How I Built This with Guy Raz
Description
In 2010, software engineer Natalie Gordon was pregnant– and fed up with the overwhelming baby aisles in big box stores. So she quit her computer job to code the registry she wished existed. No pink-and-blue giraffes. No allegiance to a single store. Just a universal list that let friends give the real help that new parents need—from strollers to diaper services to dog-walking.
Natalie coded the first lines of Babylist during her son’s nap time. She managed customer support, pitched bloggers from coffee shops, and learned growth the hard way—first through affiliates, then with a pivotal Pinterest bet, and finally by taking on her own inventory (and all the headaches that come with it). Along the way she wrestled with hiring, firing, fundraising, and the identity shift from founder to CEO. Today, Babylist is one of the most trusted parenting platforms in the U.S., with a retail arm, editorial content, and a program for providing breast pumps.
This is a masterclass in living a problem–and building a solution.
You’ll learn:How to spot a customer pain point and design an MVP around itThe power of slow viralityHow to use a small seed round without losing controlThe painful path from affiliate revenue to first-party e-commerceStumbles with hiring – and firing– as a first-time CEOHow paid growth works on visual platforms like PinterestHow “controlling your destiny” justifies a hard shift in business modelHow coaching and feedback helps you evolve from founder to leader
Timestamps:05:32 - Learning to solve hard problems at Amazon -08:28 - Sabbatical in Latin America: Natalie’s first (failed) business and what it taught her17:50 - A meltdown in a superstore → the Babylist “aha” moment19:40 - Designing a universal registry, dog-walking included24:42 - Blitzing the mommy blogs, a “pregnant hacker” post on Hacker News30:01 - Why $140/month revenue felt like a victory39:18 - Going solo at an Accelerator, and the agony of early hiring and firing49:29 - From “slowly viral” to real scale, and how Pinterest helped58:09 - Affiliate links to in-house inventory → piles of bassinets in the office 1:01:57 - COVID’s unexpected windfall, the health wedge (breast pumps & beyond)
This episode was produced by Kerry Thompson with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by Neva Grant. Our audio engineers were Patrick Murray and Jimmy Keeley.
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