This Female Founder Wants Women To Get More Sleep And Have More Sex – Forbes

Amanda Goetz is a single mom of three young children who was recently working as a marketing executive at The Knot Worldwide after her first tech startup failed.

So when she found herself navigating a divorce at the height of her career, she turned to regular therapy visits while simultaneously researching something unexpected (at least for her) Cannabis. She had never touched it, but after dabbling a bit she realized how much a small dose could bring her clarity, helping her sleep better and handling stress more effectively.

So in another unexpected turn, she quit her corporate job in the middle of the pandemic with her three kids at home to start House of Wise, a company founded at the intersection of commerce, content, community and cannabis to help women take control of their sleep, sex, stress and wealth.

I was lucky enough to chat with Goetz as she navigated her company into its eighth operational month. Here are some of her words of wisdom:

Amanda Goetz

Amy Shoenthal: Tell me about your background. How did you end up creating House of Wise?

Amanda Goetz: As a first generation college graduate from a town of 1,000 people in Illinois, I had never touched cannabis. In 2017, as I found myself in the middle of a divorce with three young children, I turned to therapy while simultaneously digging into some of the research on cannabis. I found it to be an effective way to find focus and calm in the midst of chaos.

In 2019 I realized there was still a stigma in the world of cannabis for career moms, yet none around drinking wine and alcohol - in fact Mom TikTok celebrates it. Alcohol has such horrible effects on your sleep and stress levels, and I wanted people to understand that there was a better way. I started House of Wise and incorporated in May 2020, raised a round of VC capital in July and we launched our first product line on December 1st.

Shoenthal: Why were you so compelled to share this discovery with other women?

Goetz: I have navigated infertility, miscarriage, divorce, dating as a single mom, freezing my eggs, corporate jobs, my failed startup, the acquisition and merger of The Knot/Wedding Wire and now navigating working from home in a pandemic with my kids full time.

Shoenthal: Wow, thats quite a list. What gets you through some of the toughest moments?

Goetz: So one of the things Ive found is by adding words and vocalizing whats happening, on social media or verbally to someone, it gives space for the emotions to live. It helps me. It connects me to other people. When I had a miscarriage, I remember confiding in a friend about my experience, and she said shed had one earlier that year. What I realized in that moment was that she only confided in me once she knew Id had one too. So I made it my own personal mission to always say, Ill go first. Hopefully that will encourage someone to go next. It makes me, and hopefully others, feel less alone.

I was guilty of trying to show off the perfect Instagram family in my 20s and then my whole world crumbled and I realized all we have is our truth, our feelings and our relationships. I created House of Wise to give women a community of people that can support them through these hardships by giving them the tools, resources and products to get them through the things many women face but are too scared to talk about.

Shoenthal: What obstacles did you face as you were building it? How did you overcome them?

Goetz: The cannabis industry is full of red tape, stigma and changing regulations. Payment processors were a nightmare. Shopify works with Stripe. Stripe doesn't work with MRBs (marijuana related businesses) so I had to use third party software to pass through as a gateway to Square.

I am doing all fulfillment from my garage in my quarantine house with the help of neighborhood women. That has been quite interesting. My oldest daughter is getting to be great friends with our local UPS store workers.

Also, my distribution strategy puts women at the heart of it. Rather than giving my acquisition dollars to Facebook or Google, I'm using women as the micro-affiliates. You can only buy House of Wise from a Wise Woman and they get a large cut of my profit margin.

But because of that, everyone thinks were an MLM (multi level marketing scheme.) Removing the stigma that this is an MLM was a hurdle. These are just real women wanting to talk about a product that works for them and get compensated when their friends buy from their affiliate link. No recruiting, no upfront costs, no BS. That was another roadblock - social media channels keep shadow banning our account for either cannabis content or MLM.

Shoenthal: Can you explain that part to me, if youre having women sign up and sell your product how is it different than a MLM?

Goetz: The mission is to empower women to take control of sleep, sex, stress and wealth. The wealth part comes in because we sell through affiliates. Our micro-affiliates are the Wise women. Theyre people who have tried the product and want to tell their friends about it. So we give them affiliate links and a big percentage of the sales.

With MLMs you have to buy all this product up front, its a huge cost, and then youre recruiting others to sell with you. We just allow women to buy whatever product they want for themselves. I send you the link, you sign up, add your Venmo or PayPal, then you get your own custom link. We send you emails and you get access to our Slack community where we talk about wealth, stress management, sex, and more.

We also offer programming that helps women become financially independent. For example, we just hosted a Wise Wednesdays where we hosted a talk with a Bitcoin consultant.

I was raised in a household that was very patriarchal, thats how my marriage was, and I wish someone had helped me way back when. We need more programming around financial literacy and independence.

Sleep Gummies

Shoenthal: Tell me about raising a round of capital in the middle of a pandemic.

Goetz: At my first startup in 2012 I was a first time female founder and I couldnt even get a meeting. It was insane. This year though, despite everything that was going on, I was actually able to actually maximize my time because I could jump from meeting to meeting without taking a cab uptown or flying to San Francisco to take a meeting. I was spending a lot more time on social media, got involved with things like Clubhouse, so all of a sudden the people who exist in certain networking circles became more accessible.

There are still clauses in certain VCs, like if theyve taken money from some investor in, say, the MIddle East, then theyre not allowed to invest in sex or cannabis. So Im a double whammy for them. But because of social media I was connected to people faster. I finally had some ability to keep up with the people who had more discretionary time. I moved in with my parents so they could help with childcare while I fundraised.

Shoenthal: Whats the best advice anyone has ever given you?

Goetz: My therapist has truly helped me understand what drives me, what triggers me and what zaps me. That self awareness is like a cheat code to life. We all have our stuff and knowing your stuff gives you an advantage. Its just about being curious and being conscious instead of being led by the subconscious.

Shoenthal: What are you most excited about right now?

Goetz: My partnership with Last Prison Project. Theyre on a mission to get everyone with a small cannabis charge to get out of jail. They also create scholarships for children of single parent families. The cannabis industry has been built on a lot of inequality so I couldnt build a company without acknowledging that and doing my part in addressing it.

Shoenthal: What advice would you give to others starting their own business in your industry or embarking on a new venture?

Goetz: A rising tide lifts all ships. In other industries it would be taboo to do check-ins and compare notes with competitors but in the cannabis world, which is very much male-dominated, female founders are all in this together. There is plenty of room for everyone and we are stronger together, at least from my perspective.

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This Female Founder Wants Women To Get More Sleep And Have More Sex - Forbes