Start-Up Mothers: How Motherhood Sparked Some of the Biggest Business Ventures.
Motherhood and entrepreneurship, two roles often portrayed as being in conflict, as if a woman must choose between nurturing her children or nurturing a business. For decades, society has held tightly to the narrative that mothers must slow down, scale back, or step aside from ambition once children enter the picture. But a growing number of women are rewriting that story entirely.
Some of the most successful, culture-defining startups of the past two decades weren’t launched in spite of motherhood, but because of it. In fact, motherhood has proven to be a powerful catalyst for innovation, a driver of purpose, and a source of clarity. Far from being a limitation, motherhood has become the launchpad for businesses that resonate deeply with today’s values: authenticity, sustainability, community, and care.
Across industries, from clean beauty and sustainable baby products to luxury fashion and wellness, founder-mothers are building brands that speak not only to market demand but to the lived experiences of modern women. These mothers are identifying gaps in the market with the keen eye of someone who experiences the challenges firsthand, who understands what’s missing, not through spreadsheets and focus groups, but through their daily realities.
Motherhood, after all, is its own kind of startup: it demands resilience, constant learning, long-term vision, and the ability to operate under pressure. It cultivates a heightened sense of empathy, a fierce protectiveness, and a drive to make the world better, not just for ourselves, but for our children. These are not soft skills, they are leadership assets. And more and more, we’re seeing how they translate into wildly successful, values-driven businesses.
Just look at women like Hailey Bieber, who turned a personal need for clean, effective beauty into Rhode, a beauty brand worth over a billion dollars within just a few years. Or Natalie Massenet, who transformed luxury retail forever with NET-A-PORTER, and later used her platform to champion female entrepreneurs. Or Jessica Alba, whose frustration as a new mom led her to co-found The Honest Company, now a major player in clean living and parenting essentials.
Their stories don’t just challenge the narrative around working mothers, they redefine it. These women are proof that building a business and raising a family aren’t mutually exclusive goals. In fact, they can fuel and strengthen one another. The very qualities that make mothers extraordinary caregivers, intuition, endurance, creativity, and adaptability, are the same ones that make them extraordinary founders.
As we celebrate these start-up mothers, we invite a broader rethinking of how we view motherhood and ambition. Because when mothers build businesses, they’re not just creating profit, they’re creating change.
By Alice Codford
Hailey Bieber and Rhode: A Billion-Dollar Glow-Up.
In 2022, Rhode emerged from Hailey Bieber’s deep-rooted love for skincare and her commitment to a minimalist, effective beauty routine. With a desire to simplify the often overwhelming world of skincare, she envisioned a brand that focused on delivering high-performance essentials without the clutter. Her goal was to make premium, trustworthy skincare both approachable and attainable.
The brand launched with a tightly curated lineup, including standout products like the Peptide Lip Tint, Peptide Glazing Fluid and the Pocket Blush, both of which quickly became fan favourites. Crafted with clean, clinically backed ingredients, these formulas struck a chord with beauty enthusiasts and influencers drawn to Rhode’s no-nonsense approach. By prioritising efficacy and transparency over flashy trends or expansive product lines, Rhode tapped into a cultural shift toward streamlined, purposeful beauty.
But one of Rhode’s most talked-about accessories wasn’t a skincare product at all, but a clever piece of branded innovation: the Rhode lip phone case. Designed to hold the brand’s best-selling Peptide Lip Treatment, the phone case quickly went viral on social media for its sleek design and smart functionality. It wasn’t just a marketing gimmick; it was a reflection of Rhode’s core ethos. Beauty that fits seamlessly into everyday life. The phone case became a status symbol among Gen Z and millennial consumers, blending utility, aesthetic, and brand loyalty in one instantly recognisable object. Its success underscored Rhode’s ability to tap into cultural moments and consumer behaviour in ways that feel organic and cool, not corporate.
In May 2025, Rhode was acquired by e.l.f. Beauty in a landmark deal valued at up to $1 billion. The acquisition comprised $800 million in cash and stock, with an additional $200 million in performance-based earnouts over three years. At the time of the acquisition, Rhode reported $212 million in net sales for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025. Bieber retained her role as Chief Creative Officer and Head of Innovation, continuing to lead the brand's creative direction and product development
Rhode's rapid success underscores the power of authenticity and the ability to identify and address real, personal needs in the market.
Natalie Massenet and Net-A-Porter: Revolutionising Fashion E-Commerce.
In 2000, Natalie Massenet founded Net-A-Porter, an online luxury fashion retailer that transformed how consumers accessed high-end fashion. Recognising a gap in the market for curated, accessible luxury, Massenet drew on her background in fashion journalism and her sharp business instincts to create a platform that merged e-commerce with editorial content, something unheard of at the time. She envisioned a site that would feel like a glossy fashion magazine but where readers could instantly shop the looks they loved.
In 2010, she sold a majority stake in Net-A-Porter to Swiss luxury conglomerate Richemont for an estimated £50 million (around $66 million USD), valuing the company at approximately $533 million. She continued to serve as Executive Chairman until 2015, stepping down shortly before the brand’s merger with YOOX Group, which created the YOOX Net-A-Porter Group, one of the world’s largest online luxury fashion retailers.
Outside the boardroom, Massenet is a mother of three and has often spoken about how motherhood shaped her leadership style, teaching her to be more empathetic, strategic, and intentional. Rather than slowing down after Net-A-Porter, she turned her attention to empowering the next generation of founders. In 2017, she co-founded Imaginary Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage consumer brands, alongside investor Nick Brown. The fund has backed a number of highly successful startups, including Glossier, Reformation, and SKIMS, showing that Massenet continues to have her finger firmly on the pulse of culture and commerce.
Her journey is a testament to the power of maternal insight and long-term thinking, balancing bold ambition with care, creativity, and a keen sense of timing. Even after leaving the company that made her a household name in fashion, Massenet remains a powerful force in shaping how women shop, invest, and lead.
Jessica Alba and The Honest Company: A Billion-Dollar Mission.
In 2011, Jessica Alba co-founded The Honest Company, driven by a deeply personal mission: to create safe, eco-friendly, and effective products for families. During her first pregnancy, Alba was shocked to discover how many everyday household and baby products contained potentially harmful ingredients. Unable to find a brand that met her high standards for safety and transparency, she decided to build one herself. What began as a small startup with a handful of essentials quickly evolved into a category-defining brand.
The Honest Company resonated with a new generation of health-conscious parents who wanted products they could trust, from diapers and wipes to vitamins and skincare. The brand's dedication to clean ingredients, clear labelling, and sustainable practices helped it stand out in a crowded market. In 2021, The Honest Company went public with a $1.7 billion valuation at its IPO, cementing its position as a leader in the clean living space.
Alba, a mother of three children, remained deeply involved throughout the company’s growth, serving as the face of the brand as well as its Chief Creative Officer. Even after its IPO, she continues to play a strategic role, helping to guide Honest’s brand vision and innovation pipeline. Beyond her work with Honest, Alba has become an advocate for female entrepreneurship and a mentor for women navigating the intersection of business and motherhood. She's also active in philanthropic efforts focused on maternal health, environmental advocacy, and early childhood education.
Her entrepreneurial journey is a powerful example of how the protective instincts of motherhood can evolve into bold, purpose-driven innovation. Alba didn’t just create a company; she helped spark a broader movement toward cleaner, more conscious consumerism, proving that maternal insight can drive both cultural change and commercial success.
The Common Thread: Motherhood as a Catalyst for Innovation.
What unites these remarkable women is not simply their success as entrepreneurs but their identity as mothers who turned everyday parenting experiences into business breakthroughs. Motherhood sharpened their problem-solving skills, cultivated resilience, and fostered empathy, traits invaluable in the startup world. They identified gaps in markets not because they followed trends but because they lived the challenges firsthand.
These start-up mothers challenge the outdated narrative that entrepreneurship and motherhood are incompatible. Instead, they demonstrate how the two can enrich each other. Motherhood offers a different kind of leadership, a leadership grounded in care, flexibility, and a deep understanding of human needs. It encourages founders to think long-term and build businesses that matter, not just for profit but for purpose.
In celebrating these trailblazers, we recognise the vast potential of motherhood as a catalyst for innovation. Their stories inspire countless women who see their maternal experiences not as obstacles but as unique assets. For many moms, the startup journey is not a departure from motherhood; it is an extension of it, a way to channel the creativity, determination, and passion of parenting into ventures that uplift families everywhere.
