About

Allowlist is a weekly podcast featuring disruptive consumer companies, and the people building them.

We take listeners behind the scenes with founders, investors, and the disruptive consumer companies they’re building.

Episodes make you feel like you’re out to dinner with your coolest, smartest, most ambitious friends, and always come with a side of humor, and immediately actionable business/leadership advice.

Mission

Our mission is to bring startup advice, funding advice and leadership growth/development to the forefront, so our listeners can build the confidence, skill set, and network they need to build game-changing companies.

Why? We believe in the brighter economic future that is possible when there is more collaboration, mentorship and support between the genders, and through this, a more even distribution of women in leadership, founding companies, and in venture, or other capital allocation roles.

Did you know:

  • Women are CEOs at roughly 10% of Fortune 500 companies (2023).

  • Women accounted for roughly 30% of angel investors (2022).

  • Women accounted for 15% of general partner positions at VCs (2022).

  • Women-owned businesses receive just 1.9% of VC funding in (2022).

All this, despite the fact that women-led companies, those with at least one woman co-founder, and more mature companies with a more even distribution of women in executive offices, historically outperform those led solely by men, delivering better returns to investors.

With our mission, we hope to inspire, support, and invest in the leaders of tomorrow, doing so in a way that doesn’t ostracize men, but includes them in the conversation, creating a platform for everyone to learn and rise together.

Guests

We spotlight companies helping us live better, healthier, more productive and connected lives, covering: consumer goods, consumer tech, consumer retail & services, and media.

Previous episodes include:

  • Alli Webb of DryBar

  • Brittany Stewart of Burst Oral Care

  • Lauren Wang of Flex Period Care

  • Ty Haney of TYB (xOutdoor Voices)

  • Roisin Branch of Blade (xSoul Cycle)

  • Sarah Jahnke of Homecourt

  • And so many more…

Check out The List to see who we’re obsessing over right now.

Hosts

Stef Caldwell is a personal development author, angel investor and operator specializing in marketing, sales and client development. By day, she helps consumer companies build growth strategies with market research. By night, she writes recipes for success in life, business and the kitchen via her newsletter.

Lauren Tierney is is a marketing/PR/corporate event strategist, and xVC. By day, she leads marketing for a disruptive two-sided marketplace in the consumer aesthetics space. By night, she hosts intimate dinners with disrupters and change-makers.

Listeners

Allowlist listeners are primarily women, Millennial / GenZ’s, who identify as early adopters, aspiring founders, and are the first of their friend group to try the “next cool thing” in fashion, beauty, wellness, travel, and lifestyle.

Primarily Chicago-based, as that is home for Stef and Lauren, with NYC, LA, and SFO being the other largest listening geographies.

In addition to learning from the “how I’m building this” style content of the show, they listen to discover their “next new obsession.”