Fast Company October 2018

Could 2018 be a watershed for women entrepreneurs? In July, Tina Sharkey, cofounder and CEO of direct-to-consumer company Brandless, announced a $240 million Series C funding round—an apparently unprecedented sum for a woman-led private company. A few days later, Aileen Lee’s Cowboy Ventures said it raised $95 million to invest in tech startups. In this month’s cover story, Backstage Capital founder Arlan Hamilton reveals that by year’s end her fund will write $1 million checks to two companies founded by black women. There’s still much work to do, of course. As Melinda Gates notes in an essay (page 42), women founders receive just 2% of venture capital dollars. And according to a new survey conducted by Fast Company and our colleagues at Inc., running one’s own company doesn’t insulate women from…

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THE BIG PICTURE FORTNITE With mere seconds to go before 1:30 p.m. ET, on a mountaintop overlooking Snobby Shores, Muselk scrambled up a makeshift ramp, lowered his sniper rifle, and peered down at the launchpad below. Like everyone else, he was here to see the rocket. An alarm sounded. Boosters rumbled. Fiery orange jets began pushing the missile skyward. “Oh. My. God. Yaaaaaaaaow! It’s going, boys, it’s going!” Muselk shouted to his friend LachyDachy. He peered through his rifle’s scope to get a better look as the rocket disappeared into the night sky. For a moment: silence. But then the rocket returned, first as a drifting star, and then—suddenly—as a murderous projectile, bearing down on the world below. The missile careened low across fields, buzzed buildings, and then shot upward to crack the sky itself,…

INNOVATION AGENT SARAH ULLMAN Founder, One Vote at a Time After Orlando’s Pulse nightclub shooting left 49 people dead in June 2016, Los Angeles film maker Sarah Ullman sat on her couch, shaken. A few days later, she came to a career-changing realization. “I wanted more people in [political] office who would do something about this issue,” she says. By the end of the year, she had launched One Vote at a Time, an organization that brings together female filmmakers to create free campaign ads for progressive candidates in local and state elections. In 2017, Ullman worked with 19 candidates in the Virginia state elections. This year, she’s producing films for 250 candidates in 10 states ahead of the November midterms. “I didn’t expect to disrupt political media or campaign consulting, but that’s…

BY THE NUMBERS CLEAN BEAUTY Demand for healthier ingredients has spread beyond the dinner plate. Interest in cosmetics and skincare products claiming to be “clean” and “natural” has grown in the past two years, with no regulation around either term. “Natural” personal care and beauty products generated more than $1.5 billion in U.S. sales in 2017, according to Nielsen. And the trend isn’t slowing down. A new report from Grand View Research predicts that the global organic personal care industry will reach nearly $25 billion by 2025. ONES TO WATCH Total funding to date of “clean” beauty startups that have raised capital in the past two years SOURCE: CRUNCHBASE THE TOP INGREDIENTS WOMEN AIM TO AVOID FRAGRANCES, PARABENS, PHTHALATES, SULFATES, AND GLUTEN SOURCE: CVS PRODUCT REPORT 12 Number of personal care products the average American woman uses each day 168 Unique…

MASTER CLASS HASAN MINHAJ Comedian and host, Patriot Act The unofficial theme of Hasan Minhaj’s breakthrough 2017 Netflix special, Homecoming King, is “Log kya kahenge,” a Hindi phrase that translates to “What will people think?” The first-generation Indian American refers to the line in anecdotes that explore racism and cultural tradition—including a heartbreaking story about a hate crime committed against his family on September 12, 2001. Although he prods his audience to let go of the “Log kya kahenge” outlook, Minhaj’s talent for influencing what people think has been a hallmark of his career. It’s a skill he honed as a former correspondent for The Daily Show and as the host of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April of last year. After his remarks garnered praise from both sides of the political…