I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to interview the Founders of the amazing "Tinder for Mummies" app, Mush, who are Sarah and Katie.
Here is what they had to say about their well deserved success, Mush and plans for the future.
I see that the app is designed for Dads too. How important do you think it is for Dads to build a support network too?
Dads are in real need of
a support platform, especially given there are so few of them taking up the
offer of paternity leave. As a result, raising a small child as a stay at home
dad can be a solitary experience. Mush looks and feels like it is made for mums
(we designed it with our own experience in mind) but we have a few hundred dads
using it successfully.
Did
you have any idea it would take off like it has? How does that make you
feel?
We had about a year
between the first idea and the app launching and had amassed a pretty good set
of statistics to support why Mush was a necessary platform (80% of new mums
feel lonely, 54% of mums want more friends nearby). Therefore, we were pretty
certain it wouldn’t be a flop. What we underestimated was how much good
feedback there would be from the people we were helping, and how this
translated to a word of mouth virility that saw us growing by hundreds of mums
every day from day one. We were so pleased that no mum had to experience the
long days without friends around, like we had. So, we’re really chuffed by the
results.
I
recently saw a post implying that 'Mum friends' aren't 'real friends'.
What would you say to that?
We saw that too, and
thought ‘what an extraordinary thing to say!’ Not every mum you meet and spend
time with may be your long-lost soul sister, but we would argue that you could
have a pretty good conversation about the stage of your baby if they have kids
the same age. If you then also share interests and outlooks, and spend a lot of
time together, that deep friendship can forge itself really rapidly. And when
you are sharing your most emotionally charged moments of maternity leave, the
experience together can count for a lot more than years of Friday night pub
sessions… So we say, mum friends are the realest friends of all, and there’s a
reason why they have a category all of their own.
What
is your favourite thing about being a Mum?
How long have we
got?! For me (Katie), I am a cuddle fiend, so hugs on tap from little
people that think the world of me is pretty great. Listening to them grasp
language in their clumsy way, and watching them get the hang of new stuff is
magical. There’s plenty of not so great stuff too though (tantrums, illness,
leaving them, sleep deprivation etc).
Any
other exciting ideas in the pipeline?
We are doing version 2
of the app that will make Mush an even more useful tool for mums so watch this
space. Plus, we have a book for the first year of motherhood coming out in July
(check it out here).
We’re also ambassadors for this year’s PlusnetPioneers campaign, a support programme aimed at helping startup business
owners with marketing and funding advice as they build and grow their
companies. Other than that, Mush will keep us busy for the foreseeable future!
What
are your top 3 Mummy must haves?
(Katie) My top three
must haves now I am a mum.
1) A big bed. We were
living in the US when we had Tilly five years ago so we bought a US super king.
There’s room for at least a family of seven in there.
2) Amazon Prime. I use
the same day delivery option almost daily for stuff that in the olden days I
would buy in advance, at a leisurely pace. Recent items: ballet shoes, vacuum
cleaner, nativity costume, video monitor, hard drive, night light…
What's
the best advice you've received?
That you are what you
project yourself to be. This is probably the only thing I have ever learnt from
a variety of business books, self-help books and autobiographies. It’s only
when the person starts believing in themselves that they start to achieve what
they set out to. I totally agree with that. Why should anyone else back you if
you don’t back yourself?
Why
do you think some Mums struggle to find their Mum tribe?
I’d like to think that
since Mush’s launch 18 months ago, people aren’t struggling anymore! But before
that, it was a strange new world, navigating your new ‘stay-at-home-mum-life’
and trying to fill it with other people. I remember I used to walk the streets
with my pram hoping I might run into a mum coming the other way who might, by
some small chance, say hello. My baby was too small to go to classes or the
playground, so where was I supposed to meet people to chat with? Let’s not
forget humans started in tribes, we evolved to being extended family units, and
we have ended up in the nuclear family set up now. We really are meant to be in
communities.
How
does the app ‘match’ Mums together? What criteria does it use?
Mush shows all the mums
nearby and gives you enough information to let you decide whether to say hi to
them or not. Simple as that. Mums put in their location (though this isn’t
shown, it only shows distances away), kids’ ages, descriptor tags, an ‘about
me’, and a photo. The key is that mums connect with each other locally. Because
anyone that has had babies knows that you want to avoid long car journeys if
you can help it.
What
features of the app make it easy to contact other Mums and how are your
personal details kept safe?
We have in-built
messaging - it’s all very standard for a connections app like ours. We take the
security of our community very seriously though, so no second name, address or
email address is shown on the accounts.
Your
app has been likened to Tinder, like any dating app / site – do you have
any safety tips for meeting up with other Mums?
Yes, just like other
dating apps (or platforms where you can meet people for the first time) we
recommend not sharing personal information to people you haven’t met and
meeting in a public place as a first meeting. Especially given kids are often
in tow.
What
makes for creating a great profile? What info should Mums include to
really make their profile look fab?
The mums that receive
(and make) the most connections use emojis in their ‘about me’ and give some
context to their life that can be used as a conversation starter, e.g. ‘I am
mostly found taking toy dinosaurs out of hiding places my 8-month-old stuffed
them in’. A smiley picture is a real winner too.
What
happens if no-one contacts you or responds to your messages? Any
tips?
We wholly recommend you
contact as many mums as possible. It can be daunting at first but knowing that
everyone there is also wanting to make friends makes it easier. Some mums just
go offline for periods of time too, so don’t take any non-respondents to heart.
It’s
great the app is free to download, is it likely to stay that way?
Mush will always be free
to mums wanting to find a local social network, but apps aren’t cheap to
maintain! Eventually we will have to pay for it by introducing some paid for
add-ons.
Thank you to Steph @country_mumma_ and Yvonne @champangeandsnottynoses for the brilliant questions!
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