Betches
Betches is a digital media and entertainment company founded in 2011 by Aleen Dreksler, Jordana Abraham, and Samantha Sage while they were seniors at Cornell University, initially as a satirical blog titled "Betches Love This" that lampooned stereotypes of affluent, party-oriented young women.[1][2] The brand evolved into a platform delivering irreverent, candid content on lifestyle, relationships, career advice, and pop culture, emphasizing humor over conventional politeness to resonate with its primarily female audience aged 25-44.[3][4] Betches expanded beyond its website origins to encompass robust social media presences on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, generating over 4 billion video views and achieving 15 times the engagement of competitors through unfiltered group-chat-style commentary.[3] The company produces multiple podcasts, including the flagship "Your OG Podcast" hosted by the founders, which dissects real-life scenarios with blunt realism, alongside live comedy tours, merchandise lines, and branded events.[5][1] It has authored three New York Times best-selling books—"Nice Is Just a Place in France" (2013), "Hot for Sh*t" (2015), and "When's Happy Hour?" (2018)—offering satirical guides to social navigation and professional ambition that sold hundreds of thousands of copies by prioritizing pragmatic self-interest over aspirational ideals.[6][7] Early content drew criticism for edginess, such as a 2012 post simulating eating disorder accusations that some interpreted as glamorizing pathology rather than satirizing performative thinness, reflecting the brand's deliberate provocation against sanitized media norms.[8] Bootstrapped to profitability without initial venture capital, Betches was acquired in 2023 by LBG Media, owner of LADbible, for an undisclosed sum estimated in the tens of millions, leading to executive departures amid integration challenges.[1] This shift prompted reflections on sustaining its founder-driven authenticity in a consolidating digital landscape, where audience loyalty stems from causal recognition of shared female experiential truths over ideological conformity.[9]