How I Built This with Guy Raz Episode: Babylist: Natalie Gordon. How a new mom used nap time to build a $500M business. Date: November 3, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, Guy Raz sits down with Natalie Gordon, founder and CEO of Babylist—a baby registry platform that has grown from a side project coded during her son’s nap times to a $500 million business. The conversation explores Natalie’s journey from Amazon engineer to first-time founder, the challenges of building a startup as a new parent, her experiences with early setbacks, the gritty realities of scaling Babylist, and her vision for the future of supporting growing families.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Early Life and Career

• Amazon Years: Natalie describes joining Amazon in the early 2000s, working on Amazon Fresh, and the lessons learned from solving logistical challenges at an innovative, yet still upstart, company.
  • "Truthfully, getting a job at Microsoft was much more prestigious than getting a job at Amazon at that time in Seattle." — Natalie (05:58)
• Decision to Leave: After four years, Natalie leaves Amazon to travel through Latin America, seeking adventure and a break after intensive work and schooling.

First Startup Attempt: Linguajero

• Language Exchange Platform: During her travels, Natalie co-founds Linguajero, a peer-to-peer language exchange website, but it’s ultimately more a learning experience than a financial success ("In its top month, it only ever made $40." — Natalie, 10:49).
  • "I even feel bad about calling it a startup. Like, it felt like a project that I was really excited to do." — Natalie (10:54)
• Financial Security: Lives off Amazon savings; experiences the highs and lows of self-driven projects.

The Inspiration for Babylist

• Overwhelming Baby Registry Experience: When pregnant with her first child, Natalie feels lost and frustrated navigating big-box baby stores and clunky, restrictive registries.
  • "I walked in and I think I did not even add one item to my registry. I put the scan gun down and I, like, walked out in tears." — Natalie (17:31)
• Lightbulb Moment: Realizes there must be a better, more modern way for parents to register for what they truly need—including practical help, not just physical gifts.

Lean Startup Approach & Launch

• Applying Startup Wisdom: Inspired by reading The Lean Startup, Natalie is determined to do it differently:
  • "I want another at bat...I would love to do this all again and really use this as my bible and like the way I would build something." — Natalie (15:01)
• Solo Founder Scrappiness: Codes the first version herself, recruits a remote designer, and launches Babylist just before her son is born—all while managing early motherhood.

Initial Growth and Distribution

• Grassroots Outreach: Sends customized emails to bloggers, creates sample registries tailored to their interests, and posts on Hacker News:
  • "I posted to Hacker News: 'I’m a pregnant hacker. Please review my side project.'" — Natalie (25:25)
• Early Traction: Five bloggers cover Babylist at launch, leading to steady early adoption.

Monetization and Business Model

• Affiliate Revenue: Sets up affiliate relationships with retailers like Target; initial income comes from commission on sales referred through Babylist.
• Milestone for Going Full-Time: Sets a target of $3,000/month before committing full-time (“It was a magic number. I don’t know why...It was just representing this business is actually going to work.” — Natalie, 39:03).

Scaling and Mindset Shifts

• From Side Hustle to Startup: Moves to the Bay Area, joins accelerator (500 Startups), and raises a seed round ($600k) to hire her first team.
• Challenges of Solo Founding: Struggles with the pressure and loneliness of being a solo founder in a hyper-collaborative startup community.
  • “It felt like I might have been the only solo founder. So you want to take advantage of every part of this program and everything's set up because they're kind of acting like you're three or four people.” — Natalie (42:00)

Learning to Lead

• Difficulties in Hiring & Managing: Faces challenges in hiring, managing, and letting go of employees for the first time.
  • "The other thing that's really hard about hiring is you're hiring someone to do something better than you could do it." — Natalie (48:08)
• Investing in Coaching: Works with a coach to develop management and feedback skills, shifting from engineer/founder to CEO/leader.

Marketing Breakthrough (2015)

• Pinterest as a Growth Lever: 2015 brings an inflection point when promoted pins supercharge growth and help Babylist hit "hockey stick" momentum.
  • “We put money in on the first day and many people signed up. And the key thing about Babylist is it’s free to sign up and hopefully three months later, actual people will start coming to your registry.” — Natalie (52:16)

Business Expansion and Strategic Decisions

• Staying Focused: Deliberately chooses not to enter the wedding registry market, keeping Babylist focused on new and expecting parents.
• Building Content: Starts emphasizing educational content and product guides (e.g., "Best Bottles Guide") to build trust and drive SEO traffic.

Transition to E-Commerce

• From Affiliate to Direct Sales: Shifts from being purely an affiliate to selling and warehousing inventory themselves—an operationally challenging but ultimately critical move:
  • “I went to Buy Buy Baby and bought a bunch of products, like put it in the trunk of my car, drove back to the office...between everyone's desk we had bassinets piled to the ceiling so you couldn't see anyone.” — Natalie (61:12)
• Risk and Control: The move to direct sales mitigates dependence on a few affiliate partners: “It was just so risky. And so the decision to actually do this e-commerce ourselves...had to do with controlling our own destiny.” — Natalie (63:13)

The Pandemic Era and "Hockey Stick" Growth

• COVID Uncertainty and Surprise Uptick: Fearful at first, Babylist rebounds as social gifting moves online—and 2020 brings record growth.
• Major Investment: Raises $40 million in 2021 and prepares Babylist for further expansion:
  • “The very first slide was our revenue. And I’d be like, here’s our revenue in that year. It was going to be $250 million.” — Natalie (67:40)

Evolving the Mission: Beyond Registries

• Expansion into Health: Babylist launches “Babylist Health” and explores opportunities to help parents access health products (like breast pumps through insurance)—pivoting to become a broader support platform for new families.
  • “It’s actually all about making families better families. Like helping grandma be a better grandma, helping families stay more connected... that’s truly the baby list that we’re building, which feels very meaningful.” — Natalie (68:53)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the vulnerability of new parents and registries:
  • "Our users don't know what any of this stuff is." — Natalie (21:11)
  • "I remember not knowing. What is a diaper bag? Why is a diaper bag different than a backpack? What is actually a diaper pail? Is that just an expensive garbage can?" — Natalie (21:16)
• On learning through Lean Startup:
  • "I want another at bat...and really use this as my bible." — Natalie (15:01)
• On balancing parenting and entrepreneurship:
  • "I had a goal in those first couple of months, which is, I want to spend 45 minutes a day on this. If I can spend 45 minutes a day on this, like, that's a really good day." — Natalie (29:01)
• On the grit vs. luck question:
  • “I think where though the grind comes in, I think it’s been a lot of really hard work that I’ve had to put in to really make the transition from founder to CEO...I don’t think that that worked is like luck. I actually think that has been like grit and hard work.” — Natalie (70:23)

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 05:09 | Amazon experience, early tech lessons | | 10:49 | Linguajero: first startup lessons and lack of a business model | | 17:31 | The teary, overwhelming baby registry experience that sparked Babylist | | 22:51 | Coding Babylist MVP during pregnancy and early motherhood | | 25:25 | Launching via grassroots blogger outreach and Hacker News | | 29:01 | Setting 45 minutes a day for Babylist as a new mom | | 39:03 | The $3,000/month milestone to justify going full-time | | 41:31 | Joining 500 Startups, the loneliness of solo founding | | 44:52 | First time raising a seed round and building an investor pitch deck | | 48:08 | Struggles with hiring, evaluation, and first employee heartbreak | | 52:16 | Jumpstart from Pinterest paid ads in 2015 | | 61:12 | The leap from affiliate to warehousing and direct e-commerce | | 65:08 | Pandemic shifting the business model and explosive growth | | 67:40 | Raising $40 million by impressing investors with real revenue numbers | | 68:53 | Mission shift—helping families with more than just registries (Babylist Health, etc.) | | 70:23 | On the role of grit versus luck in founder success |

Conclusion & Takeaways

Guy Raz and Natalie Gordon’s conversation embodies the messy, complicated, and ultimately deeply rewarding process of building a business that solves a real problem. Natalie’s journey is marked by learning from failure, embracing a founder’s grit, and continuously seeking ways to better serve new parents. Her evolution from engineer and solo founder to leader of a half-billion-dollar, mission-driven brand offers invaluable lessons in resilience, humility, and focus.

"It’s actually all about making families better families... that’s truly the Babylist that we’re building, which feels very meaningful." — Natalie Gordon (68:53)

Listeners will come away with a fresh appreciation for the behind-the-scenes scrappiness required to build something lasting—and the impact that one founder’s lived experience can have on millions.