Katie Diasti

Diasti believes raising millions before launch would have led her to spend much of it poorly.

“if I had raised, you know, millions of dollars pre-product, pre-launch, probably would have spent a lot of it in the wrong ways”

Young and Profiting (YAP) with Hala Taha: Entrepreneurship and Self-Improvement Podcast: How This Female Founder Grew a $5K Startup Into a $3M Period Care Business With Amazon | Entrepreneurship | Katie Diasti | Presented by Amazon (Oct 27, 2026) · Listen from 48:13

Diasti says that as a young female founder in period care she needed to prove traction before pitching investors.

“I knew I needed to prove that I could get traction in some way before pitching a single investor”

Young and Profiting (YAP) with Hala Taha: Entrepreneurship and Self-Improvement Podcast: How This Female Founder Grew a $5K Startup Into a $3M Period Care Business With Amazon | Entrepreneurship | Katie Diasti | Presented by Amazon (Oct 27, 2026) · Listen from 45:29

Diasti projects Viv will finish the year with roughly $3 to $4 million in revenue.

“So we've done over 3 million in revenue this year. We'll do about like three to 4 million”

Young and Profiting (YAP) with Hala Taha: Entrepreneurship and Self-Improvement Podcast: How This Female Founder Grew a $5K Startup Into a $3M Period Care Business With Amazon | Entrepreneurship | Katie Diasti | Presented by Amazon (Oct 27, 2026) · Listen from 42:30

Diasti claims Viv's new Cotton Lock tampon is the first to prevent fibers from shedding inside the body.

“So it's the first tampon that prevents fibers from shedding inside the body. And all other tampons in the market can leave fibers stuck inside the body”

Young and Profiting (YAP) with Hala Taha: Entrepreneurship and Self-Improvement Podcast: How This Female Founder Grew a $5K Startup Into a $3M Period Care Business With Amazon | Entrepreneurship | Katie Diasti | Presented by Amazon (Oct 27, 2026) · Listen from 39:01

Diasti says outsourcing fulfillment to Amazon lets Viv's lean team focus on content, brand and community.

“we can leave the fulfillment and packing of orders to Amazon's team. And that has been so great for a lean team like ours”

Young and Profiting (YAP) with Hala Taha: Entrepreneurship and Self-Improvement Podcast: How This Female Founder Grew a $5K Startup Into a $3M Period Care Business With Amazon | Entrepreneurship | Katie Diasti | Presented by Amazon (Oct 27, 2026) · Listen from 20:42

Diasti says Amazon suited period care because customers need products quickly and often don't plan ahead.

“in this category, like you need your products really fast and you want the product fast because people aren't always planning ahead for the period”

Young and Profiting (YAP) with Hala Taha: Entrepreneurship and Self-Improvement Podcast: How This Female Founder Grew a $5K Startup Into a $3M Period Care Business With Amazon | Entrepreneurship | Katie Diasti | Presented by Amazon (Oct 27, 2026) · Listen from 20:01

Diasti says she pre-sold hundreds of pads at farmers' markets before the product existed.

“I sold pre-orders of pads that hadn't even existed yet. And I was selling like hundreds of pre-orders”

Young and Profiting (YAP) with Hala Taha: Entrepreneurship and Self-Improvement Podcast: How This Female Founder Grew a $5K Startup Into a $3M Period Care Business With Amazon | Entrepreneurship | Katie Diasti | Presented by Amazon (Oct 27, 2026) · Listen from 18:14

Diasti says Viv's first production run cost $3,500 after creative workarounds to high minimum order quantities.

“And so we had to get really creative. And we were able to do so with our first run being $3,500”

Young and Profiting (YAP) with Hala Taha: Entrepreneurship and Self-Improvement Podcast: How This Female Founder Grew a $5K Startup Into a $3M Period Care Business With Amazon | Entrepreneurship | Katie Diasti | Presented by Amazon (Oct 27, 2026) · Listen from 16:55

Diasti advises founders to know their margins and build something they genuinely care about.

“One, have your margins zipped up, know your numbers really well, but also like build something you actually care about”

Young and Profiting (YAP) with Hala Taha: Entrepreneurship and Self-Improvement Podcast: How This Female Founder Grew a $5K Startup Into a $3M Period Care Business With Amazon | Entrepreneurship | Katie Diasti | Presented by Amazon (Oct 27, 2026) · Listen from 55:00

Diasti argues that entering retail without a strong online and direct-to-consumer base is risky and bad practice.

“I think it's very risky and actually bad practice to try to launch in retail doors without having a strong enough direct-to-consumer business”

Young and Profiting (YAP) with Hala Taha: Entrepreneurship and Self-Improvement Podcast: How This Female Founder Grew a $5K Startup Into a $3M Period Care Business With Amazon | Entrepreneurship | Katie Diasti | Presented by Amazon (Oct 27, 2026) · Listen from 51:00

Diasti argues that high margins are essential because brands can lower prices later but cannot raise them.

“And it's almost like a death wish to not have high enough margins because it's something where like, we know we can, as we scale”

Young and Profiting (YAP) with Hala Taha: Entrepreneurship and Self-Improvement Podcast: How This Female Founder Grew a $5K Startup Into a $3M Period Care Business With Amazon | Entrepreneurship | Katie Diasti | Presented by Amazon (Oct 27, 2026) · Listen from 44:38

Diasti says Viv prices its cup at $20 on Amazon versus competitors' $40 to $50.

“our competitors are charging $40 to $50 for one cup. We're charging on Amazon $20 for a cup”

Young and Profiting (YAP) with Hala Taha: Entrepreneurship and Self-Improvement Podcast: How This Female Founder Grew a $5K Startup Into a $3M Period Care Business With Amazon | Entrepreneurship | Katie Diasti | Presented by Amazon (Oct 27, 2026) · Listen from 43:34

Diasti says promoting the first month of Subscribe & Save sharply increased loyal, high-retention subscribers.

“as soon as we started increasing the promotion of that first month, we saw so many more subscribers”

Young and Profiting (YAP) with Hala Taha: Entrepreneurship and Self-Improvement Podcast: How This Female Founder Grew a $5K Startup Into a $3M Period Care Business With Amazon | Entrepreneurship | Katie Diasti | Presented by Amazon (Oct 27, 2026) · Listen from 42:00

Diasti recounts that after Viv responded to 2024 heavy-metal studies, it sold six months of tampon inventory in three weeks.

“We thought we had six months of inventory of our tampons, like ready to go in stock. We'd sold through it in three weeks”

Young and Profiting (YAP) with Hala Taha: Entrepreneurship and Self-Improvement Podcast: How This Female Founder Grew a $5K Startup Into a $3M Period Care Business With Amazon | Entrepreneurship | Katie Diasti | Presented by Amazon (Oct 27, 2026) · Listen from 34:22

Diasti says viral TikTok videos showed that off-Amazon content can drive Amazon sales.

“this is really interesting that like having off platform, off Amazon content can really help drive Amazon sales”

Young and Profiting (YAP) with Hala Taha: Entrepreneurship and Self-Improvement Podcast: How This Female Founder Grew a $5K Startup Into a $3M Period Care Business With Amazon | Entrepreneurship | Katie Diasti | Presented by Amazon (Oct 27, 2026) · Listen from 28:15

Diasti recounts negotiating far below manufacturers' million-unit minimums as a recent graduate.

“okay, our minimum quantity is a million units per absorbency of tampon. And I was like, well, how about you give me a few hundred and I try it out”

Young and Profiting (YAP) with Hala Taha: Entrepreneurship and Self-Improvement Podcast: How This Female Founder Grew a $5K Startup Into a $3M Period Care Business With Amazon | Entrepreneurship | Katie Diasti | Presented by Amazon (Oct 27, 2026) · Listen from 11:02

Diasti says she learned traditional period care contains toxins comparable to those in Roundup weed killer and generates plastic waste.

“learning that like traditional period care has the same toxins you'd find in Roundup Weed Killer”

Young and Profiting (YAP) with Hala Taha: Entrepreneurship and Self-Improvement Podcast: How This Female Founder Grew a $5K Startup Into a $3M Period Care Business With Amazon | Entrepreneurship | Katie Diasti | Presented by Amazon (Oct 27, 2026) · Listen from 5:15