Let's stop pretending that foundership isn't a messy business

We're tired of the polished pretence. It's time to reclaim the beautiful mess.

Running a business in the world right now is messy.

Foundership is messy.

There’s a whole lot of figuring things out to do—over and over again.

I know this because I’m seven years into my solo journey and I’ve had to evolve more than I ever imagined just to keep my head above water. But honestly, that’s been a good thing. Because the journey of business—real business—isn’t just about scaling strategies or six-figure blueprints. It’s soul work. It calls us to burn things down and start again. To question everything. To meet ourselves at the edge.

Inside our community, where conscious female founders finally have space to exhale and take off the armour, we talk about this shared truth.

That it’s hard. That it’s beautiful. That it’s not neat. And that no one’s really talking about that publicly.

Because on LinkedIn or Instagram? You’d be forgiven for thinking that you’re in a parallel universe. It’s all “just one space left!” and “sold-out launch!” and “running a business is such a dream 💫.”

And sure—there is delight. I’m deeply grateful that I left corporate finance at John Lewis to pursue the work I love. I wouldn’t change it for anything.

But let’s not dishonour the reality: that birthing something that comes from the deepest parts of your soul will never be a polished process.

It’s beautifully messy. Sacred, even.

So yes, I’m tired.

Tired of the polish. Tired of the performance. Tired of the illusion that if people aren’t constantly booked out and thriving, then they’re doing it all wrong.

You’re not.

If you’re in the mess, you’re not alone. And you’re not broken.

This is what it looks like to create something real.

You'll have days where you wonder if any of this is working, nights where you lie awake with a knot in your tummy, and moments where it feels like everyone else is flying while you're still crawling.

But what if crawling is sacred too? What if the season where you feel stretched, uncertain, cracked open—isn’t a sign that you’re failing, but proof that you’re expanding?

This work asks everything of us.

It strips back the layers of who we thought we had to be, and invites us to meet ourselves more honestly. It’s confronting and it’s the birthplace of something real. Because when you start creating from your truth, when you stop chasing and start aligning, something shifts. You stop performing. You start expressing.

So let’s stop pretending.

Let’s stop polishing ourselves into something we’re not. Let’s honour the process for what it is—soulful, vulnerable, and deeply alive. Because the more honest we are about the mess, the more space we make for each other to breathe and keep going.

And I don’t know about you, but that’s the kind of thing I want to be part of.

For the beautifully messy ones,

~ Kindred Founders ~

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https://www.kindredfounders.com/the-kindred-way