In this episode, we sit down with Lucy Quinlan, co-founder of Villey, a tech startup built by two non-technical founders on a mission to make life easier for busy families.
Before co-founding Villey, Lucy founded Mother’s Help, a highly successful business that supported hundreds of families through a growing team of trusted helpers. When Suzie and Lucy connected, their shared vision was clear. With their unique backgrounds, they saw the potential to build a tech-enabled marketplace connecting families with trusted, verified helpers and to scale practical support to reach even more people. But how do you build a tech company when you can’t write (or read) code?
Lucy shares how she and her co-founder Suzie bootstrapped their idea from a shared pain point, navigated tough product decisions, and assembled a high-trust team that helped them ship an app used by thousands. We talk about pivots, co-founder dynamics, learning on the fly, and the emotional labour of building something meaningful while parenting young kids.
We also dig into:
- 🚫 Why they removed mandatory police checks — and what they learned
- 🤝 How trust and community shaped their growth strategy
- 📱 The trade-offs of launching app-first in a web-first world
- 🧠 Lessons for other non-technical founders entering the tech space
This one’s especially for anyone dreaming of starting something without a tech background — and for the rest of us who forgot what it means to build something people truly need.
💬 “Where the why is strong enough, you’ll find a way.” — Lucy
🍻 Drinks: Liam – Glandore Hunter Valley Shiraz Matt – Wild Yak Pale Ale (no website since Asahi bought Matilda Bay Brewing from CUB) Lucy - Looked like a hot drink, but forgot to ask what it was!
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