Meet Alicia and Emmy. Two young mums and tech entrepreneurs, taking the parenting support world by storm.
Throughout their own pregnancies, they felt as though there was no online destination that they could turn to for advice or support, often leaving them feeling alone and isolated. So during a maternity leave coffee catch-up, they they put their heads together and not long after the births of their own children, Kiindred was born.
We sat down with founders Alicia and Emmy to discuss their start up journey.
Firstly, what is Kiindred and how does it work?
Kiindred is an all-in-one app designed to guide and inspire new parents as they embark on their new parenting journey. The app has 4 key features; a Newsfeed, Petite Trends, Events and Chat (which is launching in the coming months!)
All content has been created by us or in collaboration with experts and partners. Users will enjoy bite-sized pieces of information based on their baby’s age, making the information easy to digest!
We believe that one of the biggest benefits you'll receive from Kiindred is the information curated by our Mothercraft expert - Chris Minogue. Chris’ easy to follow Daily Rhythms and practical advice will help you better understand your baby’s needs at each development stage, giving you the confidence you need to enjoy those first months of parenthood.
To get access to tailored information, upon signing up, you simply need to tell us your baby’s age and VOILA – we’ll customise the experience.
Can you please tell us a bit about yourselves?
We are both born and bred Sydney girls, with a background in the marketing / advertising industry. We both have 2 kids each under the age of 3, love a caramel slice, lychee martini and are slightly addicted to our 3rd baby Kiindred, knowing how helpful it will be for new parents just like us!
How did you both meet?
We met while working on the same client during fashion week, it was for a premium alcohol brand.
What inspired you to start Kiindred?
We have 4 children between us, all under the age of 3. When we had our first babies, we caught up for a maternity-leave coffee date but that quickly turned into a problem-solving session on how we could make the new parenting journey easier.
We both realised that the support and information available was quite overwhelming and hard to access at a time of need – and it didn’t need to be that way.
Babies change every single day, and there were definitely some consistent themes on the type of questions parents were asking. As a result, we teamed up with experts to get a few golden nuggets of advice, and share them right at that time of need which is usually based on a development stage.
We literally have built a product on everything we wanted as new parents!
What made you decide to take on this project together?
Firstly, we get along well which is an important foundation for any partnership. We also share common morals, work ethics & have complimentary skill-sets, which has meant our roles have moulded together quite naturally.
During the last 2 years we have worked together, our relationship has evolved from being a friendship / partnership to what feels like a marriage - we seriously speak to each other more than our own husbands!
What are some of your favourite brands at the moment for your young ones?
BOTH:
Boody of course. Especially for the little ones, which is why it’s featured in our Trends section. The material is so soft, washes well and the colours are really lovely.
ALICIA: Second to Boody, I am a little obsessed with two New Zealand brands - Jamie Kay & Nature Baby.
EMMY: I have always been a fan of Baby Legging co for their organic basics and now with two little ones, I have a bit of fun coordinating their outfits with matching accessories.
We can imagine that you’ve had countless sleepless nights! How did you juggle building a business and have young ones to care for? You must have great support around you!
We’ve definitely had a few sleepless nights! Managing the needs of toddlers and babies is a thing in itself and is tough at times BUT we both love the stimulation and find Kiindred an extremely rewarding journey.
It was really important for us to ensure that we didn’t deprive our kids of anything in the process including routine. So, we have been really lucky to have the support of our mammas and husbands – we couldn’t have done it without them.
Do either of you have a background in tech? How did you find the process of developing an app?
Neither of us have been involved directly in building an app but have both come from the marketing and advertising space, where we have worked with teams that do. Doing all the dirty work yourself is a completely different ball-game. We have both learnt so much, not just with the development of our app but with building a new business. It has been a rewarding, challenging and motivating process learning something new every day.
What advice would you give to young mothers who are at the beginning of their parenting journey?
Get onto Kiindred! Don’t go through the pain of feeling overwhelmed, the new parenting journey should be enjoyable and that only comes when you have the right information to help guide you. Oh and definitely get onto our Daily Rhythms by Chris Minogue. They have been an absolute life-saver for both of us.
Kiindred is available on the app store. Download here.
