Building a Startup Without the Grind (Laura Roeder)

#055 — Fitting Your Business Around Your Life People will tell you that the early days of your startup will require 80-hour work weeks, that you won’t see your friends and family. But here’s the thing: You always have a choice. If there’s 80 hours-worth of work to be done, you can slice that up into two weeks. Or rather than doing it all by yourself, two or three people can work together. Laura Roeder founded her startup, Meet Edgar, while she was pregnant. She took three months off during Edgar’s first year—and came back part-time for the first year of her son’s life. Laura chose entrepreneurship because of the freedom and flexibility it affords her to choose sane work hours and make time for her family. Today, Laura joins me to share her parallel parenting and startup journey. She explains why she chose to self-fund Meet Edgar and the benefits of the SaaS model. I ask Laura about her company’s parental leave policy, and she describes the boundaries around work hours she has set for herself AND her team. Listen in as Laura gets real about how parenting didn’t come naturally to her and get her advice for aspiring entrepreneurs. FULL SHOW NOTES Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at http://www.startuppregnant.com/055. EPISODE SPONSOR & SPECIAL OFFER Thank you to the sponsor of this episode: Acuity Scheduling. Acuity functions as an online assistant, helping to organize your schedule and collect client information. Take advantage of Acuity’s 45-day free trial for Startup Pregnant listeners at https://acuityscheduling.com/startuppregnant. All of our sponsor offers are available on our website for you to grab the perks and discounts offered to podcast listeners: http://startuppregnant.com/sponsors. LEARN MORE ABOUT LAURA ROEDER Laura Roeder is the founder and CEO of the social media automation tool Meet Edgar. Laura started freelancing at 22, and she founded LKR Social Media in 2009 to teach business owners how to harness the power of social media marketing. She was named one of the top 100 entrepreneurs under 30 three times—in 2011, 2013 and 2014. Laura launched Edgar in 2014, and the startup hit $1M in revenue within 11 months. Today, Edgar helps thousands of subscribers share their best evergreen content on social, and the company is worth $4M. Laura’s Website Laura on Twitter Meet Edgar RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Option B by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant THE STARTUP PREGNANT PODCAST & HOST Startup Pregnant Startup Pregnant Newsletter Email hello@startuppregnant.com Startup Pregnant on Facebook Startup Pregnant on Instagram Startup Pregnant on Twitter Sponsor the Podcast