You don't need funding when you have TikTok.

• Author: Griffin, Elle
• Position: EDITOR'S LETTER

WE TALK A LOT ABOUT STARTUPS in this magazine--the idea stage, the fundraising, the growth stage, the exit.

But what about those companies enabled by a new generation of tech? Who can skip the onerous brand-building, market-fit soul searching, and rapid-fire scaling altogether? Who can find market-fit overnight merely by being part of that market online?

I'm thinking of Archive Sunday, Sasha Sloan's retail startup that turned 5,000 TikTok followers into $1 million in revenue in 2020 alone. She was never looking to tap into mass appeal or to target millions of customers. She only wanted niche appeal--to cater to a few thousand--and it worked.

Her company taps into the veins of fandom geekery--specifically the world of Harry Potter--to create clothing lines inspired by that established franchise but...