Having a background in tech and dating apps, this seemed like an obvious evolution for the market to MichelleIn today's Mom Crush interview, we had a chance to sit down with Michelle Kennedy, the founder of Peanut, the matchmaking app that helps moms connect with other moms.
After becoming a first time mom herself, Michelle saw a need in the market to connect new moms in a modern way. Her goal was to create a platform where moms could easily find other like-minded women to create real-life connections and to bond over their new, monumental life changes. So brought her idea to life and has since been overwhelmed by how quickly Peanut exploded. With over 1MM members in less than two years, clearly she was onto something!
We're so impressed by your success with Peanut - congrats! In just 2 years over 1 million moms have joined the network, which goes to show how needed this resource was! How did the idea originally come about?
When I first got the idea for Peanut, I had recently become a mum myself and really needed some mum friends. I looked at the tools that were available to me and really felt like they didn't fit modern motherhood. The tech felt very outdated and the human connection just wasn't there. Women deserved and needed a new way to form social ties and connections. We never thought it was going to be as successful as it has been, but to me, that just demonstrates the need and shows how overdue a platform like Peanut was.
Your professional and educational background is in law and you ended up landing a role as Deputy CEO with the dating app Badoo. How did your career end up taking a turn to the tech world? How did your combined experience lead you to launch Peanut?
I was doing in-house legal work for a biotech company when I got a tip from a colleague about an opportunity to change directions. I joined the tech world as general counsel, not realizing the journey I was about to begin. A combination of being nosy and wanting to understand the business more meant I eventually rose to deputy CEO.
