Adulting with Ambition: Building Money Mastery for Gen Z

Aleksandra Medina and Katrin Kaurov, founders of Frich, share how they turned social spending pressures into a FinTech platform helping Gen Z build money mastery. Get the inside scoop on how these two young founders raised $2.8M, navigated 300+ pitches, and proved the skeptics wrong by staying true to their vision.

Learn more about Frich at https://www.getfrich.com/. 

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Transcript

 [00:00:00] 

Welcome to She's Ambitious AF, the bold and empowering podcast that turns up the volume on female entrepreneurship. Join us as we dive headfirst into the wild world of boss babes, where we spill the tea on all things ambition, success, and the occasional hilarious disaster. Welcome to another episode of She's Ambitious AF. Today I'm joined by two founders the founders of Fritch.

So why don't you all introduce yourself and we can start with Alexandra. Hi everyone. I'm Alexandra. I'm one of the co founders of Fritch and on my day to day life at Fritch, I'm technically the CPO, but obviously as a founder of a startup, I do a little bit of everything, but primarily I take care of our product, make sure that people like it, they use it, it actually solves an actual user problem.

So that's what my [00:01:00] responsibilities revolve around. Great. Hi, everyone. I'm Katrin. I'm the other co founder. And yeah, as Alexandra mentioned, we hold multiple different hats at Fritch, but I'm more on the sales partnership fundraising side. Gotcha. All right. Well, let's, let's dive into how you even got to launching Fritch.

So how did you two meet first off? We met way too many years ago at our freshman year at NYU Abu Dhabi and became really close friends immediately. And Fritz was really born after we had been friends for maybe, I don't know, four or five years. And we were living together in New York in a really tiny apartment during COVID.

And we were just honestly kind of bored and kind of felt like I want to do something meaningful with our lives. So during one very, very long walk from Chinatown to Central Park and back we decided to start a company. And honestly, it kind of happened. I [00:02:00] don't feel we've chose to do FinTech. I think we were just thinking about different problems that young people have and, you know, inherently.

Being really bad with managing money was just one of them. Gotcha. Why Why were you trying to solve the problems for young people? I mean, other than that you are young yourselves. I mean, I think that's the answer. We were initially the idea of Fritch started because we were trying to solve our own problems.

We're Sort of thinking through what is this, what are the things that we're going through in our lives? How can we either solve them using by using other people's products? And to be honest, that was preferred method. That would have been the easiest method of using already existing products. But that just kind of, you know, feeling like we can't afford certain opportunities or experiences or.

Comfort. It just kind of boiled down to the feeling of we're unable to either understand how to deal [00:03:00] with money properly or how to manage it properly or how to grow into this idea of being an adult with adult money. So that's kind of where born was born from it really was something to solve for ourselves and our friends.

So during this very long walk that you took, did you, did you land on, on FinTech by the end of that walk? Or was it several weeks? Was it months? How did you land on, on this app? I think if I remember correctly, we actually wrote down we wrote down a list. Of like all the problems we know that young people have.

And I think we were both like, okay, we really like traveling, but probably COVID is not the best, not the best time to do like a travel agency. And then, you know, we thought about things like climate change and assume that we're not going to be smart enough to solve that problem. And. I think eventually we didn't even think of it as FinTech.

We thought more as like social life spending [00:04:00] pressure and like pressure to keep up with your friends and like all the dinners and trips that everyone's taking. And we often felt like we couldn't keep up with others. So I felt it was just a very relevant problem for both of us as well. So I think it really came like problem first and then later realizing that like Gen Z started becoming a buzzword and like FinTech was like really hot in 2021.

Like I think those things all came later and in the beginning we were just You know, trying to figure out something for ourselves and for our friends. Got it. Well, why don't we give listeners a rundown of what Fritch is, and then we'll dive a little bit more into how you got to fundraising and actually building it and getting it to customers.

Sure. Well when we first started Fritch, we were very focused on just on the social life, spending pressure. But then over time, we realized that spending is only a part of money that everyone's worried about. There's everything else when you're a student about to [00:05:00] graduate or someone who just joined the workforce that you have to figure out, whether it's investing, saving, taxes, figuring out how much should you pay your therapist, who should pay for a first date.

There are all those questions around money that everyone has, and no one knows where to turn to. And for some reason, everyone has that notion that, you know, Everyone else besides them has it figured out, whereas most people don't really know what they're doing. So at Fritch, we're really doing two things.

So first of all, we're showing you how do you compare it to people just like you? So if you're a University of Florida student, how much are other University of Florida students spending? How much are they investing? What platforms do they use? And then secondly, we give you the tools to get ahead. So let's say you are investing less than your peers.

What are some good, rich, vetted platforms that can help you get ahead really like matching that comparison feature of it, like very, very practical and actionable advice. right. So you you're, you're solving important problems. You're teaching valuable [00:06:00] lessons. what is the business model?

How are these paid subscribers? How do our, how do our users benefit from this app? And what does it cost? Yeah, so we are not charging our users because, you know, a young college student or recent graduate has enough expenses, they don't want to spend for something else. But we did realize there are a ton of companies, pretty much everyone's trying to solve the question how to resonate with Gen Z, how to be put in front of them.

And especially a lot of banking problems are just so old school, they're not really built for Gen Z. So, the way we see the Fritchs. Kind of a bridge between some of those brands, whether they're banks, whether they're mental health apps, their investment platforms and the next generation. And it's really kind of up to us to bridge the gap and make sure that Gen Z understands what those, you know, products and services are offering to them.

Okay. That makes sense. I'd love to hear a little bit about the, the fundraise journey. I know some [00:07:00] numbers I have might be a little bit outdated, but can you share with us? So can you tell us what you've raised and what the process was like for both of you? Sure. I'm happy to take this question. So we raised 2.

8 million up to date. We did two rounds. We did our pre seed round, then seed round that we announced this April. I think definitely like we saw multiple times of fundraising, like when we raised our first round in 2021, you know, we were pre product pre honestly, anything, we just had like an idea in the deck.

And it was definitely not easy to fundraise, but it was very doable. And we definitely saw that like last year, especially as a consumer product was super challenging. So I'm really proud of that. I'm proud that we pulled the round together, but it's definitely not easy. And we definitely learned that fundraising is very much like a numbers game as well.

And you know, the position where we started, we didn't know that many people in the industry. We, you know, literally Google how to find investors. So I feel like we [00:08:00] really built that network from scratch as you know, two people who moved to New York are not from here and they were really young when we started Fritch as well.

Yeah. You said it was a numbers game, which is absolutely true. How many did you all pitch to in round one and round two? I think both are at least like a hundred plus, if not 150 plus, which means, you know, with most people, if it goes well, you meet them a couple of times or literally talking about like 300 calls.

And on top of that, there are also people who are going to be the people who introduce you to investors. So you also got to often speak to, you know Their founders, other industry specialists are going to connect you with VCs. So it's just a lot of pitching and a lot of chatting with people. And I think I personally had no idea.

That's what fundraising looks like. And I didn't realize that there's just so many conversations to be had before you land the right investors. I think it's also like, oh, so I'm just going to add like one quick note. I think, [00:09:00] because I thought it was interesting the way you asked the question, you asked, how many was it for round one?

And how many was it for round two? I think in reality, there's not really like a strong line of like, oh, round one has ended. And then you're like, for two years disappear and don't speak to anyone. You're like, okay, I'm ready for round two. For us. 'cause we were in a period where we're like, we knew we would have to raise money at least once or twice, maybe three times.

Mm-Hmm. . It never really ended. I think the line between like a precedency was like a little bit blurry. Those conversations kept rolling and rolling and rolling and you can always keep those relationships really warm and ready to like pull the plug whenever you're ready to ask them for another big check.

And that means also. In terms of how you run the business, you're sort of always on top, on, on your toes, making sure that every single next number you deliver is shockingly good so that someone would be willing to give you that money. So I think again, like a lot of people maybe don't understand how many [00:10:00] conversations it takes and how much time it takes, but maybe also there's that misconception that it really is like round one, pause, Relax, chill, like enjoy.

And then round two, like I think if you're in the mindset of I am a type of business where I want to be raising money, it doesn't really stop. Yeah, that's a great point. so something that A lot of founders don't understand is that you are always fundraising.

Every conversation you have, everything it's building and cultivating the network. It's beyond making the initial contact. It's making sure that these people are always in the loop on your progress. You may not need the check that moment, but you're likely going to at some point, just depending what stage you are.

It's a good point. I'm glad you brought it up. So you began the raise in 2021 when it was a hell of a lot easier to raise money, very different fundraising climate. I'm curious, did, did a lot of those investors initial ones [00:11:00] follow suit when you continued fundraising or did you have to also reach out to a ton more and build a bigger network than you had previously?

Yeah. So actually in our second round majority of investors were repeat investors, which obviously is a great sign. And actually our lead investor, when we weren't even planning to raise such a big round offered us you know, a very substantial check, which made us pull together like a whole formal price round.

But that being said, even with all the current investors following on, we still did so much more outrage. There was so many other conversations to be had because a big part of fundraisers. kind of creating that FOMO, creating that momentum. Even our existing investors, they do want to invest, but they want to see that there's a lot of other interests as well.

So I kind of think, and some other founders told me that, that like, fundraising is so much about It's kind of like marketing, you know, there's so much about kind of creating that demand. And like, it's [00:12:00] almost a separate thing compared to how the company's doing, like, company has to do great anyway. But I think creating that excitement publicly, like posting on LinkedIn, doing investor newsletters, creating scarcity, showing how the rounds is filling up, like that is.

All like almost like a separate marketing job. And I think it took us a while to learn that how much those optics kind of matter and how much you got to like put time pressure on people to make sure the ball keeps rolling. Yeah. Did you all have marketing support or was it primarily the two of you that have been.

Yeah. Out there and pushing all of the updates.

I mean, I think it's really us the pause only just to like reflect on all the work that it has taken. But I think I just kind of want to echo Catherine's point of like, there's obviously like that product marketing and, you know, That the marketing that actually goes towards our end user, who's obviously not the same person as the investor, but on top of that, there's like a completely different [00:13:00] marketing, which is that scarcity building, relationship building.

And I don't want to, like, underestimate also the work that our supporters do on behalf of us. On behalf of us as well, right? So as you, as we started the journey, we had some great advisors and those initial investors were also really, really great at building, obviously, like kind of giving their stamp of approval and spreading the positive word and telling others about us, different partners that kind of picked up over the years.

Though they also sort of implicitly marketed for us as well, but definitely the heavy pushing of course, comes from us. Got it. Yeah. What was what were the milestones or what was the demonstrated traction that you had by the time you started fundraising for round two? And I, I asked this question just for listeners who, you know, have maybe raised a little, they're trying to get that excitement and keep that momentum.

What were the things that major investors come back to [00:14:00] the next round? Yeah. So, you know, we had consistent user traction. I think we were raising our second round around 100, 000 users, but I think a big. And the other thing that initiated interest was the fact that we started partnering with banks and credit unions.

So there was, you know, not just kind of like random advertiser revenue here and there, but there were actual big B2B contracts that we were signing, which, you know, have a very long future potential. us. It was really the moment that investors realized we're not just this like fun little Gen Z brand, but there's actually a lot of money to be made with banks because their systems are so old school and they don't really know how to serve the next generation.

So I think it was almost Once our investors realized that there's so much value of us connecting Gen Z with brands and banks that they became very, very interested. And we just started seeing kind of like interest here and there, and they wanted to make sure that we were able to move faster, you know, make better hires and just kind of go [00:15:00] pedal to the metal, you know, like go like as quickly as possible.

So I feel like our lead investor. Just really like understood what we needed at that time. That's great. And throughout this conversation, I've heard the effort that your investors have done to help you succeed. And that's, that's something that founders need to be mindful of is it's beyond just getting a check from someone.

You really need to make sure that they are pro you all the way they are promoting you. They are connecting you. They really see that opportunity and the value that you bring. So I think it's, Congratulations that you, you built that kind of a strong investor network that supports you. Yeah, I think oftentimes people are almost Especially in the early days of fundraising, which definitely, I think it's a mistake that we also made your, you think that you're in a position of almost like begging for money, which you're not, you're selling a valuable part of a valuable business.

And I think that when you internalize the [00:16:00] fact that obviously you're selling something valuable, you're not out there begging for money. You get the same type of respect back from the investors and they treat you and your product. with more respect as well. So when you approach it from that way, then of course, you and your investors are partners in trying to either get the product to really, really succeed or get to a great next round or to a great sale of the company in it together.

So approaching it from that perspective, I think definitely helps build the sort of partnership. Mm hmm. Yeah, that's a good point. The the confidence can be hard to have when you're starting out. And it, it, it, it's very easy to slip into that. Oh, I'm just asking for a handout. Give me your money. But I'm glad that you, you made that point.

And I hope that listeners And I think that's really hear that is you are selling something that has value and sell it with the conviction that you have in it. All of that [00:17:00] confidence, all of that faith that comes through in those conversations with investors. And so just always, you know, have that at the front of your mind.

Don't lose sight of that. Yeah. And I think like on that note, one thing where I feel like we've learned it. Kind of the hard way over time is that there will be like some investors are going to be really helpful. And especially I would say investors are strategic. For example, we have one investor who's very close with like different banks and credit unions, and like, it's almost like a sales channel on their own and like, I think those strategies can bring so much value, but I think the reality is like so many.

VCs promise, it's a big value add, but it's, it's really like also you putting them to work. Like, I think you need to be the one asking them from intros being like, okay, we need help with X, Y, Z. Like no, one's really going to come and teach you how to run your business. And you don't even really want that.

So I think over time, we've also learned that we have some investors who are very involved, like, you know, shooting intro [00:18:00] goes like kind of looking out for us. And there are investors who just. You know, wired the money. I've never really heard from them again. So I think over time, it just kind of shakes out.

There's some people who are going to support you more actively and some people who just, they made their investment decision and they're going to be like hands off from that point onwards. Yeah. That's a good call out. You put them to work. You have to put some effort into making the ask. You can't just assume that they know.

And, and a lot of times I mean, you know that they're, they're busy if they're VCs and they've got other portfolio companies. So if you're explicit in the ask and what you need you're doing some of the legwork to get them moving. So you said that that was a, a lesson that you learned the hard way. I think that's a good segue into, what if the other hard lessons been, and how about for each of you, what if, what have been some of the harder lessons, painful experiences?

 I feel like we have like, everything has been super. Yeah, I'm like, I'm thinking which one to [00:19:00] pick out of all of them. A couple. I mean, I think maybe I can take one that's a little bit removed from investing. So it's not solely investing and VC heavy, because I do think also, you know, you don't need investor money to build a successful company.

Not every company needs VC money. But what do I think is the heaviest lesson we've learned? Oof, that is such a tough question. I would say one thing that someone told us relatively early on that we've really held to our hearts and has been such a pillar in how we think about our product. If you were to look back at what Virtue used to look like three years ago and what it looks like today, you'd think it's a completely different product.

Group of people making it a completely different brand, a completely different, like, problem we're solving. And I think that's part of the lesson is that you should never really Be like, you've fallen in love with your products. If you wait until the perfect moment [00:20:00] and you're kind of tinkering with it, and you're waiting until it's super, super perfect in your opinion, and then you push it out and then, people don't come or people don't like it.

You will. cherry pick data to prove that people like it and you will find ways to convince yourself that it was a success. But if you push your product a little before it's perfect, when you internally already know that you don't like it 100%, you will be a lot more successful. Open to people's feedback and you'd be like, yeah, of course, like, of course, it's not ready.

Of course, I'm actually willing and looking to have feedback because I want to make it better. And I think that's one of the reasons where, why we've been successful is like B2C FinTech is notoriously difficult. And our sort of flexibility with how we come to the solution for the product, I think has really served us well there.

Of course sometimes you create something and you think it's so awesome and it's so genius and [00:21:00] it's, I don't know, it's all the amazing things and then no one likes it and you're like, well, that, that, that's, that's great. That was just a great couple of months of my life. I'm so happy I put in so much work into it.

But yeah, I think there have been moments where maybe we held on to something for too long because we thought it really was the solution, but the moment we let it go. And really kind of listen to our users things start moving faster and, and like, and user engagement naturally picked up as well. So that's a little bit more, I guess, maybe a general and genuine recommendation is to never feel like your product is totally done and you'll love the outcome of it.

That's great. It's, it's kind of the equivalent of someone calling your baby ugly and you have to be okay with that. Like it has to be just like, let it roll off the back and be grateful for the gift of that feedback because it is a gift. It only makes it [00:22:00] better. absolutely. I think it's also definitely a process in learning to receive negative feedback in a positive way.

I think it's also sometimes It's very, very difficult for people or most people will opt out of giving you constructive feedback. They'll just be like, yeah, it's, it's, it's great. And you're like, you know, you know, they don't like it. So you need to really be at peace with yourself and be like, okay, like tell me three things that could be better.

Or tell me like, point out one thing that you don't like, because in there tone of voice, or if you have the tools, when you check their engagement with your products, you can tell that they don't like it, right? So it's your job to figure out how can you make them like it. Yeah, that's, that's a great point is not is making sure that it's open ended, not, Hey, do you like it?

Otherwise, You know, nobody wants to hurt other people's feelings. It's just kind [00:23:00] of inherent as a human. Absolutely. Yeah. I think from my side, definitely like staying very confident that like, you know, your business the best, and there will be a lot of advisors and investors who are going to try to sway you one way or another, like, for example, in our case, I feel from early on people were like, okay, they have great user traction, but how is this company going to make money?

And so we were, they tried to pull us towards NFT and crypto when that was trending. The amount of time someone's tried to offer us to like make our own debit card, become a neo bank and like, but occasionally like, you know, do projections around it and just kind of like pitch it. But I feel like in our heart, we always knew that this was not really what we're here to do.

And like, I think we were almost like, trying to pick something that worked for the story of others instead of like spending that same time like actually thinking like what do we think how we're going to [00:24:00] monetize what's going to work and I feel like throughout the time like You know, in the beginning people said that like the social element is not going to work.

They said the ad model won't work and like people always try to poke holes and whereas sometimes they can be right. I think the whole point of building a startup is that you're building something new that didn't work before. And when I look at people's feedback from the past, like to be fair, there have been some piece of feedback where I feel we needed to make our own mistakes and learn from it.

But there were a lot of pieces, like for example, us monetizing through advertisers, which. Now everyone's really happy about it, but people are very suspicious a year ago. So I think just very much staying true to knowing that like you spend all day, every day thinking about your product, about your target market, probably knows so much more than like any investor out there, right?

Like by default, just by spending so much time with your target demographic product customers. And I wish we. Had known that earlier. And what I would spend a little less time in like [00:25:00] making things look good for others and not trying to like inconvenience what an investor thinks and focus on like, okay, what's actually our vision?

Like, what are we building? And I think now we're finally that place where if an investor challenges us, we like kind of challenged them back. That's great. And that's. That's impressive that you both were able to, to stand your ground. It's one is female founders. We don't have the high traction when it comes to capital and you all successfully raised.

So you did that and then you. Continue to stand your ground and said, okay, investors may not think that this is going to to be the right model, but we believe it is, and so we're going to stay on this path. Was it hard for you to do that and, and it's beyond just being women, you're also young. Was it hard to have those conversations and to kind of have that, have that stance and, and continue forward?

I have to say from, from my end, and that's very specifically [00:26:00] related to fundraising. There have been actually like two moments when my own investors called it out and I'm really, really grateful for them. It was one of our investors for some reason, I'm remember that call so well, you know, we were talking about like a five year vision with him and Alexandra and we were like, yeah, maybe neobank, maybe this and that.

And like, we had like no, back then, like no clear, like, what is it going to be? And. I remember him just telling like, he's like, you guys are the founders. Like. You should know, like as an investor, I'm here to advise. Like, I don't want you to ask my advice, what your five year vision should be. And I have a couple of those moments when people almost like call you out on that.

And that made me realize that with an investor, it's not like we are somehow inferior to them. Like this is an equal partnership where like they're giving us the capital we're giving. Our ideas and all the hard work and like we're together making profit for both of us. And I think realizing that was [00:27:00] a really big moment.

And I think when it comes to raising money, whether you're young or female or immigrant or Any of those things that puts you in the minority bucket. It's very much also about confidence and how you position things. Whether, you know, you say things with certainty or you say things like I feel, or I think, which apparently makes it seem less confident.

 I think a lot of this just comes very much into conviction and how you present things. And personally, I think that's why. Maybe female founders have raised a little less money, not because their ideas are worse or not even because investors prefer male founders. I think it's largely because women perhaps come across sometimes a little less confident or with like a little less conviction.

So that's kind of been a big learning along the way. Yeah. I mean, a hundred percent that that's not natural for a lot of women. And those are just some societal norms and just, we're not accustomed to. coming across [00:28:00] with conviction and sometimes ego that's necessary for other people to believe in you and take you seriously.

And so that's kind of a muscle to develop. So I'm, I'm glad you brought that up. I would like to transition now to what have been some of the. Fun things from this experience. We've talked about the challenges, but do you love being founders? Would you, is this, you know, just phase one of your entrepreneurial journey?

Do you think there are more startups in your future? I think right now the own, I only have enough energy to. Fully focused on one company. I think it deserves a hundred percent of my attention. So I'm not really trying to paint pictures of what's going to happen after Fritch. I do think that the journey of being a founder has been incredibly rewarding and I think not only has it been, you know, professionally challenging, it's also been a huge personal challenge to grow into this role when I started Fritch or when we started [00:29:00] Fritch I was.

23 years old. So all the things that Katrin mentioned about having conviction and, you know, standing my ground and, and being confident, those are things that, you know, a 23 year old doesn't really naturally possess. So very quickly falling into a position where you just have to, it's, it's sort of like make or break, like you either become this person or you don't, or you learn to wear this mask.

I think it's just been an incredibly rewarding journey. It hasn't been that long, but it feels like it's been decades. And if I ever, if I ever sort of started daydreaming and thinking about what will happen or what would have happened, I, I really don't know. if and how I could operate in any other capacity other than a startup or being the person in power of decisions.

It is, it is definitely something that I think would be a little bit hard to let go. So that's [00:30:00] just yeah, those are, I guess, my thoughts. There's not like a really like concrete answer there. But just in general, I think that the Professional challenges are thrown at you at work, I think have 100 percent shaped me as a person.

And it also kind of has spillover effects in my personal life. How I view myself, how I view, view sort of the things and people and, and events in my life. So yeah, I think if you do it so early on, it really sort of shapes what happens in your life. Or decades after. So, yeah, there's definitely a evolution that you experience as a founder.

And one of the things that resonated with me that you just said was, which I often say too, is essentially entrepreneurship ruined me for employment. I can just never, I can never go back to that. The freedom, the power it's, it's, it's a lot. But yeah, I'm curious now. How about you, [00:31:00] Katrin? Yeah, and I would have given you a very different answer when I was fundraising last year.

But I really love being a founder. Like, I think I personally, I guess, kind of enjoy, I guess I'm just so used to throughout my life with like the chaos and the fast pace. And I just could not imagine like clocking in at a job that I don't care about. And just like, taking my days away. Like, no matter how crazy things get at a startup, every day when I start my work, I'm generally excited for the day.

I'm like, I know everything is on fire and there are like so many issues. It's almost weird to still enjoy it. But I think just, you know, One, like creating something and like being part of every process, like Alexander mentioned, you just learn so much. Like you're just see a piece of every part of the business, which I think is going to be huge for the future.

And I think another part that I really enjoy about startups is I think the community around startups, whether it's [00:32:00] investors or other founders, it's a very friendly and like enthusiastic and welcoming community. Like, Whenever I see some of my other friends who maybe just work a corporate job that they hate, like, I could not even be imagine being surrounded by people like this.

I feel like in a startup, although it's a massive roller coaster through fundraisers and everything, most of the fund founders, you know, are so excited about what they're doing. And I think that enthusiasm is contagious and people are so willing to help each other and make introductions and like, everyone's kind of in the same boat.

So I feel like in that sense, It's a very supportive community. And I think that's like a great supplemental thing that came to becoming a founder is having those people profession around you who are all very inspiring, which Was not something I knew in the beginning is going to happen. Yeah, that, that energy, there's just something that's contagious about it.

It's just infectious and it's thrilling. Granted, it's not for everybody. Some people do not like that chaotic [00:33:00] rollercoaster life, but the ones who do thrive in it. All right. I just realized that we never told our listeners where the name Fritch came about. So I would love to hear the story behind that.

And then we'll transition to some rapid fire questions. Yeah. I don't know if I can spell it out, but given your, you can use expletives. Yeah. Given your own podcast name Fritch stands for F. Rich. So that's, that's what it means. That's the name. And how'd you guys come up with it?

It just, well, it started, started a joke. , yeah. It started really, truly as a joke between us and then we're like, wait a minute. It, it kinda worked and it's, it's a good, it's good because it's not. as explicit when you don't want it to be, when you don't want the person opposite of you knowing what it means, you know, like a financial institution, for example, or a little bit more of a conservative investor.

It's very, very [00:34:00] simple to kind of brush past it and be like, Oh, yeah, yeah. It's just like friends, rich or fabulously rich, you know? But when our target audience, when they get it. Like it's, it's, it's an inside joke almost for people that are part of our audience. So it works both ways. It's a, it's a good balance to strike when you are sort of B2B2C. Got it. Well, I love it. And I also I recognize that there's a time and a place for it to, to use the full, the full name and definitely generational differences there. Absolutely. All right. Rapid fire questions. Let's start with you, Alexandra. And then, you know, we'll just get responses from each of you.

Most used emoji when talking about work. It's not an emoji. It's a sticker because we're Gen Z. But it's this like, Sticker of a dog that has like an [00:35:00] incredibly just like disappointed look in its face and it just gives you like a major eye roll. So that's sort of an inside sticker that goes between me and Katrin a lot. Wow, you made me feel like such a millennial. I'm a millennial and I was like, Oh, it's sticker. I'm going to make that note for, for other vendors. What about you, Katrin? Most used emoji. Or sticker. Call it, but it's, I don't know how you would call it, but it's the emoji that does like this. Oh yeah. I feel like it applies in like every situation, whether like things are bad or they're good or something needs to get done.

Like, I don't know. I feel like there's just like no context where it's not a good fit. All right. Dream vacation spot. Oh

as of right now, I really, really want to go to Peru. I want to do Machu Picchu. I've heard that the food scene in Lima is incredible. And it's just, I haven't really been that much to South [00:36:00] America because I'm not from the Americas. So I really want to explore more of South America. about you, Katrin?

A much cheesier answer, but we always promised with Alexandra first, like once we've closer around, we're going to go to Bahamas to swim with the little pigs there. Somehow life got really busy when we actually closed around, but I guess now when we celebrate one day, we can make that founder a trip.

So I feel it's maybe even less about the destination, but like what that trip will mean. But somehow Bahamas like throughout their fundraising journey and everything has just been, it's been like that end goal that we're going to make a trip there. Oh, that sounds amazing. That's a really good answer.

Damn. Favorite book or podcast.

I really, I haven't read this book in a really long time, but it has stuck in my head as my favorite book. So maybe it's not that good anymore, but it's called Glass Castles. It's a semi [00:37:00] autobiography. I think if you Google it, it's the only one that comes up and I'm blanking on the author. So it's not a great answer. 

I would say Man's Search for Meaning it's a pretty, it's a pretty heavy book, but I feel like it talks a lot about human nature, and I think I've read this book like probably close to 10 times, like I really like once a year, and every time I guess feels very different depending on what type of phase of life you're in, so.

I've continued to try to make people around me read it too, sometimes not that successfully, but I promise you guys it's a really, really, really good book. Okay, I'm going to make a note of that and I'll put a link when I find it in the show notes. favorite guilty pleasure TV show? The Office.

The U. S. version. It's just so good. And I know it by heart, so I don't even have to look. It is so good. Yeah. I think Sex and the City. Yeah. My partner will literally, like, die if she hears that soundtrack one more time. [00:38:00] That's also a good one. A classic.

If the Fritz journey had a theme song, what would it be?

I'm, I don't know why I'm like thinking like one of those like dramatic Bach symphonies. That are like super, super heavy and dark and depressing at one point and then like really, really speed up and are like super happy later on. So I guess that would be like apretty relevant musical description.

Again, I don't know why I'm having such cheesy answers today, but I would probably But journey on stuff believing. Oh my God. That's relevant. Yeah. I feel like that's very much 2023 fundraising environment for us. But yeah, definitely something dramatic and something that's been a roller coaster.

I like it. It, it tracks best piece of advice you've ever received. The more, the harder you work, the luckier you get. I think that one's super relevant. I think, especially when people [00:39:00] ask whether they should take a big step or if they should start something or if they should whatever pursue something it is really hard for something to happen.

If you don't put in the work for someone, maybe to notice your ideas. For someone to invest in your company or partner up with you or hire you or fall in love with you, if you don't put yourself out there and if you don't make it an option, so I think it also makes like the process of. I guess life just demystifies it a little bit because I think a lot of people love to just throw back like, Oh, you know, they just got lucky or it was right time, right place.

Or you know, I think those, those two maybe are like the most common answers people just kind of throw back at you. But. More often than not, it's not just luck, right? It's really hard for something to happen if you didn't really put in the work first. And if you [00:40:00] sort of stop believing in luck as a standalone thing, you will actually pursue more opportunities.

I love that. That's perfect. I wish I remember who said that to me. I still can't remember. I've given this answer multiple times and I still can't remember who said it. So if this person has heard me just say, please, please reach out finally. Yeah. Take the credit please. Okay. Well, the piece of advice comes from myself and it definitely continues the cheesy line, but I definitely think the fact that if someone says no, it's not a no forever, like our best clients, investors, everything that has happened to us was first to know until we proved it into a yes, whether it was through showing progress, whether it was through investor newsletters, trying again, and I think that's been just a big learning, like in anything you do, like if it first fails or like someone first says [00:41:00] no, it doesn't mean that this is now like set in stone and like nothing can be done about this.

And like, especially if you have a dream investor or you have a dream customer or maybe a dream hire, like I think it's worth going at it and like trying at it multiple times. And like the worst that can happen, like a no will stay a no, but I feel there's only like potential positive upside. And I think.

A lot of startups go through that, but just kind of getting very comfortable with no's and like knowing that if someone said no, I just keep trying on it and hopefully turn it into a yes over time, which has happened honestly with some of our biggest investors. great. You both shared awesome pieces of advice.

I'm glad that our listeners got to hear that last question. What can our listeners do to support you? I would say you can go sign up for a newsletter. You can read a little bit about us read. About our tips and tricks on how to get rich. You can do that by finding our website getFritch.

Angelica Maestas: [00:42:00] com. And if you love what we're writing in the newsletter you can download the app and then you get a little bit more of a personalized experience. Well, I really enjoyed the conversation today and thank you both so much for being on. And that's a wrap on another episode of She's Ambitious AF. Remember to dream big, hustle harder, and show the world that when it comes to success, we're not just ambitious, we're Ambitious AF.