It’s official: personal finance is no longer a boys’ club. Women are stepping in and steering new conversations about all things money. And one of the most prominent voices right now is Simran Kaur. After learning that only 15 to 25% of women invest, Simran and her best friend Sonya Gupthan created the podcast Girls That Invest with a mission of making investing more approachable to women. Today, the podcast has racked up over 4 million downloads, and Simran (alongside Sonya) has earned her place on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list. How’s that for inspiration?
Like many, Simran’s creator journey began as a hobby as she shared her voice online and developed a community. Now, Girls That Invest has grown into its own brand, consisting of a popular investing education course, a best-selling book, and a mega-successful investing podcast for women. Digging into those stats, the Girls That Invest podcast ranked within the top 1% of Spotify’s most-followed and most-shared podcasts globally, breaking into nine different charts and charting for over 300 days. The numbers don’t lie: women are intentional about their financial education, and are keen on learning about money from other women.
And that’s exactly where Simran comes in. With Girls That Invest, Simran’s goal is simple: putting money in women’s hands. We caught up with the content creator-turned-media company owner to talk building her brand, monetization, and what’s next for her growing empire.
Can you tell us about your content creation journey?
I started creating content around 2015 or 2016, just as a hobby, since I enjoyed spending time online. I also enjoyed sharing my voice and thought if I was going to be online, I might as well find a community where I can learn from others. At the time, I was seeking out South Asian feminist spaces online and couldn’t find any. Then I thought, “Okay, I’ll do it.”
I wanted to create a space where people could have conversations. But in order to elicit these conversations, you have to have something there for people to engage with, so that’s what content became for me. It became a place for me to share information and hot takes, allowing people to discuss it with their friends.
It began with The Indian Feminist, which is still active with over 300,000 followers on Instagram. That was my first taste of using social media and creating content. However, I don’t really see myself as a content creator, but rather a media company owner.
What made you decide to focus on personal finance as your niche?
When I was first running The Indian Feminist, I realized that a lot of the questions people were asking were related to financial freedom and creating social change. To me, financial freedom is the foundation. It’s the ability to say, “I can just leave because I have my own money,” or, “I can walk away from any situation that does not suit me.”
Can you share some of your growth strategies for Girls That Invest?
We use different growth strategies [for different platforms.] For instance, content on Instagram is mainly static with a bit of video, whereas TikTok is all short-form. We don’t do long-form video; we do podcasts. I guess the strategies are that people who don’t know you will find you on TikTok, people who kind of know you will keep up with you on Instagram, and people who really want to deep dive into your work will find your long-form content, whether it’s YouTube or podcasts.
I think it’s really special to be able to say that we’re in someone’s ear three times a week [with the podcast], whether they’re going for a hike or cleaning. It’s such a privilege that we’re being trusted with that information. That means a lot and it’s so impactful, and I think this is how we’ve been able to build such an engaged audience.
We also are where [our audience] is. We host events and workshops in their cities. We’re in the social media spaces that they use, so the strategy also comes down to being very topical. We always jump on things as soon as we see a trend come up, like the Vulture article about “nepo babies” — “Okay, we’re going to talk about that in the context of what we do.” Or if there’s a trend or hot topic to do with families or relationships, we’re going to talk about that within a money context. Whatever it is that’s trending, you need to keep it relevant to your niche.
How do you stay inspired as a creator and avoid burnout?
I’ve been making content every day for eight years, so, of course, there’s going to be a lot of burnout. I don’t think I can avoid it with the current state of growth we’re in. If I wanted to slow down the growth of Girls That Invest, then I’m sure I could manage it much better. However, we’ve had over 5,000% growth over the last two years.
I do think having very strong breaks is important; going on a social media detox is important, like not being on your phone or deleting Instagram helps reset.
How do I remain inspired? I think when you look at your life, there’s always something to talk about. There are so many things you can talk about based on your personal life and experiences.
How do you engage with your audience?
Engaging with the Girls That Invest audience is something that comes so naturally to me. Anything that I find interesting, I’ll share it with them. Also, being receptive to feedback is so important. If we get something wrong or mess up, we’ll admit it. We’re malleable and have opinions that can change, so being human and relatable is important.
I remember one time I had a professional meeting and thought it went very well, until I realized I had only one earring on. I shared this story on Instagram and got so many comments saying, “You’re just like us, you’re so relatable.” That’s when I realized that being honest and relatable is how you keep your audience engaged.
What are the most helpful tools you use for content creation?
I really enjoy using Canva and Twitter. If I see anything on TikTok that I’m inspired by, I’ll save it.
So, the big question: how do you monetize your content?
We make our money through sponsorships and our one digital product, our investing masterclass, [Investing Masterclass: From A-Z In The Stock Market]. We run two or three workshops a year, and that brings in a little over $1 million annually, which is fantastic. It means we’re a seven-figure business from one digital product alone.
But this has only come after two years of doing everything for free, growing our social media and podcast for free. After a year and a half, we took some money to cover some of our podcast costs from sponsorship. By doing everything for free and gaining trust first, we were then able to offer this product.
What prompted you to start selling a course?
We had a huge demand for it because people wanted more long-form content that we just couldn’t do via our podcast. We needed visuals, but a YouTube video on the intricacies of investing was probably not going to be for everyone. Setting everything up as an A-to-Z course on everything you need to know about the stock market was a fantastic solution. This masterclass gives people the opportunity to learn more, while engaging with a community.
What’s the process of creating your course like?
I could talk about it for hours on end; I learned a lot from it. When we first came out with the course around October 2021, I was like, “I don’t even know if people will buy this.” I was just going to put a presale out and thought maybe 10 people would buy it. Then I put it out and we had 500 people buy it! Then that week, Girls That Invest made $200,000 and it was insane.
[The success of our course] really came from the fact that, in order to create a good digital product, you need to do your work and research. I spent hours understanding digital products and marketing, and learning copywriting, editing, and making videos. I had all the teaching knowledge, but I was only a team of one back then, so I had to learn everything on the production and media side as well. But where there’s a will, there’s a way.
So, what I learned from the process is that you can definitely do things, and do them well, but you won’t be able to do them well if you don’t start.
What are some of the coolest opportunities you’ve gained through Girls That Invest?
Oh my goodness. Everything I’ve done has been by luck based on the content we’ve created. I’ve been able to have lunch with a prime minister, speak at the House of Parliament in the U.K., do a TED Talk, write a book, and do tours all over the world. I’ve been able to create a seven-figure business.
There are so many opportunities, and they’ve all come from our online presence. And those are just some of the cool ones! I think it’s absolutely insane what we’ve been able to do. We got to be in Forbes and Vogue because of the work that we do creating content.
What’s next for you and Girls That Invest?
Next for us is expanding what we’re doing, and meeting new people in newer markets. Even though we’ve been really lucky in reaching people, there’s still so much work to do. Financial know-how isn’t common knowledge, so until it is, that will be our main focus.
Do you have any tips for aspiring creators?
In terms of tips, I think the biggest thing that held me back was fear and what people would say. [Being a creator] was even more taboo back then, because when I started, there weren’t many creators. But you have to look past the fear of being “cringey.” I would tell myself, just do it for 12 months, even if it sucks.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Photos: Courtesy of Simran Kaur
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