How to do work you believe in

Life’s too short to do anything you don’t truly believe in.

I always wanted to found a startup that profoundly improved people’s lives.

It took me a while to figure out what problem I was going to work on, though. 

While I was figuring it out, I became a mum.

And as a mum I started seeing things I’d never seen before. Like how much time it takes to sort out childcare, and then sort it out again, and then again, and again, and again, as it fails repeatedly and as the family’s needs change.

I started seeing how many of my friends had to abandon their careers to make their lives work.

I started seeing how much my friends felt like they were failing: failing at being a parent, failing at being a partner, failing at their career. How impossibly high the expectations were on them from all sides. How impossible it was to parent like you had no career, and work like you had no kids.

How freaking exhausted everyone was, all the time. How alone so many people feel in their failure. (You’re not alone.)

In short, I finally found a problem worth solving.

I called my startup ‘Koru Kids’ because Koru means ‘loop’ in Maori. I want to build a loop of care around families.  

3 years later, after lots of ups and downs but luckily a few more ups than downs….

I’m so delighted to announce today that Koru Kids has raised ￡10 million from @Atomico, one of the best investors in Europe, in a major Series A.

We’ll be investing the funds in building out our product and tech, plus bringing our service to even more families. (We’re hiring of course, especially in product and tech – if that’s you, get in touch!)

Atomico, together with our earlier investors, believes in our mission to solve a hideously complex, intractable problem: how to support families in a world which is stacked against them.

“What kind of startups do we want to invest in?” is a bit like saying, “What kind of world do we want to build?”

The kind of world I want to build is one where parents and families are supported to live a calm, rich, fulfilling life, where family wellbeing – children’s and parents – is paramount, and where working in childcare is a valued, respected career path.

This is counter-cultural. There are so many forces in the world pushing family life to be more hectic, more stressful, more exhausting, more like – as one Koru Kids parent put it, “a hamster wheel of hell”.

It’s harder to be a parent now than it has been in a long time. (Presumably it was also tricky during World War II.) Families are financially stretched, geographically scattered, and the parenting stakes are so high. As parents, we’re one of the first generations whose children will likely have lower living standards than our own. No wonder we’re all so exhausted. 

Every human deserves a family – a group of people who love them unconditionally – and every family needs support.

I’m so, so excited to receive this major investment to turn the Koru Kids vision into a reality, and build the support that is so desperately, urgently needed.

Thank you to Atomico and to all our earlier investors including Albion, Forward Partners, 7percent Ventures, Samos, Catamaran, GFC, and many amazing angels.

With your help we are going to build something truly world-changing.