Anna's Birthday Edition: Female Founders Are Rewriting the Rules
Tomorrow's my birthday, and every year around this time, I find myself doing the same thing: looking back at where House of Cart started and looking ahead to where it is today.
Eight years ago, it was a $99 Shopify store build and a whole lot of trial and error. I didn't have a playbook. Just a laptop and a genuine desire to help someone bring their idea online.
What I never expected was who I'd be sitting across from all these years later.
More and more, it's women.
Founders building brands from the exact gap they noticed in their own lives. Women who've gone from "I have an idea" to "I run a business," often in less time than it took me to perfect a single Shopify theme.
I don't think that's a coincidence.
I think we're watching a shift in real time. More women are backing themselves. More women are deciding their ideas are worth the late nights, the risks, and the work it takes to build something meaningful.
And I get a front-row seat to that every single week.
It's one of the greatest privileges of what I do.
So this birthday, instead of sharing another list of tips, I just wanted to say this:
If you're quietly building something right now, keep going.
I see more founders like you than ever before, and it's genuinely been one of my favourite parts of these last eight years.
Here's to another year of building, for me, and for every one of you building right alongside me.
Big love,
