Just 7% of venture-backed companies that disclose sales ever reach $100 million in revenue, and even fewer are headed by women.
Then, by the magic of conveniently placed Instagram and Google search ads, Deragisch discovered Bobbie, a powdered infant-formula startup that had launched its first product that January. Founded by two moms who talked openly about their own breastfeeding issues and promising a product that met both FDA and EU standards, Bobbie communicated a message that Deragisch needed to hear. The formula worked. The baby’s crying subsided after switching to Bobbie.
“In our first year on the market, I had hoped that we would do $4 million in revenue,” Bobbie cofounder and CEO Laura Modi tells. “And I’ll never forget breaking that down into what that would mean and how we would need to ramp up every month. It was scary.” The roundtable participants eventually became Modi’s unofficial brand ambassadors when Bobbie came out with its first formula in January 2021. Even those who’d moved their kids to solid foods, Modi says, shared the news of Bobbie’s debut with their networks. As word of mouth spread, so too did Bobbie’s reach.