Frances Tang
6x founder, 1 exit ($2.3M raised) | building @ Small Batch Ventures
Orange County, CA
Open to advisory
Customer acquisition · Product · Design & Brand
Happy to help with all things brand, marketing, AI, and building solo.
Makes warm intros to
5
Hours / month
About Frances
Frances is the founder/Captain Awkward/CEO of Awkward Essentials, a company that makes products that address the unspoken parts of hygiene. She is also the inventor of the dripstick - an after sex cleanup sponge.
With a background ranging from hula dancing to baking to wedding photography, she never intended to build a company around post-sex cleanup. However, after accidentally launching in the UK a month before she got married, Frances built one anyway. She’s also a super cheerleader for fearlessness, trying new hobbies, and ice cream.
Company
Awkward Essentials
www.awkwardessentials.com
After sex clean-up tool
Company Stage
Growth
Funding Raised
$1m to $5m
Team Size
1-5 employees
Industry
Consumer Products
Skills
Experience
job
Founder/Captain Awkward/CEO
Awkward Essentials
Solo-founded and led as CEO, 2019–2024, acquired 2024. Raised $2.3M seed (Unorthodox Ventures), grew to 3,000+ retail doors (CVS, Spencer's, Urban Outfitters), 8× YoY revenue growth, team of ~8. Featured in Forbes, Fast Company, Cosmopolitan, VICE, Newsweek, Glamour.
Successfully launched the product in the UK and built a company around it, achieving significant revenue and growth.
award
Fast Company
World Changing Ideas 2021, finalist/honorable mention.
job
Sanhu House
AI enablement lead/Brand Manager for a postpartum-care startup. Design and ships automation systems (CRM, SMS triage, content), works directly with the exec team on business-model decisions. Drove a 190% engagement / 200x inbound-lead lift in 4 weeks.
job
Small Batch Ventures
Solo-operated studio (2024–Present) building six AI-native consumer products end to end . Roughcut/Daydream — local-first AI video editor (Tauri + React), edits via plain-language commands Frankie — multi-agent SMS weekend-planning assistant for OC parents, in beta Shitty Mom Guide (SMG) — local newsletter, 4,000+ subscribers, 70%+ open rate, all-organic growth FlowVault — pole-studio platform (curriculum, enrollment, AI exercise recs), in TestFlight; featured in Inc.com's vibe-coding piece Kiko — iOS camera-based kids' learning app (Claude API + Supabase), COPPA-compliant, in TestFlight HTML Live Edit — open-source (MIT) click-to-edit tool for static HTML pages
milestone
Awkward Essentials — Acquisition
Company acquired in 2024, idea to national retail to exit.
education
UC San Diego B.A. Communication.