Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / Perelel’s Co-Founder, Alex Taylor, on building a world first vitamin company for mums

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Perelel’s Co-Founder, Alex Taylor, on building a world first vitamin company for mums · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  This is Alex Taylor for Female Startup Club.
• 0:12
  Hey everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. I'm your host, Doon Roisin, and joining me on the show today is Alex Taylor, co-founder of Parallel. Parallel is on a mission to create a world with healthier babies and moms by offering women's pre and postnatal vitamins and supplements that are designed to adapt to each unique phase of motherhood, along with educational content and an intimately supportive community.
• 0:40
  A first of its kind to be co-founded by an OBGYN, parallel vitamins provide comprehensive nutrition that changes with you throughout your motherhood journey, timed to when you need specific nutrients most. These OBGYN-developed formulas use only the most natural and bioavailable ingredients to ensure that women are getting what they need when they need it.
• 1:03
  Listen into this episode to hear what happened to two women that sparked this idea inside of them, how they use the medical community to help market their product, and lessons learned along the way. And while I've got you here, if you've listened to an episode that you think someone else will benefit from, please do share it with them too. It helps other ears find our podcast. This is Alex for Female Startup Club.
• 1:28
  Alex, thank you so much for joining the Female Startup Club podcast today. I'm so thrilled to have you on the show. Thank you so much for having me. I'm thrilled to be here. Do you want to start by introducing yourself and what your business is? Yeah, so I am the co-founder of Parallel. We are a pre- and postnatal vitamin brand, and we're really reimagining the way that women are
• 1:51
  receive their pre and postnatal nutrition. So we've created targeted supplements for each unique phase of motherhood, starting from preconception. So anyone that's thinking about getting pregnant or actively trying through each individual trimester of pregnancy, because each trimester actually requires very different nutritional support.
• 2:11
  as the baby and mom are developing, as well as postpartum and early motherhood vitamins that are specifically formulated for those early years. So we've got a stress support blend, hair and beauty blend, as well as an incredible full spectrum multivitamins. So our belief is that women want more targeted products for their exact needs. And by partnering with top OBGYNs and doctors and specialists, we've created a really special product.
• 2:40
  that we're excited to share with the world. Sounds so special. Thank you. You have a really impressive track record of brand building and you've worked for some really exciting major names in the industry. I've also seen that you've been awarded Forbes 30 Under 30. Could we go back to that before this story starts and talk about what you were doing in life before? Oh, wow. You're really building me up.
• 3:06
  It's deserved. Oh my goodness. Thank you. Yeah, so I have a deep background in content and media, which then parlayed into marketing. So, you know, I started my career out in the lowly closet at Vogue. Yeah.
• 3:24
  and eventually worked my way up as a fashion assistant, had some twists and turns from there, got involved with a really special startup that essentially created editorial and shopping experiences around personalities. So think of something like Goop. We would do that for Jennifer Lopez or Lauren Conrad, and I was the first one there to figure out how to make this work in the beauty and wellness and lifestyle category.
• 3:53
  And so I really took to it and learned so much. And I think this is actually where my entrepreneurial spirit was stirred because I went from working in a very glossy environment of Vogue, very buttoned up,
• 4:08
  to folding cables, startup team of 12. It was just a totally different world. Very scrappy. I wore a lot of hats and I had to figure out how do I create compelling content for the online world? At this time...
• 4:25
  you know, I realized I wasn't spending my time with magazines. I was spending my time online more and more. And there were very few strong editorial destinations. As a matter of fact, at the time, Vogue didn't even have a website. It was a landing page where you would go and enter your physical address to subscribe to the
• 4:42
  to the magazine. So it was just an interesting opportunity to get involved with a company that saw the future of media and that was online. And so I helped build these editorial brands and properties and social media channels around all these different personalities. And because they were known names, they had massive audiences. And so it was really one of the first instances where I was leveraging social media to drive traffic to a website.
• 5:12
  Pinterest hadn't been born yet. So it was really interesting to be such an early adapter in terms of how do you leverage social media to inspire conversion and connection and community. And I learned so much there. So from there, I went on to work with L'Oreal. I helped them launch their first ever content marketing initiative, which now it's like,
• 5:37
  standard practice content marketing, but at the time it was very new. And I dreamt up this idea for a website called makeup.com, which would serve as a turnkey marketing and editorial channel. And that was also fully shoppable for all 26 brands underneath the L'Oreal umbrella. So it was really the first time that L'Oreal was trying to market all the brands in one place, which is very new.
• 6:02
  And it was interesting. And so I birthed that site, brought it to life. Wow, crazy URL. Yeah, it was a crazy URL to get in the first place. But it was wonderful. And it's actually still alive and well today, which is always great, because that's over a decade ago. So at any rate, I was doing that. I was really enjoying my work and my team and learning so much. And I was recruited by Google.
• 6:30
  And, you know, I'd always been this fashion beauty girl. And it was so interesting because tech and fashion and beauty were kind of at this interesting inflection point where they were starting to...
• 6:41
  be open to working with one another. And it was just this interesting opportunity. And I thought, well, first of all, Google Knox, you got to answer. So I took the opportunity and I joined the marketing team there. And I learned so much. I met so many wonderful people, launched some incredible products. And I really enjoyed it.
• 7:03
  But after we had one of our biggest launches that I was running point on, I woke up the next day and everyone's, you know, high fiving and happy. And I realized, Mike, that was really cool. And I'm really proud of the work we did. But I miss being close to the consumer. I don't know that I want to be the platform.
• 7:23
  And I love being, you know, I love driving traffic. I love understanding what she's saying. I want to be closer to the consumer. And it was kind of this come to Jesus moment where I was like, I need to think about where I want to be. You know, I've learned a lot here. I kind of think of my time at Google as, you know, getting my proverbial digital MBA, if you will. Um, yeah.
• 7:44
  But I knew there was something else that I was craving. And part of my role at Google was understanding what was happening at all the big fashion and beauty brands and really supporting them through Google products and how we could innovate. So I knew about a little brand at the time called Who What Wear. I'm born and raised in LA, by the way. So I was kind of looking at what was happening in the LA landscape and I wanted to stay here. My husband's here. My family.
• 8:11
  And I thought there was a huge opportunity with this little brand who it were. And at the time, it was a daily newsletter akin to Daily Candy, which was very popular here in the States. You know, there's a single newsletter every day. And, you know, I had this vision that it could really become a true multimedia brand with consumer product extensions, which I learned a lot about, you know, consumer guided product development at Google and my time at the earlier startup equal. Yeah.
• 8:40
  And at any rate, I had some ideas. I shared it with the founders and I quickly joined the team and it felt really good. It was definitely a good home base for me. I helped them incubate and develop all their new brands
• 8:53
  We grew, you know, Birdie, which is a beauty destination domain, my domain, which is, you know, home and lifestyle, developed and incubated and launched, you know, a Gen Z brand called Obsessy, an activewear brand. It was wonderful. Yeah.
• 9:12
  And while I was there, I launched their consumer products division. So we got a phone call from Target one day. This is interesting. Who calls people nowadays anyway? But it really was a phone call.
• 9:30
  the idea was how do we take the Who What Wear brand and create products? And I had lots of ideas. I was really involved. It was all new for me. I was learning as I was going. But we ended up launching the Who What Wear collection at Target and took that same format and kind of playbook that we used to launch that line, which was very successful, to launch an activewear line and then put future lines with a brand. So...
• 9:56
  It was wonderful. I learned so much. I had such an amazing team. Um, you know, we grew, I think I was like the 28th employee at Click, uh, which is the parent company of Who What Wear. And then, um, the time I left, I think we had 206 employees and, you know, I opened up our UK office. So, you know, London has a very special place in my heart. I saw Who What Wear was hiring in London actually yesterday.
• 10:26
  And they're still doing well. And it was wonderful. But, you know, I'd been there for five years. I had a little bit of an itch and I got approached for some interesting opportunities. And one of them was to jump into retail. And I thought, well, you know, I've been doing glorified, you know, licensing deals and I love media, but I want a new challenge. And so I went over to Urban. So Urban owns Free People Anthropology, Urban Outfitters, Urban.
• 10:53
  And I helped them launch their beauty and wellness and active work divisions under the Free People brand, which was wonderful. I started that job when I was seven months pregnant, which is a little ambitious. I was kind of working bicoastally and it was definitely a challenge. And I had my son and, you know, going back and forth and managing all those priorities. I, you know, we had to move. We had to relocate.
• 11:22
  you know what, I want to stay in LA and I'm kind of ready to build my own brands. I had spent my whole career building everyone else's brand. I knew what to do. I had incredible experience at Click where I learned how to do, you know, lead a fundraising process. I helped lead our series B and series C at Click. So I had all these unique tools in my toolbox. You know, I understood how to run a business and how to build a brand. And I thought, well, gosh, you know, maybe I should,
• 11:50
  start to apply this for myself. So, um, so that's when I kind of made the leap to decide, okay, I'm, I'm ready to start something. And that was about the time that I met my co-founder, Dori. And wow, that's a lot for one. Thank you for that story. I feel like I just got you to talk so much. Oh my gosh. I'm exhausted too. I'm probably out of breath because I, um,
• 12:16
  basically nine months pregnant and I'm due any day now. I'm to the point where I can barely still showing up for the podcast. You're like, yeah, I can have a baby. Like, I love that. That's amazing. Wow.
• 12:36
  Okay, so you meet your co-founder. Had you had any idea that you wanted to do prenatal supplements? Or was it like, hey, let's brainstorm what we could do? How do you get the light bulb moment for the business? I mean, I wish from the get-go that I knew what it was, but I didn't. So the way that my co-founder and I were connected, and this gives a little color to where we landed, is...
• 13:00
  I had become a new millennial mom. I just had my son and I started looking at all the different brands out there and the content and obviously researching products throughout my pregnancy and beyond. And I felt like there were no brands that really resonated with me. It was amazing.
• 13:16
  All of a sudden, because I became a mom, I was relegated to this mama category and no brand really spoke to me as like the whole woman I was. I was just a mama. I'm like, wait, I still have other interests. I still have a career. I have my friends. I have my personal pursuits. And I felt like very few brands were looking at mothers in a holistic way. And I thought, God, I've got this interesting experience in content.
• 13:44
  and building brands, how can I buy that? And I was sharing this with a friend who's a venture capitalist and she said, wait a minute, I've heard this from another friend who you need to meet and she has totally opposite skills from you. She's finance and operations and strategy.
• 14:01
  And so she set herself on a blind date, basically. So we went on this. So my co-founder, Tori, and I met for coffee. Both show up in our yoga pants. And she was also a new mom. She had just had her second child. So we had just had babies within a month of each other. And we started just talking about the millennial mom space and where we saw opportunity. And we really started to peel back, well, what were some of the experiences that were less than stellar from a product perspective?
• 14:31
  And we went down a few rabbit holes, but eventually we landed on prenatal vitamins. And this was really driven from Tori. She had given birth to her second child.
• 14:42
  sweet Emmy. She's adorable and she's very sassy little girl. But she was born with a cleft lip. And my partner, Tori, is the picture of health. She eats clean, only uses clean products. And of course, like any mother, you just become obsessed with how and why did this happen? And she knew she
• 15:06
  prenatal vitamins. The specific type of cleft that her daughter had is nutrition related. It's non-genetic. So that really put Tori in this tailspin to just dig deeper and understand the why. And along with her OBGYN, they uncovered that this type of cleft can be very much correlated to a folic acid deficiency. Well, Tori goes,
• 15:32
  I was taking a prenatal with plenty of folic acid. Like couldn't be that possibly. Well, it ends up folic acid is a synthetic format of folate, which is actually the nutrient we need. And many brands use folic acid because it's cheaper, it's more accessible and it's the synthetic form. And the idea is that they expect women to take this folic acid and absorb it. However, 60% of women have a genetic variant that prevents them from transforming it.
• 16:02
  So here's my partner, one of this, you know, part of that 60%. And at any rate, it became very clear that there was an issue with her prenatal. And we started talking about ingredient quality and researching. And in tandem with that, I said, well, you know, I've had a very different experience by no means, you know, as intimate as Tori had. But I had a really haphazard experience with my prenatal vitamin growing up in L.A.,
• 16:31
  And having been a fashion and beauty editor and being very connected in the wellness world, I had a pretty high wellness IQ, I like to think. I kind of knew what was up, what was trending, what worked, what didn't work, who to see for what. And so when I...
• 16:48
  thought about maybe getting pregnant soon, I started to research, well, what do I need to adjust to my life? What vitamins do I need to take? What do I need to be doing to prepare my body? And I think that's part of this whole millennial optimize everything mindset. So I started to research and talk to all of my, different practitioners in my world, from my functional medicine doctor to my acupuncturist and herbalist,
• 17:15
  And I learned that when you're trying to get pregnant versus your first and second and third trimester, you need to supplement your prenatal vitamin with additional supplements. So when you're trying to get pregnant, you want to take more antioxidants like CoQ10. In your first trimester, you need more folate than you would later. And this is also validated by my OBGYN. The second I got pregnant, I marched into her office, my bottle of prenatals. And I said,
• 17:42
  Is this good? And she's like, it's okay. They're all kind of the same. And that was a strange thing to hear from a doctor. And she said, well, you might want to supplement with, you know, iron now and this later and dah, dah, dah. So I had my prenatal vitamins and I was constantly tracking down new supplements to supplement my prenatal. And it was just a bad experience. You know, it's like, first of all, who am I to be doing this? Yeah.
• 18:07
  Second of all, I'm used to, you know, massive convenience. Again, I'm a millennial. I think it's something that we all expect now. And I realized there was just a better product experience. So Tori and I put together, you know, three big things. You know, ingredient quality needed to be improved in prenatal vitamins. Secondly, a more convenient experience that's targeted to each phase is,
• 18:31
  And then third, education. You know, when we started researching all of this, we'd go online and the best information we could find was user generated. And we wanted credible info from legit doctors. And it was all over the place. And, you know, we wanted to create a space that provided clear,
• 18:56
  So that really was the moment like, okay, we put all our puzzle pieces together. We said, we've got this idea for parallel. And, you know, the first thing we did was kind of map out this concept. And then we're like, we're not doctors.
• 19:12
  So we decided to get the concept validated by a few different doctors that we knew. We took it to both of our own OBGYNs, one of which is now our co-founder, Dr. Bayadi. And we also took it to one of the top OBGYNs and maternal fetal medicine doctors in the nation, who's based out of New York, Presbyterian, Columbia, and ran the idea by her. And it was very clear that this was needed.
• 19:38
  And that set, you know, put wind in our sails and set us on our way. So very long way of telling you about my co-founder and how we got started. I love that, though. And I think it's like been such a personal journey for both of you in building that that product. You know, it's really that founder fit. You had the problem on both sides. Yeah. Different problems, but both having these issues that obviously other women would be experiencing, too.
• 20:04
  How did you go about then validating the idea aside from the two doctors to talking to women in your community and your networks to understand whether that's something that they would feel confident in purchasing, especially being a new brand in the space that is very critical to a new mom or a want to be mom?
• 20:26
  That's a great question. So right after we had the validation from this core group of doctors, we started to do the friend test. That's what we would call it at Google when we were trying something new called the friend test. Very official. I love that. We started asking our friends and asking them what they thought and what they needed and what their challenges were.
• 20:48
  And then from there, you know, it kind of gets you going. And we started to reach out to some additional practitioners. So we had access to a top fertility specialist in the nation and acupuncturist, all these different practitioners and doctors who also reinforced, you know, their interest in supporting this idea and bringing it to life.
• 21:07
  But then, you know, we wanted some real data. I really believe in the power of leveraging data to make better decisions. So we actually did a consumer survey of over 500 women across the United States to understand their current prenatal preferences, their IQ level in the category, where they were buying, what they were buying.
• 21:30
  What influenced them? And all of that really shaped our go-to-market strategy and our product and our brand and how we structured the business. So that was really helpful. And we just, we did it on SurveyMonkey. You know, I picked, of the 500, we probably included about 100 people that we knew within our network and the rest were completely anonymous and random across the United States. So it was a great mix and it was a really helpful tool.
• 22:00
  How did you get the word out there to get all of those women across the U.S. outside of your network? Yeah. So that's the beauty of SurveyMonkey. I feel like now I'm doing an advertorial for them. No, they allow you to apply certain filters and targets so that they will actually go out and find customers that will take the survey for you that meet a certain criteria. So you might say they need to have this type of household income, live in a metro area.
• 22:29
  you know, you have certain female, whatever it might be. And then they actually dynamically send it out to credible people. It's kind of awesome. Yeah. I didn't know that. How did I not know that? That's like amazing. Isn't that cool? It's a tool available to everyone. And certain surveys can be done for free. I think ours, you know, was a couple hundred dollars, but for us, it was worth the investment because it was, it's truly what informed
• 22:56
  so much of our business and it was so vital. And we'll probably do more. Yeah, totally. What kind of things did you hear back that you were like unexpected to read or to find out?
• 23:09
  We were surprised to hear how many people were actually piecing together their own prenatal regimen. Like they were all supplementing a prenatal with additional vitamins. And that was our hypothesis. But to see that completely reinforced was interesting. The amount of money that women are spending. Some women are spending upwards of $100 a month on all of their different supplements.
• 23:31
  That's a lot. So we were really surprised to hear about that. And then, you know, I don't know that this was necessarily surprising, but it very much validated a hunch that we had was this idea that, you know, it's not Instagram that's telling you it's inspiring women to buy the prenatal they buy.
• 23:51
  you know, if anything that might reinforce what they've already bought. But Instagram advertising is not going to be the way to get someone new to convert with your prenatal, especially because it's a product that requires a high level of trust and credibility. So the top people that are most influential in your prenatal vitamins are your doctors, you know, your specifically your OBGYN, your alternative, you know, support system, whether it be acupuncture, et cetera. And then also friends.
• 24:20
  which is no surprise, but a friend who heard from a doctor. So there was always this tie back. So as we started articulating what our marketing strategy would be, we really saw there were two very different sides of the coin. We had to focus consumer, but also within the medical community. And to really develop that credibility, we obviously brought on an OBGYN as our co-founder. We're the first and only prenatal vitamin co-founded by an OBGYN.
• 24:49
  which is kind of crazy. That blows my mind. That's crazy. Whoa. Yeah. And then we decided, well, we want to create all this content and we want a true panel to review our product and drive this forward. I'll do the branding and marketing and community building. My partner will do the finance and strategy and operations, but we needed people that were truly embedded in the medical community to develop this. So we pulled together what we call our parallel panel.
• 25:18
  which is a panel of multidisciplinary experts and top doctors in the pre and postnatal fields. So we have everything from a reproductive psychiatrist and acupuncturist to maternal fetal medicine doctors, OBGYNs, fertility experts and doctors.
• 25:36
  So it's this incredible group of, you know, true leaders in this space. And not only do they review all of our product formulation and give us recommendations, but they also are the voice of all our content. So kind of going back to that piece about there being a dearth of credible information, they are the voice. We're the brand, we're the platform for them, you know, and they put forth the information and it comes from them, which has been really special. And something I think our community really values.
• 26:05
  Totally. I'm wondering, does that mean then that for your marketing strategy, it's led by going door to door to doctors and being like, Hey, how do we have you, um, you know, endorsing this product to women who are coming to you? Yeah, well, there's some of that. So on the consumer side, you know, that's kind of your, your standard channels, whether it be social media, web,
• 26:30
  IRL, but then we've got our whole, you know, what would typically be like your B2B channel. So our whole medical community. And so not only is our panel, you know, reviewing our product and creating content and development with us, but they also evangelize our brand and help us connect with other top doctors to introduce them to parallel.
• 26:50
  And what was really interesting also that we learned at the get go and why Parallel provides such a value to doctors and practitioners is that we take that educational burden off of them. Surprisingly, most doctors in the United States actually don't have formal nutrition training in medical school.
• 27:09
  which is kind of shocking because it's such a central point of our wellness focus and conversation, especially within the next last five years, right? It's all about eating clean. And so at any rate, we thought that was really interesting. So many OBs just don't have the nutritional IQ, if you will, to be able to decipher what is actually truly necessary. And then if they do have that education, in the United States, our system is such that doctors are booked
• 27:39
  back to back to back. They can't spend a lot of time with their patients. They can't sit down and really get into the nitty gritty. And even if they want to share all this information, they just don't have time. And so we actually take that educational burden off of them by providing that through all of our content and resources. So that's been a huge value add. And they also like that we're highly targeted. We didn't cut corners in terms of, you know,
• 28:04
  with our, with our ingredients, they're all very high quality and responsibly sourced. And I think they really appreciate that. So it's been like beautiful just to see how organically they've embraced the product and, you know, we're only getting started, which is pretty cool. That is really cool. And I,
• 28:22
  What I'm interested in is when you were going to them, you know, these doctors and you were showing them the product, talking to them, you know, what's in it, that kind of thing. Was it an easy switch for them to make an endorsement to your product versus something that they were historically endorsing? Because what comes to my mind is I'm like, when I read about, you know, pharma brands and the way that the system works, it's like actually a lot of the brands that you're recommended are incentivized and there's a kickback for someone to pay, which...
• 28:51
  You know, I guess that's just part of the way that it is. But how do you make a doctor switch to another product if it's actually better, but there's less of an incentive to do it? Yeah. Well, we have no incentive. There's no kickback for any doctor that carries our product.
• 29:06
  And so any MD in the United States cannot accept a kickback. And that's not our MO. We want doctors that genuinely believe in the efficacy of our product. And truly, what's really helped us break through is when we present the materials, it's all materials that have been developed by other doctors. So they get completely different marketing materials than the consumer would. And they are specifically...
• 29:30
  presented in such a way so that the doctor can easily digest and see that this is a superior product. And instantly they see that and they, it kind of validates their ability to buy into the brand. So, you know, a lot of it has been through networking through our parallel panel and our
• 29:51
  there in themselves as the refer are highly credible and help the other doctors, you know, buy in. Because ultimately, yes, like there are lots of interesting kickbacks and black box strategies in the medical world that we're not getting involved with.
• 30:06
  But for us, it's just very above board and just the purity of the superior product, especially when you're dealing with such a special time and a very high risk period of someone's life. You just want to give them the best product. And, you know, doctors have an oath. And part of that oath is to ensure that they're taking the best care possible. So I think that's why they've also been receptive.
• 30:31
  Yeah, totally. Absolutely. Oh, love that. Love that for everyone. Every woman in America.
• 30:39
  Moving back to the social media, the consumer side of the marketing, I know you've only recently launched, but what have you seen that's driving the growth for you at the moment and what's really working for you now? Great question. So out of the gate, you know, we bootstrapped the business primarily and took in a little funding from friends and family, but we didn't have this massive glossy marketing budget. So we had to get really, we've been creative since the get-go and we will continue to be
• 31:05
  But we did a really wonderful kind of gifting program and outreach program to my network and friends of the brand. And it was purely organic. And it was just getting people to try the product, see if they like it. And what was incredible was just the outpouring of support and love for the brand and the product. And that was very organic. So I think part of the magic is just having a great product.
• 31:33
  If you have genuinely an amazing product that's thoughtfully developed and is presented beautifully and the experience is seamless, it really begins to sell itself. So we saw a lot about support from the influencer and celebrity community with Parallel. And that's something that we're building into. And then also some just interesting kind of things.
• 31:54
  partnerships, you know, are there ways for us to leverage product rather than like a traditional media spend to get exposure to an audience? So we've been doing some of that, getting inclusion in, you know, different boxes and exposure here and there. Also exploring, you know, what does a kind of non-traditional retail partnership look like? We're exploring that.
• 32:17
  So we, you know, we very much focused on the social kind of driven strategy at the get-go. And then we have an amazing PR team that we work with. And they've really helped get our message out there through all the different consumer channels. They've been tremendous. So they've definitely been a huge help. And that was kind of our big investment as a brand was to team up with this awesome team, which I highly recommend. Yeah.
• 32:41
  And then, you know, we, we will, we just started dabbling in some paid media to start gathering more data and, you know, opening up that channel. So those are some of the things that we've done at the get-go, but really it's been getting the product into the hands of people, of course, influential, you know, getting them to fall in love with it and share it.
• 33:01
  Totally. Getting all those pieces of the puzzle put together nicely and just hustling, just that daily hustle. Yeah, exactly. What does the future look like? What does the rest of the year look like? What does next year look like? Yeah.
• 33:18
  Well, next year we'll be launching some new products and some new expansions on our core product offering, which we're excited to do. We're also just really focused on building our community. So expanding our content footprint, getting more people involved in the brand. That's a huge focus for us as well, because...
• 33:38
  Content is king for us. And it really is kind of the proverbial fire that our community gathers around and can connect with. So that's something that we'll be very much focused on and, you know, launching some interesting partnerships that we're excited about and also bringing some really cool people to be a part of the brand is something we're working on as well.
• 33:57
  Sounds super exciting. And I'm sure for that content piece, that's something that's really key in being shareable from mom to mom kind of thing or mom to pregnant friend kind of situation. Moms love referring. Totally. I can see that.
• 34:15
  They're on the internet. They're researching. Well, it's interesting. Like before your mom, like someone asks you like where your shoes are from or where your top's from. You're always kind of like, I don't know if I want to tell you, but all of a sudden when you become a mom, you just want to share everything with other moms. Like, oh, I know the best car seat. I've got the best prenatal. I've got fit. Like you just open up and it's so cool because that's a community that we get to share with. Yeah.
• 34:40
  Totally. I actually interviewed a founder recently called Beth Finbo, and she is the creator of this thing called Busy Baby. Have you heard of it? No, I haven't, but I have to check it out.
• 34:51
  Oh, my God. Please check it out. I'm not a mom. I'm not pregnant. But I was like, I'm going to tell every mom I know about this because it's genius. It's basically this, it's called the Busy Baby Mat. And it's a mat that you, like, suction onto your table. And it has these tethered toys and stuff. So instead of your child throwing their toys at the restaurant off the thing, you know, it just falls down and picks back up. And it's just...
• 35:14
  one of those things that's so incredibly simple, but didn't exist in the world. And I'm like, this is genius. Like it's a game changer for all moms. Highly recommend checking it out. I want to add it to my cart right now. It's on Amazon. You can get it direct. She's amazing. I'm just like, Oh, this is cool. I need it for my toddler.
• 35:37
  Totally. Totally. Exactly. It's like, you know, a lot of magic is just in creating a great product. You know, a hundred percent. The word spreads for sure. Yeah. What advice do you have for women who have a big idea and want to launch their own business? It's a good question.
• 35:59
  I think, first of all, having a group of people that are trusted in terms of being your sounding board and giving you honest feedback and advice. You know, there were some ideas that we had that weren't very good. We had other ones that were better. Like what? I mean, now I can't even think pregnancy brain, but...
• 36:21
  blame it on that. But, um, you know, I, I, I just feel like having a group of people that you trust to give you feedback on ideas. And then once you are ready, making sure, you know, being really honest with yourself about your skills, like
• 36:37
  I think something that my co-founder and I realized is like, we know what we don't know. And it's a lot. And we have to surround ourselves with people who are experts in certain categories that we're not or, you know, bring in advisors to round out certain areas that might be blind spots. And I think that's the most important because I think oftentimes many founders fail because they're just trying to
• 36:59
  act as if they know it all and they might not. And it's okay to admit, you know, that you need help and support. You might not know everything because who does really? Ain't that the truth? Who does? Love that. Yeah. We are up to the six quick questions part of the episode. Okay. Question number one is what's your why?
• 37:23
  Our mission at Parallel is a world that creates more healthy babies and more healthy moms. And that is truly what gets me up every day and inspires our team. I think coming out of the world of fashion and beauty, it's just been so refreshing to be part of something that is truly mission driven. For every subscription that we have, we donate a supply of our own prenatal vitamins to underserved women in the United States who can't
• 37:49
  who don't have access to high quality prenatal care. And that really excites me. Feels really good to do something that feels good. And I think, you know, the second part of that is also my son. You know, I look at him and I'm so fortunate that he's a happy, healthy little guy. And, you know, I just, I want to create a better world for him. I love that. Yeah. Totally. Totally get it. Yeah.
• 38:16
  Number two is what's been the number one marketing moment that's made your business pop? We had a couple influencers talk about our brand and it really started to generate some interesting buzz and other influential people saw that they were talking about our brand and wanted to talk about our brand too. So that was really neat. Um, you know, we're six weeks in, so we're pretty, we're in our infancy, uh, so to speak, but
• 38:45
  That was definitely a big pop. And then, you know, we also were, you know, we were featured in Vogue. That's a huge moment. And also very, you know, kind of full circle moment for me personally. Totally. Pretty neat. You know, and also seeing the brand featured on Birdie, which is, you know, a site that, you know, brand that is very near and dear to me, another baby. So that was really neat and exciting.
• 39:09
  I bet. Yeah. Question number three is where do you hang out to get smarter? What are you reading? What do you listen to? Where are you hanging out on the internet? Yeah. Let's see. Truthfully, my husband is one of the smartest, most insightful people I know. And I'm really lucky that he's my other half.
• 39:29
  So he definitely is someone who helps me get smarter. And then my co-founder, my team, I mean, we have ideas and we brainstorm and it's awesome to see what comes of that. And then, you know, I've got a really incredible group of friends and mentors. I have two mentors specifically that, you know, I'll check in with, you know, every month or so and just...
• 39:52
  talk and they have really different perspectives. Like one of them is really into like Zen meditation and has all these really incredible tips for me to kind of develop and expand my mind and how I handle situations. The other is like, you know, hardcore investor, like, you know, he has a lot of business strategies. So those are some people I look to. And then I love reading. You know, I'm
• 40:17
  reading books about, well, I went through a huge phase about like entrepreneurship. And then, you know, now it's all about really getting into meditation. So I've been reading a lot about that and doing a lot of that. So yeah. Nice. Do you have any books that you recommend? Any faves? I think the innovators dilemma is a must read. I think that's good for any entrepreneur. Yeah. Yeah.
• 40:42
  Good one to start with. I don't get to the list. I've got a great list going. Yeah. I get some really good recommendations. I will. I will. Yeah. Question number four is how do you win the day? And that's around your AM and PM rituals that keep you feeling happy and motivated and successful.
• 41:01
  Um, my AM ritual is I wake up an hour before I should wake up, which is really hard to do lately because I'm so pregnant and so tired and my toddler is giving me a run for my money. But some days it's only half an hour, but I try to wake up an hour before so that I can take 10 minutes to meditate.
• 41:20
  And then I have a cup of tea and try to get organized and, you know, have a little time for myself. And, you know, typically I will also work, you know, exercise during that time as well. And if I can't, then I'll take my son and my dog for a run, which is always quite a scene.
• 41:41
  but it's nice to get out. All right, tribe, let's go. It is truly a scene. My dog is like this huge floof. He's like, looks like a Muppet. And then I got like the big jogging stroller. It's a whole situation, but I love it. It makes me feel good. Love that. Question number five is if you only had a thousand dollars left in your business bank account, where would you spend it?
• 42:07
  I would give it to my team. I think if we were at that point where we only had a thousand dollars left in our account, I'd look around and be like, you know what? We did the best we could. And, you know, thank you. Thanks a lot. Yeah, I think that's probably, yeah. Nice. And question number six, last question is how do you deal with failure?
• 42:36
  You know, I used to deal with it really differently where it would really get me down. And, you know, I try to find, you know, learn and all that jazz, but it would really slow me down and I'd kind of ruminate on it. And now it's like, I don't have time to do that. It's like, you got to just keep going. Like you're going to fail. It's inevitable. You're going to probably fail every day on something. And hopefully it's not something that's like too consequential, but, you know, if you do,
• 43:04
  You just have to keep going. You have to have a growth mindset and failure is inevitable. It's part of life. And if you don't fail, how do you ever learn? So yeah, you know, failure is kind of like a beautiful part of life and that we can learn about ourselves and how to go forward.
• 43:23
  Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for being on the show. I've loved learning about Parallel and what you're doing for women everywhere. That's just amazing and such a joy to hear the story. This is such a great podcast. And thank you for having me and letting me share the story. Oh, thanks.
• 43:46
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 44:11
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 44:33
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.
• 44:50
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 45:14
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 45:37
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.