Founder-Mother
Founder first, Mother second.
The first global study into the psychological experience when your identity as a founder collides with the mother you've become.
Why this exists
The market has two languages. It needs a third.
I founded BIG little LDN in 2017. In 2023 I had my daughter, and discovered that almost nothing I'd been told, read or experienced had prepared me for what happens when the business you've built as an extension of yourself meets the person you're becoming as a mother.
I started writing a book about it. Along the way I realised something was missing. There's plenty of research on female founders. There's plenty on working mothers. There's almost nothing on the collision between the two — on matrescence as a founder, and on what happens to your identity, your business and your first year of motherhood when you can't hand it all to HR and come back in six months.
That's the gap I'm measuring. The survey is designed to build the first honest picture of what founder-motherhood actually looks like, in the words of the women who've lived it.
Ten minutes, and you can stay anonymous if you'd rather.
The study
Founder First, Mother Second
Wave one closes 31 October 2026.
First report published November 2026.
95%
did business work in the first weeks after giving birth.
64%
checked work email from the labour ward or a hospital bed.
36%
took no recovery time at all.
8.9/10
how much their identity actually changed, versus an expected 5.2.
Interim findings from wave one, business-first respondents. Full methodology and limitations published with each report.
Free download
Get the report when it lands.
Published November 2026. The full findings, the methodology, and what it means if you employ, fund, insure or bank female founders.
Emma Critchley-Lloyd is committed to protecting your privacy. Read the privacy policy.
The book
Identity Collision
When founder meets mother. What happens to a woman who built her business before she built her family, and then had to fight for both at the same time.
Memoir and manifesto. The version with everything left in.
Emma Critchley-Lloyd is committed to protecting your privacy. Read the privacy policy.
Emma
Critchley-Lloyd
Identity
Collision
When founder
meets mother
The campaign
Paid leave for miscarriage under 24 weeks.
In Northern Ireland, parents get two weeks' paid bereavement leave. In England, Scotland and Wales, the expectation is one week, unpaid, from 2027 — despite NHS guidance telling women to expect bleeding and cramping for two to three weeks after a miscarriage.
Same loss. Different postcode.
7,883
verified signatures and counting.
Correct as of 28 September 2026
If you have been affected by miscarriage, please reach out to The Miscarriage Association (01924 200799) or Tommy's (0800 0147 800).
Free guide
The Maternity Return to Work Advantage
A practical guide for employers on keeping, supporting and promoting women through maternity leave. What to say, what to stop measuring, and what it costs you when she doesn't come back.
Emma Critchley-Lloyd is committed to protecting your privacy. Read the privacy policy.
For journalists
Press and media.
Bio, headshots, the research summary, the campaign background and previous coverage. Available for comment.