Megan Cooper is the co-founder of Bold Baby, a new Australian startup shaking up the nursery space with a fully customisable cot designed to last a lifetime—not a single growth stage. Inspired by the quiet beauty of hand-me-down bassinets and born during lockdown while raising three kids, Megan and her partner Jim built Bold Baby from their backyard in Melbourne.
In this interview, Megan shares how parenting shaped her definition of balance, why resilience starts with believing in your product, and the power of jigsaws, mismatched teacups, and stepping away from the laptop at 3pm.
How has becoming a parent shaped the way you think about time, energy, and work-life balance?
It makes me realise just how much time I had before kids, when I thought I had none! When you become a parent, you know things are going to change, but actually, you have no idea. It’s the best and most rewarding thing you’ll ever do, but it’s also the hardest, and adjusting to your new normal takes a long time.
All of a sudden, you have to intentionally make time for yourself, because if you don’t, you won’t get any. You have to start prioritising things that just used to happen organically, like spending time with friends, going for a walk or doing something you love. If you don’t do this, the burnout is real, and before you know it, things can get quite messy in your head.
Do you have any daily rituals or routines—no matter how small—that help you recharge or stay connected to yourself?
I am a mad tea drinker. I absolutely love it. I love drinking it, and I love the ritual of making it. I have a little cabinet that I restored, which contains vintage mismatched tea cups and saucers, so I like to make a pot and get those out. I’ve got my girls into tea parties, we get out all the nana china and make tea and eat yummy things and stick our pinkies out as we sip.
My tea drinking isn’t just confined to the indoors; when the weather allows, I take it outside into the sunshine. It’s a small thing, but it’s 10 minutes of just taking in the surroundings and enjoying my tea. I think the love of doing that comes from growing up on an orchard and hanging out with the pickers when I was a kid. When it was break time or ‘smoko’, it was always tea and wine biscuits and sitting in the sun. Those are really nice memories for me.
Running a business that challenges the status quo takes resilience—what’s helped you stay motivated through the hard moments?
Just an unwavering belief in the product. Since day one, I’ve really believed that we could take this idea somewhere and that it had huge potential. I knew going down this road was going to be hard, but I hoped that with our combined skills, creativity, work ethic and determination, we could get there. Things have been really tough at times, and we’re still on the uphill – we haven’t plateaued yet!
We’ve been raising three kids through this whole process; it definitely hasn’t been a bed of roses. But you have to believe you’re going to succeed and keep going no matter what, you support each other and just try really hard. Our kids are a big motivation, we want to show them what’s possible and create something tangible that we can all be proud of.
What inspired you to create a cot that breaks from the disposable nursery furniture trend, and how did that idea evolve into a full startup?
When we had our first daughter Betty, we were loaned a beautiful old woven bassinet from the 60’s, it had been home to one of our best friends when he was a baby, as well as his brothers, and a bunch of other babies whose parents had been loaned the cot at different times. We loved the idea that our baby would be in this bassinet, which had been the first little bed for so many other babies before ours. The bassinet had a story of its own, and when we finished with it, it went back to await the next chapter of its story.
When the idea for the cot was coming to life, we talked about that bassinet and how special it was. We wanted our cot to be the same, we wanted it to go from one family to the next, and to be able to stand the test of time. In order to do this, it would also need to be able to change with the times, and that’s when we started thinking about a cot that could be refreshed with changeable end panels. We realised the potential of the idea and where it could go; that’s when we knew we had to do it.
How do you protect your creative energy while still staying productive across all the demands of startup life?
It’s doing little things every week that are just for you, tiny acts of self-preservation disguised as hobbies. For me, that’s sewing, or doing little creative projects with the kids. Or walking round the block while listening to a podcast.
I also like to tinker away on the piano, sitting down and playing even for a few minutes, which is a great reset or circuit breaker in a stressful moment. Another one is jigsaws, recently I had one on the go for a couple of months. I’d come and go from it when I needed a quick mental escape. I think Jim thought it was a bit weird, but I found it was enforced relaxation, and sometimes you just need that.
What does “balance” look like for you right now—and has your definition of it changed since launching Bold Baby?
It’d be easy to spend all our time working; there’s so much to do daily. You have to make conscious and intentional steps to make sure there’s some balance and family time. Since launching Bold Baby, I’d say the balance has definitely slipped; the business becomes all-consuming, but I’m taking steps to try and bring balance back bit by bit.
One small change I’ve made is when possible, putting the laptop away once the kids get home from school. They’re still at an age where they like hanging out with me, and it’s important to me to make the most of that. Jim works as a freelance creative and on Bold Baby, so for him, it’s even crazier, but we do stuff as a family as often as we can. And we have our meal at the table together every night.
I suppose my definition of balance has changed because right now I’m ok with less balance, the scale of how much balance is acceptable has shifted. It’s not ideal, but in a way, you can’t have the perfect balance when starting a business. The hope is that you work like mad, and an outcome of that, eventually, is a better balance.
