“I first came across you years ago through interviews about building Bulletin, and recently found my way to your Substack. I’m honestly hooked. Your advice has been helping me a lot with my career decisions, so thank you.” - paid subscriber. How Phia Is Using Its Celebrity-Stacked Series A...On Tik TokOn how Phia turned a celebrity investor roster into a TikTok growth engine - and what it reveals about the way people trust and take action in the attention economy.
“WDYT of Phia??”
The day Phia dropped its Coachella-style investor lineup for the company’s oversubscribed Series A, I got about a dozen texts and DMs from friends, industry folks and para-social IG pals asking what I thought about the platform, and the raise (shameless plug). I had not used the tool for some time, so I could not comment on it (more on this ahead), and as for the investor lineup - I was gobsmacked! I knew the company had closed 35 mil back in January of ‘26 thanks to TechCrunch, but where was Ice Spice? Alix Earle? Jay Shetty? Mindy Kaling? And the psychedelics-loving-memory-recovering memoirist Amy Griffin? (I love when my literary and startup worlds collide!)
I responded to everyone with a “hold my sauvy b” while I dove head-first into all things Phia and this raise. I read all the coverage, followed all the chatter on social, and developed a sense of genuine excitement and awe toward founders Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni. I remember what it was like to be in their shoes in my early 20s, grinding on my startup with my co-founder from our New York office, hustling for users, hiring, drafting press announcements. This is a precious time overflowing with pressure and opportunity. And that’s what I want to double-click on today: opportunity. Because Gates and Kianni, or someone on their PR or marketing team, or all the above - have a sharp, modern understanding of both the attention economy and growth marketing, and boy are they using it. Their Tik Tok strategy proves it. The founders closed and announced this raise in January, then did a whole new go-to-market for it in June. Where the January announcement focused on Phia’s institutional capital, this new push focuses Phia’s celebrity and influencer capital. Historically, startups leverage “a raise” externally - a seed, Series A, Series B, etc - for press, industry exposure, industry validation, and hiring and acquiring the best talent. But Phia said: we’re going to use this milestone, and the celebrity investors who made it happen, and explicitly use it to build awareness, take market share, and drive downloads. These celebrity and influencer endorsements inform the content Phia runs on Tik Tok. It is download bait. Exhibit A:  Video by Phia empoyee / team member Exhibit B:  Video by Phia employee / team member Exhibit C:  Video by Phia employee / team member If you look at these three employee or in-house creator pages (I have no idea what the setup is between each creator + Phia), you can see that Phia is testing a lot of different messaging. They’ve also been testing this “XYZ Celebrity knew EXACTLY what she was doing investing in this…” messaging since March. They’ll likely “spark” or put ad dollars behind the videos and messaging that organically pops off, and they can do it seamlessly, because these appear to be contracted or in-house creators who started working for Phia around March onward. It’s a brilliant move. People Mimic The People They Want To BeWhat I immediately thought of when I saw the Phia celebrity investor announcement, and these Tik Tok videos using the investors as download bait, is something ShopMy President Tiffany Lopinsky said in a recent interview with the Financial Times: “We’ve always wanted to shop from people we trust or whose taste we like. The best influencers make you feel like you’re a friend and they’re letting you in on something.”  A little Russian Nesting Doll of aspiration and credibility
The Russian-nesting-doll Phia has set up on social is this philosophy in a nutshell: their target demo likes Alix Earle and Khloe Kardashian and Halsey and Ice Spice and Paris Hilton. These people invest. Then, Phia gets attractive, camera-ready, influencer-coded creators to hype up the celebrity seal-of-approval as a reason to download the app. Their content feels like you’re being tapped into a secret, or discovering new, titillating information. The Russian-nesting-doll betrays a serious understanding of how people make decisions, vet tools and brands, and take action these days: they use short-hand. If so-and-so uses it, I want to use it. If so-and-so likes it, I like it. If it’s so-and-so approved, I approve. People are busy, people are lazy, people are status-seeking, people are celebrity and influencer-obsessed. What better way to inspire this target demo - young women who shop - to finally give Phia a try? The people they trust and copy - whose taste they covet - have invested in the product. The missing piece? Letting everyone know. But instead of stopping at a flat press release, or the Coachella announcement, or a few podcast appearances, Phia used their celebrity and investor backing to feed a marketing engine that could drive actual downloads. I’d be curious to learn the results of the push, and of their latest push, which educates the viewer on whitelabeling. Every video opens with a hook about “lowering one’s cortisol by saving hundreds of dollars” on your fashion finds. If you search “Phia app” on Tik Tok, you’ll see all the content. (I do this with brands all the time, by the way. I don’t just rely on Meta to show me competitor messaging or what messaging brands are pushing! I love a good manual search, especially for creator stuff). As for me, I’m not downloading Phia because Alix Earle or Ice Spice said so. But on June 2, after digesting all things Phia, I started eyeing the other founders on the cap table. Sophia Amoruso has made so many prescient bets in her career. She’s a killer. Why Phia? Sara Blakely (Spanx), Allison Ellsworth (Poppi), Vlad Tenev (Robinhood) - what did these folks see in Phia? I downloaded the app. I just wonder which Tik Tok video will get last touch attribution ;-) Other reading:Jasmine Sun says the old world is dying, and she’s right. In this piece, she gives a state of the union on the state of the world, while sharing advice to recent grads on how to build a life and career in the age of AI. A taste: “‘Isn’t this supposed to be career advice?’ I promise it is. Relationships are how you’ll escape the hellfire of a thousand-person LinkedIn resume stack. Relationships are how you earn the trust to make the sale, because even the biggest rationality bros are vibes-based decision-makers. And relationships are how you’ll stay sane when you get rejected / laid off / burned out anyway, because none of us are immune to having shit luck.” 
My favorite founder, SLUTTY FOUNDER , unpacks the latest at BREAD. Acquirer and CEO Olamide Olowe posted a Tik Tok saying the brand’s latest launch had flopped, and she asked for feedback from the community on why the brand isn’t resonating. Essence conspiratorially asks: “Is Olamide in on it?” and then “What Should a Post-Acquisition Bread Look Like? 
@lizleatrice paints a dystopian future that’s already arrived. “The great love affair of your life is… this. Sitting in the dark, your nose 6 inches from the screen. You have never separated, never taken a break. It started slowly, rockily. But by 25, it had its claws in you. By 30, it fills the dead spaces in your life. And you’ve never relented. It has consumed you wholly and the math has compounded. By this age, at 7 hours a day, 15 years of your life has been a screen.” 
Talk soon, Ali 🧘♀️ I’m Ali. I’m obsessed with ambition, the internet, e-commerce and myself (who isn’t?).I sold my tech company and now, I write this Substack, I write fiction, and I help brands grow.If you’re interested in learning more about performance affiliate and how we can partner, go here.If you want to buy my debut novel, go here. Bustle called it a “slick, psychologically rich thriller about ambition, codependence, and bereavement,” and National Bestseller Leigh Stein said it was “sizzling, funny, and deliciously dark.” I hope that’s your thing :)And if you just want to say hi, discuss a Substack collaboration or anything else, use ali@alikriegsman.com 🧚Right now, you’re a free subscriber to New Motives. That means you’re missing the full archive of all posts, gated paid posts, and MY GOODWILL (just kidding). For the full experience, upgrade to paid.
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