Building for Mothers, Out Loud

We’ve been moving fast. So fast, in fact, that we wanted to take a moment to pause and share what’s been happening behind the scenes at Confidante, not just because we’re excited, but because we believe in building out loud. Especially as women and mothers in tech, we know how powerful it is to see others doing the thing and being honest about the ups and the downs.

Tara & Ariel attending a Women Applying AI Event in Boston

Where It All Began

Confidante started with a simple question: What if moms had a soft place to land in between coaching sessions? As leadership coaches working primarily with mothers, we saw a gap, moms needed a space that could validate them, support emotional regulation, and help them reconnect with their inner knowing. So, we started with a custom GPT.

We trained it using OpenAI’s tools, layering in our own prompts, coaching frameworks, principles, emotional vocabulary, and social conditioning context. We also incorporated RAG (retrieval-augmented generation), which allowed us to upload proprietary information that shaped Confidante’s voice and intelligence, everything from how we define guilt and overwhelm, to research on the gendered division of labor, self compassion and boundary setting.

And moms loved it.

The feedback was immediate and powerful. It wasn’t just another AI chatbot. It was a mirror, a validation engine, and an emotional anchor during the chaos of modern motherhood. And it was helping moms clear out the stress, regulate their bodies and show up in the way they want to for themselves and others.

From GPT to Product

We knew we couldn’t stop there. A GPT alone wasn’t enough. We needed to turn this into a real product, one that could live outside the OpenAI playground and truly meet moms where they are. But we didn’t have a technical team. So we looked for someone who believed in our mission and could build the back-end in exchange for equity.

That’s when we found Carl, an experienced AI and back-end engineer who joined us as our technical lead. We became a Delaware C-Corp so we could formalize our equity agreements, and Carl began building our infrastructure, including secure chat functionality and memory. It was a major milestone.

At the same time, Ariel and I took on building the front-end ourselves. We’re bootstrapping, which means every dollar counts, and we didn’t have many. With support from the Women Defining AI community, Ariel began experimenting with no-code tools like Bolt and eventually taught herself how to build with Cursor. She was working full-time and building nights and weekends. I was balancing parenting and pushing forward Confidante during the week. It’s been a true partnership, built on trust and grit.

We got 90% of the way there, front-end built, user authentication and profiles in place, chat UI ready to go, Carl’s back-end functioning beautifully. But the two pieces weren’t connected. We couldn’t deploy.

Crossing the Finish Line (and the Cost of Doing So)

That led to some hard conversations. Were we going to keep relying on volunteer help, or were we going to invest in launching this thing for real?

We chose to invest.

Through Women Defining AI, we connected with an agency called The Silicon Society, which specializes in helping non-technical founders deploy no-code products. We hired them, an $8,000 investment at a time when we’re still fully self-funded. But we believe in this. Every dollar we’ve spent so far has come directly from us, because we know what we’re building matters.

And now, we’re on track to launch our beta in August.

Building a Movement, Not Just a Tool

While Ariel led the build, I focused on community. We’ve grown a waitlist of over 150 moms, with zero ad spend. We had an incredible volunteer, Ainsley, help us bring our social presence to life (she’s incredible). And every conversation we’ve had, every coach, founder, doula, and parent, has confirmed what we already knew:

Moms don’t need more advice. They need a place to feel seen and heard.

Confidante is not another parenting tool. It’s not a productivity hack or a mental health diagnosis engine. It’s a space where moms can reflect, regulate, remember what they already know, and come home to themselves. And in a world where mothers are carrying 79% of the daily household tasks, where they earn less but still do more, where systems continue to fail them, we believe this kind of support is foundational.

We’ve made incredible progress. But this is only the beginning.

What’s Next

We’re focused on launching our MVP (minimum viable product) and getting real usage and feedback from moms. From there, we’ll iterate, refine, and grow. We’re already thinking about long-term visions, milestone journaling, emotional tracking, personalized self-reflection journeys, and community features. All automated, personalized and rooted in each moms lived experience and values. But first: parity with our GPT and a stable launch.

If you’re building in the parenting, AI, femtech, or care economy spaces, we want to meet you. If you’re a mom who wants to test this or give feedback, please reach out. If you’re an investor or advisor who’s excited about our mission, we’re open to conversations.

It feels like everything is aligning, and we’re so grateful to be building this alongside a community that believes in us.

We’re creating something that’s grounding, validating, and real, because the world is heavy right now. But moms shouldn’t have to carry it alone.