Keep a ‘Failure File’ & Other Tips for Starting a Business While Raising a Family

Sam Rudolph, the co-founder and CEO of parent tech company Babyation, shares practical advice for moms who dream of starting their own businesses.

Sam Rudolph has always had an entrepreneurial spirit. Long before this mother of two launched Babyation—a parent tech company committed to revolutionizing the breast pump industry—she felt drawn to coaxing new projects and endeavors into existence, from youth groups as a kid, to a campus TV station as a student, and all throughout her career as a director at ESPN. 

“I’ve been training for this my whole life,” Rudolph quips of her experience creating Babyation. “I knew very early on that I was comfortable, and could even thrive, in chaos and uncertainty.” 

So, after reading an article in The New York Times on how the breast pump industry wasn’t meeting the needs of modern mothers, Rudolph was too fired up to ignore that familiar urge to innovate.

“I woke my husband, who is a very good engineer,” she remembers. “He kind of opened one eye and went, ‘Breast pumps are not that complicated. I can build one,’ and then went back to sleep.”

From that moment in 2014, the couple toyed with a dream of reimagining the breast pump. Now 10 years later, the pair sits at the helm of Babyation, having launched a hospital-grade breast pump that prioritizes women’s comfort and privacy. Rudolph and her husband have found a way to blend their careers with family life, at one point even having a nanny on-site so their little one could be close by. 

“Every day, when I walk into our building and I see our team, I’m filled with pride and have a pinch-me moment. Every single morning,” she says about life at Babyation. 

Below, Rudolph shares the steps she took to take Babyation from a mere concept to a tangible product, including how she knew it was time to take a leap and start a company. 

From One Mom to Another: 4 Essential Steps for Starting a Business

1. Gather Intel 

The article Rudolph read in The New York Times seemed to be a tipping point. From there, more pieces on the state of the breast pump industry flooded publications. As these conversations happened across the media, Rudolph and her husband spent time talking through how they might reimagine the pump. 

“Our thesis was that a breast pump should integrate into a woman's life, instead of her life revolving around her pump,” she notes. “We honed in on this north star of discretion.” 

With their concept in place, the couple took their idea to their friendship circles. “We wanted to verify that [these articles] weren’t clickbait, that this was an actual problem that people were experiencing,” Rudolph says. Later, they’d conduct a survey with hundreds of breastfeeding people that offered information on what parents truly needed from pumping devices. 

“So the first thing that we did was make sure that there was a problem. And then the next thing that we did was ask, ‘Does our solution solve that problem?’” Rudolph adds. 

2. Build Something Tangible

Next, Rudolph and her husband began tinkering around with a tangible product. “Very, very slowly and very infrequently,” they prototyped by buying a breast pump off the shelf and customizing it one piece at a time. With the help of a 3D printer, the couple made tweaks and built add-ons that would inch them ever-closer to the pump that would one day launch Babyation. 

“Eventually, we got what we call a benchmark by cobbling pieces together. That was the proof point for us. That was the point in which we could say, ‘We believe there’s a problem. And we believe this is the solution,” Rudolph says. 

That was the point in which we could say, ‘We believe there’s a problem. And we believe this is the solution.’

With a prototype in place, the couple realized they were ready to invest more of their time and resources into their business idea. While previously they worked casually on the project, now they were ready to commit nights and weekends to bringing their big idea to fruition. They began funneling finances away from vacations and other discretionary spending, and agreed to use those freed-up dollars to build Babyation. 

“We tried to be very methodical and smart about how we approached each step of the process,” Rudolph recalls. 

3. Be Honest With Yourself

When it comes to launching a business, Rudolph says honesty is key. She encourages potential business-owners to explore what they’re looking for in a career. Predictability and stability, while valuable, are not synonymous with a startup, she says. And if that’s what you desire professionally, you may be better served by a more traditional workplace. 

Understanding your priorities is essential too. “I believe things come in and out of balance,” Rudolph says, noting how crucial it is to recognize what you’re willing to take time and energy away from. “I accept that my home may be messier than I’d like, but I’m going to do my best to be a great mom and a great team member for my company. Those are my priorities.”  

4. Have a Plan for the Hard Days

Building a business from the ground up means you need to be thick-skinned, adaptable, and resilient, notes Rudolph, adding that some days are “impossibly hard.” For these moments, she advises having pre-set strategies in place to set you right again. 

“I keep what I lovingly call a ‘failure file’ of things that I've overcome. If I'm struggling and thinking, ‘how am I going to figure this out?’ Well, this whole file is full of things I’ve overcome or figured out,” she says. Her past experiences—both successes and failures—are proof she can survive the hard stuff.

Her past experiences—both successes and failures—are proof she can survive the hard stuff.

In the early days of launching Babyation, Rudolph says it was the emails from other mothers that kept her going. Women would hear of the company—and its plans for a mom-centered breast pump—and write to share how excited they were, or how life-changing the product would have been during their own nursing days.

“That’s been incredibly helpful, keeping our customer front and center. It helps to remind me of what we’re doing and why we’re doing it,” adds Rudolph.

How to Start a Business While Raising a Family

When Rudolph and her husband first entertained the idea of starting Babyation, they were not yet parents themselves. But as their company took root and grew, so did their family. Now, the couple has two sons—both of whom have fit right into office life.

“For me, [the balance] has been perfect,” Rudolph says of blending business with raising babies. “The most important thing that we should do for any parent is [give them the chance] to integrate their family and their professional life—however is right for them.”

At Babyation, this means offering a generous paid maternity leave—and seeing little ones around the office. After her youngest was born, Rudolph hired a nanny who was comfortable working from the Babyation workspace. “That meant I could cuddle [my baby], breastfeed him, or put him down for a nap,” Rudolph remembers. “We were always together. I’m very lucky that I had the best of both worlds because it allowed me to feel very fulfilled professionally and personally at all times.”

At the same time, Rudolph recognizes that every parent knows the arrangement that works best for them when it comes to mixing a career with raising children. “I am passionate about [embracing] everybody's differences, and recognizing that everybody should have the option to do what's right for them,” says Rudolph.