"Early-stage start-ups…with a dash of sibling rivalry."

I’m well overdue for an update on the unnamed bead bracelet business so here we go…

It’s Sunday night.??I finally have not one, but now TWO, founders asleep (?!) in bed.??I’m run ragged from working on both businesses in parallel all afternoon.??It felt somewhat akin to Katniss competing in the Hunger Games.??Young founders (9 and 11-year old’s to be clear) live life in the age of instant gratification and I knew trying to discuss timelines was wasted effort and I had to give everything I had immediately.?

The 9-year-old daughter is officially onboarded to Second Sphere Partners .???Engagement Agreement was modified accordingly, our formidable General Counsel made excellent provisions around use of capital.??She’s a mother herself and knew where the risk areas where – primarily unauthorised expenditure at Smiggle, Typo or Cotton On Kids.??Signatures were done, sadly manually in this instance as using DocuSign with a 9-year-old is much more complex that you think it may be.??Advanced Tik Tok and Zoomerang skills don’t necessarily equip one for the use of SaaS products.??I’m dreading setting up her channel on Teams and having to explain how that works.??**Note from author prior to publishing, said 9-year-old daughter pulled two documents out of Teams earlier and compared them side by side so this dread has been eradicated.??A small win.

In an unexpected turn of events, my 11-year-old son entered stage left during the week at full throttle shortly after signatures were done and his sister and I were celebrating the closing of her pre seed with a jar of Nutella and two spoons.??He’d become aware of his younger sister's start up and wasn’t being left in her wake.??He had a start-up too now.??A car washing business.??I’ll admit, his pitch was impressive.??He’d done some serious numbers (fortunately inherited his Dad’s maths skills) and was certainly more advanced in a solid revenue generating business proposition than his sister was when the unnamed bead bracelet business went through Second Sphere Partners InvestCo (we are all the parents of daughters…likely a calculated move from her to be honest…she’d deduced a collective soft spot to exploit).

It’s a balance when looking at businesses, founders alone can make or break in many instances – self-awareness, a clear vision, passion, resilience, communication skills, tenacity and decisiveness are all critical, along with the ability to plan and identify the possible make or break scenarios and plan for them (#meerkats).??However, documented business plans are clearly critical too – and my 11-year-old son had an impressive pitch deck.??He’d nailed his value proposition (admittedly not exactly an innovation but strong market potential for a new entrant…), researched competitors, had an achievable product roadmap, a solid pricing structure with impressive margins – he’d be revenue generating in his second week of operation, realistic growth projections, a resourcing plan (subcontracting featured heavily), a go to market strategy, risk assessment and realistic start-up capital requirements complete with exactly how the funds would be allocated – equipment in this instance.???He’d done the hard yards on Amazon and eBay for best bang for buck and had said equipment list ready to go.??He’d even lined up a mentor to assist with the required training.??He’d been in contact with a close friend of mine who was a builder and literally already had a date and time locked in.??Safe to say I’ve changed the password on my iPhone…clearly where he obtained said friend’s details from.

With a strong pipeline already in play for Second Sphere Partners , he knew he had to bootstrap.??Not having the requisite amount of pocket money to get the business off the ground, I played a family contribution role to spot him the delta.??I’m all about equal opportunity for my kids.??And I must admit that as his Mum, I had one further compelling reason to throw my support behind his business in this instance, and that was reducing his time on the PlayStation.

And just like that, in what felt like said Hunger Games, I was off to the races in a two-horse sibling business race.

With my 11-year-old having a clear view he was bootstrapping and had had the pros and cons spelt out, it was now back to the 9-year-old founder of the now called “The Blissing Beads”.??There was a co-founder involved early, however logistics of the parenting Uber driving schedule was going to prove an insurmountable challenge to ensure they had sufficient time together to remain aligned on the business direction, let alone provide the required labour as a co-founder and 50% shareholder (my house has become the warehouse for The Blissing Beads, so all labour effort occurs here).??I’ve been privileged to hear about, and advise on, many co-founder journeys.???There are reoccurring ingredients for each successful one – alignment of values, trust, equal passion for the business and what it brings to the industry and end customer, complimentary skills sets, comfort with conflict, open and frequent communication, self-awareness, ability to motivate each other and – at the very foundation – alignment on purpose.???Purpose means different things to different people, but in this instance, both getting out of bed each morning for a shared belief which underpins the co-founder relationship.??

No doubt my 9-year-old and her initial co-founder had one or two of these in the bag – they are constantly on FaceTime so the communication element was nailed, and I know they motivate each other on Roblox so I was sure that could extend to the bead business – but regardless, it was now a solo founder voyage.??With only one head in the business and not two, there now seems to be an emerging requirement for advisory and commercial expansion that wasn’t accounted for in the pre seed fee (we waived it) nor the Engagement Agreement – I’m aware this will literally land with me.??Like many founders, understanding contracts and the parameters of advisory, commercial expansion and other service offerings for founders was a blind spot for my 9-year-old.??The Managing Partners at Second Sphere Partners have also felt the brunt of this, with her feeling it was appropriate to join a recent Management Meeting ‘because James Isbell and Chris Flavell will know the answers to my maths homework, and you don’t’.??Expectation management is well underway, and parameters of the engagement being reiterated.

With a shared interest now emerging, the dynamics of the daily sibling rivalry that has underpinned their relationship for way too long has turned more into entrepreneurial kinship.??Arguments over whose device is sucking the speed out of the NBN have turned into discussions around business goals (how much profit they can make…) and plans for reinvestment with profit (seemingly all to be invested at Westfield in one way or another…no actual plans for reinvestment).??

Once again, I sit back and think about what this cluster of start-ups under my roof means to me.

1. Entrepreneurial spirit is often contagious.??The glint in the eye and sense of drive and purpose that I see in founder’s eyes was seen by my son in his younger sister’s eyes, and it inspired him.??I haven’t pointed this out to him yet.??Waiting for the right time…if there ever is one…
2. There is a never-ending set of dimensions both founders and investors need to be aware of for mutually beneficial outcomes…it’s not a one size fits all game.??It’s fitness for each business.??If you don’t know the right path to turn an idea to a business, seek advice!
3. I talked about being a proud working Mum in the moment my 9-year-old mastered what Second Sphere Partners does by observation.??This latest development has continued to deliver many proud moments, but the most important one to me is the shift in the dynamic between the two of them by keen mutual interest in business.??
4. My 9-year-old daughter has no regard for contracts and is going to do my head in.??But I wouldn’t change that for a minute, she’s been my muse this last week and has perfected a brilliant routine to IDGAF by Dua Lipa that is inspirational.

Go to market is now top of mind for both founders and I’ll report back on that.??Landing a launch is my drop zone so I suspect I’ll be busy doing some late-night hours for them in the next few weeks…but it's a worthy investment in their knowledge of business.