Seedling Pioneers a New World for Children’s Play
Individuals like Seedling Co-founder and CEO Phoebe Hayman are the reason why when people ask me what I do I describe my job as making friends. An artist, entrepreneur, and a powerful example of what it means to have a true zest for life, Phoebe’s one of the smartest, most inquisitive, and thought provoking people I’ve ever met. When I first interviewed her in June, she shared that as a CEO she understands her role as finding ways to help people be creative in society. No pressure, I thought, as she continued explaining Seedling’s philosophy.
It’s no surprise that Phoebe is channeling her drive to pioneer a new paradigm of children’s play. You can see here, and on their site, how extraordinary, engaging, and unique Seedling’s creations are.
“We design experiences like a good chef designs a good meal. What are the layers? What are the textures? How do they feed your soul?”
As with most startups, Phoebe founded Seedling to fulfill her own quest to find quality and meaningful toys for her two sons. “It made no sense to me that we were giving kids plastic imitations that weren’t real,” she says. “Why don’t we give kids real things to have real experiences with?” The lingering question inspired her to create kits and products that empower children to embark on real-world experiences and glean the skills required to navigate them. From a farmer’s market stand in New Zealand to retailers around the world, nearly a decade later her team’s created products that completely redefine how we shape and understand children’s creative time. This fall, they’re launching a new collaboration with Disney and their latest Seedling exclusive Maze: a virtual reality platform for kids to build physical mazes and then walk through them in VR.
They say that you know when people are born to be entrepreneurs. Phoebe is certainly an example of that. In today’s episode of The Peaks, we walk through the many early production runs completed on her kitchen table, the trade show that revealed Seedling’s big opportunity, and the decision to merge with P.S. XO and move the company’s headquarters to Los Angeles.
Here’s what you can expect in our conversation:
- How the team created a long-term strategy to transform a local business into a global one
- Why a startup must cultivate grit during the early days and the operations process behind Seedling never missing a deadline; “It’s about integrity. You made a commitment. You have to move it forward.”
- Tips to navigate working with global partners and manufacturers
- A simple question to ask yourself when evaluating new opportunities; “If I’m saying yes to this, what am I saying no to?”
Stay tuned for next week’s episode of The Peaks with Jill Salzman, Founder of The Founding Moms, who shares how a single meet-up multiplied into a global phenomenon spanning 32 cities around the world.
