You will be speaking at Nurture Network, what are your hopes and expectations for the event and how does your involvement make you feel?
I really enjoyed speaking at the event last year and I was incredibly excited to be asked to speak again. Last year, not only did I love meeting other speakers at the event, but also the students who were attending the event - I hope that this year will present the same opportunity for me.
We previously spoke in April how has the business and team evolved since then?
I think the biggest thing since April has been the shift in focus to working with more brands - we did an amazing collaboration with the London Lion’s Basketball team, reaching more parents - educating them on their teen’s needs for luna - and also working with more schools. This has meant new marketing strategies, tone of voice and even feature set on the platform. The team is still the same - still as lean and badass as ever before!
Are there any key moments that you look back on as being pivotal in the creation of your team?
Yes - the point when our Advisor turned around told us you need to spend to grow. He encouraged us that we needed to start spending some of our investment money (instead of just holding on to it) and get hiring, so that’s exactly what we did. We brought on more team members to help free Jo and I’s time up so that we could work on more strategic projects that needed Founder input.
Beyond cofounders and employees, what other support networks can you recommend for entrepreneurs?
There’s definitely 2 other sources of support that I rely heavily on. The first is family & friends. The second, and one that is often overlooked, is Founder friends. This was definitely something I neglected in my first year of running luna, and quickly realised the value in having friends that are going through / have been through what you are experiencing. There are some incredible networks out there bringing amazing Founders together - Foundrs, Sie Community, Female Founders Rise, Hotbed + more!
What lessons can we teach teens to ensure a healthy work life balance?
Work life balance looks different for everyone. What one person does to achieve balance might look very different to someone else. In my opinion, the most important thing is for teens to try different strategies to help them achieve balance - whether that’s exercise, mindfulness, journalling or socialising - and to make sure they are giving themselves enough time alongside their studies to do it. I think that academic pressure today is heightened with things like Social Media, so ensuring teens don’t get caught up in this and that they instead stay focussed on their own journey is super important too!
And in a remote working culture, what tips would you give for ensuring a productive and connected team?
At luna we’re hybrid but we do a few things to help with our remote working. The first is that we really lean into the Slack emoji updates e.g., If you’re in the zone, stick a slack emoji on that indicates no-one should message you, or If you’ve gone for a walk / to the gym people can expect a late reply! Otherwise the door is always open for a chat. Secondly, we meet in person weekly and have regular team socials in the diary. Lastly, and potentially the most important one, is probably around communicating. Send a morning hello to your team, or ping an end of day wrap up to each other - this just helps.
