1. Dear Vivien and Larissa, I am very pleased to be able to introduce you and saint sass as part of our Female Founder Community. Please tell us a little about yourself and the company.
Short and sweet: We are Vivien (26) and Larissa (27) and we make statement tights! What can you imagine by that? Our motto is basically: Don't just show style, but make a statement. So we not only want to create stylish and high-quality tights, but also offer ones that convey messages.
2. What does the brand name “saint sass” mean and what is your motivation behind the cool statement tights?
Saint sass stands for “holy cheek”. It embodies two opposites and that's what we're all about: living the apparent opposites! Women should not be swayed by social conventions. If you want to be a housewife: go for it! If you want to make a career: go for it! If you want to be a model and politically active: go for it! An artist on the weekend and a full-time civil servant in a federal agency? Go for it! The main thing that is important to us is that women act independently and it is precisely these values that are incredibly important to us.
3. @Vivien - you started alone and then brought Larissa on board (congrats again!). How did you find your co-founder, do you have any tips for other solo founders looking for a partner in crime? When would you say is the right time to expand your team?
Vivien: Many roads lead to Rome! Once it was clear that a co-founder was going to join us, we all put out feelers and told a lot of people about it! Larissa was then recommended in a conversation through our investor network and was then proactively approached by us. It was a good fit right away, we are now really good friends and we complement each other so well from a skills perspective! Therefore: Talk about it a lot, ask people or approach suitable people yourself - even if they are not actively looking for it. This often results in great connections!
4. @Larissa: what excited you about saint sass and how do you divide your areas of responsibility in the start-up?
Larissa: Everything! I don't think I have much of a pair of trousers at home because I've always enjoyed wearing a lot of tights and I completely share the vision of saint sass! I really want to refresh the industry because it has fallen asleep a bit and I've always wanted to build my own business anyway!
Vivien is responsible for branding, i.e. the entire appearance, and product development, while I take care of performance marketing (everything related to ads) and finance. This makes us a real dream team and complements each other damn well.
5. @Vivien - you are not only active as a founder, but also as a model, columnist and are involved in politics. When and how did you discover your political interest and how do you manage to inspire others and motivate them to get involved?
Vivien: I have to go back a bit: my interest in politics only grew after I graduated from high school. Several factors came together: I realized that I had a total gap in my knowledge, at the same time there was Edward Snowden's NSA leak, which really affected me and I knew that I would be allowed to vote for the first time in the next federal election - but not at all . I then acquired a lot of political knowledge. It was like an upward spiral: the more I learned, the more important it became for me. At school I never really realized how important politics is.
I noticed that many people my age felt the same way, that they had no “perspective” and unfortunately far too often did not see the relevance of politics. I wanted to change that - I was the best example of how you can go from “zero knowledge and disinterest” to “I'm passionate about it”. :-) I started talking and educating people about political issues in a relatively low-threshold way - especially via Instagram from 2013 or 2014. That's how the whole thing started.
6. Tips for other founders: Starting a company often looks easy peasy from the outside, but for many of us there are also fears or reasons that prevent us from just getting started. What tips would you give others on how to deal with and overcome these fears?
Vivien: Kick perfectionism to hell, start first and then gradually optimize your startup! This is not intended to be a call to accept poor quality, but rather a call to get started, to first familiarize yourself with a topic. You'll automatically think of a hundred things that could be improved: pick one or two things and start doing that instead of trying to save the whole world in one day.
Larissa: And don't worry about what others think of you! For Vivien and me, these were the two things that stood in our way the most before and during our founding. Also, focus, focus, focus! Especially at the beginning with limited resources, this is something you have to be aware of every day!
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