Emma Grede’s Guide to Getting Paid What You Deserve and Building Unicorns
4/20/20261 hr 8 min
Emma Grede built a business and media empire (including brands like Good American and SKIMS) without a safety net. Today, she joins Nicole to pull back the curtain on the money mindset, negotiation tactics, and hard-won lessons that got her there. Emma gets raw about paying herself £45K while paying a male hire £150K to do a worse job, the moment Good American sold $1 million worth of inventory on day one (and why her investors turned on her by noon), and creative strategies she’s used to close major deals. She and Nicole also dig into Emma's exact playbook for negotiating a raise, the traps women fall into with money, and why Emma never lends money — she just gives it. Then they get into the taboos: prenups, the questions people should stop asking female founders, and whether financial planning and family planning should ever be kept separate. Pick up Emma's amazing book Start With Yourself Listen to Emma’s inspiring podcast Aspire Check out Nicole’s financial literacy course The Money School Find a Financial Advisor or Financial Coach from Nicole’s company Private Wealth Collective Watch video clips from the pod on Money Rehab’s Instagram and Nicole Lapin’s Instagram Here's what Nicole covers with Emma: 00:00 Are You Ready for Some Money Rehab? 03:39 Emma's Early Money Mistakes 06:00 The £45K vs. £150K Lesson 07:12 Learning the Language of Business 10:34 What Wealthy People Know About Investing 11:48 Good American's $1M Day One — and the Investor Critique 15:39 What Money Can't Buy (But People Think It Can) 18:13 Does Money Buy Happiness? 19:00 Emma's Secret to Always Asking for More 19:48 The Natalie Portman / Dior Negotiation Story 21:58 The Secret to Great Negotiations 22:30 Negotiating a Prenup at a Restaurant 24:33 Protecting What You Build During Marriage 26:45 Raise Negotiation Role Play 33:18 What NOT to Say When Asking for a Raise 35:01 Questions Female Founders Get That Men Never Do 38:20 The "Army of Help" and Financial Family Planning 40:34 Raising Wealthy Kids Without Ruining Them 43:59 Emma’s Early Hustle 46:00 Secure the Bag 53:15 What’s Next For Emma 01:01:39 Emma Grede's Tip You Can Take Straight to the Bank
Clips
Showing 10 of 12Transcript preview
First 90 secondsEmma Grede· Guest0:00
This is a story I actually haven't told, which is really funny. I did whatever I had to do as a kid, because in my head, I was literally going to work my way out of where I came from, and by the way, it worked.
Nicole Lapin· Host0:12
Emma Grede is the entrepreneur of the moment. She is the CEO of Good American. She's a founding partner of Skims, and that's just two of the culture-defining companies in her portfolio. She has a top business podcast. She was a guest shark on Shark Tank. She has a new book out, Start With Yourself. And through all of this hard-won experience, not only does she have a wealth of knowledge on growing and exiting companies, but she has a wealth of knowledge and experience on growing wealth itself, and she's here to give us the strategies that she used to make more money. Today, she gives us the script to use when asking for a raise- And what I want everybody to understand is that when you go into those negotiations, it's never just about the negotiation ... the big secrets of the rich that she learned only once she made it big- If you want money, you have to have some audacity, and what I mean by that is that you have to ask for what you need ... and some really refreshing takes on parenting.
Emma Grede· Guest1:03
I don't think parenting has got more difficult. I think that the expectations have become really crazy.
Nicole Lapin· Host1:09
I'm Nicole Lapin, the only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. It's time for some Money Rehab. Money Rehab. Emma Grede, welcome to Money Rehab.
Emma Grede· Guest1:28
Thank you so