The reviews are coming in for Meghan's podcast 'Confessions of a Female Founder'ions of a

[LaBarruci]

Not listened to the first in Meghan's podcast series, a conversation with the founder of Bumble, Whitney Wolfe Heard, but the Mail has collated all the press reviews so far, with links. The Guardian, Telegraph and i-Paper are unanimous: the podcast is cloyingly dreadful.

The reviews for Meghan Markle's latest podcast are in! Two stars for Confessions of a Female Founder https://mol.im/a/14584193 via https://dailym.ai/android

TBH - I think she just recycles her Gender Studies 101 notes from her degree in the early noughties

Perfect description - "an upmarket Katie Price" lol! Maybe even just 'a more upmarket KP' seeing as her products aren't always high end!

Money will be generated from people listening to the podcast via Ad revenue. If people ain't listening, they ain't making money. I can't imagine Lemonada gave Meghan a shedload of cash to produce this (unless they are real numpties) so she needs listeners. Niche isn't going to pay her property taxes.

Do know who would be a brilliant guest for her podcast? Carol Middleton. Party Pieces made money from hosting posh parties. Admittedly Carole would have likely got an injection of cash from her wealthier husband, but there is a degree of self made ness. It ties Meghan's whole "portfolio" together.

one of the problems Meghan has with both the podcast and her recent Netflix show is that you don't have to watch/listen as you can get a word by word review of everything that's been said. The results being she doesn't get the views, whilst those on SM and the media rake in the cash with the "you don't have to watch as I've took the hit for you". I'm not sure how she can break that and I do think she is going to be reliant on as ever and shop my.

Party Pieces made money from hosting posh parties

I agree with your other points but I just want to correct this as an early customer of Party Pieces.

They had a range of themed party items: paper plates and cups, party bags & boxes, decorations, which were a cut above what had been previously available which was pretty much crap from Woolworths. That was the first innovative idea.

The second was that you could order by post in the days before we had online shopping.

I used them for my children’s birthday parties for several years and they were great and new and different.

I did too. They were an innovative idea at the time.

I don't think Carole would pee on Meghan if she was on fire!

Party Pieces went bust amid much mud slinging and leaving intriguing questions unanswered.

In the vanishingly unlikely event Rachel did manage to entice Willy's MIL into the studio I'd definitely listen and very much hope she'd be a much more robust interviewer than Oprah

Not sure if this has already been posted considering all the derailing we’ve had on this thread, but I agree with this article. I’ve seen her called “me me me again” on social media and i’m actually starting to agree with it. She brings everything back to herself rather than focusing on the topic and guest, hence why she keeps revealing personal medical information about herself to grab the headlines.

www.express.co.uk/news/royal/2042300/reaction-meghan-markle-podcast-episode-two/amp

What I liked about Party Pieces was that they would send you a reminder catalogue about 6 weeks before your dc’s birthday which was great for disorganised mums like me. Also they had many more party themes available than you could ever find in local shops or supermarkets. Unfortunately I guess in the long run they couldn’t compete with Amazon. However I am
grateful they were around when my dd was little as they were a brilliant help for her birthday parties.

I think Covid probaby didn't do them any favours either

They do have unfortunate timing. Like Covid and lockdown a few months after their freedom flight. Prince Philip being hospitalised when the Oprah interview was aired, and then dying barely a month later. Spare being published just 4 months after the Queen died. The wildfires occurring during the original launch date of With Love, Meghan. They do have the worst timing. That being said, some of the failures have just been due to poor content, like Archetypes and Polo. People only seem interested in their royal connections and the gossip they can bring.

@PrettyFlyforaMaiTai " I wouldn’t want to listen to a history podcast where the host isn’t qualified in history and relies solely on the guest to give us the actual info, if you see what I mean? "

I do get your point Pretty and largely I would agree but it can work - not a podcast but Melvyn Bragg hosting In Our Time - he couldn't hope to keep up with the guests but he is clever , engaging both with the audience and the guests , he can think on his feet (well bottom I suppose) and he really good at making complex topics accessible to an audience. My opinion , but just an example where I don't think the host has to be an expert.

Another example where the host not being an expert is Philomena Cunk 😂Who also often introduces random stories from her own life to highly qualified authorities in their field.

I don't disagree with what you have said about H&Ms timings but I was linking the Party PIeces failure with loss of trade in Covid. Lots of businesses went under especially those that had anything to do with social activities.

Apologies, I didn't express myself well. I was trying to say that Carole Middleton obviously spotted a gap in the market and managed to build a decent business based on enhancing your party hosting. In a pre Amazon world, it sounds like a really clever idea and there was a clear understanding of the market - posting catalogues out 6 weeks before your child's birthday is a simple but effective idea.

I was being a bit tongue in cheek, but it did strike me that Carole would be the perfect guest for the podcast. I think Hell would freeze over first though.

Ah I get you! Yeah, I think Covid was the final nail in the coffin. But unfortunately those types of companies just don’t work in the 2010-2020s when you have so many e-commerce sites and Amazon to battle with. They did well to get where they did though, Carole is a very clever, ambitious and astute woman and I applaud her for her entrepreneurial endeavour as a working mum of three. I’m sure I read that Michael actually quit his job to join the company and support her as it was becoming so successful.

I agree with this.

The important thing is that the interviewer is interested in the topic and the guest and has done some homework to bring the conversation along.

I quite enjoy You're Dead to Me which has Greg Jenner (a semi history expert), a proper academic and a comedian who is there for the laughs but can also be quite knowledgeable. Some episodes work better than others, but overall is a good light hearted listen. Confessions is a bit like brain syrup.

I think it was really unfortunate timing. Hadn't they just expanded into the US market when Covid hit and nobody had parties?

Hadn't they actually sold the company?

Greg Jenner is a historian. Not all the topics are obviously his area which is why they have an expert. He is a public historian. Which means his breath is there but perhaps not depth on subjects.

After Covid. They sold it with debt.

I think they expanded into the US - experienced cash flow issues - then sold it in 2022 or 23 and afterwards it went bust under the new owner.

I have read that Carole had previously sold a 49% stake but I don't know if that is listed anywhere or what it was worth. I'm not saying it was a dodgy deal I just don't know what kind of company it was and therefore whether it had to be made public. Just what I've read - I fully admit I can't prove it.

The stuff I read - back in the day - said there were several bidders for the company. But it's possible that the person who bought it always intended to close it but I seem to remember that he had other "kids' party adjacent" businesses in children's arts and crafts and an ice-cream company so it must have seemed a good fit.

I think Carole herself stepped back from day to day running of the company in 2019 well before the collapse. So it was the new CEO and management team that decided on the ill-fated US venture. But given that she's 70 now - going into semi-retirement in your mid-60s is not unusual.

I'm not sure about the sequence of events though I've seen attempts to accuse them of doing something dodgy. From what I can see it was standard business practice.