Author: admin

Read 8 pitch decks that startup founders 25 years old or younger used to raise millions

Written by admin on October 15, 2025. Posted in Global Industry News.

Alyx van der Vorm (25) and Faraz Siddiqi (23) both raised capital for their startups this year.
Kevin Farley; Muhammad Anjum

Young tech startup founders are having a moment in the AI era.
From teenagers to 20-somethings, these founders are raising millions.
Take a look at the pitch decks some of these founders shared with Business Insider.

Tech is no stranger to young founders.

Steve Jobs was 21 when he cofounded Apple in 1976. Mark Zuckerberg was 19 when Facebook launched. Whitney Wolfe Herd was 25 when she unveiled Bumble.

Many of today’s startup founders are still young and scrappy. And in the age of AI, they’re even more empowered to barrel ahead.

Some are following the footsteps of tech titans before them and dropping out of college. Others are opting out of the undergraduate experience altogether, with a few ditching high school to pursue careers in tech.

Arlan Rakhmetzhanov, founder of AI coding startup Nozomio, told Business Insider that he dropped out of high school in Kazakhstan after getting accepted into the competitive startup accelerator program, Y Combinator (YC). At the age of 18, he raised $6.2 million for Nozomio.

Rakhmetzhanov isn’t the only teenager finding success in AI. There’s also Toby Brown, a UK teen who raised $1 million for his AI project. There’s also Zach Yadegari, the teenage cofounder of Cal AI, a nutrition app.

College-aged founders are also building companies and raising capital, such as the Yale students behind Series AI, a new social networking startup.

The median age for YC participants is now 24 years old, compared to 30 in 2022, YC’s Pete Koomen told The New York Times in August.

Business Insider has interviewed the founders of eight startups who are 25 years old or younger and have raised millions in funding since 2024 about the pitch decks they used to impress investors.

BI’s Young Geniuses series spotlights the next generation of founders, innovators, and visionaries who are reshaping industries and solving global challenges. See more stories from the series here, or reach out to editor Jess Orwig to share your story.

Read 8 pitch decks founders who are 25 years old or younger used to raise millions:

Note: Founders were under the age of 25 when Business Insider published the following articles.

Series A

Posh, an events platform, raised a $22 million Series A when its CEO was 23. Read the 12-page pitch deck it used.
Clyx, a startup trying to connect people via in-person events, raised a $14 million Series A when its founder was 25. Read 22 pages of its deck.

Seed

Lyra, an AI video call startup, raised a $6 million seed out of YC when its founder was 23. Read the 8-slide pitch deck it used.
Nexad, an AI adtech startup, raised a $6 million seed after wrapping up A16z’s Speedrun accelerator. Read the 10-page pitch deck.
Golpo, a generative AI video startup, raised a $4.1 million seed out of YC when its founders — who are also brothers — were 19 and 20. Read its 7-page pitch deck.
Bluejay, an AI agent startup, raised a $4 million seed coming out of YC when its founders were 23. Read its 9-page pitch deck.
Cerca, a dating app that connects people with mutual friends, raised a $1.6 million seed when its CEO was 23. Read the 10-slide deck.

Pre-seed

Series, an AI social networking startup, raised a $3.1 million pre-seed when its founders were 21. Read the 11-page deck it used.

Read the original article on Business Insider

I’m the cofounder of a company with an AI-powered tiny team. Here’s what it takes for me to hire someone new.

Written by admin on October 15, 2025. Posted in Partner News.

Sidhant Bendre is the cofounder of Oleve.

Courtesy of Sidhant Bendre

Sidhant Bendre cofounded an AI company that initially operated with four to six people.
The company prioritizes using AI to minimize head count and keep the company small.
When hiring, he scrutinizes whether a person can leverage AI and go from specialist to generalist.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sidhant Bendre, a 25-year-old cofounder of an AI-driven consumer software portfolio company based in New York. His company, Oleve, prioritizes using AI to stay lean while scaling with minimal staff and has also been recognized by OpenAI for processing an immense volume of text data through its models. His words have been edited for length and clarity.

I don’t know what it’s like to build a company without AI involved, and that impacts how my cofounders and I have always hired.

We started the first version of our company out of college in January 2023. The next year, we officially founded Oleve, an AI-driven consumer software portfolio across various app categories.

Right before then, there were only four of us, and we haven’t expanded much beyond that. We’ve been able to leverage AI tools, but staying tiny requires operating principles that actively resist the default path to add head count.

With AI, I can learn just enough operating knowledge about anything I need, which has allowed our small group to move faster. It’s also the reason we put extra scrutiny on hiring. Most companies reward people for becoming experts who are irreplaceable in their function. Tiny teams reward the opposite: people who master something fast enough to systematize it and move on.

We’ve only ever built with AI, so the ability to leverage it is necessary for a new hire

When we launched this company in college, we were already utilizing AI ourselves, so we had a clear understanding of its limits going into the business. As a result, we don’t have many issues with relying on it in our workflow.

If someone can’t leverage AI effectively, it could be a problem because we’ve built a lot of our systems around it. We have a template code base that we reuse for different products, and it’s built in a way that allows us to clone it for an individual product. We also use AI in our marketing, analytics, and hiring processes.

Hiring comes down to whether the job candidate is leveraging AI in the right way and with the right mindset about its limits.

My biggest piece of advice for people who want to join a tiny team

I tell people to learn to think operationally, not just in terms of execution. There are a few mistakes with leveraging AI that can immediately disqualify someone from a tiny team. One is treating it like a replacement.

Treating AI as a replacement for thinking rather than a tool for leverage is a big mistake. We want candidates to use AI, but we’ve seen take-home tasks where someone clearly just fed a prompt into ChatGPT and submitted whatever came back without critical thought.

On tiny teams, carelessness doesn’t just mean one bad deliverable — it means building bad systems that compound. There’s no middle management layer to catch sloppiness, and there’s no room for people who aren’t thinking about how their work affects what comes next.

AI can generate the first draft, but it can’t tell you if it’s the right draft. It can explain how code works, but it can’t tell you if it’s well-architected for your specific needs. It can create options, but it can’t evaluate which option actually solves your problem.

The right way to leverage AI is to use it to accelerate learning and execution so you can focus on higher-level thinking and decision-making.

We are recruiting with way more scrutiny on engineering, and we only hire specialists

Any decent engineer can now do a lot more than before with AI.

Results don’t necessarily mean skill anymore. We’ve had to create more involved engineering recruitment processes because we need to vet potential employees more closely. It’s a skill to use AI to fully drive results, but that can be temporary when issues arise with pushing out a complex product and someone lacks the deeper knowledge needed.

This is why I prefer hiring specialists and utilizing AI to turn them into generalists. If there’s a system for a product that we need help with, we identify the critical pieces of the product. Then, I hire someone who’s a really good specialist in that area, and we know we can train them to expand their work to other platforms and products with AI.

For example, I have an engineer who was purely a backend engineer, but is now working on a front-end project as well. Much of this is possible because he can leverage AI to learn on the fly, even though I hired him for this very specific skill set that was needed for a high-priority backend project.

There are new lean startup principles with tiny teams

I presented at an AI engineering conference earlier this year, where they launched a tiny teams track. My talk was based on what we’ve learned and developed as the new principles of lean startups using AI at Oleve.

Startups can begin building toward a world where people can command clusters of agents to perform tasks on their behalf. At the most basic level, everyone is now their own chief of staff.

Doing this is something that’s very achievable.

Do you work on a tiny team and want to share your story? Email this reporter at aapplegate@businessinsider.com.

Read the original article on Business Insider

The rise and fall of Victoria’s Secret as it makes a comeback bid ahead of its 2025 fashion show

Written by admin on October 15, 2025. Posted in Uncategorized.

Angel Reese for Victoria's Secret — The Victoria’s Secret fashion show is set to return on Wednesday for the third time, with Angel Reese hitting the runway.
Angela Weiss / AFP via Getty Images

Victoria’s Secret is the largest lingerie retailer in the US, and has been for several decades.
After explosive success, it had several stumbles but has since overhauled its brand image.
The brand is bringing back its Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show on Wednesday night.

Victoria’s Secret is back — or it’s at least making a play for a big comeback.

The lingerie retailer has been an industry leader in the US for several decades. But in recent years, the lingerie brand faced sluggish sales, criticism for its lack of model diversity and size inclusivity, scandal over its former CEO’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein, and an entire brand-image overhaul.

Things have been looking up for Victoria’s Secret since it hired a CEO, Hillary Super, who previously led Savage x Fenty, in 2024. During the first half of 2025, comparable store sales were up 1%, compared with a 4% decline during the same period a year earlier.

Under Super’s leadership, the fashion show that Victoria’s Secret once broadcast annually is becoming a mainstay again. After bringing the event back in its original form last year, the 2025 event is set to stream live again on Prime Video at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

Super said she isn’t shying away from sex appeal this year. She told The Wall Street Journal that the brand became “watered down” by trying not to offend anyone.

The fashion show returns as the lingerie retail space has started to shift in a new direction — veering from push-up bras and skinny models to sports bras and a more body-positive image. Lingerie competitors, including Aerie, ThirdLove, and Lively, started to attract more interest from consumers. But Victoria’s Secret has been working to build an emotional connection to shoppers and put out higher-quality products to stay ahead.

Here’s a look at Victoria’s Secret’s rise and fall and the brand’s plan for redemption.

Victoria’s Secret was founded in 1977 by American businessman Roy Raymond.

Inspired by an uncomfortable trip to a department store to buy underwear for his wife, Raymond set out to create a place where men would feel comfortable shopping for lingerie. He wanted to create a women’s underwear shop that was targeted at men.

He named the brand after the Victorian era in England, wanting to evoke the refinement of this period in his lingerie.

Victoria Secret vintage catalog 1982 — Victoria’s Secret

Raymond’s vision was summed up by Slate’s Naomi Barr in 2013: “Raymond imagined a Victorian boudoir, replete with dark wood, oriental rugs, and silk drapery. He chose the name ‘Victoria’ to evoke the propriety and respectability associated with the Victorian era; outwardly refined, Victoria’s ‘secrets’ were hidden beneath.”

He went on to open a handful of Victoria’s Secret stores and launched its famous catalog.

By 1982, the company was making more than $4 million in annual sales, but according to reports, it was nearing bankruptcy at the time.

At this point, Les Wexner swooped in. Wexner, who founded L Brands (formerly Limited Brands), was already making a name for himself in the retail world as he gradually built up an impressive empire.

By June 1982, Limited — which had previously acquired Express and Lane Bryant — was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. One month later, under Wexner’s leadership, the company acquired Victoria’s Secret’s six stores and its catalog for $1 million.

Wexner turned Raymond’s vision on its head, creating a store that was focused on women rather than men.

He was closely following the European lingerie market of that time and wanted to bring this aesthetic to the US. So, he set out to create a more affordable version of the European upscale brand “La Perla” — lingerie that looked luxurious and expensive but was affordable.

And it worked. By the early 1990s, Victoria’s Secret had become the largest lingerie retailer in the US.

Victoria's Secret runway show — AP Photo/Adam Nadel

It had 350 stores nationally and sales topping $1 billion, The Telegraph reported.

The brand began to cement its image over the next few years. In 1995, its famous annual fashion show was born.

The show, which was run by Ed Razek (longtime chief marketing officer of L Brands), became an iconic part of the brand’s image.

Razek and his team were responsible for hand-picking the models to walk the show. Because of this, he became one of the most important people in the modeling world, helping to launch the careers of Gisele Bündchen, Tyra Banks, and Heidi Klum.

In 1999, the show aired for the first time online.

Victoria's Secret — AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

Time described it as the “internet-breaking moment” of this era after 1.5 million viewers tried to tune in and crashed the site.

Meanwhile, the brand was also launching some of its best-known and most successful products, including its heavily padded Miracle Bra and Body by Victoria.

Claudia Schiffer shown in a photo display wearing a million dollar diamond miracle bra. — Claudia Schiffer is pictured in this five-story image wearing a million dollar diamond miracle bra, December 4, 1996 in New York City.
Evan Agostini/Getty Images

Body by Victoria was a “blockbuster success” and more than doubled the sales volume of any other bra that Victoria’s Secret had previously launched, Michael Silverstein wrote in his book, “Trading Up.”

Around 1997, the idea of the Victoria’s Secret “Angel” came into play.

Victoria's Secret old — Victoria’s Secret

It was after a commercial featuring Helena Christensen, Karen Mulder, Daniela Peštová, Stephanie Seymour, and Tyra Banks ran to promote its “Angels” underwear collection. It was tradition for an Angel to wear a Fantasy Bra at every runway show starting in 1996. They changed each year.

Throughout the ’90s and early 2000s, its commercials featured heavily made-up and scantily dressed Angels.

Victoria's Secret ad 1997 — YouTube/Derek Dahlsad

Razek hired the best photographers and television directors in the world to make commercials for the brand.

The runway shows became more lavish.

In 2000, model Gisele Bündchen walked the runway in what was then the most expensive item of lingerie ever created, a $15 million diamond-and-ruby-encrusted ‘Fantasy Bra.’

In 2000, Sharen Jester Turney became CEO of Victoria’s Secret Direct and headed up its catalog business.

According to reports at the time, Turney wanted to remove the “hooker looks” in the catalog and make the aesthetic more like Vogue than Playboy.

She became CEO of the whole brand in 2006.

Sharen Jester Turney and VIctoria's Secret models — Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Under her nine-year tenure, the company thrived; sales increased by 70% to $7.7 billion.

Turney abruptly stepped down in 2016 and was succeeded by Wexner as interim CEO.

Wexner made a series of quick and fast changes: killing the catalog, swimwear, and apparel to focus solely on lingerie, the core part of its business.

He also split the brand into three — Victoria’s Secret Lingerie, Victoria’s Secret Beauty, and Pink — and recruited a CEO for each division.

Jan Singer became CEO of Victoria’s Secret Lingerie in September 2016.

Singer spent over a decade at Nike and was CEO of Spanx before she joined Victoria’s Secret.

Between 2015 and 2018, sales began to falter.

Victoria’s Secret was slow to adjust to a shift from padded and push-up bras toward bralettes and sports bras, missing out on a major fashion trend.

More body-positive underwear brands such as Aerie, ThirdLove, and Lively cropped up, taking market share.

Victoria’s Secret was accused of failing to adapt to the times. Between 2016 and 2018, its market share in the US dropped from 33% to 24%. Some shoppers complained that the quality of its underwear had slipped.

One of its biggest assets, the teen-centric brand Pink, also began to struggle. Sales slipped, and it resorted to heavy discounting to woo shoppers.

“We believe Pink is on the precipice of collapse,” Jefferies analyst Randal Konik wrote in a note to investors in March 2018, commenting on the level of promotions in store.

Some parents complained that Pink was being brought down by Victoria’s Secret’s over-sexualized ads.

Its annual fashion show drew criticism for being outdated, and viewership slipped.

In November 2018, Ed Razek, then-chief marketing officer of L Brands, made controversial comments about transgender and plus-size models.

Razek said in an interview with Vogue that he didn’t think the show should feature “transsexuals” because the show is a “fantasy.”

victoria's secret ed razek — Ed Razek speaks to the 2018 Victoria’s Secret runway models backstage during the 2018 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show at Pier 94 on November 8, 2018 in New York City.
Getty Images/Dia Dipasupil

“It’s a 42-minute entertainment special. That’s what it is,” he said in the interview.

Razek made a formal apology online, but some of his critics called for him to step down.

Less than a week after Razek’s comments went viral, Singer resigned.

Singer was replaced by John Mehas, who took over the role at the start of 2019.

Mehas had his work cut out for him. Same-store sales at Victoria’s Secret were down 3% in 2018, and the retailer was gradually losing market share to new companies.

Plus, he had angry shareholders to deal with. In March 2019, activist shareholder Barington Capital sent a letter to Wexner, laying out recommendations to improve growth at Victoria’s Secret and calling out the company’s brand image as being “outdated.”

Barington also called out the lack of diversity in its board of directors as an issue for the brand. At the time, of the 11 board members, nine were men.

The company appointed two new female board directors — Sarah E. Nash and Anne Sheehan — and made steps to address the comments about the brand image being outdated.

It hired a more body-inclusive model.

While she is not a plus-size model, fans praised the company for choosing Hungarian model Barbara Palvin as one of its newest Angels.

Instagrammers celebrated a post starring Palvin for being more body-inclusive, as they perceived her to be curvier than some of the brand’s other models.

“This model actually looks healthy..& I’m loving it!” one Instagram user wrote.

It also hired its first openly transgender model.

Brazilian transgender model Valentina Sampaio, shared a photograph of herself on Instagram in August 2019, tagging the Victoria’s Secret Pink brand along with the hashtags: “campaign,” “vspink,” and “diversity.”A day later, she shared a video of herself with the caption “Never stop dreaming.”

Her agent later confirmed that she had signed a contract with Victoria’s Secret. Sampaio is expected to hit the runway for the 2024 show.

“Today Is the day!!! Finally after 6 years since my first VS casting, today the dream will come true,” she wrote in an Instagram post ahead of the show.

The same day, Wexner announced that Razek would be resigning in the middle of August in a memo sent out to employees.

leslie wexner ed razek — Les Wexner and Ed Razek pose backstage at the 2016 Fragrance Foundation Awards presented by Hearst Magazines – Show on June 7, 2016 in New York City.
Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for Fragrance Foundation

Razek ran the fashion show, so its future seemed unclear at the time of his departure.

On November 21, 2019, the company confirmed that it had officially canceled its runway fashion show for that year.

VS fashion show — Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

At the time, L Brands CFO Stuart Burgdoerfer told analysts that the fashion show had little impact on boosting sales at the brand.

While these were potentially positive changes, the brand found itself caught up in a new challenge in the summer of 2019: its CEO and the company being linked to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Epstein/Wexner — Waxner and Epstein
Astrid Stawiarz and Patrick McMullan/Getty Images

Epstein managed Wexner’s money for several years, and former company executives told The Wall Street Journal that he tried to meddle in Victoria’s Secret’s business, offering input on which women should be models.

Some of Epstein’s victims came forward saying that he used his connection to Victoria’s Secret to coerce them into sexual acts.

L Brands’ board of directors announced that it had hired an outside law firm to review its relationship with Epstein, who died by suicide in jail in August 2019.

In September, Wexner addressed his ties to Epstein at L Brands’ investor meeting. “At some point in your life we are all betrayed by friends,” Wexner said. “Being taken advantage of by someone who was so sick, so cunning, so depraved, is something that I’m embarrassed I was even close to. But that is in the past.”

In February 2020, the company announced that Wexner would be stepping down as chairman and CEO of L Brands.

Les Wexner painting — Jay LaPrete/AP Images

Still, he’d stay on as chairman emeritus and sit on the board of directors. At the same time, it announced that it was selling a 55% stake in Victoria’s Secret to private equity firm Sycamore Partners.

In a statement to the press announcing the news, Wexner said that Sycamore has “deep experience in the retail industry and a superior track record of success,” and that it “will bring a fresh perspective and greater focus to the business.”

In March 2020, the coronavirus pandemic swept across the US, and Victoria’s Secret was forced to shutter its stores.

In April 2020, Sycamore filed a lawsuit to back out of the deal, alleging that Victoria’s Secret’s actions taken during the pandemic to close stores, cut back on new inventory, and not pay rent for the month of April were in violation of the agreement that the two parties had made in February.

L Brands immediately issued a statement saying that a termination of the agreement is “invalid,” and that it would “vigorously defend” the lawsuit and “pursue all legal remedies to enforce its contractual rights.”

On May 4, 2020, L Brands announced that the deal with Sycamore had officially fallen apart.

L Brands said that it had come to a “mutual agreement” with Sycamore to “terminate” the deal.

The company also said that it had reshuffled its management team and would focus on “implementing significant cost reduction actions and performance improvements at Victoria’s Secret.”

This included permanently closing as many as 250 Victoria’s Secret and Pink stores in the US and Canada in 2020.

In the second half of 2020, the brand started to recover, boosted by more sales online.

Jefferies analysts described Victoria’s Secret’s progress as “admirable” after it reported strong fourth-quarter earnings in early 2021.

Bloomberg later reported that L Brands had resumed discussions to sell the brand once more and was seeking a much higher valuation in the region of $3 billion.

But in May of that year, L Brands put an end to speculation and said that it was no longer looking for a buyer. Instead, it would split the company into two and spin off Victoria’s Secret to become a stand-alone business.

It then worked hard to execute a turnaround under new leadership.

Priyanka Chopra Jonas.
Courtesy Dan Schawbel

It overhauled its brand image — swapping its Angels for a new group of activists and entrepreneurial women to be the face of the brand.

In 2022, a three-part documentary series on Hulu titled “Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons” shook up the brand in the public’s eyes.

The series delved into Wexner’s ties with Jeffrey Epstein and said that questions remained about the nature of their relationship.

In the background, the company was continuing with its turnaround effort by launching new ventures such as Happy Nation, a brand that sells first bras and apparel to pre-teen shoppers.

It also began selling Victoria’s Secret beauty products and underwear on Amazon.

In March 2023, the company said its annual fashion show would return after a four-year hiatus.

Victoria’s Secret model Kate Grigorieva.
Getty Images

The company is constantly innovating “in all spheres of the business,” a spokesperson for Victoria’s Secret previously told Business Insider, adding: “This will lead us into new spaces like reclaiming one of our best marketing and entertainment properties to date and turning it on its head to reflect who we are today.”

Following the announcement about the revived Victoria’s Secret fashion show, the lingerie brand said it would drop a movie as well.

Victoria's Secret ad — Victoria’s Secret announced it would revive its annual fashion show event and release a movie.
Courtesy of Victoria’s Secret

By fall 2023, the retailer said it would release a “reimagined version” of its Victoria’s Secret fashion show as a movie alongside a live fashion event.

“This film is the ultimate expression of the Victoria’s Secret brand transformation,” Raúl Martinez, creative director at Victoria’s Secret, said in a statement. “It will be driven by fashion, glamour, and entertainment with a nod to beloved iconography from the past but in a bold, redefined way.”

Over the past few years, Victoria’s Secret campaigns have led to continued criticism of the brand.

In July 2023, supermodel Bella Hadid announced her participation in a Victoria’s Secret campaign on her Instagram, a post that attracted a mixed bag of responses online. Some online commenters said the campaign was “perpetuating body dysmorphia to young women,” while others defended it.

Victoria’s Secret ired fans by dropping a marketing campaign similar to one from Kim Kardashian’s Skims brand.

Naomi Campbell in Victoria’s Secret “The Icon” campaign, alongside Tyra Banks in Skims “Icons” campaign from 2022.
Mikael Jansson/Victoria’s Secret and Greg Swales/Skims

In August 2023, Victoria’s Secret debuted a campaign that featured Naomi Campbell, Gisele Bündchen, and Adriana Lima, alongside other supermodels from the late ’90s and early 2000s as well as newer faces to the modeling scene.

The brand also traded in its “Angels ” label, though, and named its campaign “The Icon” — similarly titled to a Skims campaign from the year before titled “Icons.” The similarities didn’t end there: both campaigns included Victoria’s Secret models from earlier eras, and both included photos with comparable overexposed lighting and editing styles.

Its “reimagined” fashion show premiered in September 2023.

Lila Moss attends the Victoria's Secret red carpet on September 6, 2023. — Lila Moss attends the Victoria’s Secret red carpet on September 6, 2023.
Taylor Hill/Getty Images

The show received mixed reactions. Although Victoria’s Secret was praised for its attempt to appeal to a wider audience, it lacked one important aspect for a fashion show: a runway.

Instead, the live fashion event was a premiere, of sorts, for the film, which was released on Prime Video days later.

Nostalgic Gen Zers could play a role in a comeback.

Modek Alex Consani getting her makeup done — Taylor Hill/WireImage via Getty Images

As Gen Z continues its obsession with the early 2000s, the styles of that time are making full-fledged comebacks. From ballet flats to trucker hats, Gen Z shoppers are searching for the Y2K aesthetic.

Victoria’s Secret reported that its second-quarter earnings report for 2024 showed its quarterly operating income growing for the first time since 2021.

Victoria’s Secret took a similar approach to the old ways for the 2024 fashion show.

Gigi Hadid for Victoria's Secret — Prominent models in the industry donned wings and walked the runway.
Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Victoria’s Secret

The fashion show featured musical guests, including Cher and K-pop star Lisa, as well as a runway presentation — similar to how it was done before the 2019 cancellation.

It closed out the brand’s third quarter of 2024, for which it reported a 7% increase in net sales year over year. Victoria’s Secret told investors that the show also earned it more than 4 million new TikTok followers.

“In addition to driving brand awareness leading into holiday, the show drove brand relevance, putting VS at the center of culture and fashion conversations,” Super said.

Super’s first holiday season showed promise, but 2025 brought the threat of tariffs.

Iris Law for Victorias Secret — Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Victoria’s Secret

Victoria’s Secret appeared to have a happy holiday in 2024, with its operating income exceeding expectations and comparable sales bumping 5%.

“After my first holiday season with the business, I continue to be optimistic about our future, our opportunity to further differentiate the brands with compelling storytelling and make even deeper emotional connections with our customers,” Super said on an earnings call.

However, in 2025, Victoria’s Secret hasn’t been immune to the financial challenges that tariffs on countries like China present. The company said in June that it would cut back on promotional sales as tariffs affected business.

In August, it said it’s expecting a net tariff impact of about $100 million for 2025.

The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show will stream live on Wednesday night.

October 15 is show day for the Angels of Victoria’s Secret. Karol G, Madison Beer, Missy Elliott, and others will perform.

The show and its shopping event will be live-streamed on Prime Video, TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. The lingerie giant is channeling star power this year with WNBA star Angel Reese and other influencers modeling looks in the show.

“What is a modern Angel?” she said to the Journal in September. “Does it have to be a supermodel? We are having those debates.”

Read the original article on Business Insider

I send my kids to their grandparents for 2 weeks every year. They make memories and I reconnect with my husband.

Written by admin on October 15, 2025. Posted in Uncategorized.

A granddad with his two grandchildren. — David Jakle/Getty Images

My two sons have been spending time at their grandparents’ for the last six years.
Because they live five hours away from us, they don’t get that much time with their grandparents.
My husband and I take the time without the kids to reconnect.

“See you next week,” I told my 10-year-old as he slipped through the doorway with his duffel bag. My 14-year-old was already in the car, eager for a break from us and our home. “I’ll miss you,” I called from the mud room, and then my husband’s car backed out of the driveway to meet my in-laws halfway between our homes.

Every year, for the last six years, my boys spend a week or two in Virginia with my in-laws at their house after the excitement of summer camp and family vacation has settled.

Living five hours away from them, my kids don’t get as much quality time with their grandparents during the school year as they’d like. Often, we spend winter or spring break at an Airbnb catching up with them, but it’s hard to find additional extended time when they’re not in school and everyone’s schedules align.

They make up for lost time, and it is nothing short of a spectacular vacation for everyone involved.

My kids get to connect with their grandparents

Temporarily relocating to the home where my husband grew up, my boys explore his childhood surroundings while forming a deep connection with their grandparents. From daily swims at their local indoor and outdoor community pools — along with private swimming lessons — to frequent games of mini-golf, their schedules are jam-packed with all their favorite activities.

Each summer, my in-laws and kids draft the daily schedule together on FaceTime in the weeks leading to their reunion. A day in Colonial Williamsburg experiencing an authentic 18^th-century living history museum always makes the cut. Afternoons are spent exploring local museums, including the latest exhibits at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Science Museum of Virginia. A visit to Jamestown, where the first permanent English settlement was established, is also scheduled yearly.

During quiet mornings — or between activities — they bake treats, watch movies, and do puzzles. As an added bonus, my kids reconnect with their aunt and uncle, who live nearby, and visit my in-laws’ friends and neighbors, whom they also look forward to seeing each summer.

Amid revisiting beloved destinations, they also have new experiences that set each summer apart from the rest. Last year, they enjoyed watching the Chili Peppers, a collegiate summer baseball team, play ball. During a couple of summers, they spent a day in Washington, D.C., visiting museums, including the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, an experience my president-loving 10-year-old will never forget. A personal magic lesson from the local, acclaimed magician was enjoyed one summer, too.

My boys crave the change of pace, from the activities and change of scenery to the shift in food. My home-cooked dinners, which lose their novelty throughout the school year, are replaced with meals prepared from a fresh perspective. Their grandmother’s famous lasagna and grandfather’s delectable cottage cheese pancakes are a perk they look forward to each visit. Restaurants like Peter Chang’s, which my kids love but can only enjoy in Virginia, return to their palates once again.

At first, I worried about them

When we first started these visits in 2021, my boys were 10 and 7, and naturally, I worried about them being five hours from home. Sure, they were under the care of their grandparents, who love them just as we do, but knowing I wasn’t there if they needed me triggered my motherly anxiety.

But over the years — as I’ve watched them look forward to these special visits and return home with another summer of memories — I’ve come to realize that this time away from one another is not only wonderful for them; it’s also healthy and necessary for all of us. A short break strengthens our relationship afterward.

While our kids enjoy their own vacation, my husband and I reconnect. In 2023, while my kids were in Virginia, my husband and I took a child-free getaway to Bermuda. The last two years, we stayed home because my husband had to work, but our evenings took on a whole new meaning. We rediscovered all our favorite restaurants through daily date nights and drank the cocktails we enjoyed in our younger years. When my husband had a shorter day at work, afternoons were spent strolling around the trendy town where we met or enjoying an outdoor meal with friends. Temporarily, we returned to the freedom of our newlywed years.

When my boys return home after their visit, I’m ready to dive back into the hustle of another school year. I’m physically rejuvenated and mentally prepared for everything motherhood brings during the back-to-school season. And my boys are ready to fall back into our routine, as well.

This time, my boys spend each summer with their grandparents has become a tradition written into their lives with permanence. Not only does it provide memories that my in-laws and kids will hold onto forever, but it’s also the peaceful break that my husband and I never knew we needed.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Quectel showcases EG800AK-JP and IoT portfolio at CEATEC 2025

Written by admin on October 14, 2025. Posted in Company News.

Quectel Wireless Solutions, an end-to-end global IoT solutions provider, today announced the launch of its EG800AK-JP LTE Cat 1 bis module at CEATEC 2025^*.

Visitors to the event will not only be able to find out more about the LTE Cat 1 bis module but also learn more about Quectel’s comprehensive end-to-end IoT solutions portfolio, designed to accelerate digital transformation across a diverse range of industries.

The EG800AK-JP is a compact 17.7 × 15.8 × 2.4 mm module built on the ASR1605 series chipset and optimized to support Japan’s key LTE bands. Designed as a cost-efficient 3G-replacement with single-antenna Cat 1 bis architecture, it delivers 10 Mbps downlink and 5 Mbps uplink, DFOTA, and optional Wi-Fi Scan for location services. Building on the success of Cat 1 bis technology in India and China, the EG800AK-JP brings this proven standard to Japan. With its compact size and robust feature set, it is ideally suited for smart metering, asset tracking, and a wide range of IoT applications across the country.

At the event, Quectel will highlight a wide range of IoT technologies, from advanced modules covering GNSS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Smart, Satellite and LPWA modules, to its complementary antenna range, designed to optimize IoT devices for performance, efficiency and security. In addition, attendees will get the opportunity to learn more about Quectel’s value-added services including testing and certification, RTK correction, antenna design, and ODM services.

Quectel modules power a wide range of devices in the Japanese market and will also be showcased by some of Quectel’s customers during the event, including:

A&D Company Limited, demonstrating their cellular weight scales that includes Quectel’s BG770A-GL LPWA module
Century Systems, featuring their FutureNet MA-S120/GLA Router that uses the Quectel EC25-J LTE module.
Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems (IES), with two industrial routers, both powered by the EC25 LTE and FC20 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modules from Quectel – the CPTrans-MEW and the CPTrans-MGW industrial wireless routers
LIMNO Co., Ltd bringing two business tablets to the show, both of which feature the SC680A LTE module.
NEC Personal Computer (NEC Global) with two VersaPro Notebooks, both featuring the EM061K-GL LTE-A module

“Japan is one of the most dynamic markets for IoT adoption, and CEATEC provides an excellent platform for us to strengthen our presence and connect with local customers and partners,” said Yasu Okada, Senior Sales Director, APAC, Quectel Wireless Solutions. “We’re going to be showcasing our complete end-to-end IoT portfolio during the show and look forward to having some great conversations with attendees. It’s fantastic to be able to show real-life demonstrations of our modules in action with examples from leading Japanese companies that are bringing tangible benefits to healthcare, business productivity, and beyond.”

^* CEATEC 2025 is taking place October 14–17 in Makuhari Messe, Japan (Booth 2H115)

The post Quectel showcases EG800AK-JP and IoT portfolio at CEATEC 2025 appeared first on IoT Business News.

G+D Powers Next-Generation Connectivity with First SGP.32 eSIM Integration in Amazon’s eero Signal

Written by admin on October 10, 2025. Posted in Global Industry News.

Breakthrough collaboration brings secure, resilient, and flexible connectivity to consumers and device makers worldwide

Giesecke+Devrient (G+D), a global SecurityTech company headquartered in Munich, Germany, today announced that its SGP.32 eSIM technology has been integrated into the recently announced eero Signal from eero, an Amazon company.

This collaboration marks one of the first commercial deployments of the new SGP.32 standard, and represents a significant milestone in advancing connected home and IoT technologies.

Today’s IoT ecosystem faces growing complexity for device makers and service providers, particularly around SKU management, ensuring a seamless customer experience in background carrier selection, and maintaining flexibility across different go-to-market channels. eero Signal helps solve these challenges when combined with the power of G+D’s SGP.32 eSIM technology, providing a single SKU that eliminates the need for physical SIM card handling. SGP.32 brings the benefits of automatic network activation and seamless connectivity management – previously seen in smartphones – to IoT devices like eero Signal, combining this capability with eero’s industry leading Wi-Fi networks. eero Signal enhances eero networks with a dedicated cellular backup connection for your home or business Wi-Fi continuing the promise of connectivity that just works.

In addition to introducing SGP.32 for the first time, the integration highlights the growing momentum of both eSIM and 5G RedCap adoption. By incorporating these two technologies into eero Signal, G+D and eero have set the foundation for broader industry adoption, encouraging carriers to accelerate their support for these advanced standards. With multiple Tier 1 carriers working with eero to provide connectivity for eero Signal, the collaboration signals the start of a larger market shift, helping to accelerate industry readiness and unlock new growth opportunities.

For device makers, SGP.32 streamlines processes, reduces costs, and enhances scalability by simplifying integration and maintenance while enabling faster rollout of new features and updates. For consumers, the integration of G+D’s SGP.32 eSIM technology into eero Signal delivers tangible advantages, including seamless connectivity, automatic carrier selection, enhanced device reliability, and improved service continuity, all without the hassle of a physical SIM card.

“At eero, our customers have depended on us for reliable connectivity for more than a decade. We understand how disruptive internet outages can be,” said Gabe Kassel, Head of Product at eero. “That’s why we introduced eero Signal to provide backup connectivity during an internet outage. Thanks to our collaboration with G+D on SGP.32, eero devices can seamlessly load additional carrier profiles over an existing internet connection without preexisting cellular connectivity, allowing easy and fast switching between carriers. We can’t wait for customers to try eero Signal.”

“The adoption of G+D’s SGP.32 eSIM technology in eero Signal represents a major step forward for secure, flexible connectivity across the IoT ecosystem,” said Philipp Schulte, CEO of G+D Mobile Security.

“By enabling dynamic connectivity management and eliminating the need for physical SIM handling, this collaboration sets a new global standard for how connected devices communicate.”

eero is working with multiple Tier 1 mobile network operators (MNOs) to bring this innovation to customers. eero Signal will debut in the United States in early 2026, with plans to expand to other countries.

The post G+D Powers Next-Generation Connectivity with First SGP.32 eSIM Integration in Amazon’s eero Signal appeared first on IoT Business News.

Author: admin

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Quectel showcases EG800AK-JP and IoT portfolio at CEATEC 2025

Quectel Wireless Solutions, an end-to-end global IoT solutions provider, today announced the launch of its EG800AK-JP LTE Cat 1 bis module at CEATEC 2025*.

G+D Powers Next-Generation Connectivity with First SGP.32 eSIM Integration in Amazon’s eero Signal

Giesecke+Devrient (G+D), a global SecurityTech company headquartered in Munich, Germany, today announced that its SGP.32 eSIM technology has been integrated into the recently announced eero Signal from eero, an Amazon company.

Quectel Wireless Solutions, an end-to-end global IoT solutions provider, today announced the launch of its EG800AK-JP LTE Cat 1 bis module at CEATEC 2025^*.