Debunking Myths about Parenting While Founding a Startup

By Barton McGuire, MBA, HBS Class of ’21

Time and again, case studies demonstrate that the founder’s journey is one of dramatic ups, downs, twists and turns. What’s it like to drive this perilous road when you have kids in the back seat? Barton McGuire explores the unique challenges and benefits of founding entrepreneurial ventures whilst parenting children.

Drawing on interviews with Now Corp Founder and serial entrepreneur Lara Hodgson and KiwiCo Founder Sandra Oh Lin, he examines the common challenges that parent founders face and shares insights and tips on how some founders have addressed them. McGuire helps debunk the myth that founding a business requires singular focus to the point of precluding parenting and reveals surprising ways in which parenting and entrepreneurship can actually complement one another. He analyzes the entrepreneurial and social landscape in the US relative to other countries, bringing awareness to business practices and policy choices that either enable or disadvantage parent founders.

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