Against the backdrop of foam boards in her London living room, Jenny Gyllander test things. The former CMO of Slush and early-stage investor at Backed VC is creating a digital home for her whip-smart, two-sided product reviews on Instagram. On the Thingtesting Instagram, Jenny offers her perspective on DTC goods from the lens of a consumer and venture capitalist.
It was Jenny’s passion for branding and her studies and experiences in venture capital that led her to start thingtesting. A year later, she’s amassed over 22K followers, an accompanying newsletter, and website. Her feed is a delightful catalyst for product discovery. Her quick micro-perspective on what makes a good personal and business investment is fresh and unowned.
“My task is, maybe, to help consumers find this value to navigate to the right brands that are doing the right thing.”
On this episode, Jenny shares her backstory, illuminating how she found herself go from marketing to venture capital to best VC on Instagram (1:56). Jenny’s tested everything from prescription face wash to probiotics. She reveals the three factors she looks for as a venture capitalist (6:18). Jenny shares how she approaches her posts as a personal learning tool (11:55). Stephan and Jenny discuss the difference between the US and European retail market (17:23), and the problems with homogeneity in the DTC space (25:12). Jenny explains how she curates the products she tests (29:39). As Thingtesting grows, Jenny considers her long-term plans for making product discovery easier and crowdsourcing feedback (33:06). Finally, Jenny questions how she’ll stay scrappy while fostering her growing community (35:02), and ultimately, her larger role as a thingtester (42:46).
Subscribe to the Thingtesting newsletter, discover new brands on the site, tweet Jenny, and of course, follow her on Instagram.
Also mentioned on the show:
- “Dear VC, now it’s your turn to pitch” – an exploratory study on Venture Capital firms’ brand and reputation by Jenny Gyllander
- Well Made Episode 70 with Paul Munford: Building on Greenfields
- Well Made Episode 62 with Ryan Babenzien: Moving the Rock from Zero to One
- Wirecutter
- Unboxing Things Show
- Well Made Episode 69 with Porter Road: Breaking Up the Meat Monopoly
Images via Jenny Gyllander.
You can find this and all future episodes on iTunes, Google Play, and here on the Lumi blog. This episode was edited by Evan Goodchild.
