The BBC has interviewed the founder and CEO of Peanut, Michelle Kennedy.
The short video was uploaded as a part of the CEO Secrets series, where senior business leaders give a background to their work and tips on how to grow a product or brand.
Peanut was founded in 2017, after the birth of Kennedy’s first child.
Speaking to the BBC, she said: “It’d be 2am, I’d be up feeding and my friends were posting pictures on Instagram of their night out. It was this very, very difficult moment in terms of, wow my life has really changed and I need to find some other women who are doing what I’m doing right now.”
Peanut was designed as a way for mums, and women who were expecting, to meet other mums. The app is similar to dating apps as it has a swipe feature and matches women based upon shared interests and geographical location.
It was given the nickname, ‘Tinder for mums’. Although Kennedy admits that was probably how the app began, she explains that it “is more than that now”.
Over 350,000 women have signed up to Peanut, and the app has been launched in the UK, USA, Canada and Australia.
Kennedy has a background in dating, having previously worked as a Deputy CEO at Badoo, and as a Director at Bumble.
She is also an advocate for helping women take opportunities in the tech industry. She explained to the BBC: “Being a woman in tech can be your secret weapon and it can be your advantage. I was always told, very early in my career, that the best way to progress is to disarm people, to be exactly what they don’t expect you to be – I don’t think that my gender should hold me back.”
Watch the full video here.