Paulina Lutz of nghty berlin: From VC World to Bold Lingerie Revolution
Volume #15 of "Happy Bootstrapping" Newsletter
Paulina Lutz left her position at Early Bird Venture Capital in 2023 to found her own lingerie label nghty berlin. The 29-year-old wanted to create an alternative to often romantic and cute lingerie - inspired by Berlin's nightlife and techno scene. With her "Bold Lingerie," she targets an international audience and proves that successful content marketing works even without large budgets.
This is a summary of Episode 126 of the “Happy Bootstrapping” Podcast (German).
From Early Bird to Own Brand
Paulina's entrepreneurial journey began unconventionally: After four years at one of Germany's largest VC funds, she quit to focus entirely on nghty berlin. "With the job I had, it wasn't possible on the side. The hours were too long and I couldn't sit down at 10 pm and think about designs," she explains her decision for the radical cut.
Financing initially came through unemployment benefits and a startup grant, later supplemented by a small angel investment from Moritz Blies, who had previously founded Ehrlich Textil. Interesting detail: Paulina founded a GmbH directly, which she now considers "perhaps a bit rushed" as tax aspects became more complex than expected.
Product Development: From Portugal to Berlin
The business model is based on premium underwear in the mid to higher price segment: G-strings for €35, bralettes and bodysuits between €40-80. Production deliberately takes place in Portugal at a women-led family business with about 50 employees.
"It was important to me that I want to make underwear by women for women. I think it's stupid that the biggest lingerie brands are run by men."
The product development process takes 6-12 months: from initial tech packs through 2-3 sampling rounds to final production. Minimum quantities are 150 pieces per item, divided across different sizes. Paulina tested her first collection at a "Boobs, Buds and Bubbles Event" with friends of various body types.
Marketing Revolution Through TikTok
Paulina's marketing strategy shows how creative content marketing can overcome budget constraints. She's particularly successful on TikTok with two channels: a German one (8,000 followers) and an English one (7,000 followers). Her most successful video reached 850,000 views.
"On TikTok you can post five videos with slightly different stories and then see which works best. You get really real feedback on your content and don't have to pay for it."
Her secret: collaborations with underwear models and content creators in exchange for free products instead of payment. Even influencers with 200,000-300,000 followers work with her this way, as it creates a win-win situation for both sides.
Technology and Challenges
The tech stack is deliberately lean: Shopify as e-commerce platform, Klavio for email marketing, Konto for banking, and ChatGPT as the most important tool for content creation and technical problem-solving. "I can even set up server-side tracking with ChatGPT step-by-step," reports Paulina.
A major challenge is platform bans: both on TikTok and with Meta ads, content featuring underwear is frequently classified as "pornographic" and blocked. Meta ads haven't worked profitably so far, which is why she focuses on organic content.
Bootstrapping Realities and Future Plans
Currently, Paulina doesn't pay herself a salary but plans to pay herself €500 monthly on a mini-job basis. For the second collection, she's working with a professional underwear designer for the first time and considering a KfW startup loan of up to €125,000.
Paulina's key learnings for founders:
Content marketing beats paid ads: Organic reach on TikTok can replace marketing budgets
Build community: Collaborations with content creators create authentic brand ambassadors
Patience in product development: 6-12 months lead time is normal in the fashion industry
Niche target audience: Specialized products enable premium pricing and loyal customers
Think internationally: Berlin as a brand has international appeal, especially in the lifestyle scene
For the future, Paulina can envision collaborating with a "House of Brands" but remains with the bootstrapping approach for now. With an average of 40% of her TikTok viewers from the USA and first international orders from Australia, it shows: Berlin nightlife aesthetics work globally.
Happy Bootstrapping is a German podcast where I interview bootstrapped founders, indie hackers, and solopreneurs about their startup journeys. Over the years, I've connected with many successful entrepreneurs who have built e-commerce shops, SaaS platforms, mobile apps, content businesses, or hybrid models.
Furthermore I am a bootstrapper myself and growing my DevOps-as-a-Sercice and Web Operations Company “We Manage”.