Meghan Butler
Aug 25, 2017 · 5 min read

Parenthood and Entrepreneurship: Why Kids Are The Perfect Catalyst For Creation

Gone are the days when parenthood and entrepreneurship were considered mutually exclusive. While the startup industry and Silicon Valley still struggle with instances of misogyny and worse, there’s a wave of female founders paving the way to a brighter future. New parents in particular are flocking to entrepreneurship in ever-greater numbers, both because they crave flexibility and because caring for a tiny human unleashes new creativity they may not have even realized they had. Here are just a few reasons why parenthood and startups can in fact go hand-in-hand:

Parenthood Makes You Ruthless…With Your Time

“There’s this misconception that being a mom makes you soft,” says Annie Thorp, one of the founding members of the fast-growing womenswear and styling company MM. LaFleur, “and for me, it made me tougher, sometimes to the point of being abrupt. I just don’t have time for bullshit anymore. I used to tolerate it, and now I’m just like, ‘Nope, on to the next.’ Now I’m just much more ruthless about how I spend my time, in every area of my life.”

It’s a simple supply and demand equation — the less time there is, the more valuable the stock in that time is. There’s less time for idle office chatter, and perhaps you’ll miss some networking and socialization which may sting a bit, but parenthood also fosters a sense of to-the-pointedness that may not otherwise exist in everyone’s personality. Time spent away from your family needs to be time spent well, so parent entrepreneurs are becoming masters of curating their calendar and sticking to the topics and tasks at hand.

Parenthood Fills Your Pockets…With Creativity

One part of parenthood that comes with guarding your time ruthlessly is finding space for creative thinking wherever you can get it. Gone are the days of being so particular about your creative pursuits that you walk the extra 15 blocks to your favorite coffee shop and GOD FORBID your favorite spot is not available — time to just call it a day! Sometimes the best place to jot down ideas is locked in the bathroom while your kids participate in the “hide” portion of a “hide-and-seek” game. Sometimes it’s at 3am when you can’t sleep so you’re burning the midnight oil [also known as the screen of your smart phone] jotting down your next great idea. In her Mother’s Day feature, Annie writes, “Before I had kids, I was much more precious about where I had creative time. Like, ‘I couldn’t possibly think here — it’s too loud.’ Now, the best place for me to think is the 6 train, which is not a quiet place by any means. But you find pockets of creativity where you didn’t before.”

Parenthood Gives You a Shared Experience…With Other Parents

Startups are no longer renegade organizations, run out of Ivy league dorm rooms by 20-year-old hoodie wearing geniuses. A lot has changed in this industry in the last 10–15 years, and even the original founder Mark Zuckerberg is a parent himself now — and is making changes at Facebook to accommodate his fellow parents.

On the surface, you may have nothing in common with the lifestyle of a venture capitalist worth $1.3B but parenthood is the great equalizer. Every parent, regardless of net worth, knows the same struggles and triumphs. While you want to be sure the attention remains on your innovative idea, warming the crowd up during casual networking with a quick quip about your cheeky little one can potentially put you in a different light with that venture capitalist you’re courting. It could perhaps warm the conversation up before it turns to your idea and all the funding you’re hoping to receive from a fellow parent.

Parenthood Gives You a Safe Place To Land…Regardless of your Start-Up’s Success

A child’s love is not dependent on how well each round of funding does, and it doesn’t go away if your startup goes belly-up. In some ways, having a family is a prohibiting factor — with so many mouths to feed, it can be impossible to think about failing. But Avni Patel Thompson, a Seattle-based founder and CEO of the start-up Meet Poppy suggests that if you can afford the risk, parenthood actually provides a helpful cushion for failure: “And I know: This too shall pass. Whatever good, whatever bad. At home, at work, it’s all a phase. The key is to take it in stride and appreciate where you’re at. And when things aren’t going my way at work, I know that I can just head home, pick up my seven month old, nuzzle her soft neck and all will be just fine.”

While the childless 20-somethings of the world have a fear of failure, the stakes are much higher when you’re responsible for a tiny human. Some may see this as a deterrent but it can also be both a key motivator and safety net. Your children will love you no matter what happens so either you fail and still have your loving family or succeed and everyone’s college educations are paid for.

Parenthood Makes You A Master Negotiator…With Even The Toughest Opponents

Anyone who has had a showdown with a toddler will attest that our mini me’s drive the hardest bargains. If you can convince your little one that the broccoli on their plate is not, in fact, the root of all evil and is actually quite delicious, then you can convince an investor or board to see, and invest in, your vision. Though popular culture often depicts the best negotiators as tailored suit wearing hard-asses, there is a huge amount of intuition and empathy needed to successfully negotiate a deal that leaves both parties happy. Studies have shown that motherhood creates empathy where there perhaps previously was none. That empathy can be key to negotiating better than before.

“Moms are the best negotiators. They are empathetic, they value other people’s talents and time, and they are the toughest people on the planet..” said Rachelle Hruska MacPherson — Co-Founder, Guest of a Guest & Founder of Lingua Franca in a recent interview with Forbes.

For all these reasons and more, mothers and fathers with innovative startup ideas should stay in the game and consider taking the dive into entrepreneurship.

What’s the worst that can happen, you lose a bit of sleep?

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Meghan Butler

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writer & social media thinker, lady in tech, #coolmom, travel fanatic, culture critic and everything in between. thoughts my own but i'll share with you.