Share Dialog
by: Lawson Bae, Social Graph Ventures
At Social Graph Ventures, we view founders like professional athletes. Each founder has a process and know how to iterate to success — getting in their training reps. They know how to sprint and pick themselves off the ground. And, their winners from a young age. Our new founder profile series gives you a behind the scenes look on how they do it.
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It’s 12:30 PM during back-to-school season and orders are flooding in from across America.
This is the first time Winny and I have met outside of a viral mint last year which I co-produced. It is her lunch break and she’s sitting on her bed during our video call, a break from her desk cranking orders out across America for the 2025/26 school year.
"It's my twelfth call today," she says, presumably pulling up her Shopify sales dashboard mid-conversation.
This is peak season for Winny, founder of Chipped - press-on nails with NFC chips that let you share socials with a tap. Her customers are the chronically online it-girls heading back to school, and they can't get enough.
At Social Graph Ventures, we back founders who operate like professional athletes. Winny's training regime started early - her mom was her swim coach, practice at 5 AM, no partying allowed. Growing up on Guernsey, a small island in the English Channel off the northern coast of France, she learned to keep score.
"I'm a Gemini. I was always online." By 17, she was drop-shipping bamboo products to creatives, figuring out how to make real money while her scholarship classmates lived off their parents' wealth. "I needed to become my friends' dads," she laughs, but her tone makes it clear - this wasn't about her £20 monthly allowance.
Despite her father telling her to stay away from starting a business, Winny continued iterating through ideas getting her founder reps. After a summer working in finance, she returned to school and decided to write her senior thesis on the relationship of fashion and blockchain. Her friends were all mining and crypto was the natural path to making money online.
That college thesis and a desire to create something overtly feminine for herself to wear at crypto conferences led to the creation of Chipped. Nail artists were already experimenting with adding NFC chips to nails in salons but girls like Winny don’t have time for salons.
“I wanted to be able to [get chipped] in the back of a Waymo after my plane lands in a new city.”
Her idea was simple — create press-on nails with NFC chips for sharing socials and other links IRL for the fast fashion, chronically online.
Every athlete and founder faces setbacks. For Winny, it came when a beauty company she approached for manufacturing help refused to sign an NDA, then announced her exact product in Vogue as their own.
“Then, they tried to offer me 10% of my own company to join them.”
“It was like a sports injury.” The Vogue announcement led to rushed thinking that stunted the brand development and her now wanting to share any works in progress on her socials. One of her mentors was even working with the competitor - a double cross.
“This is cooked,” she says in her raspy English accent as I imagine orders clocking in on Chipped’s app.
Follow Winny on X at x.com/winnyirl
Follow Winny on IG at instagram.com/winnyirl
Today, no one is buying press-on chipped nails from the would-be-competitor and her highlight reel is on par with billionaire influencers and their brands.
Paris Hilton included Chipped on Sliving Steals.
The Paris Hilton x Winny collab makes so much sense. Located in LA, Winny’s pre-game ritual includes a high volume energy drink or - her favorite - ripping a Diet Coke. Settling into our call rhythm it’s clear she’s locked in at home with her live in boyfriend, who is also a founder. “My half of the room is painted pink.”
Her desk is part call booth, part shipping logistics, and part POV content creation machine. Her X account host more I’m making things happen videos than your local cracked intern account. Having tried a few interns, it’s clear Winny wants to own the Chipped POV. Her pre-game face meal of choice? Avocado Toast. By the afternoon, she’s in the pool sweating it out just like mom intended.
Over the summer, Chipped nails were spotted on Arian from Love Island (Tweet.)
From celebrities to their recently launched TikTok shop, the reps are starting to pay off. Recently, Chipped was featured in a back to school gear special on CBS News Los Angles (Tweet.)
Watch the CBS News Los Angeles special here.
And, Chipped’s TikTok shop had its first creator hit 1 million views (3+ million as of publication) with the help of Winny’s going viral on TikTok playbook (Tweet.)
"Looking into Fall 2025," she says heading towards a call wrap, "we're rolling out clear nails for the boys.”
She’ll miss NYFW due to an uptick in weddings invites. “Who host a wedding during fashion week?” She assures me she’s got a ton of events lined up though including a pop-up shop for LA.
The championship vision? Making IRL connection as seamless as liking a post or taking a selfie. Every nail tells a story, every tap builds community.
As we wrap up, her phone probably buzzes again - another order, another customer ready to get chipped. Winny smiles that I get sh*t done smile founders all know as she dives back into building.
That's what winners do.
Social Graph Ventures
