Stephanie Desmond, co-founder of bloss
Steph left a career in finance after seeing the potential of Uber. First 100 employee globally and number 3 of the founding UK team, she grew the platform from just a handful of riders in London, launching Uber in several UK cities to become the dominant market leader globally.
As an early stage tech investor and advisor, Steph knows how to scale good ideas into great businesses. She is the proud mother of three.
Currently busy building bloss, 'The home of parenting experts'.
What were you doing before launching your business?
I left a career in finance after seeing the potential of Uber. First 100 employee globally and number 3 of the founding UK team, I headed up all things rider and grew the platform from just a handful of riders in London, launching Uber in several UK cities to become the dominant market leader globally.
Uber ignited my love affair with start-up life and after leaving to have my firstborn, I soon became an early stage tech investor and advisor, with plenty of experience scaling good ideas into great businesses. This led me to building bloss.
Getting involved in tech is still a hot topic for women, what was the motivator for you?
Technology has always been a big part of my growing up. I’m not a ‘techie’ so to speak but I’ve always loved playing computer games since I was little, taking computing as one of my A-Levels.
I get excited by products that entertain, keep us connected and make an impact, which lead me to taking a leap of faith with Uber back in 2012. Being at Uber for over 6 years showed me what it’s like to work in a fast paced environment, make big societal changes and develop the skill set that I needed to set up my own business. I’m more than aware that women are underrepresented in this area so I take pride in continually developing my own potential to ensure what we’re building with bloss is benefiting our community and the team too. Bloss is all about democratising knowledge, surfacing experts and enabling quick, easy access so tech is critical to delivering this.
Last but not least, tech of course enables remote working which is super important to me as a mum of 3, meaning I can have the best of both worlds - still get to spend quality time with my kids whilst also keeping busy intellectually.
How have you found your journey so far and what has been your greatest accomplishment?
Exciting, rewarding, all encompassing, fast-paced, challenging to name a few. We built and launched bloss during the pandemic, whilst I was expecting my 3rd child so it’s been busy! Thankfully I’m no stranger to start-up life so I knew just what I was getting myself into. It’s all hands on deck, the team are getting their hands dirty, things break and nothing is perfect but I’m ultimately really pleased with the traction we are seeing so far and proud of what we are building.
Having had fertility struggles myself and undertaking IVF for my first two babies, I experienced first hand the lack of easily accessible, trustworthy and credible advice out there. The internet is an absolute minefield. Building something that I know is going to have such a positive impact on society by helping make so many families lives easier is my greatest accomplishment to date, that and becoming a mum.
What was the most challenging thing for you so far?
Start-up life is one big (exciting) challenge! Building something on a bootstrap budget and trying to prove your concept is the biggest one I've experienced so far.
You have created a business that is adaptable and progressive. What has that process been like for you?
Given my experience of trying to start a family, being pregnant and now being a mum, I knew we had to create something that could be useful for every family and circumstance out there. Fact is, we’re all different, every child is different… one mum believes in the cry it out method, the other wants to do attachment parenting and so on.
In order to ensure we’re democratising access to a wide range of experts, it’s been crucial to build a scalable platform where users can search, discover and access advice quickly and easily. Rather than launch with something all singing and all dancing, we entered the market with our MVP to test the waters. I believe it’s super important that we get feedback from our community of experts and users instead of just building something we think they want. We launched with a website initially to see what features people liked or didn’t like, what they wanted to see more of. Part of this process has been holding user and expert roundtables, surveys, plenty of listening, testing etc and the outcome is that we’re now building an app!
Launching with a less than perfect product is challenging but in tech you have to be adaptable, the environment is constantly changing and you have to ensure you move with it by being open minded and listening to your users.
Who is your target audience?
It’s for parents, want-to-be parents, parents to-be, mums, dads, siblings, grandparents, caregivers, you name it.
What advice would you give to fellow entrepreneurs stuck on mapping out a strong business model?
Make sure your concept is something that people want, will improve their day to day life and something they can’t live without. Seek out mentors, people with more experience than you who can advise you and give you honest feedback. Don’t be afraid to ask! Feedback is powerful so make the most of it when you see an opportunity. Just be ready to listen.
What plans do you have for bloss over the next 12 months?
Ultimately my wish for bloss is to be the first thing people think of when they need help navigating family life, a badge of honour that immediately signifies credibility and quality for any expert on our platform. Bloss is clearly in it's infancy at the moment but I hope to build something that's innovative on the product side, with an app launch coming next.
Overview of how bloss works?
We help you discover easily digestible advice from credible, qualified experts. We're a one-stop-shop of trustworthy and user-rated experts who parents-to-be, parents and caregivers can now easily discover and interact with at the touch of a button. We make what is an extremely challenging journey of highs and lows that little bit easier; book physical and virtual consultations, snack on free bitesize advice, download resources and chat with your community of experts to help navigate your entire parenting journey from trying to conceive to parenting teenagers. There has never been an easier way to find help, all in one place.
