Why Being A Founder-Mom Is No Less Than Climbling Everest In High Heels

'A working mother with a toddler is the most efficient human on the planet, she gets more done in the two hours that her baby naps than most people get done in a week.’ I recently came across this gem of a thought and the words rang so true.

I started my entrepreneurial journey long before I embraced motherhood, but even then I knew that whenever I chose to become a mom, I would never let my business slide.

Building a business whilst being a mother

To me, my company Allter is my first child, one that I have nurtured with years of hard work. Blood, sweat and tears have been spent (literally at times) to bring the brand to where it is today, one of the foremost in baby care and backed by actor and eco investor Dia Mirza.

My journey began in 2020 and within 18 months of starting the brand, I entered the biggest role of my life at that point, that of being a mother. The D2C industry was beginning to take shape, brands were growing bigger than ever, and unheard-of valuations were being closed every day; basically, a time when any serious entrepreneur worth their salt would be taking what they had and running with it. At a time like this, I chose to pump the brakes.

Becoming a mother, carrying a child is a turmoil in every way imaginable, physical, mental, and emotional. To say that it’s a roller coaster ride is, to put it mildly, coupled with that running an early-stage brand was the equivalent of trying to climb Mt Everest, in high heels.

So, I decided to step back and make myself a priority. This came with consequences, as a brand we lost some lucrative opportunities coming our way, and fundraising efforts were put on hold. Scaling the company while being bootstrapped was another challenge, one that taught the most valuable lessons in entrepreneurship and that is how to build a sustainable brand when the purse strings are tight. Due to this reason, we are one of the few profitable brands in this space today.

How I did it all

By the time my son arrived, I had decided not to take maternity leave and start easing myself back into work. It began with a few hours a day, all the while building a strong team who could run the brand in my absence. The biggest responsibility with a new baby is that of breastfeeding, my baby’s survival depended on me for the first 6 months of life at least. An average of 3-4 hours are spent/day feeding the child not to mention the fatigue that comes with it. Yet as a mother and business owner, I knew I had to make it work because I now had two children, Allter and my son. I could not neglect either one for the other.

On the whole, being a founder-mom has taught me the delicate art of balancing, of holding onto things that are truly important and letting go of the ones that matter less. In the time since I have become a mother, I have grown the company multifold, grown the team to 5 times its original size and we are now gearing up for launching in several markets internationally. The unconditional support of my partner and family has made this possible. The innate ability that we as women have for multitasking gets heightened when we become mothers and it is up to us to use it to our best possible advantage.

Marylin Monroe rightly said, ‘I am okay living in a man’s world, as long as I can be a woman in it.’

Authored by Surbhi Bafna Gupta, Co-Founder of Allter, sustainable baby care and hygiene brand.

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