Rachel Carrell, Founder and CEO of Koru Kids, Rhodes Scholar, DPhil from Oxford, former McKinsey consultant, and mother of three, joins Personable to reveal how having a baby exposed a broken childcare system, why she raised £600k before hiring a single engineer, and what it really takes to build a business that keeps five million hours of children safe.
In this episode, Rachel opens up about leaving a high flying career to solve a problem nobody else was tackling, how growing up in a small sheep farming town in New Zealand with zero London network did not stop her building one from scratch, and why being a mother made her a better founder and a better leader. From safety systems and AI innovation to balancing boardrooms with bedtimes, this conversation is as honest and practical as it gets.
This is an essential listen for anyone interested in entrepreneurship, parenting, childcare, building a business from nothing, and what it means to solve a problem that actually matters.
She discusses:
◽️ Why she left McKinsey and raised £600k with just a PowerPoint and three paying customers
◽️ How Koru Kids delivered five million hours of childcare without a single serious incident
◽️ What corporate life never teaches you about sales, people management and building from scratch
◽️ How she is using AI at every level of Koru Kids including a personalised cookbook for nannies
◽️ Why being a mother of three made her a sharper founder and a more focused leader
00:00 Introduction and Rachel Carrell background
00:21 Why having a baby exposed a broken childcare system
02:20 Taking the leap into entrepreneurship
03:20 Raising £600k before hiring a single engineer
04:43 What McKinsey teaches you and what it absolutely does not
07:20 Focus, product quality and the 1% compound improvement rule
08:46 Entrepreneurship, resilience and the Elon Musk “eating glass” mindset
14:10 Learning, AI and surrounding yourself with smart people
15:48 How AI is transforming every level of Koru Kids
17:56 LinkedIn, distribution and building an audience online
22:03 Parenting, discipline and balancing kindness with accountability
25:45 Balancing motherhood with building a business
27:55 Building a safety system across five million hours of childcare
32:45 Trust, retention and why childcare changes people’s lives
35:22 AI agents, the future of work and what comes next
36:45 What AI cannot replace about human trust and childcare
38:09 One thing every listener should take away
Rachel Carrell:
◽️ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachcarrell/
Harvey Bracken-Smith:
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◽️ Instagram: https://instagram.com/harveybsmith
◽️ X (Twitter): https://x.com/harveybsmith_
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Additional:
◽️ Fundraising: https://www.loulouracefoundation.org/donate
Personable is a podcast dedicated to helping listeners become the best they can be by learning from the world’s best in their respective fields. This mission is inspired by my mother, Louise, who encouraged me to become the best version of myself before she passed away from cancer in 2023.
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