Goop founder Gwyneth Paltrow and Lightspeed Ventures partner Nicole Quinn talked through maneuvering a startup through the pandemic, hard decisions and what the future may hold
How did the idea of Goop start?
Goop really started out of my own passion to find places.
Content is how we started and it still is at our heart.
How were you hit by the pandemic?
Commerce seemed to completely stop at the beginning of the year and I had no idea how our customers would react.
We just focused on content and pulled completely back on transactions. We cut our marketing and social media budgets. We went back to our startup roots.
We decided to close stores that are not near to us.
We also usually have 4 summits per year and that was not an option.
People want connection not only to brands but like-minded people.
What's next for your Netflix show?
There will be a Season 2 will focus on relationship wellness. The show gave us a great halo.
We were reaching different demographics, much younger demographics that then came as customers to our site.
The intersection of content and commerce is how you find your tribe.
What is your advice for founders in the content /commerce segment ?
All founders need to find ways how to organically reach customers.
Don’t just look to Facebook for advertising.
What's your Outlook 2021
We are still in for a lot of instability and are thinking about content monetization which we never had before. As a new vertical we are looking into something in Food.
