Fashion & Founders The Podcast Investor to Co-Founder: The New Era of Brand Loyalty with CAKE Founder Estelle Palandjian
Mar 23, 2025
Estelle Palandjian, co-founder of Cake and former early-stage consumer tech investor, explains why she left VC to build a member-based shopping club. She discusses Cake’s member perks, brand partnerships, invite-only model, event-driven growth, and vision to own the shopper relationship. Short, lively takes on loyalty, acquisition challenges, and scaling through curated experiences.
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From Investor To Co-Founder
- Estelle joined Cake after Boston Seed invested and founders described a consumer she fit perfectly.
- Four weeks later she left VC and worked full-time as Cake's co-founder.
Invest In Needs, Not Niceties
- Seek problems that are needs, not nice-to-haves, to build sustainable businesses.
- Focus on founders and teams that can scale to ginormous markets to satisfy VC power-law returns.
Why Shoppers Feel Unseen
- Consumers today disaggregate spending across many brands and rarely feel rewarded or special.
- Brands face rising acquisition costs and need new nimble channels that also delight shoppers.
