How to Build a $100M+ Cult Brand.

Sophia Amoruso: Nasty Gal, GirlBoss, Trust Fund, Business Class

Aug 18, 2025

Cult Branding Icon.

Sophia Amoruso is more than a founder, she’s a cultural icon. She built Nasty Gal from an eBay store into a $350M fashion powerhouse, bootstrapping to $28M in revenue, owning 80% at peak valuation (!!!!), & crossing $100M in sales before VC funding ultimately led it to bankruptcy.

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At the same time, she created GirlBoss—one of the first major movements for women in business & culture. It became a bestselling book, a Netflix series, & a global brand, cementing Sophia as a one of the top media & branding legend, with nearly 1M+ followers across platforms. (plus her website is gorgeous)

But Sophia didn’t stop there. She started investing, getting into companies like Kindbody, Superhuman, Pipe, Liquid Death, Public.com, and Eight Sleep, & eventually launched her own VC firm, Trust Fund. Her backers include some of Silicon Valley’s most famous names: Marc Andreessen, Paris Hilton, Ev Williams (Twitter), Chris Dixon (a16z), Andrew Chen (a16z), Rob Hayes (First Round), Josh Elman (Greylock, Twitter, Facebook), Anthony Nodo (CEO of SoFi), & yes, even Jason Calacanis..

Sophia goes deep on:

How to build a $100M+ cult brand.
Building Nasty Gal & GirlBoss from scratch into cultural movements
The brutal reality of inflated VC valuations, fundraising, & collapse
Why consumer businesses face unique challenges with venture capital
Building Trust Fund with Marc Andreessen, Paris Hilton, & more
Business Class: Her entrepreneurial & branding course open to founders

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Kalshi—The largest prediction market & the only legal platform in the US where people can trade directly on the outcomes of future events (sports, politics, weather, AI, etc).

Fourthwall—The #1 way to sell merch online — Fourthwall is the easiest way to launch a fully branded merch store—used by big brands like MKBHD, Acquired, & even the Smithsonian. 100+ products. No upfront cost.

Highlights

(00:00) Branding Icon: Sophia Amoruso
(02:30) The Art of Naming: From Nasty Gal to Trust Fund
(07:13) Rethinking Venture Culture
(10:28) Angel Investing Early & Building Relationships That Matter
(13:20) Investing in Liquid Death, Superhuman, Kindbody
(14:30) Why She Invests in Software & B2B Brands
(18:48) What Anduril Gets Right About Branding
(22:18) Raising Trust Fund: Marc Andreessen, Paris Hilton, Jason Calacanis
(24:45) The Power of the Right Audience & Right Eyeballs
(27:29) AI in E-Commerce & the Future of Consumer-Brand Engagement
(32:04) Angel to VC
(37:23) Fundraising Myths: Why Raising Money Isn’t “Winning”
(42:17) Building Business Class: Her Own “Internal Podcast” for Founders
(44:18) Girlboss: The Book, the Netflix Show & Becoming Part of the Zeitgeist
(47:07) Lessons in Leadership, Scaling & Why She Prefers Early-Stage
(50:00) Life Today & Living in London

Sophia Amoruso: Cult Brand Icon

Great Brands Create Movements

Great brands don’t just create pretty marketing. They create movements, cults, verbs, & language.

Who are the top companies that have transcended product to become culture itself?

Apple, Nike, Red Bull, Rolls-Royce, Palantir, Tesla, Chanel, Coca-Cola, SpaceX, Starbucks, & Disney.
Add to that list, the modern icons.. DON’T DIE, Yeezy, Skims, Liquid Death, MrBeast, AG1, Anduril, & OpenAI.. & of course. Nasty Gal & Girlboss.

Girlboss quickly became the largest movement for women in business. Sophia Amoruso sparked a cultural phenomenon that turned into a bestselling book, a Netflix series, and a global identity for ambitious women. Alongside Nasty Gal’s branding genius, it places Amoruso in the rare league of founders who have built brands that became part of the cultural lexicon.

Now Sophia is busy building out her venture fund Trust Fund, & her playful yet oversubscribed course teaching entrepreneurship & brand building, Business Class.

The Cult Brand Playbook

Across each chapter, Amoruso has shown that building cult brands requires more than great products:

Identity: A clear, provocative tone that gives people language for who they are (Nasty Gal, Girlboss).
Community & Events: Spaces where the brand extends into lived experience (Girlboss Rallies, Business Class networks).
Aesthetic Worlds: Visuals that feel immersive, cinematic, and transportive (Nasty Gal photography, Business Class passports).
Narrative: Storytelling that makes the brand a character in culture (Girlboss memoir, Netflix series).
High ROI Risky Experiments.. listen to episode

Her genius isn’t just in fashion or media. It’s in proving that the strongest brands create culture, not campaigns. And in that respect, Sophia Amoruso is a repeat founder of movements.