June 11, 2025 • 46 mins
Maggie McDaris - Redefining productivity
In this episode, we speak with Maggie McDaris, co-founder of hormone-tracking productivity tool Phase, about why it’s important to balance ambition with personal well-being as a founder of an early-stage startup.
On a mission to provide women with the right tools to optimise their productivity in alignment with their natural biological cycles, McDaris tells us how she embarked on the path of entrepreneurship with a passion for change, all while emphasising the importance of strong relationships, curiosity and self-motivation.
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Episode Transcript
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(01:00:00):
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Maggie, thank you for
joining the Anatomy of a Founder
Podcast.
Thanks for having me.
We are so excited to have you.
And I'm going to
start it off by asking you
what the most interesting thing is that's
happened to you this week.
Yeah, so I'm interested to see your
response to this one.
(01:00:20):
But the most interesting thing that's
happened to me in the past
two weeks is I got a concussion.
A concussion.
Two weeks ago Saturday.
Yeah, so I horseback
ride and had an incident
that resulted in a
rapid and unplanned dismount
and me spending a couple hours in the A&E
and ended up with a concussion.
Wow, OK.
Where were you riding horses anyway?
Yeah, I ride a couple places around
(01:00:41):
London up in Northall
and then out in Bucks County.
So yeah, it's a hobby
I've found again in adulthood
and something that just
brings me a lot of joy.
And it's something I do just for me,
which as a founder and a
mom, not many things in my life
I can say that about.
But yeah, so that is--
I've never been concussed before.
(01:01:01):
That was a journey.
That's a learning curve.
Yeah, learning curve.
You just get really tired, I learned.
So yeah.
No, that's really interesting.
I mean, I guess not interesting.
But interesting is a
weird and interesting word
to use in this concept.
So without repeating it, I guess what
was the takeaway from that moment?
I'm sure you were out for a
few days and being a founder
(01:01:21):
you don't really have
days to take off like that.
Yeah, so the takeaway was actually
a little more
existential, I think, than just, oh,
take a rest, take care of yourself.
So when you make a
mistake with horseback riding,
especially a mistake that ends with you
falling off the horse,
there's sort of two
ways you can approach it.
And there's two ways my trainer and I
have approached it in the past.
(01:01:41):
The first is you give a lot of space
for the knocking confidence,
the nervous system shift that
probably happens, and you
kind of ease back into things.
So the next ride, you
take it very slowly.
You engage in activities that are going
to build confidence.
But the other approach you can take
is to, in the words of
(01:02:02):
Ted Lasso, be a goldfish.
Pretend like it didn't happen.
Get right back on.
Cheesy, get right back on the horse.
And just move on with your training
in a way that doesn't allow
you to dwell on what happened.
And so that's actually the route that we
chose to go this time.
It was the most
serious fall I've ever had.
I've had falls before
where we've kind of eased back
(01:02:24):
into things, but this time we really
felt it was best to kind
of ignore that it happened.
And I think my biggest
takeaway was using that mentality
and applying it to what
we're building in phase
and applying it to my role as a founder,
because I am a sucker for feedback.
I'm a sucker for post-mortems.
Give me an opportunity.
(01:02:44):
We literally, in our founder meetings,
have an oops agenda item
where we like to dig in and review
mistakes.
But I think what that situation taught me
is sometimes the best
thing you can do for yourself
and for your business
is to move on quickly.
Don't spend too much time dwelling
on what you could have done better,
because you often then spend time and
(01:03:06):
resources and energy
making mountains out of
molehills when the molehill itself
is really insignificant
and has a very low impact
on your business.
Wow, who knew that you could learn so
much from a concussion?
Yeah, killing brain cells and building
them at the same time.
Yeah, exactly.
Now, making the most out
of a not so great situation
(01:03:29):
is the takeaway from that.
And you mentioned phase,
so I guess this is the time
that you can introduce
the audience a little bit
about yourself and what
you're building with phase.
Yeah, absolutely.
So Maggie McDarras, I am the CEO and one
of three co-founders
of a product called Phase.
Phase really is looking to
redefine what productivity
means for women.
We are a biology-based tool to help
(01:03:51):
women understand how the
hormone shifts that occur
throughout their hormone
cycle impact their cognition
and subsequently impact
how they show up at work.
So we have a digital app,
which gives women information
based on where they are
in their cycle on what's
going on cognitively and the types of
tasks and productivity
themes that they are
optimized for in that moment.
(01:04:12):
And then we also have integrations
into common workplace tools, so things
like Google Workspace,
Office 365, that applies
that information for our users
and really meets them where they're
working so that we take
on the mental load of
applying these cycle sinking
concepts in the workplace.
You explain it a lot
better than I was trying to.
(01:04:32):
I wrote about it recently.
But it's a complex space,
and it's very intricate,
and it has so many different layers.
And I know you have quite a good story
to tell about how you've
come to have this light bulb
moment with it.
Did you want to walk us through how you
met your co-founder,
how you came up with the idea?
I know you had some experience in working
with startups before.
(01:04:52):
Drank the Kool-Aid, did
the whole Shabam that way.
So yeah, do you want to just walk us
through how you had that moment?
Absolutely.
So it's really funny.
Yes, I'd been
involved in startups before,
and I know you and I have
talked about that journey.
But within the context of those startups,
had you asked me, do you want to go on
and do your own thing?
At the time, I would
have said absolutely not.
(01:05:13):
I loved my role as
sort of a right-hand man,
kind of the builder in that space.
And so it was a really
interesting journey for me
to get to the point
where I kind of interned
into my own founder journey.
So yeah, so my co-founder
and I, we met through a program
in Portugal.
It's called Boundless Life.
It's incredible if you ever
get a chance to look into it.
(01:05:34):
It really helps families who want
to show their kids the world.
It allows them to do
that through providing kind
of resources and an infrastructure.
So they provide
housing, a co-working space,
and schooling slash summer
camp and their summer cohort,
which allows families to
basically be digital nomads
together, which is incredible.
(01:05:54):
And so Georgie and I met summer of 2023
through that program.
Georgie Powell, who is one of my
additional co-founders,
and she and I actually
met wild swimming together.
We love-- and one of
the themes, hopefully,
of what we'll talk about today is--
and I think one of my
strengths as a founder
is building relationships.
Never discount an
(01:06:15):
opportunity to build a relationship.
Get to know someone,
what they care about,
because the
opportunities, it might open up for you
down the line, are immense.
And so Georgie and I met because we both
loved wild swimming.
And we, in kind of a
shared WhatsApp group,
coordinated a time
when we could go do that.
And in doing so, got to know one another
(01:06:36):
and bonded over a shared experience
in learning about our hormones.
We are both in our mid to late 30s,
understanding how our
hormones were affecting
how we showed up at work,
affecting how we showed up
in our families.
And so we really bonded
over that shared journey.
(01:06:56):
So my journey was a
cliched one, if you will.
So you mentioned I'd been a part of the
startup world before.
I really suffered an immense burnout
as a result of my
previous startup journey.
So I was a part of a startup that grew--
I think our CAGR at one point, I think
the average was 220%.
I mean, we were growing really fast.
(01:07:18):
I had my daughter in 2021.
And because it was the US,
I came back after 10 weeks.
And my body never really recovered.
At the time, I was
launching the new consulting
division of that business.
And so I dealt with chronic anemia.
I dealt with insane
periods, symptomatically.
I had my hair falling out.
I was sick constantly.
(01:07:40):
And my body basically failed
to support what I was trying
to accomplish professionally.
And so in my healing journey, I worked
with a functional dietician.
I worked with a few
medical practitioners.
I started to align my
work with my hormone cycle.
That was my introduction
into the concept of cycle
syncing as a whole, but specifically how
(01:08:01):
it could impact myself cognitively,
and how it impacted
the skills I had access
to every day of the month.
And so Georgie and I had
a very similar experience.
So we were at this dinner, this
networking dinner with all
the women in this group in Portugal.
And as it often does in these
women-filled spaces,
(01:08:21):
the conversation turned to
our periods and our hormones
and how the women in this
group had kind of overcome
the challenges of having a
cycle and being a woman who
cares about her career, who cares
about her professional trajectory.
And Georgie and I bonded over the fact
that the conversation made us sad,
(01:08:42):
because what we had learned
is that if you can understand
what's happening
cognitively across your cycle,
it's actually a tool you can
use to hack your productivity.
It's a tool you can use to
show up not just surviving
your hormonal fluctuations,
but actually leveraging them
in a way that
positively impacts your work.
(01:09:03):
And so that night, July
night in Portugal in 2023,
was really when the
idea of FaZe was born.
I, at the time, had just
left my previous startup.
What I had said was I was
going to take six months
to figure out the next thing.
By the first week of August, she and I
had already set up a
brainstorming session
(01:09:23):
to figure out, OK, is
there something to this?
And that's really the
story of how FaZe was born.
That's brilliant.
And within those two bits
that you just talked about,
so you like to ride horses and wild swim.
So it seems like you have
a lot of active hobbies,
outdoor hobbies.
Is that something that
helps you kind of just
(01:09:44):
connect with yourself?
Because I know I speak with
a lot of founders who have--
some have to run in the morning, some
have to listen to
certain types of podcasts
to get their mind going.
It sounds like a trend that
I'm sensing, but I'm unsure.
Is that something that
you've always been involved with,
is just keeping yourself?
Yeah, that's a really great question.
So my background is
in wellness generally.
Before all of this, I
(01:10:05):
was a registered dietician.
So I've always been
adjacent to the wellness space.
So wellness and sort of moving my body,
eating well has been important to me.
But I do think the
imperative nature of those things
in my life is very
much a reflection of where
I am now as a founder.
(01:10:26):
And I think it has
something to do with the fact
as a founder, you have
a lot of responsibility.
You're making a lot of decisions.
You are caring often not
just for your employees
or your business, but
the people in your life,
in your personal life.
And so there's very little margin
to do things that are just
for your own fulfillment,
(01:10:47):
as much as I would love
to say starting a business
is all for my own fulfillment.
I think we know that's not true.
And so being really
intentional with space for hobbies,
I do think becomes incredibly important.
For me, that is
things that moves my body.
In addition to being a
founder, I have ADHD.
And so I find my brain gets
(01:11:07):
the most rest when it's engaged
in something physically.
Swimming especially is just, I think,
a hack for me to still my
brain and get cognitive rest.
So yeah, I think that's
a really good question.
I don't know if I've
explored the relationship too
(01:11:28):
extensively.
But I have joked before
that at post phase, whatever
that looks like, I have a
passion for helping adult women
find hobbies that are
life giving because horseback
riding, swimming,
running, all of those things
are so incredibly life giving to me
and fill me up in a way
that fuels everything else I
have to do in my life.
(01:11:48):
No, it's a really interesting topic
because I've been
exploring it lately in terms
of this founder
metamorphosis, like how you change
as your company changes.
And so a lot of people are
so focused on that business
growth, the cash flow,
the financials, the moving,
the scaling, the fundraising.
And then they forget about themselves.
And ultimately, that just creates a not
so good ripple effect
(01:12:09):
because they're not working on their
leadership abilities.
They're not working on themselves.
They're coming into the
work and into the office
and they're not feeling like themselves.
And that just echoes
back onto the employees,
onto the staff, onto the culture.
And so I think a lot
of people do forget to--
it feels selfish when you spend time
working on yourself,
but ultimately it's
the opposite because it's
going to affect the
(01:12:30):
company that you're leading.
100%.
Have you found that to
be true for yourself?
I'm curious.
Obviously, you guys
are building a lot here.
Have you found a hobby
or a sport or something
where you can go and kind
of disconnect with that?
100%.
Yeah.
As common as it is, I run.
So I've actually been experiencing
or I've been trying to
explore weird hobbies.
(01:12:51):
I don't know what that looks like,
but someone had told me once that they
have to listen to
techno every morning in order
to engage their brain.
Not so normal, but you hear about people
running all the time.
But it does give my serotonin a boost.
I just feel so on form when
I'm doing something active.
So I really do think--
and I think running was one
of the top trending sports
(01:13:12):
of last year.
Well, and I mean, to
bring it back to business,
some of the really
exciting innovation that's
happening in the tech space
is happening within the running
space, kind of that balance
of something that is wellness
focused, but also
really community focused.
I think running apps, you
look at Runna, their recent
acquisition, they're a really
interesting model to look at.
(01:13:34):
Do you train for races or is
running sort of a joy only hobby
for you right now?
I've just started using Runna.
I have.
So I'm getting into that
training mode, but my partner's--
he's training for Marathon.
So I'm like, I have the phone mail
feeling where I'm like,
that'll take me a bit.
Maybe I'll get there eventually.
But it is kind of like--
it also gives you that self-confidence
(01:13:54):
when you're accomplishing
things that you set out to.
So instead of just running here and there
to have a strict schedule
with it.
But even your company phase, it's all
about self-improvement,
productivity, and maybe
that's just the era in which we're
entering now.
People are really focusing on themselves
and what can make
themselves better in the workplace
and their personal lives.
So yeah, maybe that is the trend that
(01:14:14):
we're just tapping into.
Yeah, I think so.
I mean, especially when
you're building a product that
is so outspoken about
supporting women in a way that
is aligning with their physiology,
it would be incredibly
contradictory and hypocritical
of us to not allow our founding team
space to engage in hobbies,
whether it be swimming or running.
(01:14:36):
Georgie, my
co-founder, has done an Ironman.
I mean, Sam also likes to run.
So it would be
incredibly hypocritical of us
to not create space as a founding team.
And I would say, in
general, we don't really
buy into that startup hustle culture.
Potentially, it's a little
PTSD from my previous experience
(01:14:56):
and seeing the negative impact.
But at my core, I do believe that you
can have a family and healthy social life
and also be a part of a really
fast-growing company.
You just have to prioritize ruthlessly,
make really intentional
and strategic decisions
about how you're spending your time,
understand that
(01:15:16):
flexibility doesn't always
mean not working on the weekends.
Sometimes flexibility means you are able
to work on the weekends
because you did
something during the weekday that
was not related to work.
I was at a conference in Portugal,
and someone asked one of the panelists,
do you have to be an
asshole to be successful?
And I thought that was
a brilliant question.
(01:15:37):
But I think you just
answered it, ultimately.
And I also wrote a piece
recently about ambition
and how people view that word.
And I think sometimes it's
like you feel like you're not
ambitious enough or you're
not moving at the pace in which
other people are.
And it's so competitive.
But ultimately, people start businesses
for so many different reasons.
It's not all-- you have to find your why.
(01:15:58):
And once you find your why,
then that's all that matters.
That's your ambition.
That's your drive.
It's unique to everybody.
Exactly.
As a fellow expat, I'm
really curious your perspective
on ambition.
You're both American, aren't we?
Yeah, so I'm-- and especially because I
know you're a former Carolonian as well.
I'm really curious your
perspective on ambition
within the context of American in the UK
(01:16:21):
building a business.
I have thoughts, but I'd be
curious to hear your thoughts.
Yeah.
First thoughts that come to mind is
I've interviewed so
many American founders
and so many British founders.
The one thing I find
different in terms of ambition
is a lot of people
think that, A, in America,
you have to move fast and
(01:16:42):
break things and do this really
quickly and fail really quickly.
And I think that there's a
possibility of doing that,
but at your own pace.
And also, I fear that
some British founders as well
think that it's not OK to fail.
And they're terrified to
tell me about their failures
and their mistakes.
And even though they could
easily turn it and probably
(01:17:03):
tell me what they learned from it,
but I think so many people
are looking for those failures
and those mistakes and those learnings.
And no matter what pace, no
matter what ambition you have,
those are going to happen.
But yeah, I think it's an
overly used word in a way
that people think there's a
hard and fast definition of it.
And I just don't
think there is, because I
(01:17:25):
wouldn't say that the UK, for example,
is less ambitious than the US.
Would I say that some of the mentalities
are a bit different when it
comes to how they define that?
Maybe.
So it is very interesting.
And the level you're
allowed to express that ambition.
I think that's the
major difference that I find
is in the UK, you're ambitious.
But you don't talk about it.
Yeah.
And once you do,
(01:17:46):
you're kind of above you.
Exactly.
No tall poppies.
You go down.
Exactly.
Whereas in the US, I think
it is much more commonplace
to talk about your
ambitions, to go out and say,
yeah, we want to be a unicorn.
We want to be $100 million business.
We want XYZ valuation on acquisition.
Whereas here, I think it's been funny
because I'm the only
American within the context of two
(01:18:08):
British co-founders.
Sometimes I see their
reactions to things I'll say.
It's a learning curve for both of us.
But yeah, I would say
being comfortable with being
outwardly ambitious is a
great tool I can access, actually,
as an expat here.
Well, why wouldn't you?
Why wouldn't you want to speak your
dreams into existence,
(01:18:28):
even if they don't come true?
But maybe some people are
just afraid that they won't.
But dream big, aim high, and
you can only go up from there,
really.
I guess that's the--
That's true.
But I will say one of the gifts of our
founding team at Faye--
as I mentioned, I have two
co-founders, Georgie Powell
and Sam Cooke.
And between the three of us, we do
have varying levels of that--
(01:18:52):
I would call mine
founder delusion, right?
Down to realism.
So I'm sort of the buoy of optimism.
I believe we are
going to achieve whatever
the best possible version.
Georgie, I would say,
is a cautious optimist.
She believes that.
She might be less outspoken.
And she's also very aware of everything
that could go wrong on the road to that.
(01:19:12):
And then Sam is our realist.
He is, OK, guys, we
have to accomplish ABC.
And he keeps us really
grounded in terms of expectations
so that we're steady as a founding team.
And so as much as we can
talk about the differences,
I think that's
actually one of the beauties
of the founding team we've
assembled at Faye's is we bring
(01:19:33):
different skill sets, but we also
bring different mindsets to the table.
And that is an
incredible strength for our team.
No, 100%.
And I think that's
something that a lot of people
forget to think about, A,
when building a business,
but B, when they're
thinking about these innovation
hubs of the world--
Silicon Valley, for example.
Not everybody is born
and bred in Silicon Valley.
(01:19:53):
The reason it works so
well is because there's
such a diversity of
mindsets and ambition and thinking
and ways of viewing the world.
And that's just what
harnesses that moving forward.
I am curious, though, as to your career,
working with startups and burning out,
but then starting your own
company within not six months
time that you gave yourself after you
(01:20:14):
left your other one.
Is there any one thing that you've
learned about yourself
and how you operate?
Maybe you don't have to be--
you talk about having these big dreams
and saying it out loud,
but yeah, is there anything that you've
learned about yourself
in the past few years?
How much time do we have?
I've learned a lot of
things on my founder journey.
I would say one is the
(01:20:35):
importance of relationship
building.
And this is something I
learned from my previous CEO, which
she was a magician when
it came to networking.
If we had a problem, if we had a need,
she knew someone who knew
someone who could become
a resource for us.
And she never took for granted any
conversations that she had.
(01:20:57):
And that's something
both because my gifts
tend to lie in conversation and
relationship building,
but also in the context of business
that I have really grasped onto.
I think it's one of
the things that's allowed
FaZe to have a lot of
early success before launch.
We were able to participate in the
Femtech Lab Accelerator.
We have an incredible
network of industry leaders
(01:21:18):
and thought leaders who
are testing our product,
who are cheerleading our product.
We've built an
incredible team of advisors.
We have an amazing clinical team who's
helping us actually build the product.
We've got an incredible brand specialist
who has given us a
consumer grade brand well beyond,
I think, where we've graduated to from a
(01:21:39):
technical standpoint.
And so for me, really
keeping a perspective
on the importance of
building those relationships,
you get a lot of
conversation from founders
around prioritizing
your time and making sure
every conversation you have is valuable.
I think sometimes that
means we preemptively
(01:22:00):
disqualify that coffee chat, that person
who reached out to us.
And yes, you have to absolutely
prioritize your time.
But for me, if there is an opportunity
to find time to have that conversation,
I will because you never
know how that relationship's
going to unfold.
Something else I've
learned is-- and it's something I
evangelize and we have
(01:22:21):
implemented at FaZe--
is the idea of radical candor.
So if you know Kim Scott and her book,
it's basically this idea
of ask for feedback often,
give feedback often, create a culture
where that is happening.
And sometimes the most
kind thing you can do
is to be very clear with that feedback.
I've experienced in business times
(01:22:42):
where we get taught
about the feedback sandwich
and it's compliment,
negative feedback compliment.
What that does is it asks
your teammate or your employee
to do some detective work to figure out
what you're actually saying to them
or where they can actually improve.
And so for us, we are big on feedback.
We're big on a culture of kind feedback,
(01:23:02):
but being very clear about what we
mean when we're providing feedback
and communicating with each other.
So that's another thing that I've
learned from my previous experience
that I brought into this founder journey.
And then the third one-- and
I would say this is my biggest
learning now that I sit with
the title of founder and CEO,
(01:23:23):
which is trusting my gut.
When you start a business, you will
be faced with a lot of opinions.
And if you're doing it
well, you should be, right?
You're going to be meeting with people
who've been there before.
You're having conversations with
investors and industry leaders.
But there is the
temptation to respond to all of it.
And one of the skills
(01:23:44):
that's been refined for me
over the last 18
months since starting phase
is really identifying the times when
it's important to trust my
gut, to take that feedback
and go, thank you so much.
I appreciate that.
I'm going to go this way.
And that has been a major
learning curve, but also
something I've really
(01:24:04):
been enjoying moving into
since becoming a founder.
On the topic of trust as well, I think
it's really interesting.
Because another theme
I've been trying to explore
is when the right time is to start.
And it's obviously an impossible question
to answer with a hard and fast answer.
But I am curious as to what you think
(01:24:25):
about that question.
Because you had a
career working in startups,
having these learnings, these lessons,
learning from people around you.
Then you were able to
take those learnings
and apply it to what you're doing today.
If you were to go
back 10 years, would you
have been able to start phase?
Would you have started
phase if the idea came to you?
Would there be
anything you did differently?
Yeah, I think that's a great question.
(01:24:46):
I would say the short
answer is pretty simple.
It's no.
I think a couple things--
I have a lot of opinions
on serial entrepreneurs.
They're good.
[LAUGHTER]
I think it's something I
shied away from initially being
bucketed in with.
Because I don't want to
(01:25:07):
start a business simply
to start a business.
That is not going to motivate me enough
to do it and do it well.
For me, starting a business would
have had to been linked to something
that I'm incredibly passionate about,
something that I feel a moral obligation
to bring into the world.
We mentioned in passing, my
(01:25:28):
background is in wellness,
specifically in the public health space.
So for me, I need to
feel really connected
to the mission and the
vision of the business
for it to motivate me to be involved,
and especially to motivate me
to the type and volume of work
that is starting a business entails.
So I don't think if I'd had
the idea for phase 10 years ago,
(01:25:50):
I would have been in a place to start it.
Because one, my personal
journey with burnout and cycle
syncing was such a massive
impetus for the idea of phase.
And I hadn't experienced that yet.
Me as a 22-year-old--
or that was not 10 years ago--
26-year-old-- probably
didn't have the same perspective
(01:26:14):
and didn't have the same level of
responsibility in my life
that a tool like phase
would have been necessary.
Whereas now, given my
journey and experience
through burnout and recovery and
understanding how my cycle
and syncing my work with the
cycle was a huge part of that,
(01:26:35):
that lit the fire in me
to want to bring a solution
to other women like me.
So that's the first reason.
The second reason is my
old CEO and I used to joke.
Because if I did something well, she'd
say, you're coming for my job.
And I'd be like, absolutely not.
Never.
Don't want it.
Don't want it.
Never wanted it.
(01:26:56):
And she was a solo founder.
And a huge part of why
I never wanted her job
is because I would look at
what she had to deal with
and the weight she had to bear solo.
So the other thing that
made this the right time
was the team that I
am building phase with.
Without Georgie and Sam, I do
not think phase would exist.
The skills they bring, the way that we
(01:27:19):
can depend on each other
when one of us is having a high or low
week to kind of bring
the ship up as a whole, that to me
is essential for phase's success.
And it's essential for
my journey and my ability
to show up as a founder,
knowing that even though I
have the title of CEO, we all bear the
(01:27:40):
burden of that founder
title.
And that increase in surface area
decreases the pressure
on any of us individually.
And so timing wise, I
needed my own journey and story
to inspire me to build the product.
And also, I needed a
support system to sort of buoy me
into the role of CEO and founder.
(01:28:01):
It's interesting because personally, I've
been noticing a lot of
younger people wanting
to start businesses, like people who
don't want to go to university or people
who are in university.
And I noticed in someone's
Twitter bio the other day
that it was like
trying to build my company
so I can drop out of Northeastern.
And I was like, bold.
OK.
But there's this trend of people wanting
to do their own thing.
They want the autonomy.
They want this.
(01:28:21):
But as you said, sometimes you
need that personal attachment
to it and that vision and the mission
with it that kind of
drives you to get past
those really difficult times and the
pressure and the intensity.
So what would your advice be to someone
coming out of university?
They want their own business so badly,
but they also want that idea.
Yeah.
How do you find it?
Is it does it just come
(01:28:42):
to you or is there a way?
What would your
advice be to someone who's
just craving that entrepreneurialism?
Yeah.
I'd say first start with yourself.
What is the problem you
need solved in your life?
Where are there areas for efficiency?
Where are there areas
for an improved experience?
Where are there things
you're struggling with,
where the solutions either aren't
(01:29:02):
adequate or are not available?
Start with a problem that you experience
because it is much easier
to create a real solution
to a problem that exists
for you than your perception
of a problem that exists.
Because if you start with a problem that
you don't experience,
then there's a lot of supposition
(01:29:23):
around how you solve for
that problem versus a problem
that you experience.
So that's, in my mind, a
really good starting point
is don't go out
looking to start a business.
Go out looking to solve a problem.
Because where there's a
problem you're experiencing,
there are probably lots of other people
who are experiencing that.
So you've got a built-in market.
(01:29:43):
So I would say that's step number one.
Say step number two is maybe
spend some time investigating
what it is about building a
business that excites you.
Is it the autonomy of
being your own boss?
Do you have to start a
full-fledged SaaS business
to do that, or are
there other opportunities?
Is it the money?
(01:30:04):
Because there's lots of rules that
are going to make you a
lot more money initially
than being a founder.
I would spend some time investigating
what it is about being an entrepreneur
or what it is about being a
business owner that really
excites you.
Because if you can identify
those things, it will, one,
better equip you to
(01:30:24):
build a business that's
going to work for you
versus some blueprint
that you're looking towards.
But two, it might help
mitigate some expectations
or open up some other
opportunities that are not
so narrow of, I want to go
out and build my own business.
My third piece of advice is, is there a
way you can practice?
(01:30:45):
I think one of the best
things that ever happened to me
was joining a startup
as employee number three,
not employee number one.
Because it gave me the experience
where I was able to build a
company from the ground up.
I saw the struggles
and challenges of that.
I also got to reap the benefits of that.
I learned so much being
a part of a small team.
I honed skills in doing
(01:31:07):
that that then have set me up
with phase for success in
my first attempt going out
on my own.
So yeah, first, is
there a problem in your life
that you can solve?
Second, why do you really
want to start a business?
Is there a way you can
meet those needs otherwise?
And third, is there a way
you could practice first
and find people in your
life to learn from before you
(01:31:28):
jump off the deep end?
On the practice bit, I can't remember
who I was listening to
the other day on a podcast,
but they said it's kind of similar
because they said
something about risk-taking
and how some people are kind of just born
into being able to be natural risk takers
and some people have to practice.
And so their advice was to take risks
on things that are reversible.
So like do it safely.
(01:31:49):
And then you can do it
on like the big steps.
Really interesting.
But then also on the why part of things,
I also found it
interesting because back to the topic
of ambition and culture,
so many people are
just kind of impatient.
And I find like patience is a virtue
when it comes to startup land.
And yeah, I guess is there any time
that you've had to
really test your patience?
(01:32:10):
I'm sure there's many, but.
Yeah, I mean, I think
anytime you're looking
at building a tech product,
you're always gonna
have your patience tested
because there are
always going to be things.
And I so appreciate Sam.
He does a really good job
of managing our expectations
when it comes to timelines.
He's very reticent to
give a specific timeline
and I can like hear all the
product and measures cheering
(01:32:31):
because there's just so many unknowns
when it comes to whether
it's a third party tool
that you're having to integrate with
or the way a user
actually ends up using something
that you've designed
versus how you've designed it.
So I think patience when
you're building something
and building it well is
exceptionally important.
(01:32:52):
I also think patience is important
when it comes to the hard times,
when there are challenges,
whether they be
personnel or market driven.
For us and my previous
company, we survived COVID.
And for us, patience looked like one,
where there are
opportunities to innovate in this space,
(01:33:15):
but two, how can we double down
on the value that we're
bringing our clients today
and wait out this massive unknown
rather than being highly reactive to it?
So, we obviously took time
to identify the opportunities
that existed within the
way the world changed,
but a lot of what we did was
(01:33:37):
batten down the hatches pretty much.
And that's not a very popular or shiny
or exciting way to run a
startup, but it worked for us.
And there were competitors who did not
survive the pandemic
when we did because
we were able to sort of
wait out the storm.
And for another P word on perfectionism,
(01:34:00):
I know that we talked about how like,
or prior to this, about how phase
doesn't really push the idea of perfect
because it's all about
knowing your body for who you are,
what you're going through,
all of the different
cycles that you're experiencing.
In some days, you're just
not gonna be on top form.
In other days, you'll
have that quality trait
that you're looking for.
(01:34:20):
In terms of perfection in startup land
and being a founder,
I was recently
speaking to someone who said
that they're just a perfectionist.
That's why they're a solo founder.
Sometimes it's just really difficult
because they want
things to be how they were.
Guess you could probably say
Steve Jobs is a perfectionist
because he was always
looking at everything,
copy, marketing,
advertisements, the product.
And he was like, "Nope,
gotta do it this way."
(01:34:41):
What's your take on
perfectionism in the founder world?
I'm hesitant to go on record
contradicting Steve Jobs.
I think you're not
the only one to do that.
You know, I think perfectionism
can be an Achilles heel for founders.
Founders often are
really good at what they do
because they can wear a lot of hats.
(01:35:02):
They can have opinions on everything.
That doesn't mean
that they always should.
Definitely when it comes to a product,
when you are in the process
of refining product market fit,
perfectionism means you release too late.
You release a more
complete version of a product.
And what that actually
means is you end up having
to undo more than you really needed to.
(01:35:23):
You want to bring a
product to market that is,
you know, consumer grade enough
that it doesn't break when people use it,
that it adds value from day one.
But for us at Phase, we
know that the version of Phase
that's launching very
soon is not gonna be
the same version that
exists in six months
because in creating
sort of an interim version,
a not perfect version,
(01:35:45):
we allow space for our users to
communicate with us.
If you put something
perfect into the world,
that creates a barrier of communication
between you and your user.
It's much harder to change
something that is complete
or maybe a better way
to put it is much easier
to steer a moving ship.
If you're thinking in
a way that is iterative
(01:36:06):
around the product that
you're bringing to market,
it allows you to be flexible and reactive
and responsive to the
needs of that market.
That's where, you
know, I think my background
in public health becomes really valuable.
You can't be a perfectionist
and solve a problem for someone
because at the end of the day,
they're the ones who define what that
problem is for them.
(01:36:26):
They're the ones who define what the
perfect solution is,
not you.
And so your
perfectionism is gonna butt heads
with their perfect solution.
And so for me, combating perfectionism
is something that I
practice on a daily basis.
Now, do you wanna send an
email that has copy errors?
Absolutely not, right?
There are areas of the business
where perfectionism
(01:36:46):
can be really valuable.
But at a high level
sort of strategic place,
I think perfectionism
can really be a barrier
to fast growth, you know,
rapid value add to your consumer
and obviously rapid revenue.
(01:37:07):
And so then there's
perfectionism, there's patience.
We've talked a lot about personality
traits, characteristics.
I'm just curious as to
what you think it really takes
to be a founder.
Because some of these
people just naturally have,
some of these people have to learn,
but what do you think it
takes to take that leap?
Yeah.
So I think there is not one
(01:37:29):
size fits all to being a founder.
So let me caveat what
I'm about to say with that.
I think the beauty of what I've learned,
especially within the
women's health space,
especially within the femtech space
where you've got founders
who were scientists first
and then you've got
founders who did other things
in the wellness space first.
There is no one size fits all
and who you are as a
founder needs to fit the business
(01:37:51):
that you're trying to build.
That being said, I do think there are
some overarching themes
that make a founder successful.
Number one is to be curious.
If you are curious about your market,
if you are curious about
your problem, about the product,
that leading with curiosity often leads
to incredibly impactful solutions.
(01:38:12):
From a culture
standpoint, leading with curiosity
also means you facilitate a really
healthy company culture
that allows your team to ask questions,
that allows your team
to challenge and push.
And that is a skill
that I spend a lot of time
trying to foster.
I'm not sure if you've read Adam Grant.
He has a book called "Think Again."
(01:38:32):
No.
And in it, he outlines
sort of the four archetypes
of how you respond when you are presented
with information that might contradict
what you think you
knew or what you believed.
And people can fall into four categories.
So they can either be a preacher,
so someone who kind of
finds the moral high ground
sticks with it regardless of
what the evidence might say.
You've got the lawyer,
(01:38:53):
that's someone who wants
to just sit and poke holes when new
evidence is presented.
You have the politician,
that's the person who
never really picks a side
and just sort of like, it
could be this, it could be this,
but kind of stay stuck in a decision.
And then you have the scientist.
And the scientist is the person who says,
here's this evidence,
here's this evidence,
let's weigh one against the other
(01:39:14):
and let's be willing to
form a different conclusion
than the one we
brought to the conversation.
And so that language has
really helped me foster curiosity
because I think if you are curious
when that new
information comes up, you don't go,
oh wait, that's
different than what we built
a product around, or oh wait,
that's different than what I thought,
or oh, we plan this whole
six month marketing campaign.
(01:39:34):
You go, interesting, tell me more.
And it allows you space
to then make decisions
that are not reactive,
that are collaborative.
And for me, that curiosity is a key part
of being a successful founder.
That's interesting.
Someone actually
recently told me that one thing
they definitely learned
throughout their startup career
(01:39:54):
is to just see beyond the linear line
that's in front of you,
just like all possibilities,
everything that people
see through their eyes,
no judgment, and I
think that's so important
moving forward
because you just never know
what you're gonna
encounter in the startup world.
I was gonna ask you what
your leadership style is,
but I think I'm already
kind of getting a sense
of what it looks like in terms of
feedback, curiosity,
(01:40:17):
but what are those values?
Are those the values that
you're bringing to the team
when you're building up phase?
Yeah, you know what's so interesting?
I was talking with Georgina
Saim about this last week.
I have never had a male boss or manager.
Really?
I've only ever had
female bosses or managers.
I think it's probably a reflection
of the wellness industry,
but then in my last company,
our CEO was a woman, and so
(01:40:39):
I think that has immensely
shaped how I show up as
a leader because I value
decisiveness and
assertiveness and confidence
and sort of all of those, I would say,
kind of traditional leadership traits,
and I value having a
high EQ, being able to talk
in an emotionally
(01:40:59):
intelligent way to my team
and creating a space
where ideas are welcome,
challenging ideas are welcome,
for the betterment of the business.
Does that mean I have to make hard
decisions sometimes?
Absolutely.
Does that mean I have to
make people upset sometimes?
(01:41:20):
Yes, absolutely, but I
think my leadership style
is collaborative as much
as possible to the point
where someone needs to make a decision
or to progress things forward.
And on that note, if you
were to speak to Maggie McDarras
of 2021, what would you say
(01:41:43):
to her as a piece of advice
moving forward before entering this?
It's gonna get better.
2021 is when I had my
daughter, so I was in the thick of it.
You know, I think...
I would tell her, you have no
idea what you're capable of.
2021 me was very
(01:42:05):
self-deprecating in the sense of,
if you can't tell, I
can sometimes get enabled.
I'm very introspective.
I like to understand my
motivations and what's going on,
but sometimes that means I
can put ceilings on myself
and say, oh, well, this is how I operate
or this is how I'm
wired, so X, Y, Z, limitation.
(01:42:26):
And I think what I would tell 2021 me,
that is really great information to have,
but whatever you're
learning about yourself,
use it as a tool to move
forward rather than a tool
to keep you from moving.
Any application of sort
of introspection or insight
(01:42:47):
should be applied to progress,
not used as an excuse to
keep progress from happening.
And that has been a huge learning for me
over the past couple of years.
And that's kind of
what I sense is a takeaway
from FaZe as well, is to
not use it as a barrier
and see that maybe
you're not at your best today,
but kind of use it to
maybe just feel okay
(01:43:07):
that you're not at your best today.
Yeah, that has been
one of the most exciting
and enlightening, speaking
of leading with curiosity,
pieces about the feedback we've been
getting from beta users
is the grace it gives them to feel okay,
not showing up at work in a way
where they don't feel at their best.
(01:43:28):
It's given them language,
it's given them understanding,
and a lot of
self-compassion within that space.
And that was something we didn't
anticipate with FaZe.
We sort of assumed it would
be a lot of high performers
wanting to hack productivity,
wanting to hack performance.
And what we found is
that a lot of our users,
yes, they leverage FaZe
in a very practical way
to help them align
their work with their cycle,
(01:43:48):
but they also leverage FaZe
to help them give language,
not only for themselves and
how they're showing up at work,
but also for members of their team
or other people in their life.
And that's been a
really fun learning for us
and one that now we're leaning into
from a messaging
standpoint, from a data standpoint,
understanding how the self-esteem aspect
(01:44:09):
of giving women tools that
are actually built for them
impacts their productivity.
And there's a huge opportunity for us
as we continue, as we launch FaZe,
as we start collecting
data about how our users
are engaging with FaZe to tell the story
of self-esteem confidence and the impact
that has on
productivity outside of the more,
(01:44:32):
I would say linear data points we're
gonna be looking at,
which is improving
productivity because you're working
in a way that's aligned with your
cognitive strengths.
Well, listen, I'm no salesman,
but I think I've got a
lot of my friends on board
with FaZe recently in the past few weeks.
So they're all looking forward to it.
So you are a salesman.
Yeah, kind of.
I don't know how, but it's worked,
but I don't think you
have to sell it too much
because it is a really cool concept.
(01:44:53):
Yeah, we're very excited.
But that said, we are
running out of time.
Is there any one last
thing that you wanna leave
with the audience or
with your future self,
past self, anything of the sort?
You know, I think that the one thing
I'd wanna leave with the
audience is to get excited
about what we're gonna see
in the productivity space
(01:45:14):
when we start to look at
how your biology impacts
how you show up at work.
FaZe is a first step.
FaZe is, and especially for
women who have been forced
to fit within a nine to
five knowledge worker schedule
where they have to show up every day.
That's not really how our biology works.
We're starting with women.
We're starting with, here is
(01:45:35):
a rhythm and a fluctuation.
And we really wanna shift the
narrative around your cycles
in the workplace from
something you have to hide
or hiding your tampons up your sleeve
to it being really a strength
and a superpower that you can access.
That being said, that is
one biological element.
Something that really
gets us excited at FaZe
is the future of
(01:45:56):
biology-based productivity
when we apply circadian rhythm
and when we look at
other infradian rhythms
and how this is just step one
in looking at the human body,
how it was meant to work
and ways we can
reorganize the corporate structure
to accommodate that.
(01:46:17):
Brilliant. Yeah.
Well, my takeaway from
that is go know yourself.
Go learn about yourself. Yep.
And do good things. Exactly.
Okay, thank you for joining us, Maggie.
Thank you so much. It was great.
It was lovely.
(upbeat music)
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Maggie, thank you for
joining the Anatomy of a Founder
Podcast.
Thanks for having me.
We are so excited to have you.
And I'm going to
start it off by asking you
what the most interesting thing is that's
happened to you this week.
Yeah, so I'm interested to see your
response to this one.
(01:00:20):
But the most interesting thing that's
happened to me in the past
two weeks is I got a concussion.
A concussion.
Two weeks ago Saturday.
Yeah, so I horseback
ride and had an incident
that resulted in a
rapid and unplanned dismount
and me spending a couple hours in the A&E
and ended up with a concussion.
Wow, OK.
Where were you riding horses anyway?
Yeah, I ride a couple places around
(01:00:41):
London up in Northall
and then out in Bucks County.
So yeah, it's a hobby
I've found again in adulthood
and something that just
brings me a lot of joy.
And it's something I do just for me,
which as a founder and a
mom, not many things in my life
I can say that about.
But yeah, so that is--
I've never been concussed before.
(01:01:01):
That was a journey.
That's a learning curve.
Yeah, learning curve.
You just get really tired, I learned.
So yeah.
No, that's really interesting.
I mean, I guess not interesting.
But interesting is a
weird and interesting word
to use in this concept.
So without repeating it, I guess what
was the takeaway from that moment?
I'm sure you were out for a
few days and being a founder
(01:01:21):
you don't really have
days to take off like that.
Yeah, so the takeaway was actually
a little more
existential, I think, than just, oh,
take a rest, take care of yourself.
So when you make a
mistake with horseback riding,
especially a mistake that ends with you
falling off the horse,
there's sort of two
ways you can approach it.
And there's two ways my trainer and I
have approached it in the past.
(01:01:41):
The first is you give a lot of space
for the knocking confidence,
the nervous system shift that
probably happens, and you
kind of ease back into things.
So the next ride, you
take it very slowly.
You engage in activities that are going
to build confidence.
But the other approach you can take
is to, in the words of
(01:02:02):
Ted Lasso, be a goldfish.
Pretend like it didn't happen.
Get right back on.
Cheesy, get right back on the horse.
And just move on with your training
in a way that doesn't allow
you to dwell on what happened.
And so that's actually the route that we
chose to go this time.
It was the most
serious fall I've ever had.
I've had falls before
where we've kind of eased back
(01:02:24):
into things, but this time we really
felt it was best to kind
of ignore that it happened.
And I think my biggest
takeaway was using that mentality
and applying it to what
we're building in phase
and applying it to my role as a founder,
because I am a sucker for feedback.
I'm a sucker for post-mortems.
Give me an opportunity.
(01:02:44):
We literally, in our founder meetings,
have an oops agenda item
where we like to dig in and review
mistakes.
But I think what that situation taught me
is sometimes the best
thing you can do for yourself
and for your business
is to move on quickly.
Don't spend too much time dwelling
on what you could have done better,
because you often then spend time and
(01:03:06):
resources and energy
making mountains out of
molehills when the molehill itself
is really insignificant
and has a very low impact
on your business.
Wow, who knew that you could learn so
much from a concussion?
Yeah, killing brain cells and building
them at the same time.
Yeah, exactly.
Now, making the most out
of a not so great situation
(01:03:29):
is the takeaway from that.
And you mentioned phase,
so I guess this is the time
that you can introduce
the audience a little bit
about yourself and what
you're building with phase.
Yeah, absolutely.
So Maggie McDarras, I am the CEO and one
of three co-founders
of a product called Phase.
Phase really is looking to
redefine what productivity
means for women.
We are a biology-based tool to help
(01:03:51):
women understand how the
hormone shifts that occur
throughout their hormone
cycle impact their cognition
and subsequently impact
how they show up at work.
So we have a digital app,
which gives women information
based on where they are
in their cycle on what's
going on cognitively and the types of
tasks and productivity
themes that they are
optimized for in that moment.
(01:04:12):
And then we also have integrations
into common workplace tools, so things
like Google Workspace,
Office 365, that applies
that information for our users
and really meets them where they're
working so that we take
on the mental load of
applying these cycle sinking
concepts in the workplace.
You explain it a lot
better than I was trying to.
(01:04:32):
I wrote about it recently.
But it's a complex space,
and it's very intricate,
and it has so many different layers.
And I know you have quite a good story
to tell about how you've
come to have this light bulb
moment with it.
Did you want to walk us through how you
met your co-founder,
how you came up with the idea?
I know you had some experience in working
with startups before.
(01:04:52):
Drank the Kool-Aid, did
the whole Shabam that way.
So yeah, do you want to just walk us
through how you had that moment?
Absolutely.
So it's really funny.
Yes, I'd been
involved in startups before,
and I know you and I have
talked about that journey.
But within the context of those startups,
had you asked me, do you want to go on
and do your own thing?
At the time, I would
have said absolutely not.
(01:05:13):
I loved my role as
sort of a right-hand man,
kind of the builder in that space.
And so it was a really
interesting journey for me
to get to the point
where I kind of interned
into my own founder journey.
So yeah, so my co-founder
and I, we met through a program
in Portugal.
It's called Boundless Life.
It's incredible if you ever
get a chance to look into it.
(01:05:34):
It really helps families who want
to show their kids the world.
It allows them to do
that through providing kind
of resources and an infrastructure.
So they provide
housing, a co-working space,
and schooling slash summer
camp and their summer cohort,
which allows families to
basically be digital nomads
together, which is incredible.
(01:05:54):
And so Georgie and I met summer of 2023
through that program.
Georgie Powell, who is one of my
additional co-founders,
and she and I actually
met wild swimming together.
We love-- and one of
the themes, hopefully,
of what we'll talk about today is--
and I think one of my
strengths as a founder
is building relationships.
Never discount an
(01:06:15):
opportunity to build a relationship.
Get to know someone,
what they care about,
because the
opportunities, it might open up for you
down the line, are immense.
And so Georgie and I met because we both
loved wild swimming.
And we, in kind of a
shared WhatsApp group,
coordinated a time
when we could go do that.
And in doing so, got to know one another
(01:06:36):
and bonded over a shared experience
in learning about our hormones.
We are both in our mid to late 30s,
understanding how our
hormones were affecting
how we showed up at work,
affecting how we showed up
in our families.
And so we really bonded
over that shared journey.
(01:06:56):
So my journey was a
cliched one, if you will.
So you mentioned I'd been a part of the
startup world before.
I really suffered an immense burnout
as a result of my
previous startup journey.
So I was a part of a startup that grew--
I think our CAGR at one point, I think
the average was 220%.
I mean, we were growing really fast.
(01:07:18):
I had my daughter in 2021.
And because it was the US,
I came back after 10 weeks.
And my body never really recovered.
At the time, I was
launching the new consulting
division of that business.
And so I dealt with chronic anemia.
I dealt with insane
periods, symptomatically.
I had my hair falling out.
I was sick constantly.
(01:07:40):
And my body basically failed
to support what I was trying
to accomplish professionally.
And so in my healing journey, I worked
with a functional dietician.
I worked with a few
medical practitioners.
I started to align my
work with my hormone cycle.
That was my introduction
into the concept of cycle
syncing as a whole, but specifically how
(01:08:01):
it could impact myself cognitively,
and how it impacted
the skills I had access
to every day of the month.
And so Georgie and I had
a very similar experience.
So we were at this dinner, this
networking dinner with all
the women in this group in Portugal.
And as it often does in these
women-filled spaces,
(01:08:21):
the conversation turned to
our periods and our hormones
and how the women in this
group had kind of overcome
the challenges of having a
cycle and being a woman who
cares about her career, who cares
about her professional trajectory.
And Georgie and I bonded over the fact
that the conversation made us sad,
(01:08:42):
because what we had learned
is that if you can understand
what's happening
cognitively across your cycle,
it's actually a tool you can
use to hack your productivity.
It's a tool you can use to
show up not just surviving
your hormonal fluctuations,
but actually leveraging them
in a way that
positively impacts your work.
(01:09:03):
And so that night, July
night in Portugal in 2023,
was really when the
idea of FaZe was born.
I, at the time, had just
left my previous startup.
What I had said was I was
going to take six months
to figure out the next thing.
By the first week of August, she and I
had already set up a
brainstorming session
(01:09:23):
to figure out, OK, is
there something to this?
And that's really the
story of how FaZe was born.
That's brilliant.
And within those two bits
that you just talked about,
so you like to ride horses and wild swim.
So it seems like you have
a lot of active hobbies,
outdoor hobbies.
Is that something that
helps you kind of just
(01:09:44):
connect with yourself?
Because I know I speak with
a lot of founders who have--
some have to run in the morning, some
have to listen to
certain types of podcasts
to get their mind going.
It sounds like a trend that
I'm sensing, but I'm unsure.
Is that something that
you've always been involved with,
is just keeping yourself?
Yeah, that's a really great question.
So my background is
in wellness generally.
Before all of this, I
(01:10:05):
was a registered dietician.
So I've always been
adjacent to the wellness space.
So wellness and sort of moving my body,
eating well has been important to me.
But I do think the
imperative nature of those things
in my life is very
much a reflection of where
I am now as a founder.
(01:10:26):
And I think it has
something to do with the fact
as a founder, you have
a lot of responsibility.
You're making a lot of decisions.
You are caring often not
just for your employees
or your business, but
the people in your life,
in your personal life.
And so there's very little margin
to do things that are just
for your own fulfillment,
(01:10:47):
as much as I would love
to say starting a business
is all for my own fulfillment.
I think we know that's not true.
And so being really
intentional with space for hobbies,
I do think becomes incredibly important.
For me, that is
things that moves my body.
In addition to being a
founder, I have ADHD.
And so I find my brain gets
(01:11:07):
the most rest when it's engaged
in something physically.
Swimming especially is just, I think,
a hack for me to still my
brain and get cognitive rest.
So yeah, I think that's
a really good question.
I don't know if I've
explored the relationship too
(01:11:28):
extensively.
But I have joked before
that at post phase, whatever
that looks like, I have a
passion for helping adult women
find hobbies that are
life giving because horseback
riding, swimming,
running, all of those things
are so incredibly life giving to me
and fill me up in a way
that fuels everything else I
have to do in my life.
(01:11:48):
No, it's a really interesting topic
because I've been
exploring it lately in terms
of this founder
metamorphosis, like how you change
as your company changes.
And so a lot of people are
so focused on that business
growth, the cash flow,
the financials, the moving,
the scaling, the fundraising.
And then they forget about themselves.
And ultimately, that just creates a not
so good ripple effect
(01:12:09):
because they're not working on their
leadership abilities.
They're not working on themselves.
They're coming into the
work and into the office
and they're not feeling like themselves.
And that just echoes
back onto the employees,
onto the staff, onto the culture.
And so I think a lot
of people do forget to--
it feels selfish when you spend time
working on yourself,
but ultimately it's
the opposite because it's
going to affect the
(01:12:30):
company that you're leading.
100%.
Have you found that to
be true for yourself?
I'm curious.
Obviously, you guys
are building a lot here.
Have you found a hobby
or a sport or something
where you can go and kind
of disconnect with that?
100%.
Yeah.
As common as it is, I run.
So I've actually been experiencing
or I've been trying to
explore weird hobbies.
(01:12:51):
I don't know what that looks like,
but someone had told me once that they
have to listen to
techno every morning in order
to engage their brain.
Not so normal, but you hear about people
running all the time.
But it does give my serotonin a boost.
I just feel so on form when
I'm doing something active.
So I really do think--
and I think running was one
of the top trending sports
(01:13:12):
of last year.
Well, and I mean, to
bring it back to business,
some of the really
exciting innovation that's
happening in the tech space
is happening within the running
space, kind of that balance
of something that is wellness
focused, but also
really community focused.
I think running apps, you
look at Runna, their recent
acquisition, they're a really
interesting model to look at.
(01:13:34):
Do you train for races or is
running sort of a joy only hobby
for you right now?
I've just started using Runna.
I have.
So I'm getting into that
training mode, but my partner's--
he's training for Marathon.
So I'm like, I have the phone mail
feeling where I'm like,
that'll take me a bit.
Maybe I'll get there eventually.
But it is kind of like--
it also gives you that self-confidence
(01:13:54):
when you're accomplishing
things that you set out to.
So instead of just running here and there
to have a strict schedule
with it.
But even your company phase, it's all
about self-improvement,
productivity, and maybe
that's just the era in which we're
entering now.
People are really focusing on themselves
and what can make
themselves better in the workplace
and their personal lives.
So yeah, maybe that is the trend that
(01:14:14):
we're just tapping into.
Yeah, I think so.
I mean, especially when
you're building a product that
is so outspoken about
supporting women in a way that
is aligning with their physiology,
it would be incredibly
contradictory and hypocritical
of us to not allow our founding team
space to engage in hobbies,
whether it be swimming or running.
(01:14:36):
Georgie, my
co-founder, has done an Ironman.
I mean, Sam also likes to run.
So it would be
incredibly hypocritical of us
to not create space as a founding team.
And I would say, in
general, we don't really
buy into that startup hustle culture.
Potentially, it's a little
PTSD from my previous experience
(01:14:56):
and seeing the negative impact.
But at my core, I do believe that you
can have a family and healthy social life
and also be a part of a really
fast-growing company.
You just have to prioritize ruthlessly,
make really intentional
and strategic decisions
about how you're spending your time,
understand that
(01:15:16):
flexibility doesn't always
mean not working on the weekends.
Sometimes flexibility means you are able
to work on the weekends
because you did
something during the weekday that
was not related to work.
I was at a conference in Portugal,
and someone asked one of the panelists,
do you have to be an
asshole to be successful?
And I thought that was
a brilliant question.
(01:15:37):
But I think you just
answered it, ultimately.
And I also wrote a piece
recently about ambition
and how people view that word.
And I think sometimes it's
like you feel like you're not
ambitious enough or you're
not moving at the pace in which
other people are.
And it's so competitive.
But ultimately, people start businesses
for so many different reasons.
It's not all-- you have to find your why.
(01:15:58):
And once you find your why,
then that's all that matters.
That's your ambition.
That's your drive.
It's unique to everybody.
Exactly.
As a fellow expat, I'm
really curious your perspective
on ambition.
You're both American, aren't we?
Yeah, so I'm-- and especially because I
know you're a former Carolonian as well.
I'm really curious your
perspective on ambition
within the context of American in the UK
(01:16:21):
building a business.
I have thoughts, but I'd be
curious to hear your thoughts.
Yeah.
First thoughts that come to mind is
I've interviewed so
many American founders
and so many British founders.
The one thing I find
different in terms of ambition
is a lot of people
think that, A, in America,
you have to move fast and
(01:16:42):
break things and do this really
quickly and fail really quickly.
And I think that there's a
possibility of doing that,
but at your own pace.
And also, I fear that
some British founders as well
think that it's not OK to fail.
And they're terrified to
tell me about their failures
and their mistakes.
And even though they could
easily turn it and probably
(01:17:03):
tell me what they learned from it,
but I think so many people
are looking for those failures
and those mistakes and those learnings.
And no matter what pace, no
matter what ambition you have,
those are going to happen.
But yeah, I think it's an
overly used word in a way
that people think there's a
hard and fast definition of it.
And I just don't
think there is, because I
(01:17:25):
wouldn't say that the UK, for example,
is less ambitious than the US.
Would I say that some of the mentalities
are a bit different when it
comes to how they define that?
Maybe.
So it is very interesting.
And the level you're
allowed to express that ambition.
I think that's the
major difference that I find
is in the UK, you're ambitious.
But you don't talk about it.
Yeah.
And once you do,
(01:17:46):
you're kind of above you.
Exactly.
No tall poppies.
You go down.
Exactly.
Whereas in the US, I think
it is much more commonplace
to talk about your
ambitions, to go out and say,
yeah, we want to be a unicorn.
We want to be $100 million business.
We want XYZ valuation on acquisition.
Whereas here, I think it's been funny
because I'm the only
American within the context of two
(01:18:08):
British co-founders.
Sometimes I see their
reactions to things I'll say.
It's a learning curve for both of us.
But yeah, I would say
being comfortable with being
outwardly ambitious is a
great tool I can access, actually,
as an expat here.
Well, why wouldn't you?
Why wouldn't you want to speak your
dreams into existence,
(01:18:28):
even if they don't come true?
But maybe some people are
just afraid that they won't.
But dream big, aim high, and
you can only go up from there,
really.
I guess that's the--
That's true.
But I will say one of the gifts of our
founding team at Faye--
as I mentioned, I have two
co-founders, Georgie Powell
and Sam Cooke.
And between the three of us, we do
have varying levels of that--
(01:18:52):
I would call mine
founder delusion, right?
Down to realism.
So I'm sort of the buoy of optimism.
I believe we are
going to achieve whatever
the best possible version.
Georgie, I would say,
is a cautious optimist.
She believes that.
She might be less outspoken.
And she's also very aware of everything
that could go wrong on the road to that.
(01:19:12):
And then Sam is our realist.
He is, OK, guys, we
have to accomplish ABC.
And he keeps us really
grounded in terms of expectations
so that we're steady as a founding team.
And so as much as we can
talk about the differences,
I think that's
actually one of the beauties
of the founding team we've
assembled at Faye's is we bring
(01:19:33):
different skill sets, but we also
bring different mindsets to the table.
And that is an
incredible strength for our team.
No, 100%.
And I think that's
something that a lot of people
forget to think about, A,
when building a business,
but B, when they're
thinking about these innovation
hubs of the world--
Silicon Valley, for example.
Not everybody is born
and bred in Silicon Valley.
(01:19:53):
The reason it works so
well is because there's
such a diversity of
mindsets and ambition and thinking
and ways of viewing the world.
And that's just what
harnesses that moving forward.
I am curious, though, as to your career,
working with startups and burning out,
but then starting your own
company within not six months
time that you gave yourself after you
(01:20:14):
left your other one.
Is there any one thing that you've
learned about yourself
and how you operate?
Maybe you don't have to be--
you talk about having these big dreams
and saying it out loud,
but yeah, is there anything that you've
learned about yourself
in the past few years?
How much time do we have?
I've learned a lot of
things on my founder journey.
I would say one is the
(01:20:35):
importance of relationship
building.
And this is something I
learned from my previous CEO, which
she was a magician when
it came to networking.
If we had a problem, if we had a need,
she knew someone who knew
someone who could become
a resource for us.
And she never took for granted any
conversations that she had.
(01:20:57):
And that's something
both because my gifts
tend to lie in conversation and
relationship building,
but also in the context of business
that I have really grasped onto.
I think it's one of
the things that's allowed
FaZe to have a lot of
early success before launch.
We were able to participate in the
Femtech Lab Accelerator.
We have an incredible
network of industry leaders
(01:21:18):
and thought leaders who
are testing our product,
who are cheerleading our product.
We've built an
incredible team of advisors.
We have an amazing clinical team who's
helping us actually build the product.
We've got an incredible brand specialist
who has given us a
consumer grade brand well beyond,
I think, where we've graduated to from a
(01:21:39):
technical standpoint.
And so for me, really
keeping a perspective
on the importance of
building those relationships,
you get a lot of
conversation from founders
around prioritizing
your time and making sure
every conversation you have is valuable.
I think sometimes that
means we preemptively
(01:22:00):
disqualify that coffee chat, that person
who reached out to us.
And yes, you have to absolutely
prioritize your time.
But for me, if there is an opportunity
to find time to have that conversation,
I will because you never
know how that relationship's
going to unfold.
Something else I've
learned is-- and it's something I
evangelize and we have
(01:22:21):
implemented at FaZe--
is the idea of radical candor.
So if you know Kim Scott and her book,
it's basically this idea
of ask for feedback often,
give feedback often, create a culture
where that is happening.
And sometimes the most
kind thing you can do
is to be very clear with that feedback.
I've experienced in business times
(01:22:42):
where we get taught
about the feedback sandwich
and it's compliment,
negative feedback compliment.
What that does is it asks
your teammate or your employee
to do some detective work to figure out
what you're actually saying to them
or where they can actually improve.
And so for us, we are big on feedback.
We're big on a culture of kind feedback,
(01:23:02):
but being very clear about what we
mean when we're providing feedback
and communicating with each other.
So that's another thing that I've
learned from my previous experience
that I brought into this founder journey.
And then the third one-- and
I would say this is my biggest
learning now that I sit with
the title of founder and CEO,
(01:23:23):
which is trusting my gut.
When you start a business, you will
be faced with a lot of opinions.
And if you're doing it
well, you should be, right?
You're going to be meeting with people
who've been there before.
You're having conversations with
investors and industry leaders.
But there is the
temptation to respond to all of it.
And one of the skills
(01:23:44):
that's been refined for me
over the last 18
months since starting phase
is really identifying the times when
it's important to trust my
gut, to take that feedback
and go, thank you so much.
I appreciate that.
I'm going to go this way.
And that has been a major
learning curve, but also
something I've really
(01:24:04):
been enjoying moving into
since becoming a founder.
On the topic of trust as well, I think
it's really interesting.
Because another theme
I've been trying to explore
is when the right time is to start.
And it's obviously an impossible question
to answer with a hard and fast answer.
But I am curious as to what you think
(01:24:25):
about that question.
Because you had a
career working in startups,
having these learnings, these lessons,
learning from people around you.
Then you were able to
take those learnings
and apply it to what you're doing today.
If you were to go
back 10 years, would you
have been able to start phase?
Would you have started
phase if the idea came to you?
Would there be
anything you did differently?
Yeah, I think that's a great question.
(01:24:46):
I would say the short
answer is pretty simple.
It's no.
I think a couple things--
I have a lot of opinions
on serial entrepreneurs.
They're good.
[LAUGHTER]
I think it's something I
shied away from initially being
bucketed in with.
Because I don't want to
(01:25:07):
start a business simply
to start a business.
That is not going to motivate me enough
to do it and do it well.
For me, starting a business would
have had to been linked to something
that I'm incredibly passionate about,
something that I feel a moral obligation
to bring into the world.
We mentioned in passing, my
(01:25:28):
background is in wellness,
specifically in the public health space.
So for me, I need to
feel really connected
to the mission and the
vision of the business
for it to motivate me to be involved,
and especially to motivate me
to the type and volume of work
that is starting a business entails.
So I don't think if I'd had
the idea for phase 10 years ago,
(01:25:50):
I would have been in a place to start it.
Because one, my personal
journey with burnout and cycle
syncing was such a massive
impetus for the idea of phase.
And I hadn't experienced that yet.
Me as a 22-year-old--
or that was not 10 years ago--
26-year-old-- probably
didn't have the same perspective
(01:26:14):
and didn't have the same level of
responsibility in my life
that a tool like phase
would have been necessary.
Whereas now, given my
journey and experience
through burnout and recovery and
understanding how my cycle
and syncing my work with the
cycle was a huge part of that,
(01:26:35):
that lit the fire in me
to want to bring a solution
to other women like me.
So that's the first reason.
The second reason is my
old CEO and I used to joke.
Because if I did something well, she'd
say, you're coming for my job.
And I'd be like, absolutely not.
Never.
Don't want it.
Don't want it.
Never wanted it.
(01:26:56):
And she was a solo founder.
And a huge part of why
I never wanted her job
is because I would look at
what she had to deal with
and the weight she had to bear solo.
So the other thing that
made this the right time
was the team that I
am building phase with.
Without Georgie and Sam, I do
not think phase would exist.
The skills they bring, the way that we
(01:27:19):
can depend on each other
when one of us is having a high or low
week to kind of bring
the ship up as a whole, that to me
is essential for phase's success.
And it's essential for
my journey and my ability
to show up as a founder,
knowing that even though I
have the title of CEO, we all bear the
(01:27:40):
burden of that founder
title.
And that increase in surface area
decreases the pressure
on any of us individually.
And so timing wise, I
needed my own journey and story
to inspire me to build the product.
And also, I needed a
support system to sort of buoy me
into the role of CEO and founder.
(01:28:01):
It's interesting because personally, I've
been noticing a lot of
younger people wanting
to start businesses, like people who
don't want to go to university or people
who are in university.
And I noticed in someone's
Twitter bio the other day
that it was like
trying to build my company
so I can drop out of Northeastern.
And I was like, bold.
OK.
But there's this trend of people wanting
to do their own thing.
They want the autonomy.
They want this.
(01:28:21):
But as you said, sometimes you
need that personal attachment
to it and that vision and the mission
with it that kind of
drives you to get past
those really difficult times and the
pressure and the intensity.
So what would your advice be to someone
coming out of university?
They want their own business so badly,
but they also want that idea.
Yeah.
How do you find it?
Is it does it just come
(01:28:42):
to you or is there a way?
What would your
advice be to someone who's
just craving that entrepreneurialism?
Yeah.
I'd say first start with yourself.
What is the problem you
need solved in your life?
Where are there areas for efficiency?
Where are there areas
for an improved experience?
Where are there things
you're struggling with,
where the solutions either aren't
(01:29:02):
adequate or are not available?
Start with a problem that you experience
because it is much easier
to create a real solution
to a problem that exists
for you than your perception
of a problem that exists.
Because if you start with a problem that
you don't experience,
then there's a lot of supposition
(01:29:23):
around how you solve for
that problem versus a problem
that you experience.
So that's, in my mind, a
really good starting point
is don't go out
looking to start a business.
Go out looking to solve a problem.
Because where there's a
problem you're experiencing,
there are probably lots of other people
who are experiencing that.
So you've got a built-in market.
(01:29:43):
So I would say that's step number one.
Say step number two is maybe
spend some time investigating
what it is about building a
business that excites you.
Is it the autonomy of
being your own boss?
Do you have to start a
full-fledged SaaS business
to do that, or are
there other opportunities?
Is it the money?
(01:30:04):
Because there's lots of rules that
are going to make you a
lot more money initially
than being a founder.
I would spend some time investigating
what it is about being an entrepreneur
or what it is about being a
business owner that really
excites you.
Because if you can identify
those things, it will, one,
better equip you to
(01:30:24):
build a business that's
going to work for you
versus some blueprint
that you're looking towards.
But two, it might help
mitigate some expectations
or open up some other
opportunities that are not
so narrow of, I want to go
out and build my own business.
My third piece of advice is, is there a
way you can practice?
(01:30:45):
I think one of the best
things that ever happened to me
was joining a startup
as employee number three,
not employee number one.
Because it gave me the experience
where I was able to build a
company from the ground up.
I saw the struggles
and challenges of that.
I also got to reap the benefits of that.
I learned so much being
a part of a small team.
I honed skills in doing
(01:31:07):
that that then have set me up
with phase for success in
my first attempt going out
on my own.
So yeah, first, is
there a problem in your life
that you can solve?
Second, why do you really
want to start a business?
Is there a way you can
meet those needs otherwise?
And third, is there a way
you could practice first
and find people in your
life to learn from before you
(01:31:28):
jump off the deep end?
On the practice bit, I can't remember
who I was listening to
the other day on a podcast,
but they said it's kind of similar
because they said
something about risk-taking
and how some people are kind of just born
into being able to be natural risk takers
and some people have to practice.
And so their advice was to take risks
on things that are reversible.
So like do it safely.
(01:31:49):
And then you can do it
on like the big steps.
Really interesting.
But then also on the why part of things,
I also found it
interesting because back to the topic
of ambition and culture,
so many people are
just kind of impatient.
And I find like patience is a virtue
when it comes to startup land.
And yeah, I guess is there any time
that you've had to
really test your patience?
(01:32:10):
I'm sure there's many, but.
Yeah, I mean, I think
anytime you're looking
at building a tech product,
you're always gonna
have your patience tested
because there are
always going to be things.
And I so appreciate Sam.
He does a really good job
of managing our expectations
when it comes to timelines.
He's very reticent to
give a specific timeline
and I can like hear all the
product and measures cheering
(01:32:31):
because there's just so many unknowns
when it comes to whether
it's a third party tool
that you're having to integrate with
or the way a user
actually ends up using something
that you've designed
versus how you've designed it.
So I think patience when
you're building something
and building it well is
exceptionally important.
(01:32:52):
I also think patience is important
when it comes to the hard times,
when there are challenges,
whether they be
personnel or market driven.
For us and my previous
company, we survived COVID.
And for us, patience looked like one,
where there are
opportunities to innovate in this space,
(01:33:15):
but two, how can we double down
on the value that we're
bringing our clients today
and wait out this massive unknown
rather than being highly reactive to it?
So, we obviously took time
to identify the opportunities
that existed within the
way the world changed,
but a lot of what we did was
(01:33:37):
batten down the hatches pretty much.
And that's not a very popular or shiny
or exciting way to run a
startup, but it worked for us.
And there were competitors who did not
survive the pandemic
when we did because
we were able to sort of
wait out the storm.
And for another P word on perfectionism,
(01:34:00):
I know that we talked about how like,
or prior to this, about how phase
doesn't really push the idea of perfect
because it's all about
knowing your body for who you are,
what you're going through,
all of the different
cycles that you're experiencing.
In some days, you're just
not gonna be on top form.
In other days, you'll
have that quality trait
that you're looking for.
(01:34:20):
In terms of perfection in startup land
and being a founder,
I was recently
speaking to someone who said
that they're just a perfectionist.
That's why they're a solo founder.
Sometimes it's just really difficult
because they want
things to be how they were.
Guess you could probably say
Steve Jobs is a perfectionist
because he was always
looking at everything,
copy, marketing,
advertisements, the product.
And he was like, "Nope,
gotta do it this way."
(01:34:41):
What's your take on
perfectionism in the founder world?
I'm hesitant to go on record
contradicting Steve Jobs.
I think you're not
the only one to do that.
You know, I think perfectionism
can be an Achilles heel for founders.
Founders often are
really good at what they do
because they can wear a lot of hats.
(01:35:02):
They can have opinions on everything.
That doesn't mean
that they always should.
Definitely when it comes to a product,
when you are in the process
of refining product market fit,
perfectionism means you release too late.
You release a more
complete version of a product.
And what that actually
means is you end up having
to undo more than you really needed to.
(01:35:23):
You want to bring a
product to market that is,
you know, consumer grade enough
that it doesn't break when people use it,
that it adds value from day one.
But for us at Phase, we
know that the version of Phase
that's launching very
soon is not gonna be
the same version that
exists in six months
because in creating
sort of an interim version,
a not perfect version,
(01:35:45):
we allow space for our users to
communicate with us.
If you put something
perfect into the world,
that creates a barrier of communication
between you and your user.
It's much harder to change
something that is complete
or maybe a better way
to put it is much easier
to steer a moving ship.
If you're thinking in
a way that is iterative
(01:36:06):
around the product that
you're bringing to market,
it allows you to be flexible and reactive
and responsive to the
needs of that market.
That's where, you
know, I think my background
in public health becomes really valuable.
You can't be a perfectionist
and solve a problem for someone
because at the end of the day,
they're the ones who define what that
problem is for them.
(01:36:26):
They're the ones who define what the
perfect solution is,
not you.
And so your
perfectionism is gonna butt heads
with their perfect solution.
And so for me, combating perfectionism
is something that I
practice on a daily basis.
Now, do you wanna send an
email that has copy errors?
Absolutely not, right?
There are areas of the business
where perfectionism
(01:36:46):
can be really valuable.
But at a high level
sort of strategic place,
I think perfectionism
can really be a barrier
to fast growth, you know,
rapid value add to your consumer
and obviously rapid revenue.
(01:37:07):
And so then there's
perfectionism, there's patience.
We've talked a lot about personality
traits, characteristics.
I'm just curious as to
what you think it really takes
to be a founder.
Because some of these
people just naturally have,
some of these people have to learn,
but what do you think it
takes to take that leap?
Yeah.
So I think there is not one
(01:37:29):
size fits all to being a founder.
So let me caveat what
I'm about to say with that.
I think the beauty of what I've learned,
especially within the
women's health space,
especially within the femtech space
where you've got founders
who were scientists first
and then you've got
founders who did other things
in the wellness space first.
There is no one size fits all
and who you are as a
founder needs to fit the business
(01:37:51):
that you're trying to build.
That being said, I do think there are
some overarching themes
that make a founder successful.
Number one is to be curious.
If you are curious about your market,
if you are curious about
your problem, about the product,
that leading with curiosity often leads
to incredibly impactful solutions.
(01:38:12):
From a culture
standpoint, leading with curiosity
also means you facilitate a really
healthy company culture
that allows your team to ask questions,
that allows your team
to challenge and push.
And that is a skill
that I spend a lot of time
trying to foster.
I'm not sure if you've read Adam Grant.
He has a book called "Think Again."
(01:38:32):
No.
And in it, he outlines
sort of the four archetypes
of how you respond when you are presented
with information that might contradict
what you think you
knew or what you believed.
And people can fall into four categories.
So they can either be a preacher,
so someone who kind of
finds the moral high ground
sticks with it regardless of
what the evidence might say.
You've got the lawyer,
(01:38:53):
that's someone who wants
to just sit and poke holes when new
evidence is presented.
You have the politician,
that's the person who
never really picks a side
and just sort of like, it
could be this, it could be this,
but kind of stay stuck in a decision.
And then you have the scientist.
And the scientist is the person who says,
here's this evidence,
here's this evidence,
let's weigh one against the other
(01:39:14):
and let's be willing to
form a different conclusion
than the one we
brought to the conversation.
And so that language has
really helped me foster curiosity
because I think if you are curious
when that new
information comes up, you don't go,
oh wait, that's
different than what we built
a product around, or oh wait,
that's different than what I thought,
or oh, we plan this whole
six month marketing campaign.
(01:39:34):
You go, interesting, tell me more.
And it allows you space
to then make decisions
that are not reactive,
that are collaborative.
And for me, that curiosity is a key part
of being a successful founder.
That's interesting.
Someone actually
recently told me that one thing
they definitely learned
throughout their startup career
(01:39:54):
is to just see beyond the linear line
that's in front of you,
just like all possibilities,
everything that people
see through their eyes,
no judgment, and I
think that's so important
moving forward
because you just never know
what you're gonna
encounter in the startup world.
I was gonna ask you what
your leadership style is,
but I think I'm already
kind of getting a sense
of what it looks like in terms of
feedback, curiosity,
(01:40:17):
but what are those values?
Are those the values that
you're bringing to the team
when you're building up phase?
Yeah, you know what's so interesting?
I was talking with Georgina
Saim about this last week.
I have never had a male boss or manager.
Really?
I've only ever had
female bosses or managers.
I think it's probably a reflection
of the wellness industry,
but then in my last company,
our CEO was a woman, and so
(01:40:39):
I think that has immensely
shaped how I show up as
a leader because I value
decisiveness and
assertiveness and confidence
and sort of all of those, I would say,
kind of traditional leadership traits,
and I value having a
high EQ, being able to talk
in an emotionally
(01:40:59):
intelligent way to my team
and creating a space
where ideas are welcome,
challenging ideas are welcome,
for the betterment of the business.
Does that mean I have to make hard
decisions sometimes?
Absolutely.
Does that mean I have to
make people upset sometimes?
(01:41:20):
Yes, absolutely, but I
think my leadership style
is collaborative as much
as possible to the point
where someone needs to make a decision
or to progress things forward.
And on that note, if you
were to speak to Maggie McDarras
of 2021, what would you say
(01:41:43):
to her as a piece of advice
moving forward before entering this?
It's gonna get better.
2021 is when I had my
daughter, so I was in the thick of it.
You know, I think...
I would tell her, you have no
idea what you're capable of.
2021 me was very
(01:42:05):
self-deprecating in the sense of,
if you can't tell, I
can sometimes get enabled.
I'm very introspective.
I like to understand my
motivations and what's going on,
but sometimes that means I
can put ceilings on myself
and say, oh, well, this is how I operate
or this is how I'm
wired, so X, Y, Z, limitation.
(01:42:26):
And I think what I would tell 2021 me,
that is really great information to have,
but whatever you're
learning about yourself,
use it as a tool to move
forward rather than a tool
to keep you from moving.
Any application of sort
of introspection or insight
(01:42:47):
should be applied to progress,
not used as an excuse to
keep progress from happening.
And that has been a huge learning for me
over the past couple of years.
And that's kind of
what I sense is a takeaway
from FaZe as well, is to
not use it as a barrier
and see that maybe
you're not at your best today,
but kind of use it to
maybe just feel okay
(01:43:07):
that you're not at your best today.
Yeah, that has been
one of the most exciting
and enlightening, speaking
of leading with curiosity,
pieces about the feedback we've been
getting from beta users
is the grace it gives them to feel okay,
not showing up at work in a way
where they don't feel at their best.
(01:43:28):
It's given them language,
it's given them understanding,
and a lot of
self-compassion within that space.
And that was something we didn't
anticipate with FaZe.
We sort of assumed it would
be a lot of high performers
wanting to hack productivity,
wanting to hack performance.
And what we found is
that a lot of our users,
yes, they leverage FaZe
in a very practical way
to help them align
their work with their cycle,
(01:43:48):
but they also leverage FaZe
to help them give language,
not only for themselves and
how they're showing up at work,
but also for members of their team
or other people in their life.
And that's been a
really fun learning for us
and one that now we're leaning into
from a messaging
standpoint, from a data standpoint,
understanding how the self-esteem aspect
(01:44:09):
of giving women tools that
are actually built for them
impacts their productivity.
And there's a huge opportunity for us
as we continue, as we launch FaZe,
as we start collecting
data about how our users
are engaging with FaZe to tell the story
of self-esteem confidence and the impact
that has on
productivity outside of the more,
(01:44:32):
I would say linear data points we're
gonna be looking at,
which is improving
productivity because you're working
in a way that's aligned with your
cognitive strengths.
Well, listen, I'm no salesman,
but I think I've got a
lot of my friends on board
with FaZe recently in the past few weeks.
So they're all looking forward to it.
So you are a salesman.
Yeah, kind of.
I don't know how, but it's worked,
but I don't think you
have to sell it too much
because it is a really cool concept.
(01:44:53):
Yeah, we're very excited.
But that said, we are
running out of time.
Is there any one last
thing that you wanna leave
with the audience or
with your future self,
past self, anything of the sort?
You know, I think that the one thing
I'd wanna leave with the
audience is to get excited
about what we're gonna see
in the productivity space
(01:45:14):
when we start to look at
how your biology impacts
how you show up at work.
FaZe is a first step.
FaZe is, and especially for
women who have been forced
to fit within a nine to
five knowledge worker schedule
where they have to show up every day.
That's not really how our biology works.
We're starting with women.
We're starting with, here is
(01:45:35):
a rhythm and a fluctuation.
And we really wanna shift the
narrative around your cycles
in the workplace from
something you have to hide
or hiding your tampons up your sleeve
to it being really a strength
and a superpower that you can access.
That being said, that is
one biological element.
Something that really
gets us excited at FaZe
is the future of
(01:45:56):
biology-based productivity
when we apply circadian rhythm
and when we look at
other infradian rhythms
and how this is just step one
in looking at the human body,
how it was meant to work
and ways we can
reorganize the corporate structure
to accommodate that.
(01:46:17):
Brilliant. Yeah.
Well, my takeaway from
that is go know yourself.
Go learn about yourself. Yep.
And do good things. Exactly.
Okay, thank you for joining us, Maggie.
Thank you so much. It was great.
It was lovely.
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