Business & Babies: What it's really like to build a startup as a parent
Founders often call their startup "their baby". But what happens when a real one arrives? Sleepless nights meet sales, daycare runs meet meetings, and the to-do list suddenly includes changing diapers.
Within the Start it @KBC community, plenty of founders are combining both. We sat down with three of them: Nick Haverals (Finn HR), Victor Verlinden (Virenti) and Pascaline Marie Mahalo (ndaki). Three different companies, three different stages of parenthood, one shared question: how has having a child changed the way you build your business? And do founders who are parents receive enough support?
Nick Haverals (Finn HR): “Suddenly, it’s also for my son”
Nick is no stranger to building companies. Together with his co-founder Rik, he started a marketing agency in 2017, sold it a few years later and saw out the earn-out period until 31 March this year. A day later, the duo went all in on Finn HR. After months of searching for product-market fit, the sales funnel finally clicked: online leads, a 25-minute demo, a free trial, paying customers. That breakthrough came just three weeks before Nick’s son was born.
"Before our son arrived, I was out networking two, three evenings a week, because that's what a commercial role demands. Now I cherry-pick the events I genuinely enjoy. During the first two weeks I skipped every meeting, but I kept up with my inbox while he slept on my chest. And I've learned to switch off: when you're changing a diaper, you can't think about anything else."
He is quick to point out that he doesn't do it alone. He and his co-founder Rik jokingly call their partnership a "business marriage", and because Rik can step into the commercial side, the business kept running while Nick was home. Since the startup now generates its own leads online, Nick's evenings are no longer dictated by the pipeline. That flexibility, he says, makes it far more comfortable to have a baby now than it would have been in his agency years.
Victor Verlinden (Virenti): “Becoming a dad didn’t just change my motivation, it changed my perspective”
Victor's daughter is three and a half months old. He drops his daughter off at daycare in the morning, makes sure he's home before bedtime and takes the night shift when she wakes up.
"What changed most isn't my motivation, it's my perspective. You shift from 'the founder does everything' to building a team that gives you room to actually enjoy your child. I don't want to reach the end of the road and say I mainly worked very hard. And it's crucial to know you can lean on your partner, so you don't have to carry everything alone."
Interestingly, Victor doesn’t feel parenthood has slowed his business down. In deep tech hardware, he explains, working more hours doesn’t automatically translate into faster progress: some development and validation cycles simply take the time they take. “You can try to force it,” he says, “but you’ll burn out.” What does accelerate progress, in his view, is setting the right priorities and building a strong team that can move the company forward, so that momentum doesn’t depend on how many hours the founders put in. That focus is also what makes it possible to combine building a company with being a young parent.
Pascaline Marie Mahalo (ndaki): "I want to be an ambitious mother who is also present"
Pascaline is building ndaki, a social enterprise that combines an app with products for curly and coily hair. Its mission goes beyond haircare: ndaki wants to boost self-esteem and celebrate diversity by helping people embrace their natural curls. Until recently, she combined it with a senior role in the medical field: day job in the morning, startup in the afternoon. Becoming a mum also reshaped her product itself: ndaki now has a section and workshops for children, inspired partly by raising a son with roots in two cultures.
"In the beginning, it was chaotic: daycare, the train from Mechelen, arriving late to meetings. I had underestimated how much energy a child takes. Some nights I sleep three or four hours, so I push targets back or give myself extra months. I know I miss opportunities; even a 5PM-event takes real planning. But I chose to have a child, and I want to be an ambitious mother who is also present."
Her support system makes it work: her co-founder sister steps in when needed, and family helps with childcare. Her son gives her a clear target: getting ndaki firmly established before he starts school.
Is there enough support for founder-parents?
On paper, Belgium has taken real steps. Since 1 July 2026, maximum maternity leave for self-employed mothers has risen from 12 to 15 weeks (three mandatory), combined with free service vouchers for household help and weekly benefits of €908.11 for the first four weeks and €830.59 thereafter (Securex; RIZIV/INAMI). Self-employed fathers and co-parents are entitled to up to 20 days of paid birth leave at €105.60 per full day (Securex; Partena Professional). Adding the Growth Package start amount, child benefit, and health insurance bonuses puts more on the table than many assume.
However, the system falls short in practice:
Bureaucratic complexity: Self-employed parents must navigate the administrative process themselves. Nick noted that while more support is available than expected, the application procedures are complex and easy to get wrong, leaving little room for error when navigating specific individual circumstances.
Less protection and risk: Self-employed mothers still receive noticeably less protection than employees. Pascaline, who timed her switch to entrepreneurship to maintain steady income, stresses that the financial reality for founder families should never be underestimated.
Lack of tailored policy and shifting rules: Victor emphasizes that very little policy exists specifically for founder-parents. Between costly childcare, the necessity for both parents to work, and constantly changing fiscal rules, founders face major uncertainty. While having children is verbally encouraged, shifting goalposts make it difficult to make long-term business decisions and balance financial security with family life.
What founder-parents can take away
Three founders, three journeys, but shared lessons:
- Look into your rights early. Benefits exist, but you must apply through your social insurance and health funds yourself.
- Build in redundancy. Ensure team members can manage sales or operations while you step away.
- Talk about it. Exchanging experiences with other founder-parents offers invaluable support.
In the end, the startup-as-a-baby metaphor holds true: both keep you up at night, both grow rapidly, and neither comes with a manual. At Start it @KBC, we're proud to support founders on both journeys. Are you building a startup and a family at the same time? We'd love to hear your story.