In Conversation with Jennifer Sutcliffe, Founder of The Working Mums Club

This week on Female Founder Friday, we’re talking to the unstoppable Jennifer Sutcliffe—founder of Working Mums Club.

With a rich background in PR and media, Jennifer’s experience spans high-end hospitality clients to personal training, and now—creating a business that supports mothers through the tricky terrain of postnatal work-life balance.

Her latest venture, a co-working and childcare hybrid, is not only tackling childcare challenges but doing so with an eye on social justice and long-term systemic change. We spoke with Jennifer about the juggle, the fundraising grind, and why she wants to be the McDonald's of childcare—minus the nuggets.

FC: It'd be great to hear a bit about your background and what led you to starting The Working Mums Club.

JS: Sure. So my work background is in PR and media, mainly working with restaurants and hotels. When COVID hit, all my clients shut down overnight, so I pivoted—like many others—and trained as a PT. Then I got pregnant, did pre- and postnatal training, worked at a gym, and eventually went back to PR. My daughter was born right after COVID, and I found myself juggling freelance contracts while breastfeeding in WeWorks surrounded by tech bros playing ping pong. It felt absurd and isolating.

That’s when the idea for The Working Mums Club was born—because trying to combine parenting and working in those environments just didn’t fit. I started researching co-working spaces with childcare and found many had shut down post-COVID. Nothing really ticked all the boxes I wanted. Fast forward to the birth of my son last June, and I gave myself six months to build something that did.

We’ve now purchased our first site in Deptford, set to open this November. We’re currently raising to build out operations, with a plan to open three sites in year one, then five every year after that to reach twenty-five by 2030.

FC: What was the moment you decided to fully commit and take the plunge?

JS: It was when I started looking at other businesses in the space and understood how they structured things—propco-opco models, asset ownership. I always said I wanted to be the McDonald's of childcare—not for the food, but for the real estate play. It’s an asset-heavy model, which is scary but attractive to investors.

Owning the property means we can eventually subsidise childcare to make it more accessible. Right now, the biggest barrier to women returning to work is the cost—£2–3k a month for full-time nursery in London. Government schemes sound good in PR but often fall short in practice. I want to fix that.

FC: And now you're raising—what have been the biggest challenges you’ve faced in fundraising so far?

JS: We’re not AI or tech—that’s our biggest challenge. Ninety-nine percent of capital is chasing that sector. But this is a real-world problem that needs solving, and there’s a very real business case.

FC: How have you worked around that, and what’s been most helpful?

JS: Unwavering belief in what we’re building is key. Also, having strong numbers and a scalable model. It’s about knocking on a million doors until one opens.

FounderCatalyst has been incredibly helpful in making connections. I also discovered Scribe Labs through another founder, which uses AI to track who’s investing via Companies House. From there, I trace founders of those funded startups, reach out, and ask for intros.

Personal intros still work best. I check LinkedIn daily to see who’s moved into finance roles—it’s surprising who’s now at funds. Networking events haven’t been that useful because the high-value investors don’t tend to show up there. It’s about dusting off your black book and being relentless.

FC: Final question—what advice would you give to other women thinking about starting a business?

JS: Just do it. If you’ve had the idea, you’re already an entrepreneur. The worst that can happen? It doesn’t work and you lose some money. But you’ll have learned so much. Before spending too much, check if your branding is available—Instagram handles, TikTok, domains. Sort your IP. Then check who else is doing what you're thinking about, and how you can do it better. There's a lot of insight you can gain from other businesses.

But the main thing? Just start. If your friends and family would pay for your product, there’s a good chance others will too.

Thank you, Jennifer, for a bold, honest and driven take on what it means to build for mums, by a mum. We’ll be following The Working Mums Club as it launches this November—and cheering as it grows from a site in Deptford to the cornerstone of accessible childcare across the UK.

Learn more about Jennifer and The Working Mums Club

• Website: The Working Mums Club
• Personal LinkedIn: Jennifer Sutcliffe
• Company LinkedIn: The Working Mums Club

Stay tuned for our next Female Founder Friday, where we’ll continue to highlight incredible women changing the entrepreneurial landscape.

Author: Jen Jeffries, Marketing Executive at FounderCatalyst