Hoopsy CEO Lara Solomon participated in the Gimme Beauty Gimme Gives Back Female Founder Competition in September 2025. Here is her recount of the experience.
On September 8th, I finally filed my application for the Gimme Beauty Gimme Gives Back Female Founder competition. I had been putting it off for a while – these pitch applications take time to complete and need some brain power, hence the procrastination!
It was on September 19th that I found out that I had made it to the top 10 out of over 650 entrants in the competition, and then on the 26th, I was told I was one of four finalists! The prize was to pitch to investors in LA for $40,000. Gimme flew each of the finalists out to LA for two days and paid for the hotel for the two nights as well. It felt like a very glamorous prize!
The evening before the Gimme Gives Back pitch competition, I met the other three founders – Cassie and Chelsea (sisters) from Lotties Meats, Monica from Red Drop, and Lynda from Love & Pebble. It is always a bit strange going to events where you are with some awesome women, but they are also your competition. Even though we all had different businesses at different stages, it still felt like you didn’t want to be too relaxed or real, as it might give the others an edge… Looking back now, this seems rather silly.
However, we did all get an amazing Gimme goodie bags at the dinner, complete with hair ties, a hair brush, a bag, stickers and lots more. As I write this, my hair is up with GImme hair clip. I do love that they are all about helping you pull your hair back so that you can get on with life.
On the morning of the Gimme Gives Back competition pitch, we headed to the studio where there was a make-up artist and stylist waiting for us. We’d each been asked to bring some outfit options with us. I like to wear blues and greens, but unfortunately, there had been a set change at the last minute, which we weren’t told about, and the new background was blue. This meant that all my blue outfits were out – wearing blue on a blue background makes it hard to see you!
So it was the green dress; however, a week earlier, I had fallen down the stairs and sprained my ankle, and it was still more of a cankle than an ankle. I was hoping that no one would really notice on camera that one ankle was VERY puffy! The trials and tribulations of being a TV star!
Once hair, makeup and clothes had been sorted, it was time for an interview. This was about 10-15 minutes talking on camera about Hoopsy, why we exist, what we stand for and about the product. The interview was a breeze; having done lots of these, I found it to be very easy. I was, however, still frantically learning my lines for the 5-minute pitch.
Pitching At The Gimme Beauty Gimme Gives Back Competition
The competition pitch was like an episode of Shark Tank/Dragons’ Den, where you tell judges about your business, and they ask questions. I have done lots and lots and lots (probably well over 100) of these before, but nearly always with slides; this time, there were not going to be slides.
Memorising lines is really not my thing.
I kinda had half of it down and was close to feeling like I’d got it when I was told I was up – they had changed the order on me – I thought I had another hour to practice! Arrhhhh
On set, it was strange. Three lovely judges, but then about 15 film, light, sound, Gimme people on the set just looking at me. Not saying anything, just watching. It was kind of freaky; they didn’t laugh at jokes or anything.
Another unusual thing was that usually, when you pitch against others in a competition, you get to see their pitch. But because it was being filmed, if you weren’t pitching, you were in a separate room. This meant that we all really had no idea who was going to win.
My pitch was not my best, and no, I am not just saying that, it really wasn’t. I think I had built it up so BIG in my mind that I got really nervous – plus having to memorise the lines meant my mind went blank at crucial moments – like when I had to talk. The Gimme team and the judges were unbelievably lovely about it all.
But unfortunately, I didn’t win the competition. The winners of the competition were Cassie and Chelsea from Lotties Meats.
That night, we all went out for drinks (rather a lot of drinks), and the more I found out about Cassie and Chelsea and what they’ve done with Lotties Meats in a short amount of time, the more I felt they deserved the win.
Even though I didn’t win the $40,000, I did walk away with the people’s choice award of $5000, which is where people voted for us online.
This experience was great, and I met some amazing founders with whom I will keep in touch.
It’s always disappointing not to win after going through the whole process, but I know that I wasn’t at my best, I have learnt a lot for next time, and I made some great friends.
Thank you, Gimme Beauty, for this amazing experience! 🙂 – Lara X
About Hoopsy
Hoopsy is on a mission to make healthcare more sustainable—starting with eco pregnancy test kits. Our plastic-free, paper-based hCG pregnancy test strips reduce waste without compromising accuracy. We believe better health starts with better choices—for you, and for the planet.
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