Episode Summary
Executive Summary: Reagan Moya-Jones рассказывает, как из личной потребности найти breathable muslin blankets for her newborn she built Aiden and Anae from a side hustle into a $100M baby brand. The episode tracks her bootstrapping, a painful breakup with cofounder Claudia, scaling through private equity, the royal-baby and celebrity boosts, and later being fired after investors took control—followed by her recovery and a new venture, St. Luna Spirits.
Main Topics: Origin of Aiden and Anae: Moya-Jones identified a U.S. market gap for muslin baby blankets she knew from Australia and turned that insight into a product idea after her daughter Anae’s birth. Bootstrapping and product development: She learned sourcing and manufacturing from scratch, found a Chinese manufacturer at a textile trade show, and iterated repeatedly to achieve the right softness, safety, and quality. Balancing motherhood, employment, and startup work: While still working at The Economist and raising children, she built the business nights and weekends, illustrating the intensity and sacrifice required in early-stage entrepreneurship. Partnership conflict and buyout: Financial pressure and differences over funding escalated into a breakup with cofounder Claudia, forcing Reagan to scramble for capital and restructure ownership. Growth, celebrity exposure, and private equity: Aiden and Anae benefited from early celebrity sightings and a major surge after Prince George was wrapped in one of its blankets; later private equity enabled scaling but reduced founder control. Firing, identity loss, and reinvention: In 2018, investors removed Reagan from the company she built, leading to depression and reflection; she later channeled her drive into a new premium moonshine brand, St. Luna.
Key Arguments: A strong product insight can come from solving a personal problem—Moya-Jones saw a gap because muslin blankets were common in Australia but unavailable in the U.S. Execution matters as much as the idea: she had no supply-chain experience and had to learn manufacturing, sourcing, and quality control through trial and error. Entrepreneurship often requires extreme personal sacrifice; she worked a full-time job, parented three children, and built the company mostly at night. Business partnerships can fail when money and control become the real issue, even if the original friendship is close. Outside capital can accelerate growth but may cost founders control; selling the controlling interest ultimately led to her dismissal. Founder identity can be deeply tied to a company, so being fired from one’s own business can be emotionally devastating even after financial success. Ambition can survive setbacks: she recovered from the firing and launched a new venture, showing resilience and persistence.
Data Points: Women-owned businesses breaking $1M revenue: 2% - Moya-Jones cites a statistic that only 2% of women-owned businesses ever reach $1 million in revenue. Initial cofounder investment: $15,000 each - Reagan and Claudia each put in $15,000 for the first inventory order. Additional early capital borrowed: $100,000 from Claudia and Mark; $250,000 from Mark's dad - The company needed more cash during the recession, and family borrowing intensified partner tension. Buyout funding from new investors/friends: About $500,000 for 49% of the business - Three other people came in to help buy out Claudia's stake after the partnership broke apart. Revenue in 2009: Just over $4 million - This was the year Reagan left The Economist and focused full-time on Aiden and Anae. Revenue growth after full-time focus: More than doubled every year for five years - The company accelerated rapidly once Reagan devoted herself to it full-time. Price of a 4-pack at launch: $44 - Original retail price for the blanket packs when the company started. Later price of a 4-pack: $49.95 - Price mentioned during the later interview when the brand had matured. Private equity entry: 2010 - The first private equity firm invested to help scale the company. Royal-baby web traffic impact: Website crashed twice within days - The Prince George blanket sighting caused the company site to crash four hours after the photo and again the next day. Company scale after exit: Over $100 million in annual revenue - By the time of the retrospective interview, Aiden and Anae was making over $100M per year. Personal finance outcome: Financially set for life - Reagan says the sale and growth of the business provided her family an excellent financial life. Depression/recovery period after firing: About 1 year - She says it took a good year to recover emotionally after being fired. Weight gain during recovery: Nearly 30 pounds - She describes coping poorly after losing control of the company.
Pivotal Quotes: "once I get to a million in revenue, I've done something that most women entrepreneurs aren't able to do" — Reagan Moya-Jones: Her self-imposed milestone for proving the business could scale. "do you believe in the business? ... well then fight for it" — Marcos (Reagan's husband): He urged her to keep going during the crisis with cofounder Claudia. "single worst decision of my life" — Reagan Moya-Jones: Her assessment of selling the controlling interest to private equity after being fired from her own company.
Implications: The episode is a cautionary tale: outside capital can supercharge growth but also strip founders of control. It also highlights resilience—loss of a company can be traumatic, yet entrepreneurial drive can reemerge in a new venture.
About How I Built This with Guy Raz
Guy Raz interviews the world’s best-known entrepreneurs to learn how they built their iconic brands. In each episode, founders reveal deep, intimate moments of doubt and failure, and share insights on their eventual success. How I Built This is a master-class on innovation, creativity, leadership and how to navigate challenges of all kinds.New episodes release on Mondays and Thursdays. Listen to How I Built This on the Wondery App or wherever you listen to your podcasts. You can lis...