Michelle Kennedy was prepared for everything about motherhood – except the loneliness…
When Michelle Kennedy, former Director of Bumble, used her dating app expertise to solve the problem of motherhood loneliness, the new mother’s app Peanut was born.
Designed to bring like-minded mothers together, Peanut is a friendship app which matches mums based on an algorithm combining location, interests, how the user sees themselves as a mum – ‘powered by caffeine’, ‘routine queen’, ‘hot mess’? – and the age of their child or children.
Founded in 2017 by Kennedy and Greg Orlowski – co-founder of Deliveroo and its former CTO – today, Peanut boasts a 300k-strong community.
What inspired you to start Peanut?
Peanut was born out of two main issues.
The first was the emotional aspect of becoming a mother. Before Fin arrived, I felt prepared. I had bought everything I needed, I’d read a few books. Turns out, the arrival of a baby isn’t just about planning. There are feelings and demands that you can’t plan for. My girlfriends weren’t at the stage in their life where they were yet having children, and even if some of my wider friendship group were, we all lived in different parts of the city (and leaving the house to go anywhere further than 10 minutes from home with a newborn felt like a military operation).
I suppose what I felt most prominently, which isn’t particularly comfortable for a 30-something woman to admit, is that I was lonely. I had lots of friends, I was successful professionally, and yet, when I was at home, I felt lonely. This was further compounded by the fact that I was working in an industry (dating), where it was my day-to-day to produce products people could use to find a match, or a date, and I was struggling to find a woman who was like-minded to go for a coffee with.
A little like dating, I also experienced a lot of «I have to introduce you to my friend, she’s a new mummy too», only to go through an awkward ‘date’ where you realise the only thing you have in common is the fact that you both have a child. You don’t share the same outlook on life, values, interests.That’s actually even more isolating to be honest.
The second was my desire to use tech to build a product for mothers. Why couldn’t we have tech to solve our issues? It existed, it just wasn’t being used for our market.
What do users like about the app?
We get a variety of feedback: from women meeting other women and starting businesses together on Peanut, to finding nanny share arrangements, and of course, finding their support network, their friends.
Whenever we get messages like that, the whole team is uplifted – after all, that’s what it’s about.
As a woman in tech, what has your experience been?
There are great points and low points. Sometimes you are met with stereotypes, challenges, prejudice. Anyone who has ever been a minority in an industry will testify to that. The key is how you channel that. How do you make that drive you, make that motivate you, let that be the thing that disarms people? To be exactly what they say you can’t be?
Why do so few women look to a career in tech?
I firmly believe this is related to play from childhood. STEM subjects still have lower numbers of participants from girls? Why? Is it because our girls aren’t being given the tools to lay the foundations for STEM subjects? The lego, the tetris, the minecraft? This is where foundations are set.That’s not intentional, that’s societal, and we have to challenge that. In the same way we have to empower our boys to be able to demonstrate their emotions and empathy (it’s about balancing both, not focusing on one gender or the other).
What more needs to be done to encourage women to enter the field?
Start young and highlight the similarities between men and women, not always the differences – that is how we will move closer to equality.
What are your top tips for budding female entrepreneurs?
1.) Develop a thick skin. Thicker than you ever anticipated.
2.) Be ready to accept that not everyone will be on this journey with you, that’s ok.
3.) Build your network. Build your support. Find mentors, and ask for advice. What’s the worst that can happen?
4.) Don’t be afraid to fail. It’s how you get to the right answer.
5.) Why not you? If you see something, and issue, an opportunity, why can’t it be you to solve it or find the solution?
Which women do you look to for inspiration?
My own mother – a very strong woman, who has always driven me. The women in my team who work tirelessly to build our product. The women who use Peanut who want to better their experience of motherhood. Oh, and Tammy Duckworth who is the first US senator who will give birth during her time in office. “It was about Damn Time”…indeed, it is…
This article originally appeared on Evening Standard
Main photo by: Jake Rosenberg (Coveteur)
