Everywoman.com/mumpreneur The secret of our success? Starting a business with our BEST FRIEND!
Launching Inspire’s search for Mumpreneur Of The Year 2019...
They’ve toasted your triumphs, stood by you through life’s rough patches, and know what makes you tick (sometimes even better than your other half) — but would you risk going into business with your best friend?
If you count yourself among the one in eight women who wants to start their own business, having a ‘work wife’ by your side could boost your chances of success — a 2016 report found that startups with more than one founder tend to be more successful than solo endeavours.
A work wife is more than just a business partner; when your co-founder is a trusted female friend, she’s your cheerleader, sounding board and conspirator all rolled into one.
your friendship is the fuel that fires your business — and, when you’ve already got that emotional shorthand between you, together you can hit the ground running.
For work wife inspiration, look no further than parenting website Mumsnet, launched in 2000 by Justine Roberts and Carrie Langton, who met in an antenatal class, or unique gift site Not On The high Street, founded in 2006 by friends holly Tucker and Sophie Cornish.
Both are now multi-millionpound firms. In fact, female-led startups contribute £85 billion a year to the UK economy.
But what does it really take to build a successful business with your best friend without a bustup — particularly when you add raising a family into the mix?
here, four pairs of friends and co-founders reveal how they’ve fought for funding, balanced budgets and babies, and kept each other motivated through the inevitable meltdowns.
Their success stories are a fitting way to launch our call for nominees for this year’s NatWest everywoman Awards, celebrating Britain’s growing number of female entrepreneurs. For the fifth year, the Daily Mail is proudly sponsoring the Aphrodite Award, dedicated to championing women who have juggled motherhood with launching their business. Read on to be inspired . . .
WE’D DISCUSS IDEAS WHILE OUT JOGGING WITH OUR BUGGIES
Mush is an app that connects new mothers. Launched in 2016 by Katie Massie-Taylor, now 36, and sarah hesz, 37, they’ve since secured investment of more than £3 million and have about half a million members. Based in London, Katie has two daughters, Tilly, six and Lyla, four, with a third baby expected any day. sarah is mum to Rosie, six, Leo, four, and Noa, one. ‘LOTS of Mush’s early discussions happened over our running baby buggies,’ says Katie. ‘There were two kids in each and we’d bat around ideas while we jogged.’ After meeting in a playground in 2014, they quickly bonded. ‘We could talk all day. even through our new- mum tiredness, we shared everything we were going through: the difficult bits and the funny bits,’ says Sarah. ‘Within a couple of months of meeting, we already wanted to do some kind of joint project together. And the more that we talked, the more we discovered this real pain point for new mums, which was loneliness.’ That was the spark that led to Mush: members sign up and can discover other mums nearby with whom to meet up.
‘Neither of us had any tech experience,’ says Katie, a former financial broker; Sarah used to work in advertising. ‘But, if you have an idea you passionately believe in, which we did, you can find people to do the thing you can’t. The idea is the magic.’
The pair have done the full gamut of fundraising: £250,000 in seed- funding from angel investors, then £ 920,000 from crowdfunding via Crowdcube ( crowdcube.com), and, last year, a £2 million injection from venture capitalists Octopus ventures.
‘In the early days, there were meetings where we felt a bit patronised,’ says Sarah. ‘People assumed the business was just a hobby. But we’ve proven this is a mass-market and hugely popular product. Now, we have a business that speaks for itself.’
Both are evangelical about the benefits of working in a partnership. ‘Practically, it helps,’ adds Sarah. ‘Katie’s just about to have a baby and I had my youngest last year. We really trust each other to get on with stuff when we need time to focus on our families.’
Katie is the ‘visionary’ and leads the team, while Sarah is all about the details. ‘I have such respect for sole founders, but it just doesn’t appeal to me,’ says Sarah.
‘The emotional resilience you need to go it alone would be too big a challenge. And no fun!
‘For example, we got to meet the Duchess of Cambridge, but if I hadn’t had Katie there to giggle with, then it wouldn’t have been as memorable.’
yes, they have disagreements, ‘ but because we have this unshakeable trust between us, it’s fine. We should disagree on things — otherwise we wouldn’t push each other forward. It’s healthy to have different opinions.’
Their top advice for would-be work wives? ‘ Mutual respect is key,’ says Katie. ‘you can’t go into it thinking your skills outweigh theirs or that you’ll bring more to the table than them.’
Think carefully about whether you’re the ‘right’ sort of friends, too. ‘I have friends that I have a slightly polite relationship with. But, in business, you can’t tiptoe around each other: you have to be absolutely candid,’ says Sarah.
Don’t forget to be each other’s cheerleaders, either. ‘Starting a business is tough. It will take a lot
of your life. When you’re feeling overwhelmed you need someone who will say: “We’re doing brilliantly, we’ll get there, it’s OK.”’
A SIGNED CONTRACT HELPS TO PROTECT OUR FRIENDSHIP
MORE than a decade ago, Rachael Corson and Joycelyn Mate, now both 29, met as students at Birmingham University. Frustrated with the lack of natural products for afro hair, they developed their own range, Afrocenchix, launching in 2009. It’s now stocked in Whole Foods Market and sold in 23 countries worldwide. They are both married and live in London — Rachael has two children Akua, two, and Kwesi, six months. ‘ We Were trying to solve a problem, rather than start a business,’ says rachael, who, along with Joycelyn, now oversees a team of eight. ‘The haircare industry is geared towards one type of hair, and there are so many people who can’t just walk into Boots and pick up shampoo.
‘ Many of our customers are white mothers who struggle to find products for their mixedrace children.’
Fuelled by a shared passion to become the ‘L’Oreal for afro hair’, after ten years of steadily building their brand and expanding their range of gentle, allergen- free Stronger together: Haircare experts Rachael Corson and Joycelyn Mate. Far left: Sarah Hesz and Katie Massie-Taylor created an app for new mums products (rachael spent a year at the Institute of Trichologists), the beginning of 2019 brought a significant financial boost. The pair won more than £450,000 of investment via the global WeWork Creator Awards, which will allow them to scale-up at a much faster rate. ‘It’s taken perseverance to get here,’ says Joycelyn. ‘To get to the point where we can create jobs and meet with huge companies — we recently negotiated a deal with Amazon.’ Their contrasting personalities are their strength and what’s given them longevity, says rachael. ‘Joycelyn’s very firm. We’ll be in a meeting and I’ll think: “Wow, I can’t believe she just said that!” But the business works because of the balance between my softer approach and Joycelyn’s toughness.’ Previously, they have sought investment from angel investors, with mixed success. ‘Compared to male entrepreneurs we know, we found it harder to get meetings,’ says rachael.
She recalls fundraising while pregnant. ‘ Some investors made it clear the pregnancy was an issue. They’d say: “We have some reservations, there’s a lot of uncertainty . . .” And it wasn’t just men.’
The idea she’d be less committed to her business because she has children makes her scoff.
‘If I’d been working for someone else, I’d have been able to take a full year of maternity leave for both my babies and wouldn’t have felt the need to check in. But when it’s
your company, and it’s still growing, it’s very difficult to switch off.’
The pair are adamant that, to make a business partnership work between friends, you need to get the nitty-gritty agreed on paper.
‘have clear contracts in place to protect your friendship. You never really know what it’s going to be like working with someone until you’ve started,’ warns Joycelyn.
‘People say: “Oh, we’re friends, we don’t need a contract!” but this way, everyone knows what are the expectations.’ If disagreements arise between the pair, they’ve learnt to involve an external party — often their husbands — to get an objective perspective, but they never doubt each other’s commitment to their business as they continue to expand.
rachael says: ‘ We know we’re stronger together.’