How Meghan built her pioneering partnership with Netflix

Fast Company

6 days ago

Meghan carries many titles these days. Besides being the Duchess of Sussex, she's a podcaster, a philanthropist, a children's book author, the star of a Netflix show, and the founder of a direct-to-consumer startup. But when I sit down to speak with her, she says she's recently taken on a new role: that of Tooth Fairy.
Archie, her 6-year-old son, recently lost his first tooth. Meghan rushed home to ensure she could be the one to leave a little money and a small dinosaur under his pillow. At 2 a.m., Archie woke Meghan up excitedly to tell her what had happened. 'I had a lot of business meetings the next morning, but I still chose to cuddle with him the rest of the night,' she says. 'Those mom moments energize me to be a better founder, a better employer, a better boss.'
These are the kinds of work life details that Meghan likes to get into in her podcast series, Confessions of a Female Founder, made with the production company Lemonada Media (which is also behind podcasts by Sarah Silverman and David Duchovny, among others). It has had more than 800,000 downloads since its April launch.
On the show, Meghan talks with female founders about the origins of their business, along the lines of Guy Raz's How I Built This. But the show also has another dimension: It allows Meghan to get practical advice about launching her own lifestyle brand, As Ever. 'I'm pulling back the curtain to allow people to see the candid experience of being a founder,' Meghan says.
In the eight-part series, she's spoken to guests ranging from Bumble's Whitney Wolfe Herd to Kitsch's Cassandra Thurswell. The finale, released May 27, features Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx and Sneex.
A Pioneering Netflix Deal
In her conversation with Blakely, Meghan talks about how she partnered with Netflix to create As Ever, her new brand, which launched in February. The line included products like tea, jams, honey, cookie mixes, and her iconic 'flower sprinkles,' which are edible flower petals that spruce up dishes (priced between $9 and $28).
Over the past few years, even as Netflix's subscriber numbers have continued to show impressive growth (it added 18.91 million subscribers, a year-over-year increase of 15.9%, in the fourth quarter of 2024), it has also been exploring how it can create products tied to the content of shows. The streaming service now has an online shop that sells everything from cosplay costumes for Squid Game to Stranger Things bomber jackets. With Bridgerton, one of Netflix's biggest hits, the streaming service produced its own products, like coffee mugs, but also licensed Bridgerton branding to other companies, like Hill House Home and Selkie, to produce dresses.
Meghan says that she had been exploring various ways of launching a business when Bela Bajaria, Netflix's chief content officer, approached her. 'At the time, I had been working towards building out my own in-house team,' Meghan says. 'But I had a complete U-turn because I completely bought into the vision she was sharing, which is where content and commerce meet, not in a product placement way, but rather in an ideological way.'
In many ways, this is a pioneering partnership for Netflix. Along with Meghan, the Netflix team decided that it made sense for As Ever to exists on its own, without any Netflix branding. This is why the line isn't called, 'With Love, Meghan,' like the show. 'The brand is in the same universe at the show, but they're not the same,' Meghan says.
Meghan also points out that Netflix is not just a financial backer. The company's consumer packaged goods team works closely with Meghan's team to manufacture the products. 'We are on calls daily, working through product development, SKUs, and inventory,' she says. 'We have a field trip tomorrow to look at different manufacturers and suppliers as we expand the brand.'
What Comes Next for As Ever
As Ever's first collection was a runaway success. Meghan says that even though the team spent a year preparing the line and forecasting demand, all the products on the site sold out in 45 minutes. Now, they're trying to plan As Ever's next phase.
The easiest thing to do would have been to simply restock the products, which would likely sell out very quickly again. But instead, Meghan wants to take a step back, gather data from the launch, and figure out exactly what As Ever could be. She says she's planning to announce new products in the first quarter of 2026.
There are some clues about what new items might be in the pipeline. Meghan's trademark application for her brand includes things like cookbooks, tableware, cutlery, and serving ware. 'I want to really focus on the hospitality angle of As Ever, but as we take the learnings, we can understand what the customer's needs are seasonally,' she says.
There are now many models for successful celebrity brands. As Meghan contemplates what comes next, there are many directions she could go, from focusing on a single product category, like Selena Gomez's Rare Beauty and Kim Kardashian's SKIMS, to a broader play, like Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop and Jessica Alba's The Honest Company. But for now, she believes it makes sense to build a brand around a single idea. 'My heart is very deeply in my home,' she says. 'Everything comes from being rooted in the love story of your home and garden, and then you can imagine different verticals coming out of that.'
In the future, though, the sky's the limit. I ask whether she might explore a clothing business, since many women are drawn to her personal style. 'The category of fashion is something I will explore at a later date, because I do think that's an interesting space for me,' she says.
As she continues building As Ever, there's a good chance we'll hear about her twists and turns through through a podcast. There's interest in doing a second season of Confessions of a Female Founder, and many female founders have approached her to be a guest on the series. But Meghan is now involved in such a wide range of projects, she's sure to find some way to tell her story.
'If I had to write a résumé, I don't know what I would call myself,' she says. 'I think it speaks to this chapter many of us find ourselves in, where none of us are one note. But I believe all the notes I am playing are part of the same song.'