Girlboss pivots to provide a LinkedIn for professional women

Girlboss is the multi-media brand for women founded by serial entrepreneur Sophia Amoruso, whose last company, Nasty Gal, presaged the direct to consumer trend before collapsing under the weight of its own ambition.

Now, Amoruso is back with yet another iteration on Girlboss, the media site launched off the strength of her podcast, in what it’s labeling as professional networking 2.0.

More than 50,000 people have signed up for early access, including Jen Rubio, the co-founder of Away; Elaine Welteroth, the former editor in chief of Teen Vogue; celebrity hairstylist Jen Atkin; and other women from the media and entertainment world.

With their free membership, women who sign up get access to other entrepreneurial women and the ability to ask and answer questions from their peer group.

“Existing professional networks were built for another era. The resume is such an outdated way to represent ourselves. Girlboss is a place where our members can bring their whole self — and share not just what they do but who they are. In a time where most of us have more than one ambition, and are trading on our personalities as much as we are our experience, it’s clear that there’s a need for a platform that allows us to experience ourselves and one another in this capacity,” wrote Amoruso in an email. “Our goal is to drive as much intention as possible among members, from their profile creation, to user-generated content, to how users connect with one another.”

The profiles take LinkedIn one step further, according to the company, by including accomplishments, “life moments” and other elements to make the social network more personal — like a daily horoscope and a Meyers-Briggs type.

Other content like fireside chats, community questions and thought leaders, and access to a full member directory, will also be part of the community.

“Women are congregating to support one another more than ever. We make less money than men, we live longer, and we have institutionally been denied ‘the keys to the castle.’ For so long, women were encouraged to shy away from discussing the topics that have the greatest impact on our livelihood — from negotiating to pricing our services, to having difficult conversations to the state of our finances,” Amoruso wrote in an email. “Our community has shown up and proven they are hungry to connect on all of these things and more. Because real power comes through communal efforts—and through transparency at scale.”

Girlboss has raised more than $6 million from Initialized Capital, Gary Vaynerchuk, Slow Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Atom Factory and Jaws Ventures.