Founding a business startup and starting a family simultaneously was proved possible by the CEO and co-founder Hanna Wu of Amplify Life Insurance, a life insurance platform focused on helping people build wealth.
Wu first realized the importance of insurance policy when her 20-year-long best friend lost his father and financial backbone at the same time after the latter’s father died of cancer.
Upon knowing more than a year ago that she was pregnant, it gave her mixed emotions as a 16-hour working woman who travels from here and there.
Trying to sort out the situation, she researched articles on early-stage founders as moms but failed to find ones that fit.
As a BIPOC member, she sought a community from the same race who are also women founders only to find out that barely 7% of the global fintech community are women and that they only receive 2.4% of the total capital invested for startups.
Finding no one, Wu felt alone and wondered how others balanced the various startup stages while starting a family.
The journey was never easy for Wu but truly, hard work, goal orientation, and perseverance make everything achievable.
Wu started to plan everything before and after her delivery and how she would be able to raise funds for her business considering the time when the market dropped so low.
While thinking about getting a nanny and how the set-up would be after her delivery, Wu engaged in lower-stakes conversations to test investor sentiments, and fortunately, she was able to secure a large reinsurer’s venture arm.
Wu also woke up early in the morning daily to study for her investment adviser exam and everything else she did with her impending delivery as motivation.
Three days before finally giving birth, they signed the term sheet for the company.
In the 9-month time of pregnancy and struggle towards establishing the business, Wu raised over $25 million in investments and thereafter hired a full leadership team, kicked off their RIA status, signed several significant partnership contracts, and grew their revenue four times: everything planned in her to-do list.
With her success, she shares in Quartz 5 work strategies to prepare for parenthood:
Sort your parental leave plan. It’s harder for early-stage founders to take leave, but preparing your care plan and naming what’s important to you.
Consider your travel schedule. Prioritize travel by business needs, and don’t be afraid to break from the way it “should be” done.
Become an expert on roles and responsibilities at home. You, your co-parents, and caregivers must become experts on the roles and responsibilities at home. Stay connected to the right people and in the right ways.
Plan for everything and expect failure. Be easy on yourself when mistakes happen, or roadblocks pop up.
You don’t have to choose. We don’t have to choose between our careers and families. It’s not easy, it will be far from perfect, and undoubtedly you’ll need a lot of support, but you can have it all if that’s what you want.
