Why is the internet so obsessed with Boys Club?

Co-founder Natasha Hoskins breaks down the secret behind their cult-like following and how to build a thriving lifestyle brand on the new internet

If you live on the (new) internet, Boys Club content has probably crossed your X feed many times. But what’s the story behind the brand that everyone is obsessed with? 

In this conversation, Co-Founder Natasha Hoskins shares how Boys Club went from a simple concept to a cultural movement, driven by trendspotting, community, and a commitment to authenticity. We spoke with Natasha about how the team has built something that’s far more than just a brand—it’s a world of its own. From the iconic and recognizable apparel they launch to the events everyone wants an invite to, Boys Club has redefined what it means to build and sell a lifestyle. 

Natasha’s background is in early-stage brand building, community development, and taking products to market. After founding and successfully selling a travel startup, she transitioned to focus full-time on Boys Club, where she continues to apply her expertise in building dynamic, culturally relevant brands.

Conversation Outline

1. The unique advantages in building a company from a persona-first approach.

2. How voice & personality help your brand stand out. 

3. The role apparel plays in perpetuating an aspirational lifestyle brand.

Natasha! To get started, it would be great to learn more about your background before co-founding Boys Club.

Yeah, woah it feels like a lifetime ago. So, my background has always been in early-stage brand building, community, and go-to-market strategy.

I started my career at Indiegogo, a crowdfunding platform, where I worked with entrepreneurs on storytelling, fundraising, and go-to-market—helping early-stage products get their first customers and users. I fell in love with that part of the business lifecycle. 

At the same time, I had been thinking about the travel space for a while. So, I left my job, raised a round of funding, and launched Allcall—a marketplace for itineraries. The idea was to help people monetize their travel recommendations and access curated advice for their trips.

In 2021, Allcall was acquired by Fora, a modern travel agency, equipping anyone to become a travel agent. I worked there for a bit after the acquisition and simultaneously started Boys Club.

So, that’s the bio—always early-stage, always thinking about how brand, community, and go-to-market strategies play together. I have a lot of fun applying that to Boys Club and watching trends and cycles in the branding world.

How would you describe Boys Club? As I was doing some research prior to our conversation I was on the website and thought it was fun how you link to a Google Doc with a one-sentence description—can you tell me more about that?

Well, a few reasons. One, part of Boys Club's brand is intentionally chaotic—that’s what makes building it so fun. Coming from Allcall, where the brand was deeply polished and put together, Boys Club is the opposite. The more chaotic, the better. We intentionally lean into an aesthetic that’s all over the place.

We’re also a deeply non-technical team, and the definition of Boys Club and how it shows up in the world changes all the time. That’s part of what we’re talking about when we discuss building a lifestyle brand. We kept changing things, going back to the Google Doc, and realized it’s honestly just a big, evolving document because we’re constantly rethinking what Boys Club is and how it appears. It’s funny and very representative of the brand.

How would I describe Boys Club to those who haven’t experienced it? We describe it as podcasts, newsletters, and events for the chronically online. We also call it a place for ‘dumb smart people’—basically, we’re constantly learning and discussing new things across different media platforms, making it approachable and contextual. Sometimes we feel really smart, and sometimes we feel really dumb, and I think a lot of people can relate to that.

So yeah, Boys Club is this world of podcasts, newsletters, events, parties, conferences, and more, all centered around emerging technology, internet culture, and being chronically online, with a deeply subversive and very femme tone.

I'm curious to learn more about the early days when you and Deanna first started thinking about this brand and bringing it to life. 

What were those initial creative decisions, like the name or who you were targeting? How much of it was intentional versus just kind of organically evolving over time?

Yeah so Boys Club started when Deana, my co-founder, and I were both transitioning from previous ventures. We met at Indiegogo, where Deana left a bit before me to start a crypto startup—essentially a Bitcoin wallet designed for teenage girls. She raised funding, built a product, and we both had similar experiences: we had these great ideas, raised money, built them, and then realized no one really cared once they were out in the world. It was tough constantly trying to get people to care about something that was already built.

We launched Boys Club at the end of summer 2021, during a hot time in crypto with NFTs, social tokens, social clubs, and Top Shot making waves. Deana had been trying to get me into crypto for years, and I finally gave in, telling her to convince me. The brand-building for Boys Club came from the aha moment Deana gave me—helping me see what this technology could mean for my career, the internet, and our social lives.

I realized there were so many people, especially my friends who were women, watching but not participating in this space. So, Boys Club started as a way to do for them what Deana did for me. We decided to have a dinner, open up crypto Twitter, and dive into the discourse to help people understand the opportunities. It blew up immediately. We started a Twitter, planned a dinner, and it was instantly oversubscribed. 

When we were brainstorming a name, we noticed how the industry at the time was a new financial system being built by a bunch of guys getting rich. We jokingly called it a boys club, and when we were struggling to find a name, we just said, ‘Let’s go with Boys Club.’

From the start, we wanted the brand to be subversive, not take itself too seriously, and be approachable and funny. We also didn’t want to create a typical women’s empowerment group—we weren’t interested in talking about being women. We wanted something femme and approachable, with a sense of belonging that felt tongue-in-cheek.

We flipped the script from our previous startups. We didn’t know what Boys Club was going to be, what the business would look like, or where it would go. But there was so much momentum and energy, which was a completely different experience from having to generate it ourselves. We decided not to define it upfront and force people to care. Instead, we got people in a room—both literally and online—and figured it out together. We wanted it to be organic, very different from our original startups, and to build a business based on the natural energy and interests of those involved.

Tell me more about why you drilled down into that specific emotional insight rather than focusing on broad demographics? How has getting really specific helped you as a founder in making key decisions for the brand?

Our original tagline for Boys Club was 'a no-bro zone for the crypto curious.' Things have evolved since then, but we've always been sensitive to not making it about being a 'women's group.' At the time, other groups were emerging that were geared toward women, and while some are still around and doing great work, that wasn’t our focus. For us, it was about creating a new world and set of rules where people could show up as themselves, feel a sense of belonging, and be drawn to the brand for various reasons that allowed them to be fully themselves.

In crypto, there were very specific archetypes and conversations, and Crypto Twitter was (and often still is) toxic, unapproachable, and even scary to engage with. We wanted to build a different world—one that was open, kind, humorous and carried a subversive energy that felt distinctly feminine or femme in some way. We were intentional about the language we used, always careful not to pigeonhole ourselves as a women-only space. If we had, we might have seen quick growth but at the cost of long-term authenticity and inclusivity, which were vital to both Deana, myself, and the broader community.

As Boys Club evolved, so did our mission. Our initial mission statement, which still holds true, was about 'bringing new voices to the new internet.' This became even more relevant as our media work grew and it became clear that media would be the core of our business—allowing us to build a team and create a sustainable P&L. We spent a lot of time talking with our community, understanding what was important to them, and realized that we wanted to amplify diverse voices and help shape the new internet we were all excited about. Boys Club became a launch pad for content creation, whether it was our own or amplifying voices we respected.

As the business grew, we wanted to expand beyond just emerging technology and saw an opportunity to explore internet culture in a way that felt authentic to our brand. We realized that many in our community are 'chronically online,' and that’s how they ended up in crypto—spending all day on Twitter until they found themselves immersed in it. Claiming this identity of being chronically online felt very much in line with Boys Club's ethos—owning something that might be seen as negative and turning it into a badge of freedom.

Similarly, the idea of 'dumb smart people' resonated with us. In our brand deck, we described a Boys Club persona as someone who doesn’t mind being called dumb because they know they’re not. You can call them stupid all day long, and it won’t shake their confidence. This attitude is something we wanted to embody in the way we talk about the brand and the community we're building.

I've heard you talk about this idea that you're not just building a brand, but building a world. I noticed 'world' is even in your handle and title on X, and one of the calls to action on your website is to jump into this world. 

What's the value in building a world? What does that look like? I’ve never heard anyone refer to it this way and I kind of love it.

Because we started with the idea of bringing people into a room and then figuring out the business, it created a lot of surface area and sovereignty. That’s great some days and really challenging on others, because it forces us to focus, make decisions, and prioritize.

Since we built Boys Club from a persona-first approach—starting with who’s in the room—we ended up with a community of really cool people who made sense together. Whether on Discord, socials, or at our events, there were clear throughlines of a shared persona. The typical Boys Club member is extremely ambitious, serious about their career, works hard, but also has fun and doesn’t take themselves too seriously. They’re curious about the edges of their industry. This persona became the foundation for everything we do, always asking, 'Is this for them?' Whether it’s a media property or an apparel drop, it’s all about that person.

With that approach, many business opportunities and media properties start to emerge, which means Boys Club doesn’t look like one thing. Referring to it as world-building or the 'Boys Club world' gives us the flexibility to experiment. And you know, some experiments don’t work out, but others become key components of Boys Club, allowing us to build something that isn’t just one-note.

When thinking about lifestyle brands and the future of the internet, I’m constantly aware of the fast turnover cycle of trends. Things come in and out of relevance faster than ever before. That’s exciting, but it also presents challenges for brand builders. With Boys Club, the flexibility in what it is and how it shows up in the world allows us to try to move at that same speed. It gives us a lot of room to play, but it also means there’s a lot to manage. That flexibility has been our guiding light as we’ve experimented and built over the last few years.

One of the things that immediately caught my attention about the brand was the distinct voice and personality behind it. I meet with founders all the time who want great design, but I’m curious—what role does personality play in building a brand today?

The personality of the brand often reflects the people working on it. I think about what it would be like to work on a brand that isn’t my own, especially something like a B2B SaaS product, and how much or little brand personality matters in those cases.

I thought a lot about this at Fora, especially in the early stages. Their business model is clear—travel agents sell travel, suppliers pay them, and there’s a commission split. It’s a B2C business but also quite B2B. So, how much do you invest in brand building at an early stage? How much does it really impact the bottom line?

At the same time, I was working on Boys Club, where all we focused on was community and brand building. We weren’t making money; we were just building the brand and community. Any money that came in went right back out to fund events or merch drops. Making noise and caring for the community was our only priority in the beginning.

So, I think it’s really case by case, depending on the business and what it can sustain. But in 2024, unless your brand has a clear personality—something people can point to and say, 'Oh, that feels so X or so Y'—it’s impossible to stand out as a consumer brand. There’s so much noise in almost every category now. Look at CPG; the only way something stands out is if it has a distinct brand personality.

That’s really hard to achieve with how fast the internet moves. We’ve all seen the 'Brat Summer' effect, where internet brand identities have permeated every corner of online culture, making it hard to stand out. It all starts to feel tired.

So, for us, staying distinct means always coming back to who we serve and who we want to be in front of. That’s our guiding light for keeping Boys Club’s personality and tone clear. We constantly ask ourselves, 'Is this for a Boys Club girl or not?' If it’s not, then it doesn’t make sense for us to write the copy, create the newsletter, or put out the content.

In a recent Liquid Culture podcast, you talk about Boys Club as a lifestyle brand. How do you define a lifestyle brand, and what are some key ingredients that make it distinct from a more traditional brand?

I think it comes back to what I was saying about SaaS products and B2B businesses. Lifestyle brands focus on who they’re serving, and that informs everything they do. They often don’t rely on a single product to define the business. 

For us, and maybe not for all lifestyle brands, it means reinventing ourselves every six months. Since lifestyle brands reflect their communities, and people are always evolving, the brand needs to evolve too. That’s why Boys Club’s mission statements, taglines, and overall vibe have shifted over time. If we’re doing it right, the brand should feel a little different every six months.

This is challenging because just as parts of the business start to make financial sense, we know it will get tired unless we reinvent it. So, we have to think about how to evolve the brand and its revenue streams regularly.

When we first started Boys Club, our edgy, meme-forward, humorous, and chaotic brand felt fresh. But now, with many brands adopting that style, we have to consider how to grow and evolve. It’s still fun and cool, but will it feel fresh in six months, or will it blend in with everything else?

It’s creatively fulfilling but challenging to constantly reassess and ask, 'What do we want to emulate in six months? How do we want people to feel when they see Boys Club online?' Lifestyle branding is about understanding how people evolve, how their tastes change, and letting that guide how your brand shows up.

I'm curious—what are the different inputs you consider to determine how your brand shows up? Is this something that just comes to you naturally from spending so much time online and observing where the world is heading, or are you looking for specific things that could be key inputs for something really impactful?

Well, first I’ll say I’m really lucky to work with people I love, trust, and who creatively challenge each other. Technically, we have a bunch of ideas—whether it’s a style of event, programming, or a specific type of show—that we’re constantly thinking about. We keep a shared notes app where we drop these ideas, and when the right sponsor or news cycle comes along, we pull from that pool to match it to the moment.

The biggest guiding principle for us is working on what excites us. What gives us energy? What’s fun to think about? That guides how the brand shows up. This approach might not work for every business, especially one with a more rigid product focus, but for us, as a media business, our full-time job is to make noise and serve the people attracted to the brand.

Staying close to the work we enjoy is crucial for the brand to feel authentic and fun, and for people to be drawn to it. It’s not a tangible answer, but I’d say: write down every idea—you never know when it will make sense—and stay emotionally connected to the work. People can sense when something is produced without inspiration.

What role does merch play in building a lifestyle brand? When you do a merch drop, what’s the thought process behind it, and how does it connect to the overall brand strategy?

So we like to say it’s not merch, it’s apparel. Just merch is limiting. Apparel is a huge part of how we think about Boys Club. When we consider the five-year potential, I see a huge opportunity for Boys Club to become a streetwear brand, where people might have zero context for its crypto origins or its connection to emerging technology.

There is a ton of room to play, have fun, and create products with Boys Club. We’ve done about five drops, all of which sold out, and each one was a learning experience. The blue hats were our first, and they were all about signaling something. When you wear a Boys Club hoodie or a 'Show Me Your Private Keys' hat at a conference, it’s a way to connect with someone across the room who shares your values and interests.

This value-driven ethos means that if someone’s wearing that blue hat, you’re likely to have something in common with them, especially in spaces that might feel unwelcoming or dull. It’s symbolic of something important, and that was a big unlock for us—every drop needs to have that edge, signaling something with a fun, fresh vibe that makes people want to represent it.

The 'DeFi Daddy' sweatshirt is another example—funny and dumb, yet it resonates. Even if someone doesn’t know Boys Club, they might still get a kick out of it. I’ve worn it at the airport or in Williamsburg, and people who know DeFi stop me to say they love it. It’s about creating something that makes people laugh and connects on an insider level.

Apparel plays a huge role for us. We’re always thinking about new drops, adding ideas to our notes app, and waiting for the right moment when everything aligns to bring those ideas to life.

What are the advantages of building a lifestyle brand versus something more traditional? As a brand builder, what new opportunities does that open up for you?

That’s a really good question. We’re really in the thick of the challenges right now, especially when it comes to opportunities. It goes back to the speed of the internet—our lives are increasingly online, and trends move faster than ever. For example, I spent a month in Paris in June, and when I left New York, ankle socks were still in. When I came back, everyone in Times Square was wearing tube socks, and ankle socks suddenly felt outdated and embarrassing. It’s a silly example, but it shows how quickly the internet can turn a viral trend into the new norm, almost overnight.

This rapid cycle is getting shorter because of how fast information spreads online. If you’re not a lifestyle brand thinking about the person you serve every day, letting that inform every decision and revenue stream, it’s hard to keep up with that speed. You end up fighting against it instead of taking advantage of it. The opportunity lies in being nimble—if you have a quick-moving team and fun ideas, you can plug into those viral moments and really capitalize on them. But it’s much harder for brands with more structure and boundaries to play with that kind of speed.

What advice would you have to a founder or brand builder today who's trying to get attention?

Great question. What I’ll say is while playing to trends is important, it also needs to be authentic to your brand and true to who you’re building for. It’s not just about jumping on every trend—there has to be something genuine behind it.

Getting to that truth is key, and it ties back to what I mentioned earlier about loving what you do. It’s important to stay connected to what fulfills and motivates you, and let that inform how your brand shows up. For me, it’s easier because Boys Club is so closely tied to who I am, but even if your brand isn’t as personal, knowing what brings you joy is crucial. When your work comes from a place of genuine passion, it resonates with people. If it feels forced, it’s much harder for others to connect with it.

So, my advice would be to do the personal work—figure out what you love, and let that guide your brand.

Last question. If you could join any company to transform their brand, which one would you choose?

Honestly, I think it would be so fun to work on something like Costco, especially the Kirkland Signature brand. I'd be all in—let's go!

About Natasha Hoskins 

Natasha Hoskins is the co-founder of Boys Club, a community and media company bringing new voices to the new internet through podcasts, newsletters, and events for the chronically online. 

You can find Natasha on Twitter or LinkedIn.