⊹ A spark of Genius ⊹
Circe's spell book of ideas, people, and opportunities, curated to enchant your week
⊹ THE CIRCE BRIEF
The founder playbook is being rewritten.
Trust and community are becoming the most important assets.
Last week, Alix Earle launched Reale Actives, her acne-focused skincare brand, and the internet went wild. Over 400,000 people followed a mystery account called @wtfisalixdoing before they even knew what they were signing up for. The product drop became the long awaited conclusion to the riddle her community had been piecing together for months.
Earle turned down deals where a brand had already been built and her name would just go on the label. She spent two years developing Reale in stealth and even had the name, an anagram of her last name, before she had a single product.
The campaign she ran is becoming the new wave of smart marketing. Mystery billboard in NYC with missing puzzle pieces. Unbranded products subtly appearing in her GRWM videos. A scavenger hunt sent to creators. Easter eggs dropped over months that made her audience feel less like consumers and more like detectives. The queen herself, Taylor Swift, has been running this same play for years and an entire generation learned from watching her that the buildup is the launch.
Trust is the new distribution.
Open LinkedIn right now and it's become the hottest new social media. Founders posting their failures, their pivots, their behind-the-scenes. Building in public is now strategic and some argue, table stakes. Because by the time someone buys, invests, or joins your team, they already believe in you as a person. In a world where it’s easier and easier to build a product, trust becomes the moat.
Alix Earle's community of 15 million feel like they know her. They’ve witnessed her insecurities, her journey through three rounds of Accutane, her refusal to cover it up. She created that trust through years of consistent, unfiltered showing up. So when she asked her community to believe in something she built herself, they didn't need to be convinced.
Trust cannot be hacked.
Whether you're building a product, raising a round, or growing your network, how are you building trust?
⊹
⊹ CIRCE DEALFLOW
❝
Raising: Pre-Seed
Offseason is rethinking wellness as something smarter and seamless. The agentic assistant builds and books your entire weekly split using biometric data and the latest science. They’re starting with movement, but aiming to become the platform behind connected wellness experience.
❝
Raising: Pre-Seed
Lucent is building a more practical future for personal style. Instead of just giving you more inspiration to save, they are focused on helping turn the inspiration you already have into outfits that actually work for your body, budget, and real life. Their AI product is designed to make style feel more effortless. Early access opening soon: Join the waitlist here!
⊹ MEET THE TEAM: Elle and Sriya
⊹ TALENT MOVES
⊹ CIRCE MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Second Year MBA Student
UC Berkeley Haas
A Washington, D.C. native, Gracie came to Haas after several years in management consulting, where she had the opportunity to work with mission-driven clients at the intersection of business and impact. Rewarding as that work was, Gracie wanted a career at that same intersection where she could be closer to the decision making. She found it in venture capital, and more specifically, in energy. This past year, Gracie has worked part-time on the energy investment team at Builders Vision. She was drawn to the sector by its combination of fast-moving technology, a complex policy landscape, and potential for enormous impact. Gracie is looking to continue in energy VC after graduation in May.
⟡ EVENTS
APRIL 9 | Hosted by Circe, AIX Ventures, and The Tech Bros
Are you a technical powerhouse or an elite operator on the cusp of building something big? Join us for an evening designed to help you find your "professional better half."
MAY 8 | Hosted by Circe
We’re trading pitch decks for deep breaths and Slack pings for moving meditation. Join Circe at Vuori on Union Street for an intimate evening of movement, breath work, and reflection!
WOMEN IN HEALTH + HEALTHTECH DINNER | TBD
An intimate dinner with founders, operators, investors, and builders in the space.
If interested email us!
.⊹ GRAB COFFEE WITH US ⊹
Anna Gurney
Circe, Berkeley MBA/MPH, Chief of Staff @ Aura Finance
Topics: Early stage investing, Women’s Health, HealthTech, VC ecosystem, and building founder networks.
⊹ BOOK TIME
Isa D’Elia
Circe, Berkeley MBA, Bizdev and GTM @ Kenley (YC ‘24)
Topics: Applied AI, HR Tech, 0→1 product strategy, and building systems that help teams move faster.
⊹ BOOK TIME
.
⟡ Want your company, job openings, or your brand featured in next week’s spark?
Busy, right? That’s the life of being a woman! There’s always so much happening and life moves far too fast, but we can’t forget to recognize how awesome you are make sure you’re always in the loop!
We are so excited about allll the things we’ve got going on—and coming up. We hope you’ll be the biggest part of it!
Thank you for joining us in this journey of creation and empowerment.
