How to tell your investors you are pregnant…
It’s the 21st century but still, when I mention to some of my peers and colleagues that I’m pregnant and I need to tell my investors, there’s a collective pause. From stories of investors dropping them like hotcakes to investors muscling in to ‘take over’ businesses, there’s still a taboo around being a female founder who is pregnant.
So, what are the implications for a business? Well, the inference is that any sane, rational mum-to-be will take a maternity leave (see my previous post on what not to do). And with that maternity leave, aka time out from the business, you become what is known as a “key personnel risk”. You are either a founder or key decision maker in the business and you won’t be involved in the day-to-day growth of the business for a period of time.
As opposed to “key personnel risk”, I like to think of myself as “magical life bringer and guardian of the vitamins”, but I appreciate that my role as “magical life bringer” to the business will probably take a backseat to the actual small human about to arrive. Luckily I have some prior experience. It’s not my first rodeo and I’ve been thinking about how to do things differently since we were a pre-revenue startup with no full-time staff, many unknowns and a 2-week old time-sucker/ little darling.
Firstly, when getting to know investors in our business, we had to ensure they were aligned with our values. How can you be a business that prioritises women if we don’t live what we preach?
Secondly, I spent time thinking about what I would want this time around? What would help me to perform at my best and both leave the business in the best state possible, as well as make any integration back in super easy. What would give me the family time I want with my new kid and celebrate those moments?
Finally, what behaviour and process could I model with this pregnancy so that it becomes company policy and anyone following can benefit from this experience? In some ways it’s also wider than just a maternity leave — life happens to everyone and as the pandemic has shown, you can’t really separate family and work. People in our company will need sick leave, parental leave, carer’s leave and so on. These policies shouldn’t be benefits, they should be a fundamental part of any modern business.
I know we had chosen wisely when the time came to tell our investors and to the very last one they were supportive and enthusiastic. Most offered advice on how to deal with more than one small person (apparently you don’t get economies of scale) and a few were excited to share our journey as part of their portfolio. Collectively, they are progressive investors who prioritise diversity and inclusion alongside traditional, financial success.
It’s still really hard to get funding as a female founder (don’t even get me started on the fact we make products for women — heinous!). However, I wouldn’t have hesitated to drop and move on if the response had been different. You’ve got the wrong investors if they can’t cope with a life event so flipping normal as pregnancy.
So then to The Plan. How are we, as Ida Sports, going to manage this “key personnel risk”? We actually see this time as an opportunity to bring in someone incredible as an interim CEO. What if we could bring in someone with complementary skills and a fresh perspective? What if we find a great people manager who is in between things and wants a short term gig?
The search is now on for our super awesome interim CEO. I know they are going to be special. I know they are going to bring more to the table than we could have imagined. And I know that they will more than plug the gap whilst I take time out to grow a human, read some books (who am I kidding) and dream about shoes (probably more likely).
Help us find this wonderful person. If you’re an investor who comes across a female founder and are debating whether their potential future life choices will be a “key personnel risk”, rest assured they are already superhuman to be appearing in front of you, so invest in them regardless of the fact they might one day have children… and, offer your support and a night of babysitting.
