James Reed: all about business14 Jul 2025

36. How to get users on your app from day one | Michelle Kennedy

Nearly 10,000 apps are uploaded to the app store every week, and most of them are ignored. So how do you launch one that becomes a movement?

In this episode of All About Business, we’re joined by Michelle Kennedy, founder and CEO of Peanut; the social networking app that has transformed how women connect and help each other through every stage of motherhood.

What does it take to walk away from a top executive role and start from scratch? From pitching with nothing but a deck, to raising over $23 million, to building one of the most trusted platforms for women online, listen to Michelle's story and find out.

We dive into her strategy for building a matchmaking app that attracts millions of users, how to validate your idea before you build it, and the biggest lessons she’s learned as a female founder.

Michelle also opens up about the hardest parts of fundraising, how she built traction without a product, and why not every business should take venture capital.

01:42 Introduction - Michelle Kennedy

01:54 Peanut - Social Media App

09:09 Raising Money

11:34 Advice on Deck, Pitch, Value Proposition

15:56 Not Every Business Needs the Venture Capital Path

20:04 I Wouldn't Have Done It If I Knew ...

24:25 Achieving Critical Mass - The Network Effect

27:40 Start Without Building The App

33:34 Peanut Start Her Fund for Women

36:48 Advice to Family Women on Starting a Business

46:59 Curiosity Spawns New Ideas

50:10 Why A Book In The Digital Age?

54:57 Reed Interview Round - What Gets You Up Monday Morning?

56:39 Where Michelle Sees Herself in Five Years

Links

Check out Peanuts’s website:

Follow Peanut on LinkedIn:

Download Peanut app from Google Play:

Follow James Reed on LinkedIn

All About Business is brought to you by Reed Global. Learn more at: www.reed.com

This podcast was co-produced by Reed Global and Flamingo Media. If you’d like to create a chart-topping podcast to elevate your brand, visit Flamingo-media.co.uk

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