Michelle Kennedy prepared herself well for motherhood. “It sounds crazy, but I had a spreadsheet,” she says. – I made all the preparations.” Even so, the new life still came as a huge shock to her. “For women who have had careers and lived at a crazy pace, the first day of taking care of this little person on your own is really scary,” she says.

Michelle used to be the deputy CEO of the dating network Badoo and decided to apply her knowledge to the world of motherhood. Thus was born the Peanut app, which allows mothers to connect with each other.

“Women today are told that we can get what we want, we just have to work hard,” Kennedy says. – “But with that comes a huge fear of failure, and you don’t want anyone to know that you’re having a hard time [with your baby]. So she’s created a comfortable space for an often-overlooked audience.

Get to know your clients

Kennedy knew how to build a social network and suddenly realized how much moms needed communication. “I had an idea, but I did what everyone else does: went back to work and implemented the idea,” Kennedy says.

Michelle knew her own needs, but wanted to hear from others. So she reached out to friends, and they asked their friends. Michelle tried to figure out what her audience needed, holding focus groups. “There was a lot of time, coffee and patience,” she recalls.

Don’t be afraid of the unknown

At first, Peanut wasn’t a major project for Michelle. At the time, she made her money through consulting services and board memberships at Bumble.

“I was running a big company and was an integral part of Bumble, so I saw something being built from the ground up. I knew what I had to do,” she says. “It got to the point where failing to test the app didn’t matter. I would have rather failed than become someone who talked about the same idea for months,” the woman said confidently. She was willing to dive in both financially and mentally.

“I had some savings, and I knew my life was going to change. I started working hard. No days off. It wasn’t an option,” Michelle believes.

Plan

There were some things Michelle was sure of. For example, the name of the app. “I always thought of Peanut because that’s what I called my tummy when I was pregnant,” she says. What would the app look like? It was already less clear. With the help of a former colleague, Michelle designed the layout. It took more than a week to create. In the midst of turning the idea into reality, she began to receive positive feedback.

“I was in New York for the Bumble event and told Bumble founder Whitney my plans,” Kennedy says. “She responded enthusiastically, which was great because she was the first person I talked to about it (besides friends),” Michelle added. So once again she made sure she was doing the right thing, even though she never doubted her decision. “The cost to mothers is $3 trillion,” she said. – This is no joke. I never worried about it because I did my research.”

Develop connections to find investors

Kennedy was constantly expanding her circle of acquaintances among mothers to research and understand her audience. In addition, she reached out to her old work acquaintances to find other connections and investors.

“Here’s what I used to say: “‘Can you introduce me to this person, do you know anybody who does that?’ I really believe that if you’re straightforward about what you want and pay for it, people will be willing to help,” Michelle states.

And it didn’t matter at all that Kennedy was already a well-known leader in his industry. “I knew I had earned my recognition. I didn’t feel like I was asking for something I shouldn’t be asking for. And if people said no, well, no problem!” she says.

Find a team The terms of her contract at her previous job prevented Kennedy from hiring former colleagues, so she urgently needed a new team. She already had a designer, but she needed a programmer. Michelle was introduced to him by a friend. At first they just discussed the idea, but later the programmer agreed to collaborate. So she hired a second person to join the team. “We started in September 2016, and by the following February we had a release,” Michelle recalls.

Release the product.

The team launched a beta version of Peanut – and lots of women started using the not-so-finished app. “It was a blessing and a curse,” Kennedy says. – We certainly wanted people to use it.”

“We were changing the product very quickly,” Kennedy says. – We were excited about a bunch of people downloading the beta version. But on the other hand, we wanted to cry because we just weren’t ready. But you have to accept the situation for what it is.”