sound autistic? I don't know. my my hyperfixation at the moment. That's amazing.

Well, I think it's valuable. And so, I guess right now I'm kind of on I'm I'm actually exploring tech and politics. U so I just got a book on it's like the hill in the valley concept of like how politics intertwine. Like I just read the first chapter last night before I went to bed and it starts out with how in 2016 Google got called from the government because uh they Google was fined for influencing the election and back then it was the first time an election had it ever been influenced by social media.

Uh and at the time that was unheard of. Now it's obvious. We know about fake news. We know about everything that's gone on in the past 10 years.

But so I I find that really interesting because I think there's a lot of power and therefore money in the tech industry and we have a grave responsibility to take care of all the people that we're able to service like at Corgi right now it's B2B but if maybe one day we'll be doing consumer as well um and even right now I touch consumer's lives because B2B is always like B2B to see at the end of the day like the inconsumer is a real person. Um, so I just think like the if you aspire to have wealth, influence, power, you should also aspire to have uh the kind of values and morals and ethics that require that responsibility to like be upheld. Like just know like the fact that like even on my ex like I'm not reaching just the 30,000 followers. I'm reaching the hundreds of thousands that view impressions like on my stuff.

And that's a huge responsibility. I want to be a ro a role model to women. I want to like treat people's time with respect when they see my content. And so viewing like the power structures that are in play today in the US and China in particular.

So I read breakneck last year at the turn of the new year that was good. Abundance Ezra Klein like what does the future look like? Um and I I don't read a ton of environmentalism work but I am interested in climate change and in particular how that affects like real estate. And so like I kind I go down these like random rabbit holes and I like connect ideas together of like what just feels interesting in the moment right now.

And then I also have biographies of everyone we've heard of like Elon, Steve Jobs, and they there's a lot of new books that come out about these people. So I read like probably four or five on each person just to like have the breadth and the depth of each person. Um I also got a book like how algorithms work is I believe what it's called. And all of this is on my good readads which is probably easier than me regurgitating it.

Um, but it's from it's written by someone who used to work directly with Elon at SpaceX. He was like the president of Tesla actually for a while. And so he talked about the algorithmic thinking that led Elon to his success today. And so I think it's good to be like 360 about the people that you admire.

Like read their critiques. Like when I when I bought the Bridgewwater book, uh, Ray Dalio's book, I also bought the hit piece book. There is a hit piece book unfortunately on his algorithmic method of meritocracy in inside Bridgewwater. And so I think it's good to like read different accounts, read employees of the big figures that you admire like um the best way to do this to explore new books.

And I think this is just it's a part of just following your curiosity. I'm deeply deeply curious. I walk into bookstores all the time and I just see what sections I gravitate towards which now is like quite a wide range as my life involves. Um and then if if you have one book that you love, go to the back of the book and usually there's a recommendation of like 15 books that that author was inspired by.

So read all those or get like a couple of them. Um, and then also I give myself an unlimited book budget because I I really wanna I I like the person I become if I read a lot. And again, Charlie Mer, like my rip king, my goat. I love Charlie.

He talks about how all the smartest people he knows are voracious readers. So, it feels very aligned. Like someone in their 90s who's so wise and so successful who's talking like that is he probably knows a thing or two that I don't. Um, and I think that it's just the kind of habit that will serve me the rest of my life.

If it serves me today, it'll serve me tomorrow. And so it's like a compounding habit, but it also makes me better today. Um, so just be insanely curious. Go through my favorites on Goodreads if you want any recommendations that I've got.

I have like 800 books on there. So it's like my whole archive. Yeah, you're making such a big impact on me. Like so amazing.

What do you want someone who just found your account today to to do or what kind of Yeah. What kind of action would they would you want them to take if they saw your account? So, what would you want them to do? Think yeah.

Oh my gosh. Just follow along. Yeah, just follow along. So, yeah, it's not about one post.

It's about the the body of work. Yeah. I don't have a strong call to action. I mean, the biggest thing is if if you need business insurance, let me know.

If you want to partner with Corgi Cafe, let me know. So, those are my call to actions from the company that I work for side of things. But for my personal side of things, just follow along, pay attention. Uh hopefully if you follow, you are not a hater.

If you are a hater, unfollow. Like the door, the exit's right there. Like come on. And so please don't follow me if you're a hater.

Uh if you're neutral or a supporter, come on in. I'd love to have you. Uh it's a good time on X. I'm making a lot of content for LinkedIn, too.

It's very similar to my ex content, though. Um and then we'll see where else I land online. But yeah, so exciting. Thank you so much, Frog.