More on this episode: Phoebe Gates on Building Phia, Navigating Nepotism, and the Water Pitcher Metaphor That Changed Everything

Building a business in your early 20s is tough enough. Building one while being Bill Gates' daughter? That's a whole different level of complexity. In this candid conversation, Phoebe Gates opens up about co-founding shopping app Phia, owning her privilege, and the brilliant energy management advice that's reshaping how entrepreneurs think about focus.

The Nepotism Question: Why Honesty Beats PR Training

Phoebe Gates made waves recently with her refreshingly honest response about being a "nepo baby" on Call Her Daddy. Unlike many celebrity offspring who dodge the question, Gates owned it completely.

"I am a nepo baby," she states matter-of-factly. "I have a lot of privilege because of where my family is. I think it's funny because people don't like to address that and people try to avoid it."

The internet's response? Overwhelmingly positive. Comment sections filled with appreciation for her authenticity - a rare commodity in today's PR-trained world. Ironically, many accused her of being "so PR trained," when the reality is quite the opposite.

"The joke in my family is that I'm the least PR trained person and my family wishes I'd be PR trained," Gates laughs.

From Stanford Dorm Room to Shopping Revolution

Gates and her Stanford roommate Sophia built Phia from a frustratingly common problem: spending hours hunting for the perfect outfit across multiple platforms. Their process involved checking Depop, RealReal, Vestiaire, eBay, and various sale sites - a 20-minute rabbit hole that happened repeatedly.

"We'd find an item, then we would do this process where we'd look it up everywhere," Gates explains. "It just didn't really make sense to us... Why can't we just build a tool to automate that?"

Phia functions like "Google Flights for fashion" - a browser extension that instantly tells you if you're getting a good deal, shows cheaper alternatives, and helps you understand an item's long-term value retention.

The Biggest Mistake That Cost Months of Work

Gates is brutally honest about their early missteps. The biggest? Building for desktop first and perfecting the design before talking to actual users.

"We spent months and months building this, perfecting it, making the pixels perfect, making it look pretty, which now looking back, it was a complete waste of time," she admits. "If we had just sat down with 20 smart women who love to shop, we would have asked them and they would have said, hey, I shop on my freaking phone."

Her advice for other founders is clear: Talk to consumers way earlier, create ugly prototypes, and get honest feedback before worrying about aesthetics.

Smart Strategies for Handling Criticism

Operating in the public eye while building a business requires thick skin and strategic thinking. Gates has developed a sophisticated filter for feedback:

The Consumer Test: If criticism comes from someone who matches their target demographic (women who love shopping), she listens. If it's from someone outside their market, she ignores it.

"If it's a girl who I can tell from her Instagram loves to shop and she's criticizing it... then I'm listening. But if it's a man who's older, who I know doesn't like to shop, I'm throwing that out the window."

This approach keeps the focus on product improvement rather than getting lost in irrelevant noise.

The Water Pitcher Metaphor That Changes Everything

Perhaps the most powerful advice Gates shares comes from Whitney Wolfe Herd, CEO of Bumble, about energy management:

"You wake up every morning and you have like a water pitcher that you can pour out and you can water plants. And that's your energy for the day."

The key insight? Most of us waste our daily energy "watering plastic plants" - worrying about how we look, what people think, or overthinking past conversations. Instead, that energy should go toward things that actually grow: learning new skills, building meaningful relationships, or advancing your goals.

"I spent so much time just literally standing there dumping water on things like, well, how did I look? What did they think of me? Do they like me? And that's not worth your time because you only have so much water in the day."

Building Authentic Relationships Despite Privilege

Growing up with the Gates name could have made finding genuine friendships impossible. Instead, Gates credits her upbringing in Seattle's down-to-earth culture and a small high school of 150 kids per grade for keeping her grounded.

Her closest friend group includes "a magician who goes to Yale" - people who clearly aren't using her for connections. The key was having a mother who "grew up in Texas" and "knows who's real, she knows who's fake."

Practical Business Lessons for Young Entrepreneurs

Time Management: Gates uses time-boxing and spends 10 minutes each morning prioritizing her day - crucial for managing ADHD and staying focused on high-impact tasks.

AI as Executive Assistant: She uses ChatGPT to generate smart questions before important meetings, treating it as a strategic tool rather than a replacement for thinking.

The Burner Philosophy: Think of life like burners on a stove - work, family, romance, friends, relaxation. You can turn different burners up or down depending on your life phase. In her early 20s, Gates consciously has her work burner on high.

What's Next for Phia

Currently functioning as a price comparison tool, Phia is expanding toward discovery and personalization. The vision? A shopping assistant that learns your style preferences and proactively finds deals on items you'll love.

They've recently launched men's functionality and have price drop alerts coming soon. For Gates, success isn't just about building a useful tool - it's about proving that the product can stand on its own merit, regardless of her family name.

Key Takeaways for Entrepreneurs

1. Own your advantages honestly - Authenticity beats deflection every time

2. Talk to customers before building - Pretty prototypes can't fix fundamental market misunderstanding

3. Filter feedback strategically - Not all criticism is worth your attention

4. Guard your daily energy - Focus on watering real plants, not plastic ones

5. Embrace the learning curve - Confidence comes from knowing what you don't know

As Gates puts it: "If the product is good enough, you should be able to get past who I am because I at the end of the day, I don't matter. What matters is the product."

That's the kind of founder mindset that builds lasting companies - and the honest perspective that makes this conversation so valuable for anyone building something from scratch.

Want to hear more insights like these? Check out the full Guyset podcast episode and download Phia from the App Store to see what Gates and her team are building.Subscribe, give this episode 5 stars, and leave a review!

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