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Motherhood Made Me An Entrepreneur

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Thursday, June 22nd, 2017
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As a parent of younger children, I felt the intense pressures and emotions tied to keeping everything running smoothly both at home and in the office. Though I managed, it felt crazy. I tried every possible work schedule.

mother hood

There seemed to be no good solutions out there—until my co-founder Siva and I founded Kango, an app-based “Uber for Kids” service that provides safe transportation and childcare for kids, by background-checked, fingerprinted drivers and sitters.

If you are reading this, you may well feel a calling, like I did. Perhaps it’s an idea, a problem worth solving, or a mission you care about.  If that’s the case, it’s time to GO FOR IT!

If you feel driven to found a startup, here are five tips, based on my own recent experience and success:

#1 I found a problem I was very passionate about solving.

Aim to solve a problem you’re intensely, emotionally driven to solve. That mission will propel you through the tough times more than anything else. When I was working at a startup, as a mom of two young kids, the pain of everyday conflicting priorities was intense. Several times a day, I had to cobble together a way to get my kids home from school before aftercare closed, and figure out how to squeeze more work time out of my day.

Once I left the office late and my son was the last child left at school after closing time. That was not a proud moment. And if a child fell ill, or if a meeting went over, the carefully orchestrated plan for the day fell apart in an instant. Because of the daytime hours spent driving my kids, I had to work late into the night every day, and exhaustion set in, which made things worse.

My husband worked 60 miles away outside the city, so he couldn’t help. I tried changing my work schedule, but that didn’t really solve the problem either. Constant carpooling proved stressful as well. So, I had to find a way to live the life I wanted to live, without sacrificing my kids’ needs. That’s a powerful motivator.

#2 I teamed up with a co-founder with skills that complement my own.

Starting a company takes all kinds of skills, and you can’t be expected to have them all. Find someone you trust, who shares your mission, and who is amazing at key tasks that you aren’t.

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