Part 1: "...Would you like to join us in the Lion's Den?"
In the summer of 2023, we were contacted by a sweet caster from Løvens Hule. In three parts, our founder talks about the experiences, thoughts and preparations.
On a warm June day last year, my phone rings:
"Hello!... I'm calling from the production company United... I've looked at your website... It looks very professional ... Have you considered whether you'd like to join Løvens Hule?"
I laughed - and retorted that I certainly did too thought we were quite professional. But the Lion's Den? Probably Denmark's only TV program about entrepreneurship, which can both ensure victories but also expose people as both unprepared, frivolous and unprofessional. You must be crazy!
Flow feels like my life's work. I am proud of everything we have managed and implemented in just 1.5 years. We are ambitious and want to do much more than "just sell underwear". Can it even transcend such a television screen in minutes? The idea that we could be reduced to a good laugh and a shake of the head was in no way appealing. But I promised to consider it. "If you're up for it, send me an application no later than next week!". And then the die was cast.
I stood with one leg on summer vacation. My thought was: No thanks. Or... 85/15 - to no thanks. But it was a joint decision, so the whole team was brought together.
Katharina, our two freelancers Sara and Caroline and I discussed. High and low and long. Summa summarum: We have to do something different than we usually do. And when I called our investor Dennis, the message was also clear: "Consider that you get the opportunity to talk about what matters most to you - in front of 1 million people. Menstruation. Women's health. It can make a huge difference.
And then we had to get started. The official application, pitch, all the practical stuff. My entire summer vacation was spent preparing. Practice pitch. Write about. As soon as my kids slept in the cottage we had rented, I saw Løvens Hule all over again - from season 1 onwards. It was a happy reunion with cool cases that I admire today. Pura Utz, Organic Basics, Copenhagen Cartel. I wrote down every imaginable question the investors had come up with over time so I could practice.
We got a whole setup done in a hurry - I asked on Instagram, "is there anyone who wants to help me and model...?" - without having to say for what. We had boards made, clothes found - everything had to be approved by the production company. I crunched numbers and tried to memorize everything.
In the evening my husband quizzed me. Our investor Dennis filled me with confidence - it really takes that to stand there.
Flow is not a hobby project. It is a dream to change a whole habit, a language, a feeling of menstruating. Flow is in many ways a form of embodiment of what I have talked about, dreamed about, worked for when I have advocated for women's health and also talked about fertility treatment. It all starts with a period. And we just deserve better.
I put EVERYTHING into it. All resources, financial as my time. I must not fail - because then I would fail for all of us.
How did it go when the day dawned? You can read about that in the article about our new investor when our broadcast has been live.
♥️
Cathrine, founder of Flow Intimates
Read the other parts of the adventure here:
Read part 2 here
Read part 3 here
