Meet The Founder: Nancy Scotford. Resilient by nature. RUDE by choice.
Get Rude, Feel Good.
I meet many impressive people on State School Ventures but Nancy Scotford of Rude (SSV class of February 2025) is exceptional in a field of exceptionals. Nancy wouldn’t ordinarily tell the personal side of her story but with her permission secured, I think it’s important to be told.
Nancy was made homeless as a teenager. This would derail most people’s educational outcome, but Nancy responded by getting a first class degree from Exeter University, winning both the Lewis Memorial Prize and the Dean’s Commendation in the same year.
After graduating, Nancy went on to become GrantTree’s youngest-ever partner, where she worked closely with startups and deep-tech companies on funding and innovation.
It was during a professional consultancy project into sexual wellness that she uncovered a huge, overlooked problem:
Most products in the sex toy market are designed for marketing, not satisfaction. The average product is discarded after just three uses, with little focus on long-term enjoyment or innovation.
On recognising this opportunity, Nancy did what Nancy does: she rapidly cracked on and made progress:
✅ She built the first version of an intelligent product without venture funding
✅ She recruited a top-tier team
✅ She’s now fundraising to take Rude to the next level
I have no background in sexual wellness and I recognize that this space provokes strong reactions. For some, it’s taboo; for others, it’s titillating. I know investors are risk off when it comes to consumer or hardware (let alone consumer AND hardware). I could have put Rude in the “too difficult” category but I’m glad I didn’t because Nancy is exactly the type of founder I look for at SSV:
🚀 Resilient – she’s overcome bona fide adversity and found a way to succeed.
🚀 Capable & intelligent – She has a track record of exceptional outcomes and getting stuff done.
🚀 Ambitious – She’s taking on a huge industry that has seen little true innovation. The market for sex toys alone is estimated at $39bn annually.
🚀 Solving a real problem – She identified the market’s shortcomings from first principles, rather than just chasing a trend. Who cares what the flavour of the month in venture is? The opportunity is the opportunity. By the time it's thematically trendy with investors, it’ll be too late.
🚀 Building for the future – In an era where hardware devices track everything from sleep to nutrition, it’s inevitable that sexual pleasure will be tracked, optimised and taken seriously.
I’d be amazed if this problem isn’t solved in the next decade—and I believe Nancy is the one to do it. Watch this space and join the waitlist here.
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