Bringing up a child is undoubtedly one of the happiest, but also one of the toughest stages in one’s life. Most parents have to adjust their lives to the needs of the child. Some change it drastically, especially when it comes to the firstborn; some quit their jobs to become full-time parents, and some are forced to give up on their dreams.
But there are also those who get inspired by the challenges brought by parenting, and come up with fresh ideas on how to solve them. We call them parent entrepreneurs or parentrepreneurs.
Today, we introduce you to the founders, mothers and fathers from Southeast Europe, who decided to pursue entrepreneurship after they had kids and those whose business ideas are related to their parenthood. Enjoy our list of parentech founders and the solutions they created.
The ParenTech Founders From Southeast Europe
#1 Boryana Levterova, Founder of Infinity Toy Box
Country: Bulgaria
Vertical: Circular economy
Solution: Infinity Toy Box is one of those startups that can give partial credit to the pandemic for its creation. “We were already experiencing the frustrations of toy overconsumption but during the pandemic these difficulties intensified”, shared Boryana with The Recursive. The toys-as-a-service model platform was born once Boryana’s family of four realized they had too many unused toys while mostly being stuck at home. It offers an opportunity for kids and parents to rent toys, books, and games based on the subscription model they choose.
#2 Daniela and Max Baklayan, Founders of GoodKnight
Country: Bulgaria
Vertical: Marketplace
Solution: The struggle of finding a babysitter for the young parents of two children, prompted them to also become parent entrepreneurs, leading to the birth of GoodKnight, a Bulgarian online platform helping to find the best-matching babysitter. While Max is helping out with the business part, Daniela is responsible for the selection of babysitters, as well as the organization of prior-to-work certified training with professionals.
#3 Geta Rasciuc, Founder and CEO of BabyMoon Care
Country: Moldova
Vertical: e-Health
Solution: It started with parenting struggles of finding the right item for her firstborn son. Four kids later, Geta is developing smart ergonomic baby carriers not only for the general public, but also in partnership with NGOs, targeting rural areas with limited resources. Geta is not only a parent entrepreneur, but also an experienced parenting consultant who works with maternity hospitals and parenting groups, as well as manages an online parenting community across the business’ social media channels.
#4 Ionut Turlea, Founder of MOMSI
Country: Romania
Vertical: Social app
Solution: “It took a dad to tell this story”, Ionut shares on MOMSI’s website about his product. As a stay-at-home dad, at the time when his daughter was born, Ionut faced the challenges a lot of moms go through right after giving birth, such as anxiety and isolation. MOMSI was, in turn, developed as a way to help mothers cope with such struggles and find peers for meetups or exchanging baby-related items.
#5 Laura Ion and Oana Hagiescu, Founders of Parentropolis
Country: Romania
Vertical: EdTech
Solution: Laura and Oana are two mothers who transformed their professional paths after giving birth. Laura left behind corporate IT and Oana journalism, and both ladies became first freelancers and later parent entrepreneurs by developing an e-learning platform for parents. It provides interactive courses, live seminars, and training programs with experts to educate the audience on child development.
#6 Stefka Stojanow, Founder of Malki Sakrovishta (Little Treasures)
Country: Bulgaria
Vertical: Circular economy (Peer-to-peer marketplace)
Solution: The idea of the platform came to the founder Stefi shortly after her son was born. As new parents, she and her husband bought a lot of baby stuff they ended up never or close to never using. To utilize the unsuccessful purchases, she decided to develop a marketplace where Bulgarian parents can buy and sell parenting items.
Curious to explore more stories on entrepreneurship and parenting, check out these below:
- The Power of Kids: How children inspire great stories of success
- Our “After hours” series discussion with working parents and their 6 lessons on how to normalize kids in work.
- 7 SEE startups with innovative ideas for children
