Long before Curated for You was helping brands like Gap, Target, and Anthropologie drive millions in ecommerce revenue, CEO Katy Aucoin was obsessed with a deceptively simple question: why do people actually buy?
While working with some of the world’s largest retailers in consumer privacy and data consulting, Katy noticed something most ecommerce companies were missing. Brands had endless data on clicks, traffic, and behavior—but very little understanding of why customers actually connect, desire, and buy.
That insight became the foundation for Curated for You, an AI-powered contextual personalization platform helping retailers transform ecommerce from transactional browsing into emotionally intelligent shopping experiences.
Today, the company is driving stronger engagement, higher conversion, and rapid enterprise growth on its path to $3.2M ARR.
In conversation with Josh Linkner, Katy shares why empathy is a competitive advantage, how great brands create obsession instead of chasing attention, and why founders must be ruthless about protecting focus from the wrong customers. She also explains how Curated for You built a magnetic culture that attracts A-players, enterprise customers, and momentum at scale.
In this episode, we discuss:
1.Empathy isn’t soft. It’s infrastructure: Why Katy believes emotional intelligence creates stronger teams, sharper decisions, and faster growth.
2.Be ruthless about the right customer: How Curated for You scaled to $3.2M ARR without letting the wrong customers hijack the roadmap.
3.The future of retail isn’t search. It’s seduction: How Curated for You helps brands turn cultural moments and emotional connection into conversion.
4.A-players don’t join chaos. They join momentum: Why Katy believes elite talent is attracted to clarity, energy, ambition, and culture.The strongest brands don’t chase attention. They create obsession.
5.How Curated for You is helping retailers like Gap, Target, and Anthropologie drive higher conversion through emotionally irresistible shopping experiences.
Meet the Guest
Katy Aucoin started her career in consumer privacy regulation consulting, working alongside some of the world's largest retailers—and what she found underneath all that data was a burning question: why do people actually buy? That question, combined with a lifelong obsession with color, curation, and creating experiences that make people feel genuinely delighted, led her to build Curated For You. She'll tell you the obsession started at age eight, planning her first sleepover with the kind of intention most adults don't bring to their jobs. She hasn't stopped since.
Meet the host
Josh Linkner is a rare blend of business, art, and science.
He's the New York Times bestselling author of four books, and widely regarded as one of the world's foremost innovation and leadership experts. On the business front, he’s been the founder and CEO of five tech companies, which created over 10,000 jobs and sold for a combined value of over $200 million.
He’s also the co-founder and Managing Partner of Muditā Venture Partners—an early-stage venture capital firm investing in groundbreaking technologies. Over the last 30 years, he’s helped over 100 startups launch and scale, creating over $1 billion of investor returns.
While proud of his business success, his roots are in the dangerous world of jazz music. He’s been playing guitar in smoky jazz clubs for 40 years and has performed nearly 2,000 concerts around the world.
About Mudita Venture Partners
Mudita Venture Partners is different by design.
We invest in early-stage, post-revenue, AI-first B2B companies—backing founders who are building what’s next. About 80% of our capital goes directly into operating companies. The remaining 20% fuels Mudita Studios, where we turn bold ideas into venture-backable businesses from the ground up. We believe exceptional returns and meaningful impact can—and should—coexist.
Beyond capital, we bring deep operator experience, a philosophy of co-creation, and a hands-on team committed to moving at founder speed. We don’t just fund companies—we help build them.
This is venture built for the future.
Timestamps
0:00 Introducing Katie Aucoin
2:07 What is Curated for You?
2:54 How Curated for You Works
5:25 Efficacy and Contextual Personalization
7:10 The Founder Story and an Obsession with Curation
9:07 Building an Internal Culture
10:37 Using LLMs to Scale Culture
12:53 Congruence Between Internal and External Culture
15:46 Managing Investor Relationships
18:44 Empathy as a Leadership Trait
21:15 Balancing Empathy with Focus
25:54 Moving Beyond MVP and Choosing the Right Team
29:32 Advice for Founders