Christie Kaplan was eight weeks postpartum, juggling the demands of a newborn and recovering from a difficult birth, when her phone buzzed with a meeting invitation that would upend everything. The California startup where she worked as a product design manager was holding an all-hands Zoom call. Within minutes, she and her entire product department were out of work. The Silicon Valley Bank turmoil had claimed another casualty, and Christie found herself facing a choice that most new mothers dread: how to support her family with mounting medical bills and a two-month-old baby who needed her.
Instead of scrambling back into the traditional employment structure that had just failed her, Kaplan used the layoff as a launchpad. She formed an LLC, recruited co-founders, and built Startup Design Partners, a collaborative design consultancy that now serves startups and founders globally. Her story illustrates a paradox that many professionals eventually discover: sometimes the worst career disruption becomes the catalyst for creating the professional life you actually want, one where you hold the power instead of hoping someone else will grant it to you.
The path from unexpected layoff to entrepreneurial success wasn’t smooth or simple. It required navigating financial stress, managing relationship dynamics during crisis, and confronting the limitations of traditional career advancement. But Kaplan’s experience offers a roadmap for anyone who has wondered whether there’s a better way to build a career than climbing someone else’s ladder.
The Myth of Job Security
Kaplan had done everything right according to conventional career wisdom. She worked at a large consultancy that was eventually purchased by IBM, managing product designers and consulting for Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 clients. It was stable, respectable work. But when she hit a ceiling in terms of growth opportunities, she made a calculated move to a well-funded California startup.
“It was honestly one of the best jobs I’ve ever had,” Kaplan said. “Again, it was a startup. So me and my husband had to talk a lot about, you know, well, you know, it’s, you never know, you never know what’s going to happen.”
The couple approached the decision with caution. They saved aggressively for the baby they were planning. They built a nest egg. They thought they were preparing for the risks inherent in startup life. What they couldn’t anticipate was the perfect storm: a difficult birth with unexpected medical complications, mounting bills without a payment plan, and a sudden layoff tied to broader economic turmoil.
“Everything kind of fell apart,” Kaplan said. “As first time parents with big medical bills from the pregnancy and from the double birth I call it because it was a bit of a nightmare. One we didn’t do a payment plan and I wish I did, I wish we did that. I wish they, you know, more people thought about that. So we were in a tough spot eight weeks postpartum and I had to find a job within months or we would have to sell our home.”
The experience shattered any illusions about security. A well-funded company with a seed round moving into Series A could still disappear overnight. Good planning couldn’t protect you from someone else’s decisions about your livelihood. The traditional employment contract offered no real safety net when you needed it most.
Crisis Mode as a Relationship Test
When Kaplan received the layoff news, she was literally helping another new mother when the Zoom call came through. Her immediate response wasn’t emotional—it was tactical. The survival mindset from recovering from a traumatic birth kicked in, and she moved into what she calls “triage mode.”
“I didn’t have any emotional response to the layoff. I went into triage. I was like, okay, well now I’m applying to jobs,” Kaplan said
Her husband went into “fix it” mode too. Both of them shifted into strategic planning, mapping out contingency plans that included selling their house or moving in with family if necessary. They were a team facing a crisis, and the crisis clarified their priorities and strengthened their partnership.
The logistics were absurd. Kaplan pumped breast milk, fed her baby, and took job interviews simultaneously. She juggled postpartum recovery with networking calls. Her husband, who had limited paternity leave, returned to work early to maintain their income stream. They had family and friends willing to help, but Kaplan and her husband were determined to solve the problem themselves.
“We talked through what the game plan is,” Kaplan said. “If in the worst case scenario, we sell the house, we’ll move in with family. We’ll, we, you know, like worst case scenarios. Right. Luckily we didn’t have to get to that point. But that’s how I operate.”
The experience revealed something important about how they functioned as a couple. Instead of fracturing under pressure, they became more aligned. The crisis didn’t create problems in their relationship. Rather, it stripped away everything nonessential and showed them what they were capable of handling together.
The Catalyst for Self-Employment
Kaplan found a new job relatively quickly after the layoff. She landed on her feet professionally, which should have been the happy ending to a stressful chapter. But something else was happening beneath the surface. The layoff had planted a seed, and a subsequent experience at her new job caused it to sprout.
Kaplan was passed over for a promotion she had earned. The reason? She was told she was “too young” for the role. It was a gut punch that ignited something deeper than anger. Instead it sparked a fire.
“I got that fire back and I was like, no, you know, I have what it takes,” Kaplan said. “I’ve been working since I was 13 years old. I started my career in publishing and design years ago.”
The rejection crystallized a realization she had been circling around since the layoff: traditional employment meant putting your fate in someone else’s hands. You could do excellent work, deliver results, and still be at the mercy of someone else’s timeline, someone else’s perception of your readiness, someone else’s decision about your worth.
Kaplan woke up one morning and formed an LLC. She recruited co-founders. She built Startup Design Partners from scratch, creating the company she wished had existed when she was navigating her own career challenges.
“That’s when I started recognizing that idea and I’m also recognizing that if I want control and, you know, secure like financial security,” Kaplan said, “I, I could have, you know, go to another job, make great money and then get laid off again and then there’s still that underlying thing that you’re not necessarily in control as much.”
Startup Design Partners became more than just a consultancy. It’s a design-forward venture and product consultancy that works with startups and founders on digital products, founder advisory services, and functions as a product incubator. Kaplan built a global community of designers and founders, creating the collaborative ecosystem she wanted to be part of.
The long-term vision extends beyond client services. Kaplan is building infrastructure for design-led ventures, creating ladders and launchpads for people who have been locked out of traditional gatekeeping systems. It’s the kind of company you build when you’ve experienced the limitations of the existing structures firsthand.
Redefining Security on Your Own Terms
Kaplan’s schedule now is fuller than it ever was as an employee. She manages multiple contract jobs, parents a toddler, runs her household and business, and is putting on a public art exhibit. It’s not the work-life balance that wellness coaches promote in LinkedIn posts. It’s intense, demanding, and requires constant prioritization.
But there’s a crucial difference. Kaplan controls her time and her trajectory. When she needs downtime, she prioritizes it—especially through her art, which functions as a form of meditation. The busyness serves her goals rather than someone else’s quarterly targets.
“Downtime is very important because as a very creative person who works with very creative folks as well, it’s, it’s such an important part of that balance for, you know, just having a healthy mindset, but also being productive when you, when you need to be,” Kaplan said.
The entrepreneurial path Kaplan chose isn’t for everyone, and she doesn’t claim it is. Self-employment brings its own uncertainties and pressures. But for Kaplan, the risks feel fundamentally different because she’s the one making the decisions. When she works late nights or takes on challenging projects, it’s building something she owns rather than enriching someone else’s bottom line.
The financial pressure that nearly forced her family to sell their house after the layoff still informs her decisions. She’s still careful, still a planner. But now she’s planning around variables she can control, opportunities she can create, and partnerships she chooses to build.
Kaplan’s journey from laid-off new mother to founder highlights a potential truth about modern career paths: the security we think we’re building through traditional employment often doesn’t exist. A good company can make bad decisions. A well-funded startup can evaporate. Your value to an organization can be erased in a single Zoom call, regardless of your performance or potential.
But that realization, painful as it is, can also be liberating. If security is an illusion in traditional employment, then the risk of entrepreneurship becomes relative rather than absolute. You’re not abandoning safety for uncertainty—you’re choosing which uncertainty feels more manageable, which risks you’d rather take.
Kaplan didn’t set out to become an entrepreneur. She set out to build a career, support her family, and do meaningful work. When the traditional path failed her at a vulnerable moment, she discovered that the security she was seeking couldn’t be granted by someone else. She had to build it herself, on her own terms, with partners who shared her vision. Two years after that devastating Zoom call, she’s not just recovered—she’s created something better than what she lost.
This article was inspired by an interview with Christie Kaplan and Amy Stone on The Art of Imperfect Adulting podcast.
Listen: https://imperfect-adulting.captivate.fm/listen
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@imperfectadulting
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Layoff: Interview Transcript: Christie Kaplan with Amy Stone | The Art of Imperfect Adulting | November 2025
Amy Stone [00:00:05]:
Christie Kaplan, welcome to the art of imperfect adulting. I’m happy you’re here. Are you ready for a fun chat today?
Christie Kaplan [00:00:11]:
I am. I am. Thank you, Amy.
Amy Stone [00:00:14]:
Yay. I start all of my conversations with my guests asking them the same question. What part of the world do you call home?
Christie Kaplan [00:00:20]:
I am here in Dallas, Texas.
Amy Stone [00:00:24]:
I was supposed to be in Dallas, Texas. Well, never, I was never supposed to be. I was invited to a conference in Dallas, Texas, this, this week. And I thought to myself, oh, my gosh, no, I, if I’m going because I live in Miami, Florida. I was like, if I’m traveling in August, it’s to get away from the heat, not to go to another hot place. Do love Texas brisket. Do love that. Do love that. All right, so what is next question? What is your favorite way to transition from busy time, from being busy to downtime?
Christie Kaplan [00:00:57]:
Yeah, I, I’m very busy. I, you know, I work many contract jobs and also have a two and a half year old boy and a house and a husband and a business. And I’m also doing, putting on a public art exhibit. So I’m, my life is very full right now with family and everything too. So. But downtime, I prioritize it with my husband. I prioritize it with my art especially too. Just getting, it’s almost a form of meditation to a degree. You’re just doing it for sometimes hours on end. Um, I don’t always have the time, but I, I make the time for it. So downtime is very important because as a very creative person who works with very creative folks as well, it’s, it’s such an important part of that balance for, you know, just having a healthy mindset, but also being productive when you, when you need to be.
Amy Stone [00:01:59]:
Very nice. Very nice. So we are going to talk about a roller coaster period of your life. And this starts when you were laid off just eight weeks after you had a baby. And to that I say, yikes. Are you ready to talk about that?
Christie Kaplan [00:02:17]:
Absolutely. Absolutely, yes.
Amy Stone [00:02:19]:
So then this is about two years ago. Two and a quarter years ago is when this happened. This is the same. This is the two year old baby that’s running around the house now.
Christie Kaplan [00:02:29]:
It is. Oh, yes. Energy. Yep.
Amy Stone [00:02:32]:
Very good. All right. So I think everybody knows that losing a job sucks. Making a career pivot is hard. Before we talk about that and how it changed your life, let’s talk about what life was like, like before this happened. So if you were to go back maybe a year, maybe two before this, you know, did you like this job that you had?
Christie Kaplan [00:02:58]:
Yeah, yeah, I was working at a pretty large consultancy. They recently actually just got bought out by IBM, but I was working as a manager for product designers here in Dallas, Texas. So I was doing a lot of work with consulting with Fortune 1000s and 500-00 as well as a well funded startup. So it was a good job. I just, I wanted to grow and I kind of hit a ceiling there in terms of where I wanted to grow and that’s what led me to that next job that I then got laid off from. So.
Amy Stone [00:03:31]:
Okay, all right. So very. So before this and then you went there. So were you and your family on solid financial footing before the layoff?
Christie Kaplan [00:03:43]:
We were kind of. So the, the job that I left the consultancy, I went to go do a well funded startup out in California. And I say this was every time I reflect on this job, it was honestly one of the best jobs I’ve ever had. Again, it was a startup. So me and my husband had to talk a lot about, you know, well, you know, it’s, you never know, you never know what’s going to happen. Right. Even though they were well funded, they had their seed round going into series day, but you never know. So we, you know, we saved a lot for the baby that we were planning on having and we were, we had a very good nest egg for that where everything kind of fell apart. Was, you know, as first time parents with big medical bills from the pregnancy and from the, the double birth I call it because it was a bit of a nightmare. One we didn’t do a payment plan and I wish I did, I wish we did that. I wish they, you know, more people thought about that. So we, we were in a tough spot eight weeks postpartum and I, I had to find a job within months or we would have to sell our home.
Amy Stone [00:04:59]:
So it sounds like to me listening to this that you guys are planners when it comes to finance and maybe like not necessarily like this was working for a startup is a risky proposition, a speculative move kind of thing. But it sounds like you guys went into it with conservative hats on cautious. We’re trying to be careful. You’d saved, you had some unexpected medical expenses. So for the people, I mean, I guess this is pretty globally famous, but for the people who are listening from outside of the United States, it’s very expensive to have a baby in the United States. Sometimes depending on what your insurance does and who you are and where you’re living. And I don’t know, did you like this is like a Personal question. You can tell me to buzz off. Was with a startup, insurance sometimes is not awesome, right?
Christie Kaplan [00:05:49]:
Yeah. So we were on my husband’s insurance. He’s a certified hand therapist, though he worked for, you know, many different clinics in the area and he’s building up his practice too. But, you know, it was just a. It was the right move for me in my career, life wise. It was a bit of a risk and turned out to be. But it was a huge turning point in my life and I can’t wait to talk about that too, because.
Amy Stone [00:06:15]:
So did you guys, before we talk about the change, did you guys move to California or were you working remotely from Texas? In California?
Christie Kaplan [00:06:23]:
I was working remotely and I was traveling there once a month.
Amy Stone [00:06:27]:
Okay, all right, so you’re working remotely, you have a startup. Your husband is also sounds like an entrepreneur. Like build. It’s sort of building his practice. Building his hand practice. Were the layoffs a shock when they happened, or were you aware that, you know, there were finance things happening in the company that might lead to layoffs?
Christie Kaplan [00:06:48]:
The only warning sign we had was it was at the time Silicon Valley banks were closing.
Amy Stone [00:06:54]:
Okay, that happened fast.
Christie Kaplan [00:06:57]:
It did, it did. It was all within a month. And we. I was asked to join a Zoom call on a Monday that I was off. Cause I came back. My plan was to come back after postpartum, like, you know, certain work, certain days and stuff like that. So I don’t know, I was asked to come in on a, you know, join a Zoom call on Monday on a day I was actually helping my friend, another postpartum mama, clean her bathroom because we were just. We help each other. That’s what mamas do. And got the call and she’s like, can you join this all hands? And then that led to the entire product department getting laid off.
Amy Stone [00:07:33]:
So a massive reduction in force. The. All right, so then that might. That answers my next question. So you, you had come back or you were beginning to come back from your scheduled maternity leave, and if so, how did that feel coming back for you? This is a personal question. Again, you can tell me to buzz off, but it is one of the things that is relevant to women who are making career changes and decisions and things like that. So how were you feeling about coming back to work with an eight week old baby that sounds like it’s your first baby? Were you happy about it? Did it feel like it was stressful? How was that for you?
Christie Kaplan [00:08:09]:
Yeah, no, I, I really look forward to it. I’m. I’ve always loved work and especially the team I was with, they had a lot of young kids too. So, you know, they were very understanding and they knew how. They knew that the spot I was in and I was looking forward to it. I, you know, I love my baby and I love spending time with him, but we ended up doing like two day a week daycare so I could work the days that I needed to. And then he got to be in school for a bit. Um, but yeah, we, we. I made it work in terms of we basically sat back and before I left on maternity leave, months before, me and my manager put together a plan of, like, how I wanted to come back. Um, so it was very like, you know, I took, I think every Friday off for like the month or something, and then I would start slowly go back to, to full time. So we had a whole plan, of course, and designed it to meet best the. The product that we were working on as well as the team and myself.
Amy Stone [00:09:05]:
Very nice. And so that’s a change. If you were to talk about how people came back to work and juggled childcare 10, 15 years ago, you’d have daycare, but then they would be going in person to an office. And it just occurred to me that you would go to off site daycare, I think, but then come home to work from home, which is sort of a shift in the way people work in the last decade or so. Just a irrelevant observation from my little brain. All right, so you get laid off. It’s a shock. You’re actually not scheduled to work. You get a call from the office or a text or an email that says, hey, can you join this meeting? Did that feel like it was unusual to you? Was it a. Were you like, oh, something must be up? Were you, like, a little bit on guard when you came into the meeting?
Christie Kaplan [00:09:56]:
I mean, it was the whole company, so it was our CEO talking about, there’s going to be changes. All this. I mean, my mind mindset was definitely not like, getting laid off. But I had a little bit of an inkling. I’m like, maybe. But the following meeting after that was with my manager and she had to let go of, like, myself and another designer as well. And I remember she was the one crying and I was the one just. I wasn’t upset. I honestly, maybe because from my rough, I guess, recovery from, you know, surgery and everything, I was still in survival mindset. And I was like, okay, just. This is just triage. Let’s just. I never cried once about it actually, to this day about getting. I just was like, okay, like I gotta figure out the next steps. Like started calling immediately all my, my close networks and was able to get some pretty good leads there. But it was definitely took a couple months to land a full time role after that between everything.
Amy Stone [00:11:04]:
So it’s not the topic of our interview, but it’s come up a couple of times, so I’ll touch base on it. It sounds like your actual like physical process of bringing this beautiful new human to the world was, was more, more complicated than expected.
Christie Kaplan [00:11:17]:
It was.
Amy Stone [00:11:18]:
And so you were still maybe healing and recovering emotionally from that at eight weeks. And the only reason that that’s relevant to this conversation is that it probably does. Whenever you have those layers of complication and layers of stress, it changes the way we feel as we’re making the decisions. So that would be, that might be where that is relevant. Okay, so this, what was life like in your house the day that this happens and you tell your husband while you’re holding your bouncing little baby on your lap, like, hey, guess what, I’ve been laid off.
Christie Kaplan [00:11:55]:
Yeah. Yeah, you know, I, it was, it’s pretty bad. I mean, we sat there and my husband is in fix it mode and I was in fix it mode. And we, you know, we’re both really strong planners, but you know, we’re also like, well, we knew this was going to be one of the risks working at that job. Even though it did wonders for my career, still to this day it’s one of the best products and people I’ve ever worked with. And I mean, we just sat there and we’re like, okay, like, we gotta do this. We gotta shuffle things here and there. Thankfully. Thankfully we had some family and friends nearby that were, you know, willing to help us if needed. But we were like, no, no, we’re gonna, we did this. We’re gonna figure this out. So, yeah, I mean, it just, we both sat down, wrote out a plan, figured out where we can pull resources from, and we made it happen. It was, you know, I have a very funny story and I’m a complete open book, so I’d love to tell you the story too, about how just being one a new mom, but also laid off, but also managing a phone interview at the same time. It was one of the days my kid wasn’t in daycare because that was the only way we could keep his spot in that daycare because we knew I was going to go back to work once I found a job, so I couldn’t completely cancel daycare. So it was one of the days it Was like either a Tuesday or something. And I remember I was finishing up a pumping session because I went straight into pumping because, you know, I knew I was going to go back to work. That was the whole plan. So we never, you know, practice latching or anything. Maybe early days, but I just got into a really good rhythm and discipline for that. And then, so I was finishing up. Finishing up a pumping session, and my kid was on the floor crawling. And I’m like, okay, he’s. He’s doing good. And I had a phone. A phone interview. Thank goodness it wasn’t a video call or anything like that, but. And right when everything was starting to happen, my kiddo started to cry because he was hungry. And I was like, well, good thing I have fresh milk. We’re good. But then I also had to go to the bathroom. And then also the phone interview was about to start. I found myself, Amy, on the toilet finishing up my pumping session, feeding my baby a bottle and holding him and taking a phone interview. That was. That was a moment I remember very clearly. And I told myself, I will do everything in my power never to, like, have the postpartum experience that I had. And if that meant I get control over more of the work I do, which is why now I own a business. And then two, I also. I wish I wasn’t in the crazy stress mode that I found myself in. And I didn’t really get to enjoy the postpartum experience that many mothers do. So I’m looking for my do over when we. We talk about another kid in the near future. Well, far future, but near future, kind of.
Amy Stone [00:15:07]:
But in the future. In the future. That is a funny visual. That is a funny visual. But I think, yes, it’s definitely life with small kids around puts you in crazy situations like that sometimes not. I have not had that situation definite for myself. All right, so this does feel to me, as I hear you tell this story, like a very. A lot of stress to be happening all at the same time. New baby, losing a job, following up on a pretty intense delivery experience. New. All of these things. Job search. It’s very clear. You described you and your husband as good planners. It’s very clear that you guys are forward thinkers. I have this feeling that you guys work on checklists and spreadsheets, project management tools. I’m sure that it sounds very clear to me that you guys are organized. Tell me, let’s talk a little bit about how you guys navigated this together and any strain on the relationship keeping the communication channels open. Were you Guys, a team working together. What was the stress like?
Christie Kaplan [00:16:17]:
Yeah, I mean, the stress was top. It was the most stressed we’ve been since we bought our house before, you know, before all that, the market change, thankfully. But it was probably the most testing in terms of not the relationship, but just, you know, our perseverance and just heads down, just, just do the work. Like, don’t complain, just show up and go do it. Like my husband was, he went back to work two weeks after I gave birth, after it took a while for me to recover. So he wasn’t even comfortable going to work. But we, he had to. And he never got paternity leave. The company didn’t provide that. So he took two weeks unpaid, which was also something we didn’t foresee, you know, later down the road. But yeah, I mean, it was, you know, we just kind of showed up and we, we did what we needed to do. It wasn’t very much strain on the relationship. I mean, if me and my husband needed to sell the house, we would have, you know, and just gotten a two bedroom apartment and you know, or moved in with our, one of our family members. Like as long as we were in it together, of course we have like ideals for where we want our life to be, but we just knew, you know, we supported each other a lot. And my husband was very much a caretaker and that’s what he does as an occupation. So, you know, he was always taking care of, you know, the kid and myself, especially after that recovery. So it bonded us actually closer. And it reminds us like, you know, if we get in this position again, we, we’ve been here, we know what we need to do and we know what worst case scenario looks like and we’re okay with that too.
Amy Stone [00:18:15]:
That’s really nice. There are hidden choices there. Like you shared that story. Thank you for sharing that about your relationship and how this brought you guys together. But that, that’s a hidden choice, right? Because stress sometimes creates fissures and breaks in relationships. So you guys chose to work together and stay strong. And that’s, that’s a part of the story for sure. So you shared with me on the intake form that you got a job quickly after this. You were even up for a promotion quickly. And then very interestingly, I think you were told that you were too young for the promotion. That’s a fun thing to hear from somebody. You’re too young. And that this hap. This placed a fire in you right then and there. That’s the, what you described. And so the question I Have is a fire to do what?
Christie Kaplan [00:19:09]:
Yeah, I, so I have a 12 year career. I’m, I’m only 31. I know that sounds like, wow, you’ve been working forever. And I, I have. I actually started my career at age 13 and back when magazine magazines were still a thing and I worked with my mom’s, her, her business company that she worked for. I was published in a magazine at 13 as the, one of the editors in it. Like I was always working since I was really young and I just enjoyed it. And I, I have a very long career and I’ve always done projects on the side. I’ve always had my own consulting work that I do, whether it’s advisory or, you know, support or even a website design. Back in the days, had something to do, an extra project. So I learned in life, like I’m very, maybe because I’m organized, but it was very organized and I was able to manage a lot of different work streams at once. And that led me to really understanding my capability. So the story about, you know, that job I got after postpartum, I, you know, it was something that it was a close connection and I was like, awesome. Like I just needed something and it was local, it was nearby, it seemed like a small fit, like good fit. And yeah, I worked really hard. It was another consultancy and I worked really hard to, you know, work my way to establish a good standing there because I wanted to, you know, keep going in my career. I didn’t know what that looked like yet, but something changed postpartum. Something changed in that, that experience when I was laid off. I, it maybe it’s fears of not getting to control what happens in my life. And it really, what also solidified it was that conversation about being promoted. And one of the mentions was being too young. And I say this now and you know, I, I never did an exit interview or anything like that. I, I don’t, I don’t cause ripples or waves. And companies, I just know there’s so much going on, you just, they don’t need one more thing, to be honest. So I just knew from there I was like, okay, this is not, not the right fit. They’re obviously looking for someone that’s not who I am. And maybe it’s a perception thing, I don’t know. But I just knew, okay, this isn’t it. And I still had that gnawing feeling. Postpartum, I was like, there’s something here that’s changed in my brain for the better. And that actually sparked me one morning I just woke up with why. It was kind of an anger. It was, why don’t I just do this myself? I’ve, I’m capable. I’ve been doing this type of work for years and I’ve done pitches. I’ve been selling biz dev like many consultancies prior. And I was like, why don’t I own this and do this myself? So I woke up one morning and formed an llc and I never looked back. So.
Amy Stone [00:22:28]:
So that’s a very interesting career pivot story. Not totally unexpected. A lot of people I talk to you definitely, and experience the change in what it’s actually like to work once you have a small child and I am older than you are. But I, for me, it was a surprise. It was a surprise how childcare didn’t line up with the working hours. It was, I have a joke. I’m like, I’m like, turns out school is from 8:30 to 3, but there’s not really a job that is going to pay you a full time salary from 8:30 to 3 and off on all the holidays and come for all the shows and be there all of the time. And that was a surprise to me. It was like, oh, now I understand why all the women older than me went into business for themselves immediately after they had children. So it really, for me, it was a point of discovery that surprised me. Even though I had seen other people do it. Sometimes you can’t see it until it happens to you. So you wake up, you do what is a pretty aggressive job search. You take a job because you need it. Your finances are more stable and secure. When you have this other job. So you’re making these decisions and you do wake up and you’re like this, I want something different. I want more control over this, something in my life. You form an llc. So in times of stress. Right. Sometimes it can feel like we get tunnel vision. It’s like a very, very myopic thing. We make the decisions that are most necessary in the moment, I think sometimes, which is a. That’s good. And so when you think about the decisions that you made in this time after you were laid off when the baby was eight, eight weeks old, is there a single decision that stands out to you as one that made a significant difference in your career pivot and where you are today.
Christie Kaplan [00:24:25]:
Yeah, no, that definitely was a big one. It was. I never want to go through that again. Even the story I told you about, you know, being on the toilet and finishing up a pumping session, I just, I was like, this Is not. I don’t ever want to have to be forced to do this. Like I want that to be a choice.
Amy Stone [00:24:43]:
And is that the job hunt you didn’t want to be or what’s the it in that sentence? The postpartum experience. Okay.
Christie Kaplan [00:24:51]:
Yeah. I missed out on because of. It’s already stressful, but yes. Add all the other layers to it. It was, I mean, I didn’t, I feel like it would have broken me and maybe it did in some ways, but it really, it showed me like I, I am capable of more things and I want to be able to choose what that is.
Amy Stone [00:25:12]:
Okay, so then is that control over your time and your schedule so that you have the ability to choose your own postpartum experience? Is that what you would like the next time?
Christie Kaplan [00:25:25]:
That. And I know if I go into business for myself, I get more maybe not control, but say in, you know, not just the schedule and logistics. I think that’s a big part of a lot of women too is, you know, we, we need a lot of that. You know, the schedules don’t line up or, you know, you’re taking on more work and you don’t realize it and then, but it was, it was more than that. It’s more than the logistics, the timing, the, the time with the kiddo. Because I had time, but it was, it was very stress time. It was very pressured. And it was less about that and more about the uncontrollable feeling I have whenever I was an fte, a full time employee. Okay. A lot of people don’t realize that you don’t have actually a lot of control in any scenario there. And that, that was kind of my wake up moment of, you know, I, what I can control and what I can do is way more secure in the long run than a full time position. Who can still lay you off whenever and anything can happen. And everyone says that in business too. But you do get more, more say and you do get more control in manner in different ways. Right.
Amy Stone [00:26:51]:
So then what I think I’m hearing is and I’ll see if I, if I can recap this and if you agree and tell me if you think I’m wrong. It’s the realization like you had a sensation of security that you were tying to the full time position. And when you realized that your perception of that security was not actually what it was like, that you were at risk at any time they had control over letting you go, you made the decision to make changes so that you had more autonomy over your, over what was Going on in your professional life.
Christie Kaplan [00:27:26]:
Yeah, no, exactly. More. More security on knowing what I can do and pushing that. But also, you know, the, the not being promoted part because of factor that I cannot change. You know that I think that it’s so funny.
Amy Stone [00:27:44]:
It’s so there’s all these rules, right, about how. And I’m not an expert on this, but there’s all these rules about age and gender and all these things in the HR departments. And it wild that it would be, it would not be on somebody’s, you know, watch list to say to, to not say to somebody, hey, this is, you know, age. Like, I think I’m not in hr, but I think you’re supposed, if you, I think you’re supposed to be like, you know, it’s for more experience or you don’t have the, you know, I, I’m pretty sure, pretty sure it’s been a long time since I worked from somebody else. But I really am pretty confident that we’re not supposed to tell people that things are directly age related. Could be totally wrong. Somebody can tell me, you’re right, you’re right.
Christie Kaplan [00:28:23]:
And there was that, of course. But when.
Amy Stone [00:28:28]:
The other thing is that right after you come back from a baby, that’s one of the times, I mean, this was a reduction enforced. This company laid off a huge section of people. But that’s one of the times where you’re supposed to be more secure in your job. You know, you’re supposed to be in a protected spot. So it doesn’t always work out that way. But it is one of those things that it’s like, yeah, you’re supposed to be safe here. And it’s not always true. True. So. And that’s not to say that anything bad about the companies that do that because, you know, you can’t have a bunch of employees if you don’t have any money to pay the payroll.
Christie Kaplan [00:28:59]:
Exactly. So I went from one unsafe experience of being laid off to another unsafe experience of, you know, this is not, you know, I, I still don’t have security that still was, you know, because of that factor. And it wasn’t really matching my, you know, the growth. And I was just angry, you know, I was angry I didn’t get the, the postman experience. I was, I planned so hard for and set my family up for. And then I was, I was angry about, you know, I didn’t get promoted because of, you know, a factor. And it was, I don’t know, it’s just maybe that’s what pressurized over a Whole year. That was all in one year. It pressurized me into forming something and finally controlling something that I, I had a huge say in and that I could manage and, and also learn more about myself. But something changed in my brain postpartum. I wasn’t the same, you know, oh, I’ll work for you, I’ll do this. Something changed. Like, I realized that I, I can do a lot more. And maybe that was due to that postpartum experience I had and all the things I had to manage.
Amy Stone [00:30:19]:
Very possibly. All right, so you told us that you’ve been employed hustling since you were 13. You’ve got all this experience. In a second, we’re going to do the final fun questions, but I want to give people a chance. I want to give you a chance to tell the audience you formed this llc, tell us what you do and how you want folks to find you online after they listen to the show.
Christie Kaplan [00:30:43]:
Yeah, so I mean, the LLC started in, in June 2024. We’re about over a year, a little over a year now that since we formed the llc. I say we because a month in, after forming it, I realized I, you know, I don’t want to do this alone. As any good designer, you’re always collaborating. So I found some good co workers or co founders of mine through people I’ve worked with before in the past that I trust and we have good relationships and they balance me out in a way that calms me. They’re a little more realistic. And, you know, I’m the visionary and I always want to push things or I have new ideas every day. So they, they, they ground me. And that’s what my husband does for my family front. So in the business front, I have that person to lean on as well. And I mean, the work that we do, you know, you probably hear of, you know, startup life. You know, people are getting VC money, people are looking for capital. Some people are building physical products, some people are building digital products. And our, our company, Startup Design Partners, focuses primarily on digital products. And we call ourselves venture and product design. So not only are we designing products to meet end customers, like if you think of the app like Instacart, you know, there’s people there that, you know, there’s an audience, there’s businesses that use it. There’s, you know, people like us, right, who need it, or a new mom who needs it dropped off of their door because they have a phone interview. Right. So there are these products out there that exist and we help primarily with forming those experiences. Through a lot of research, understanding who these audiences are, who your ICP is, your ideal customer profile, mapping out entire journeys of what it looks like holistically. And we’ve also taken this a bit more, this process that we do for building products and now we have positioned it to helping forming businesses and founders who, who are actually starting from zero and they’re trying to build something, whether they’re by themselves, whether they have a small team. All the frameworks that we have used to build products, we are now taking to businesses and ventures because really the same principles apply. If you’ve heard of design thinking or anything where it’s a collaborative, iterative approach, that’s the approach that we take. And it’s all about understanding who you’re talking to, actually mapping out things, doing some strategic work and planning before you just, you know, vibe, code something and go right, it’s thinking about something, taking a step back, asking the right questions. And you know, not only have we built a, you know, a consultancy, but really we knew for the long term for this product and this company to exist, we needed to have legs with it, we needed to create an ecosystem because again, we preach all about creating sustainable products. So we’re, we’re doing that in terms of our venture and business as well. So not only do we have, you know, the consultancy aspect, but we also do a lot of advisory, which is actually the offer we’re giving out to your audience, but we’re also doing, we have also grown a community, a global community of designers like ourselves who have been top consultants and who’ve been freelancers their entire career. And they, you know, as designers we work better together. So we’ve created community for them to collaborate on projects together and also build their own products together. So future five, you know, five year vision is not only are we helping supporting the designers in the community, but we’re also matching them with founders, which we’re doing today actually. And we’re also going to be building our own products in an incubator. Because our main mission, main mission is we believe every company should be design led. And so one way we can do that is not just churn out products through our community of designers, but also help more early stage founders who are entering the marketplace at 10x speed because of all the AI products and tools out there that they can start doing things with. So it’s just extending that knowledge that we’ve not gatekeeped, but a lot of incubators have gatekeeped for a long time and it’s, you Know, opening that world up to other people who are looking to own a little bit more of their futures just like I did. Right. I wanted more control over the times I worked the, you know, what I contribute to the world. And then Yeah, I mean 10 year vision is, you know, if we don’t get bought out by a venture fund studio, we could ideally start our own fund and go internal and start producing companies with that Right. Mindset ahead. So that’s a little bit about it. I know it’s a long.
Amy Stone [00:36:21]:
That’s a lot about it. No, that’s a lot about it. I’m wondering, I’m wondering like I’m going to do an unofficial market survey how many people listening to this show, like understand like what, what it is exactly that you’re talking about with the venture, the venture firms and the gatekeeping. But yeah, I think that broad based over a lot. I think this is a kickback from what we would call generally the freelancer gig economy that we are now seeing for in many different industries across the way, the indie creators, the small people are coming together to form collaboratives and their own ladders because the gatekeeping is also a launch pad for people. If you can get past the gatekeeping then you can explode. But there’s not really very many ladders to get up to that point. And so I’m seeing a lot of people in different places pulling together to form collaborative groups for small time indie stuff. You know, everything from books to, you know, any, all kind of things. So. And this, you’re doing this in terms of design. All right, so you do have a really generous thing for the audience. So it’s a one hour complimentary venture product advisory session and this is where you, a well seasoned expert venture designer will help walk them through this framework. Value proposition, mapping, design, strategy, consultation, a bunch of things. The value is usually $250, but there’s, this is a special where you can get it for free and there’s an email that people can access to send it to which is hello startupdesignpartners.com that information for all the people who are watching and listening is in the show notes wherever you’re watching the show. But the easiest way to get this information is always to be a subscriber to the imperfect adulting email community because then I send it right to your email box and the links and information about the offers and the guests are there so you don’t have to scrabble around and work for a piece of paper or if you miss an episode it’s always a recap. It’s really, really the best thing to do. Subscribe, be a part of my email community. I also send funny stories. All right, Christie, are you ready for the final three questions?
Christie Kaplan [00:38:35]:
Yes, yes. I’ve been looking forward to him, so let’s do it.
Amy Stone [00:38:38]:
All right. Did you watch TV when you were in high school? And if so, can you remember what was your. One of your favorite programs?
Christie Kaplan [00:38:47]:
Did I watch TV in high school? No, I did not. That’s. I mean, that’s probably. I really didn’t. I. You know, I did not. We grew up not poor, but we. We grew up. You know, we. We didn’t. We didn’t ever had like, we had videos and V and you know, vcrs, so. Ah, and DVDs. I guess those rolled out after. Now I just watched a lot of movies with my siblings. I’m one out of five kids, so yeah, not a lot of TV shows that. All right, a lot of movies.
Amy Stone [00:39:26]:
What was one of your favorite movies then in high school that were on VHS or DVD in your house?
Christie Kaplan [00:39:32]:
We go to the public library, my sister and I, and we’d rent out the season of Alias. Okay, so me and my sister and we, we’d watch that a lot.
Amy Stone [00:39:43]:
All right, very good. So randomly, because I have. There’s a bunch of kids in my family and they spawn a giant amount of years. It is only very recently that I no longer have a VHS machine because we had ancient. We had a VHS library of kids stuff that we would just keep and we would pull out this ancient VHS machine and the tapes to be able to play the kid TVs. So it’s very, very recent. So recent, in fact, that within the last year it was a family conversation. People were like, do we still have a vcr, a VHS player? And we were like, do we? Is it somewhere? And then it turns out no, we don’t. We don’t anymore. We have DVD and we have all the other things, but we do not any longer have a vhs anyway. Okay, enough of the like Luddite Stone family history. What is your feeling about reusable, insulated water bottles? Do you think they are great or ridiculous? And if you like them, which brand do you use?
Christie Kaplan [00:40:40]:
Re insulated water bottles? I’m a big component of not waste. So anytime plastic water, I never buy. Like, I don’t do it. If I do, it’s glass. Try to recycle. But no, I. I guess my one that I use, it’s so beat up.
Amy Stone [00:40:58]:
There you go.
Christie Kaplan [00:41:01]:
Right here. I Don’t know.
Amy Stone [00:41:03]:
Hello. All right. There you go.
Christie Kaplan [00:41:06]:
It’s great. You know, it pops open. My kid knows how to use it. Two and a half years. Mama’s water bottle. Yeah, it has a lock feature everything. So.
Amy Stone [00:41:16]:
Yeah, I guess you’re a fan. There you go. All right. We mentioned actually this does have a tie into the interview and though it wasn’t on purpose, I write these questions well in advance. What is something that you’re afraid of that you’re willing to admit to the strangers who are listening or watching to the show?
Christie Kaplan [00:41:32]:
Afraid of? I’m very much afraid. Oh, it’s going to get deep but I’m part excited but also really afraid of what my kids future is going to be with how AI is forming so fast. It does keep me at night when I, it does keep me up at night when I, you know, think about all the, the factors that, you know, is four year universities even going to be a thing is what is the education system going to look like? Like how. Because again I’m a planner. So it’s, you know, how can I prepare my kid best for this next era? And I don’t think anyone knows yet what that’s going to be. And you know, his, his future is going to be very vastly different than mine. But also so were our parents. Right. And they’re just. Yes, but it is different exponentially. So that’s what keeps me up at night and that’s what I’m afraid of right now.
Amy Stone [00:42:39]:
Yeah, that’s, that’s a very good, that’s a real, that’s a series of really, really deep questions to ask and reasonable fears. It is fun to talk to people who are a lot older than we are and ask them about when they were young because I don’t have any, I wasn’t alive before the turn of the century or anything so I don’t have any actual perspective. But we do have this perception that things are changing more and faster than ever before and that could be. Right. I’m not the person who can judge but I remember sitting down and talking to one of the grandparents in our family and you know, they didn’t have a tv, they listened to the radio, there was no phone, you know, all of those things and you think about the major changes that they have lived through and it’s like, and it’s wild and it’s just wild to think about, you know, but. And I don’t think that anybody can predict it where it’s going to go, but it can scare the ever living pants off you if you’re not paying, if you focus on it too much. I feel you there very much. That’s it. Christie Kaplan, thank you so much for being a wonderful guest today on the show.
Christie Kaplan [00:43:42]:
Thank you, Amy. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.