Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Goldman Sachs’s head of corporate board engagement connects companies with diverse leaders, Tracy Kasper resigned as president of the National Association of Realtors, and slime is a $30 million business for one startup. Have a wonderful Wednesday!
– Slime time. In 2018, Karen Robinovitz was visited by a friend and her friend’s 10-year-old daughter. Robinovitz was in the middle of a deep depression after the death of her husband and the killing of her cousin in the Parkland shooting. She started playing with the slime her friend’s daughter brought with her, and before she knew it, four hours had gone by. “I wasn’t in any of my grief,” she remembers. “All of my depression was gone.”
Robinovitz became obsessed with slime, the squishy, glue-based product that has become popular among kids and others. She immediately told another friend, Sara Schiller, about her new obsession. Schiller had been through her own challenges and quickly latched onto slime’s sensory benefits for neuro-diverse people. “All of a sudden, we found ourselves talking about slime every single day,” Robinovitz says.
Robinovitz, who previously founded a talent agency for influencers, and Schiller, who’d cofounded a meeting room-sharing platform, decided to combine their expertises in marketing and real estate and go all-in on slime, debuting the Sloomoo Institute as a six-month popup in fall 2019 in New York.
The ticketed experiential space invites visitors to play with different kids of slime throughout its location, with guided expertise. The founders’ original space closed early during the pandemic and while shut down, they raised a $5.8 million Series A. Today, Sloomoo has four locations in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, and New York. In 2023, the company earned $30 million in revenue, Fortune is the first to report.
About 80% of that $30 million has come from ticket sales. Sloomoo has sold 1 million so far, for as much as $48 apiece in New York. The other 20% is from sales of its own slime. The company has about 400 employees (and aims to hire neuro-diverse people for at least 10% of that workforce).
Robinovitz and Schiller say that when they first told friends and colleagues they were opening a business devoted to slime, they got mixed reactions. “People did think we were nuts,” Robinovitz recalls. But they think they tapped into a hunger for in-person experiences not made for Instagram. Sloomoo’s locations can be noisy and chaotic. There are slime slingshots, a DIY bar to create your own combinations of textures and scents, and a Nickelodeon-style slime drop.
Sloomoo is targeting at least four new locations in 2024, pinpointing cities with a history of interest in experiential retail and high family disposable income. Long-term, the startup is considering growth through licensing internationally.
“It’s that tactile sense that triggers dopamine,” Schiller says of slime’s universal appeal. “It connects your mind to your body. It literally makes you feel better.”
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
The Broadsheet is Fortune’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. Today’s edition was curated by Joseph Abrams. Subscribe here.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Four-month stay. Tracy Kasper resigned as president of the National Association of Realtors on Monday after she received “a threat to disclose a past personal, non-financial matter unless she compromised her position at NAR,” according to a press release from the organization. Kasper took over as president of the billion-dollar association in August after allegations of sexual harassment forced former president Kenny Parcell to resign. New York Times
- New style. Rent the Runway is restructuring again as the fashion subscription service continues to lose members, this time cutting 10% of corporate jobs. President and COO Anushka Salinas will exit the company at the end of the month as part of the changes, leaving CEO Jennifer Hyman with her duties. Wall Street Journal
- Too patient on parity. A report released Tuesday from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development slammed Denmark for the country’s significant gender disparity in management positions and self-employment rates, the worst among the Nordic countries. The organization suggested that Denmark introduce gender quotas and encourage young women to pursue STEM fields in school. Bloomberg
- Wolfe of Wall Street. Goldman Sachs insists that companies whose IPOs it underwrites have at least two board members with diverse backgrounds, and Ilana Wolfe is responsible for connecting them with good candidates. Wolfe, head of corporate board engagement at the investment bank, told Fortune that the "matchmaking" service is in high demand and provides companies with diverse leadership that ultimately bolsters businesses. Fortune
- Big pharma. British pharma giant GSK agreed to acquire asthma drug developer Aiolos Bio for $1.4 billion. It's a major acquisition for GSK under CEO Emma Walmsley. STAT News
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Match Group promoted Faye Iosotaluno to be Tinder's new CEO, filling a long-vacant role. Rothy's board member Jenny Ming will take over as the shoe brand's CEO from cofounder Stephen Hawthornthwaite; CFO and COO Dayna Quanbeck was promoted to president. Patreon hired Block's Paige Fitzgerald as COO.
ON MY RADAR
Get in, loser: we’re talking Mean Girls and music with Reneé Rapp Vanity Fair
Nikki Haley's slow burn was no accident Time
Did an abortion ban cost a young Texas woman her life? The New Yorker
PARTING WORDS
"We have the ability to feel joy at any point as long as we're breathing."
—CNN anchor Sara Sidner describing her outlook after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
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