Episode Transcript
[00:00:09] Speaker A: Yeah, man, it's super excited to have you today. Can you just kind of get us started by telling us the story of Riley, how you got here, how you named the business. I'm very curious about that and what you expect for the future.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Oh my gosh, I love that question.
Absolutely. So Riley was actually born out of a real like lived painful experience for me. So I am a career product manager. I've been product manager at a bunch of different, like gigantic companies. I got my start at Google, I went was at Eventbrite, Etsy, Nerdwallet and even kind of more recently at smaller startups. And so I've really always been in the like, how do we use technology to solve real user problem space?
And I have an almost three year old daughter. So about, you know, like three and a half, four years ago when my husband, he's also a product manager, um, he's director of product at a company called Doximity. When we became pregnant, we almost were like joking. We were like, we're two product managers. Planning is our stock and trade. Like we, we know what we're doing here. We're going to product manage the heck out of pregnancy. And indeed we did. We bought all the things, read all the books, took all the courses. Like, we would sit on our sofa at night and like joke to each other. We're like, we've got this. We're as prepared as two people could possibly be to have this baby. Like, how hard could it be? Really? Like, how hard could it be? And anybody who's a parent who's listening or watching is probably laughing because there's like, the real truth about having kids is that nothing can really prepare you for what the experience, especially if having your first child is like, because babies don't come with instruction manuals. And this seems like such an obvious thing that you feel like you understand before you have a baby, but like don't really understand until you have one, is that they cannot communicate with you. The only way they can communicate is just by crying and being angry. And for the first six weeks of their lives, they're not even really able to socially smile at you. Like you so much of like living with a newborn is like this teeny, tiny, angry potato just scowling at you all day.
And so it was kind of this, you know, amazing but really intense transition for us from, you know, not being a parent to being a parent.
And on top of all of that, you know, that transition by itself is, you know, one of the most meaningful and intense transitions that people will make in their lives. I had postpartum depression and postpartum anxiety, which is totally chemical. It's a process that happens in your brain, and it's not something that I certainly planned for, that we necessarily expected. And it also, because this is just the way that it goes. It wasn't diagnosed for a while. And so I remember my daughter would be, like, two or three weeks old, not sleeping because newborns just don't sleep. And again, that's something that you. You think you know before you have one, and then you, like, really don't know until experience what that's like. And I just remember, like, I would have these anxiety nightmares where I would dream, like, have, like, a waking dream that I had fallen asleep while holding her and that I dropped her off of our bed and that she had, like, rolled onto the ground. And my. My husband would describe, like, waking up, hearing me gasping for air, looking for her on the floor, when in actuality, she was actually sleeping safely in her bassinet. And, like, after having these nightmares, would, like, spend all this time looking at her, being like, are you okay? Am I okay? Like, what do I do? Is this ever gonna get better? Is this ever gonna get easier? She made a weird sound. What do I do about this? And the only, like, solace, the only recourse that I had in those moments, because everybody that I would have called for advice, like, my parents or friends or like, our pediatrician, everybody's asleep because nobody else has a newborn because it's 3am I went to Google or I went to, you know, books courses that I had taken and was just, like, desperately searching for help and answers, being like, what do I do?
And just really, very quickly found it an exercise in extreme frustration, the Internet. I also very quickly learned. This is also probably not surprising to anybody who's listening, who's a parent. The Internet is so full of armchair experts and what I like to call anecdote, which is so, like, intensely frustrating when you're like, I just need to know what I need to do in order to, like, get through this moment. And you have all sorts of people being like, well, I didn't vaccinate my kids, and they went to Harvard. So, like, you do the math, and you're like, that's not how that works. That's not how anything works. And so it was. I remember, again, kind of sitting on the edge of my bed and talking to my husband and being like, it's so hard to get good answers and, like, get good information about, like, all right, what actually matters in preventing sids, in, like, feeding our child? And, like, when is she going to sleep? And, like, what's the right approach? Like, I know that data exists.
Again, I'm a product manager. I've looked into this. I know that this is available. It should not be this hard to find. And also it shouldn't be this difficult for me to figure out what actually applies to our family. I really just wish that I had a fairy that lived on my shoulder that knew what the science said and also knew us and could be like, oh, for your kid, here's what this is. Or, hey, based on who you and your husband are as people and the parenting values that you have, here's what you should do next.
And that was like, the initial kind of like, light bulb that very slowly, it wasn't like an immediate, like, oh, I should build this. It was like a very slowly, it turned on around, oh, this is something that I desperately need. And I can't be the only one who feels this way. And so over time, my daughter got older. She started sleeping better. It made all the difference. I ended up again, like, I Frankensteined together a sleep plan for her based on, like, six different books and courses that I took. And I remember the whole time I was doing it being, like, I shouldn't have to do this. Like, something should be able to know what the, like, right approach is for me and just tell me, which is again, like, another little slow, like, turning on of the light bulb. We started to get our feet underneath us a little bit more as parents. We started to really understand, like, all right, here's what this is. I was kind of amazed to discover that the volume of questions that I had didn't really decrease. It just changed. So it kind of went from, you know, oh, my gosh, am I going to be okay? Is she going to be okay? Like, is this ever going to get better? To. All right, how do we start solids? What is that whole process like? Or like, oh, what should we be doing? How should we be making sure that we're doing things that stimulate her developmentally and meet her where she is in her developmental stage? And so it was really this kind of feeling of, oh, I feel like I want to know something. And I'm always searching for answers that are really shouldn't be so hard to find, but are so hard to find. Why is this so hard? And then in the meantime, I actually went to work for a different parent tech company where I was leading the growth product Org. So I was really leading into Growth, product management, and speaking to so many different families all the time. And really, like, again, that was really the point where I was like, oh, gosh, this is really not just a me problem. This is such a universal. Every parent of young kids is having this experience of, like, seeking answers, seeking, like, the proactive and reactive support, and there is nothing here. And I really think. And this is also, like, right around the time that ChatGPT was, like, really taking off as a consumer product and so was, like, starting to actually tinker around, like, coding with ChatGPT and, like, coding with LLMs, and I was like, oh. I actually think that the real, like, superpower here that I'm really excited about is that I think that this is something that can marry a lot of diverse data points at scale and, like, actually achieve what I like to call, like, hyper personalization at scale. And that's something that, like, really unlocks this ability to provide great support, great answers, like, and again, backed by science, like, science that we know we have about what does and does not matter. Like, all of those things can come together to provide me the information that I need. And so it really was like this, like, kind of long journey and actually didn't even start Riley until my daughter was, like, 13 or 14 months old back, like, last November. And it was like, oh, I'm. I'm not.
If I don't build this, I don't think that anybody's going to build this. Because the parenting tech space is kind of a tech desert. There are tools, but they're all very focused on babies. It's focused on very, like, the kind of transactional, like, baby tracking. There's really not a lot of great tech that's built for parents. And, like, I don't think anybody's really thinking about this space. If I don't do it, I don't think it's going to be done. And, like, I desperately want this. Like, if I'm the. The only user of this product, I want it to be built. And so that's how Riley came to me. That's like the long, meandering story of how this all happened.
[00:08:14] Speaker A: No, that's great. And I think you kind of touched on it a bit in that story. But I'm curious as to your thoughts as to sort of the role of technology in the parenting space.
[00:08:22] Speaker B: Gosh.
[00:08:22] Speaker A: So I think there's some part of, like, the lizard brain that's like, no, like, you don't need technology. Like, just get family and friends and, like, you just kind of raise this Community. But that's just so not realistic today. So is technology, like, sort of filling in that role?
[00:08:34] Speaker B: You know, I love this question, Brady. And I think, you know, the other question, kind of similar that I'm asked sometimes about this is like, oh, is this, like, are you worried that people are going to be, like, outsourcing their parenting by doing this? And the way that I always like to respond to that is I'm like, you know, you wouldn't say that Googling for answers or reading a book or taking a course is outsourcing parenting. What you're doing is you're getting advice. Like, you're getting information that allow you to make really good decisions for your family. It's the same thing with family and friends and with Riley. Like, our main goal is not to replace a human relationship. We do not want to replace your pediatrician caregiver relationship. We do not want to replace the relationship that you have with your friends, your family. And all of that is still an incredibly important and meaningful part of being a parent. Even though we are all more isolated than ever. I still call my mom, like, every day, and I'm like, hey, she bonked her head. What should I do? Even if I'm also talking to Riley? Because that's such a. Just, like an innate part of how I relate to my mother.
And it. What Riley provides is essentially an augmentation to a lot of those conversations where, like, you get really good information. And so, like, instead of being like, oh, my God, I'm so out of my depth, what do I do? She, like, fell on her head. I can say, well, okay, Riley told me to do this.
Like, what do you think? To my pediatrician and my pediatrician, who's aware of this and very supportive, he's like my biggest champion on the data back side of this, they're always like, yep, great advice. Like, that's exactly right. And so it's basically a way to have really great, empowered conversations and also to, you know, take the lower level pieces too, where I'm like, all right, it's raining here in San Francisco. And, like, I don't really want to go outside and deal with my daughter in the rain and, like, everything being wet, like, what are some fun things that are not screen time that I can do with her inside? And, like, that's the kind of thing where, again, I. I could ask a friend about that, but it's also like, you know, I would. I might as well. Like, the alternative is I could just, like, Google it and, like, this is just going to tell me. And not only that, it's going to know exactly the types of things that we like to do, the types of things that she's liked in the past. So. And also knows that she has, like, a sensory sand bin. So it's like, hey, yeah, set up some things in her sensory sand bin and see if she does something with that or do a pillow fort.
And so, you know, long answer to your short question. And I really do see this as being a way to really ease the mental load more than anything and, like, take the burden off of parents, but especially moms who tend to just carry a lot of this in their own brains and a lot of, especially the anxiety of, like, oh, gosh, what should I do next? Like, really start to ease that and help you just spend more joyful time with your kids. Because that's all we want at the end of the day.
[00:11:09] Speaker A: Yeah. And so as you're going through this process, how are you guys thinking about customer acquisition? Because, I mean, like, half the planet's a parent and like, in theory, every parent wants to be a better parent, not all most parents want to be better parents. So, I mean, in theory it's like, oh, yeah, like, everyone should do something. So I'm curious as to how you're finding customers or what channels you've been most interested in, or you think there's kind of more potential for the future.
[00:11:32] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. Another great question. And I think for us in particular, this is very much a work in progress. And I think it always is marketing right now, it feels like it's changing every minute, every day.
[00:11:44] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:45] Speaker B: And so, you know, it really is like the fastest evolving, like, area for us. Like, things just change all the time. But, you know, we tend to think about it as actually kind of in two ways. The first one is, all right, what are parents if they're not going to be searching on Riley, if they don't know about Riley, what are they going to be doing instead? And, like, number one answers, they're going to go to Google. And so for us, one of our early kind of bets that we made in user acquisition that's really starting to pay off for us is SEO, where it's like, if you're going to be searching for answers, we want to be the thing that you find and we want to be able to get in front of you at that point and provide value. Certainly we want to answer your question, but also in so doing kind of show the value of like, oh, hey, also, this is something that you could just ask the app and again instantaneously tell you exactly what you need to know rather than you being like, all right, here's what all this says. How do I think this applies? I'm so tired. I can't do that mental math. What should I do? We will help you do that. And so that's been a really effective channel for us and it's continuing to grow pretty quickly. There are other couple of things, like paid media I think is just necessary evil. But even then it's not even really. I don't really see it as an evil. It's just an interesting way to get in front of people. And the good news about parents is that we hang out in pretty predictable places online.
So things like Reddit ads like Facebook ads, Instagram ads like meta tends to do pretty well here. And similar idea with like SEO where like paid Google search tends to do pretty well for us. And it's a pretty good roi, just given that like, we have a pretty good sense on a like recurring basis, like what parents are searching for, what topics might be coming up for seasonality. So that's been a really great place for us.
The places that are starting to emerge in user acquisition for us that may be specific to the parenting audience, but I also kind of wonder if it's more about the consumer AI audience than just parents is. We've actually found a lot of success by investing early in our brand and our design and seeing that as one of our core moats in the space where having really excellent user experience and excellent design is like top priority for us. Our designer was like the first hire that I made, Riley. She and I used to work together at Etsy. She was the designer to like my PM team, which was just. And she's like the best user experience designer I've ever worked with. And I was like, please come work for me. And investing in the brand, but also investing in like thinking about brand advertising is something that like, as a data product manager, I'm almost like allergic to. I feel very like brand, like it's so hard to attribute and it's so, you know, like not necessarily performative in the way that you would expect like a direct, like meta campaign to be.
I tend to find that that has actually been like a really excellent way to like drive.
Like a differentiating point amongst again, the parenting app space, especially for babies where we technically currently are building is a little bit crowded. And so just being able to say like, hey, this is really well designed, it's thoughtful, it's by Parents for Parents has been able to give us a real kind of leg up there.
[00:14:52] Speaker A: Yeah. You know, actually an early conversation I had with the first new finds podcast guest for us. They found you and they told. I don't know how the conversation was, but they're like, hey, you've got to check first now. Like, their website looks amazing.
[00:15:06] Speaker B: Oh my gosh, that means so much to me. You have no idea. That's like we spent and we're actually about to here in another couple of weeks we have like another like little brand evolution, like a refresh coming live. And like, I've been like, I code a lot of the product myself and I've been specifically coding a lot of the front end myself. And I'm like, I can't wait for everybody to see it because it looks so good.
[00:15:25] Speaker A: Good. Oh, I'm so excited. If you don't mind, I would love to dive down a little bit more into your marketing stuff just because I'm super curious. So you running like Reddit ads?
I. So I run marketing here at Turnkey. I have heard a lot of mixed results with Reddit ads. I've heard some people be like, I think probably the balance of the feedback I've heard has been like, Reddit ads, not worth it at all.
I haven't tried it myself, so it's all hearsay. But what's been your experience as far as like ad platforms? Which ones are you seeing the most performance in and must be transparent. So I've always seen pretty good results with Google Ads and then I've seen like some on and off success with LinkedIn or Meta, but Google's always been kind of my go to. Haven't tried much other platforms like YouTube, Reddit, stuff like that. So curious as you thought.
[00:16:10] Speaker B: This is another area where we are learning. So I feel like my answer today may be different than my answer tomorrow.
[00:16:16] Speaker A: Yeah, it totally will. So this is not a fair question. I get that.
[00:16:20] Speaker B: But it's such a good one because this is like the challenge that we're all facing right now is like, where do you place your bets? And the way that we tend to see this is that like, we see it kind of almost less as like individual platforms and more in terms of like, we know that we have to get in front of the same consumer like six or seven times at least for them to like really feel confident making a purchase decision.
And that math tends to work out to a couple of different efforts that are combined. So like we have, you know, our meta campaigns which actually again, in this really visual space. Parenting Instagram, like parenting Facebook or like just like well known communities though they're very, very built for like our audience specifically. Like that can be a really great way for us to get in front of the right people or at least get the right message in front of the right person to start. But then we have to follow it up with retargeting. We then do Google Ads. We basically have what's starting to be a nicely built out flywheel of all right, how does somebody become aware of us? How do we then get back in front of them? How do we accelerate their purchase decision? And actually one of the channels that I almost never hear talked about, but I think has been like kind of a sleeper hit for us. And it also at the, a couple of previous companies that I've been at has been email, building up an email newsletter and then doing even in consumer like a nurture or a drip campaign to get somebody from like being aware and kind of interested and interested enough to give you their email but not so interested that they're buying your thing. Like being able to then do that and then really, really segment your email audience and then ultimately your customer audience by their like demographics, by the information that they're giving you, by the way that they're interacting with certain campaigns. That's another thing that I think is it's going to be right for disruption in this AI age. And like I'm excited to see a lot of movement there that we've already benefited from a little bit where like we can like really, really refine down to like really minute details like who is this person? Like what do they care about? How can we understand their pain so we can like help them understand like, oh, this is how Riley solves this pain that you're feeling or this like fire that you're fighting in your house.
And so email and like being like the customer, like engagement platform stuff I think has been a real like useful thing for us and investing in building out our email newsletter list has been like not something I would have expected to be like a huge ROI channel for us, but like it has really been great. And it's also something that augments a lot of the rest of what we're doing. So if somebody's like at your website and they're again interested enough to want to learn more, but not so interested, it's so much easier to get back in front of them on an email than it is like through retargeting because it's a place that is somewhat Owned by you. Right. And so you can own the design, you can send them all kinds of very in depth content. There's a lot that you can do there. So email is great. Answering your initial question about Reddit ads, we've also, let's bring this back to.
[00:19:15] Speaker A: Reddit because that's the one that I want to know about.
[00:19:18] Speaker B: This is another place too where there are really specific and significant communities built around parenting on Reddit. And so I think this is another place where like we may have just gotten lucky with the Reddit presence that exists for parents. We've seen pretty good results. We're, we're just starting this, this effort out and so kind of results tbd, but cautiously encouraging or cautiously optimistic right now. But I've also been at places where like Reddit ads were just garbage. Like there was even if there were pretty good communities, especially on like the more B2B tech side and like you run Reddit ads, like that audience was like, I don't care, get this out of my face.
And I think that also speaks a little bit too to like when we're thinking about consumer AI in general. One of the things that we've really had to think about on a daily basis is the fact that like a lot of people will even ask me, they're like, hey, you know, who do you consider a big competitor? Like, do you think the ChatGPT is a big competitor of yours? And I always am kind of like, well, no, not really.
Because ChatGPT is not super well adopted on a regular basis outside of very tech savvy communities, very tech centric places, even in the US and so often our competitor is a pen and a piece of paper or a book.
And so when we think about the tech savviness of the community, they may be tech savvy, but there isn't a lot of tech for them in this space. And so we really have to scale back the way that we talk about the tech and not be like, look at this incredible cutting edge, like amazing way that we're routing our LLM so that it does even better for you. It's like, no, we've just, you now have the ability to like talk to Riley and it will talk back to you, which is something that's been around for a little while, especially in like ChatGPT and you know, like meta and even so our audience was like, wait, I can have a conversation and I don't have to use both of my hands to do it. And we were like, this blows your mind. Like Yay. But also, yes.
[00:21:16] Speaker A: They obviously don't live in the Bay Area.
[00:21:18] Speaker B: Oh my gosh. Well, and even the ones that do, like, I fall into this trap a little bit where, like, I am like on LLMs, especially like the gendered LLMs all day, every day, like, Claude and Chatgpt are my paraprogrammer a lot of the time, and me curse her all day long. And like, even then I'm still like, like, there's no great tech for me as a parent. Like the best tech that exists that's not Riley is like a 10 hour course on potty training. And it's like, I don't have time under the best of circumstances to watch 10 hours about this. And like, what I want is for something like what we're building to like, dose it out for me to tell me exactly what I need to know exactly what I need to do and like, make it so that I can fit it into my life and like personalize it to me. And the fact that that like, again, the idea of personalizing it and making it not a 10 hour course is like the next step up is kind of insane. But like, that's like the kind of context that I live in in this space.
[00:22:14] Speaker A: And I think in regarding the space, we've kind of already touched on this a bit. But I'm curious as to your thoughts of how you think AI is going to influence the parenting space.
[00:22:22] Speaker B: Oh, gosh, you know, I'm actually really excited that I'm seeing more AI like coming to the fore a little bit in the space. There was another company actually that I really love and admire that launched their own chatbot, like a parenting data chatbot. And this is another thing that I got asked a lot about. They're like, people would be like, oh, do you see this as another entry? And I'm like, you know, this is actually a place where rising tide, like more things in AI in this space actually lifts all of the boats. Because one of the biggest hurdles, but also responsibilities that we have in AI in general, but also especially for parents, is that there is a really healthy amount of distrust. A lot of people, like when we do user research, a lot of people see AI as being faulty. A lot of the words that they'll use to describe it is like hallucinations, untrustworthy, a little bit like gimmicky is what we tend to hear. And that really does create an uphill battle when you're creating a product that is based on data. That is. We work with pediatricians and licensed clinical Social workers, like real clinicians who are experts in the space to put together the data and a lot of the product that we build.
And it's so important to us, and especially to those of us who are building Wiley, who are parents, who are also users, that the data is incredibly secure, that the answers are incredibly high fidelity. And the biggest perception of AI in the space is like, oh, I don't know if I can trust it. It creates a real mountain of how are we going to really tell the story of why you can trust this? How we've very thoughtfully built it in a way that isn't like so abstract that like your average person like won't understand it. Like, how can we like help you feel really confident like that? Actually, no, this is a very, very trustworthy tool and that we have a lot of skin in the game as users ourselves to make it that way. It's same thing with like the data privacy element. That's something that I actually wish I saw a lot more of in the consumer and just AI space in general. This is such a wild west for data and like LLMs run on data. And for the most part I wish I saw more companies coming out and being like, your data privacy matters to us. What happens to your data matters to us. And like, we're going to be like, we all really have again this responsibility to do right by our users, by our consumers, so that we're not storing the data in a way that could be accessed, like in a way that we don't want, that we're making everything as private as possible, that we're not training LLMs on like actual user data. Like, I think that there's so much there and like we're trying to lead a lot of that charge again because I, as the parent user here, like, I'm telling Riley things about my daughter all like, all day long and like that it's very important to me that that information stays very private to me. And so like being able to like really kind of tell that story, it's just exciting to me to see more people coming on and starting to talk more about like how this can actually be a huge, like daily life improvement. And I think that there's a space for a lot more. There's so much more that we want to do that we're kind of holding back on. Because the first and kind of most important step is just get everybody comfortable with the idea that this is an incredibly powerful and safe and high trust tool that can really, it's like meaningfully improved my life in ways that are even difficult to articulate at this point. Like, there's some things that we talk about, like parts of our parenting lexicon, things that we say to our daughter that came to Riley from Riley that like, just are part of our parenting now. Like, it's really so positively impacted me and a lot of our users. Like, that's the core story and that's what we want to be telling. And so once we get past the hump of like, oh, this is something that is really incredible and it's an incredible tool, I'm excited to be like, and then look at this incredible, amazing update lifestyle upgrade that we have for you now. You know what I mean?
[00:26:09] Speaker A: Yeah, totally. Yeah. So if anyone's watched the show before, they know that if anyone is skeptical of AI, it is this guy right here.
I've been very unimpressed with a lot of AI AI use cases that have emerged. However, I think that this sort of data analyzation, like personalization of advice is an area where AI really stands to be very powerful. So I think this is just something that does far better than humans. Like, you can just look at a massive amount of data well, and think.
[00:26:35] Speaker B: About the power even too. And you're right where it is so much more capable than a human at scale, certainly, and able to better personalize in a minute way at scale. But then like, when you add the human in the loop, that's where the real power is to me too. Like, that's where a lot of our systems are built around. Like, again, we actively review like anonymized like queries. We want to make sure that like, the answers that are being provided are correct. We review those with pediatricians, we review our knowledge base. Like, we are like really, really in the business of like making this as high quality and like high trust as we possibly can, as I mentioned. And so like, yeah, there's just, there's so much that like the personalization and also like, think about the, the use case of like the proactive advice, right? Like, if you have like a newborn and you're like, how do you play with a newborn? They can't really do anything. And like, there's so many hours of the day that you're just like, what do I do?
And the Internet's like, show them flashcards. You're like, I can't keep showing them these flashcards.
Like, if you had something told you in the morning, it's like, hey, it's day 14 with your baby. Like, here's what's going on with them developmentally, like, they're. They can only really see high contrast. Something that could be fun is, like, take them on a walk and, like, let them look at shadows on the side of a building. Like, that's something that Riley told my friend to do. My friend just had a baby a couple weeks ago, and it was like, look at, like, go out in San Mateo, where you live, and, like, look at, like, the changing. Like, have them look up at a tree when it's. When it's, like, sunny, and, like, look at the changing pattern. And she's like, my baby stared at the tree for two hours.
There you go. And so it's like both the reactive being able to be there in the moment, but also anticipate and start to kind of think about. Based on what we know about the relatively predictable developmental stages that children go through and also the challenges that parents will face. Even though each family is unique and controlling for the fact that each family is unique. What's something that we can say to Hannah that makes her life in San Mateo easier versus what's something that we can say to Amanda with her unique life in San Francisco that will make a difference to her today?
It's like, what can we do to make a difference to you today? That's what I'm the most excited about.
[00:28:51] Speaker A: Very cool. I would love to hear about your experience being a founder in the tech space, being lady founder. Lady founders are awesome. You're kind of like, full moons, great, but don't happen that often.
So what's been your experience?
Have there been any, like, particular advantages or disadvantages that maybe people just don't realize and any advice that you'd give to other female founders?
[00:29:12] Speaker B: You know, I think about this a lot because I'm also not just a female founder. I'm a solo female founder. So I don't have a co founder. I am a founder. You know, I'm the. I'm the one. And that was against every bit of advice that I got, especially early on. Everybody, like, even early investors that I was talking to, they're like, we are not interested until you get a co founder. And I was like, why do I need a co founder? And this kind of. I think it goes back to. There's a real strength, I think, in having a real, like, unique insight into your product and your market that you're building. Like, I'm a parent. I'm building for the parent that I was when my daughter was a baby. I'm building for the parent that I am now. I'm building for families all over the place. But, like, I'm in this. I'm in the trenches with these families too. And so, like, I have a pretty unique insight. Our head of engineering, who actually I met because we shared a nanny for 18 months.
And it just, like, it so happens that he's like, one of the most brilliant, like, LLM operators I've ever met in my life.
But, like, he's a dad. Our daughters are the same age. And having that insight is so powerful. And I think, you know, beyond being like a woman, I think it's been really, really useful to be able to, like, put myself in the shoes of the user, because I am a user, because I have been there. Because I do know a lot of, like, what this takes, you know, just to, to be a parent. It's a very, very difficult and very important job. I think also being a product manager for such a long time was a huge help. And it's also why I think a lot of people are told to get co founders, because you tend to specialize, right? Like, you're either a business person or you're a tech person. And as a product manager, especially a technical product manager, I'm an everything person. I wrote actually a lot of the original code for Riley myself. And that also gave me a really great insight into, like, oh, here's how this could work, or, like, oh, here's how we're going to make this thing route to this other thing. Like, here's the actual value that I want to deliver and how we can do it with tech. And I think that's something I'm starting to see more broadly. Um, is that, like, if you are a generalist, you are uniquely well positioned to do so many things really well, especially with the amazing technologies that we have. And that, like, this is kind of a crazy thing to say, but, like, being a parent and also a woman, I think, like, the ups and downs of having a startup and like, being a founder, I think I'm better able to weather them. Like, nothing, nothing phases me. Like, I've been through postpartum depression. I've been through my child falling down a full flight of stairs. Like, I have been through what I think are the worst moments of my life. And, like, I also have a really, like, lovely, rich life outside of work that keeps me really grounded. I have the most amazing partner, I have the most amazing daughter. And, you know, that really helps me get perspective of, like, what's this all for? Why are we doing this? And, like, I feel like I am much less flappable.
And like, having a startup really is like up and down all day, every day. Like, it's great, it's terrible, it's all the stuff. But, like, I feel like I'm really able to be grounded in like, what's. What matters. And like, that is a superpower that I see for a lot. For most of the women that I've ever worked with, it's like this real grounding and like, what's the priority? What matters? Like, what do we need to do? And actually, it's kind of goes against the stereotype where, like, I think everybody sees women as being like, more emotional. Like, I actually think it's like, it's the exact opposite. Women are so much steadier because we've been through some really, really hard stuff. Especially if you're a woman founder who's like, been through trying to fundraise as a female founder. And it's brutal. Like, nothing can get to you. And like, you develop just such a thick skin that it's like, if you, if you meet a female founder, like, they are tough as nails. It's like just incredible. So. And it's, it's also thing where like, I talk to a lot of women, like prospective female founders, and I'm like, you are so much more capable than even you realize at this because, like, you are uniquely well positioned to like, get through it because you are less discourageable, you are less flappable, you're less prone to like, the ups and downs and like, there's no way to avoid it completely, but you're gonna be in a great place.
[00:33:16] Speaker A: And do you have any advice on, say, balancing the responsibilities of being a solo founder and quote, unquote, real life, like being a mom, wife, so on?
[00:33:25] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. You know, this is also something that like the other parent founders in my network that I know and I talk about and laugh about all the time because I don't know what I did with my hours in the day before I became a parent. I think I would be like, oh, I'm gonna take like a nice lunch. Or like, oh, I'll just get to that later tonight. And like, the amazing thing about being a parent is that it's helped me in two key areas that I think are essential to being a founder. Number one, I'm so much more efficient with my time. I am like, absolutely razor sharp. I have childcare from eight to six every day, and I have to be as productive as humanly possible in those hours because if I'M not, there's not a possibility that I'm gonna get to it later. Like, there is no later, it is now.
So I'm like locked in. And I also have the benefit of I work from home and my daughter is here a lot and so I can bump out of a meeting and just like see her and spend just like a gorgeous minute with her. And if I'm in a funk, it will lift me out of whatever funk I'm in. And her three year old Joy, where she's like, mommy, look, a dinosaur. And I'm like, it's a dinosaur. Like that has also just been like, I don't know, I didn't really have anything like that before I had her. Like, I, I have my husband and he's also very joyful. But there's just something really magical about like this person I created is showing me a dinosaur and it's the best thing.
And so that's, that's also been really great. And like the second thing that it's really helped me with is prioritization. Every parent that I know because again, you just like, you get, there's so much that you're doing and carrying all the time with work and life and family and kid and all of that. But like, it is so much easier to say no. And it's so much clearer to me what the priority needs to be. Like the one priority, the one most important thing I need to get done every day or that the team needs to get done every day becomes so much clearer. Which isn't to say that it's always clear all the time or that there's never a discussion about this. But it's like, I think especially earlier on in my PM career, I would spend a lot more time being like, well, is it this? Should I be focusing on this? I don't know. And I'm like, nah, it's. We've got like three choices. I think it's this one. What do we think?
And so the two of those things together mean that like really like you end up being a superpower unto yourself. And it also means that like the time that I spend with my family, so like the pre work and the post work and the weekends are really sacred to me. And I really try to, you know, construct my work life so that I can spend as much quality time with them when I have them as I can. And like, you know, again, I'm also very lucky that like I also have a husband who also works, who also loves being a product manager and like part of the way that we interact is like we love, like, jamming together side by side on the couch, like, working on different things, but, like, talking about it. It's one of the things that we just love to do on a weekend while our daughter is sleeping. And so I'm very lucky. But it's been really great.
[00:36:03] Speaker A: Well, amazing. Amanda, thank you so much. If people want to find out more about you, about Riley, where should they go?
[00:36:08] Speaker B: Please head over to RileyApp.com again. We are about to launch a brand new experience experience there. So I'm very excited to I know it's going to be lots of jazz hands all the time.
Very, very, very excited to see everybody. Yep. Rileyapp.com to learn more.
[00:36:24] Speaker A: Awesome. Well, thanks so much for being on the show, Amanda.
[00:36:26] Speaker B: Thank you so much, Brady. It's been a pleasure.
[00:36:28] Speaker A: Like.
