Proust

Proust Goes Tech With Julie Fredrickson, Co-Founder And CEO Of Stowaway Cosmetics

Julie Fredrickson is the founder of Stowaway Cosmetics, an analytics platform for increasing convenient consumption of cosmetics. Taking what Fredrickson gleans from data and her unique interpretation of what women need in cosmetics, Stowaway has made a series of cosmetics products that fit “into life” and produce less waste. It’s an idea that has garnered her startup $1.5 million in funding.

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But reinventing cosmetics isn’t her end game; it’s just one part of her plan to get off the planet you’re standing on (literally).

However, until that day comes, this science fiction fan with the personality of a juggernaut takes the time to candidly answer our Proust-inspired Crunchbase News questionnaire.

 

What would you otherwise be doing right now?

I would be running for Colorado’s sixth congressional district.

That is very specific. Why?

So, entrepreneurs are only qualified to do one thing: speak to large groups of people and convince them the impossible is possible. That really leaves you with starting a company or being a politician.

Your main fault?

I am super impatient. Nothing is ever moving as fast as I think it should.

The quality you most desire in a tweet?

Taking a joke. I love messing with people and giving them cognitive dissonance.

Your idea of misery

Male venture capitalists. They say hell is other people, right?

What do you appreciate the most in your friends?

That they think differently than I do. All of my friends are crazy different types of people.

Your chief characteristic

I’m the juggernaut, bitch. I am just unkillable. I will bang my head against the wall until the wall gives.

What skill do you wish you possessed?

I wish I were operationally minded.

Your most impactful book?

Thucydides’ Peloponnesian War. The real takeaway for me was that circumstances change, but humanity does not, so plan accordingly.

What defines success?

These days not dying. Continuing to fight the good fight.

When is confidence lost?

I am not sure I can lose it. I don’t know why, but somehow I missed out on the confidence gap, or the “I don’t deserve to be here.” I always assumed I have a right to be in the room, and my ideas are just as valid as anyone elses.

What virtues do others have that you don’t?

Patience. But also, I am bored really easily, and so that often makes it look like I don’t care when, in reality, our time on earth is really short, and I don’t want to spend it doing things I don’t want to do. It doesn’t mean I don’t respect other people’s joys in life, they are just not my joys in life. I wish I could do a better job telegraphing that to people.

What impact do you want to leave behind?

It’s not an impact that I want to leave behind. I want to leave Earth; I want to die outside of Earth’s gravity well.

What’s the biggest problem tech is failing to solve?

White dudes being white dudes being white dudes. White dudes!

Find all Crunchbase News’ Proust On Tech pieces here.

Illustration: Li-Anne Dias

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