Holiday Special: Join the Dear FoundHer… Forum at 30% off our annual rate and lock in pricing forever. After December 19th, we will never offer this rate again. JOIN US HEREYou don’t need permission or perfect credentials to build a trusted brand in women’s health.Lindsay Pinchuk sits down with Kat Schneider, founder and CEO of Ritual, for a conversation about building a category-defining company without a science background or a perfectly mapped plan. Kat shares how Ritual began during her first pregnancy as a response to unanswered questions about trust and transparency, and how choosing a DTC model early allowed the brand to educate customers, show real proof, and earn credibility instead of asking for it. What changes when you build trust before scale? How do you move forward when you do not feel fully ready?Kat also reflects on how that DTC foundation shaped Ritual’s growth and made expansion into retail, including Target, feel intentional rather than reactive. She talks about leadership lessons learned along the way, from hiring mistakes to the pressure many women feel to be experts at everything, and why surrounding yourself with people who are stronger where you are not can change everything. Tune in to understand how intuition and decision-making become the real competitive advantage when you are building something meant to last.Episode Breakdown:00:00 Why This Conversation Matters for Women Founders02:20 How Ritual Started With One Pregnant Founder Asking Better Questions05:52 Quitting a Job While Pregnant and Challenging a “Niche” Industry07:39 Building Ritual Without a Science Background12:58 Launching One Product and Earning Trust Through DTC20:56 How DTC Education Enabled Expansion Into Target and Retail32:30 Leadership Lessons and Early Hiring Mistakes38:14 Three Core Lessons on Intuition, Rejection, and Decision-MakingConnect with Kat Schneider:Follow Kat on InstagramFollow Ritual on InstagramDearFoundHer… Links:Check out the Dear FoundHer... Female Founded Holiday Gift Guide! Join the Dear FoundHer... ForumFollow Dear FoundHer... on InstagramPodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.