Episode 49: Bath Time, Business and the Courage to Back Yourself with Christina Townsend

Hello and welcome to the Mum Means Business podcast, where we shine a light on inspiring women who have one thing in common. When they’re not managing tantrums, homework, P.E. kits and play dates, they are busting their gut to create something from nothing, to turn their passion into a thriving business and build a better life for themselves and their families. We dig into what motivates devoted mothers to pursue entrepreneurship and how they integrate their work and family life.

I’m Victoria Phipps, your host, and if you’re an ambitious mum in need of some solidarity whilst navigating the messy middle of making your big dream a reality, then stick around. This is for you.

NOTE: This is the transcript from the original recording, rather than the edited episode so timings may vary.

Victoria (00:03)
My guest today is a mum of three and founder of 2025 startup Spout, an award-winning bath play system that gives children a defined space for bath time play, then converts to a calm grown-up bath set out for worn out parents in need of R &R. Before starting her business, Christina Townsend spent years working as an early years teacher, where she saw up close how children learn through play and how much the little details of a daily routine can shape family life.

The idea for spout grew out of her own evenings at home, getting through dinner bath bed on repeat when everyone is tired from the busy day. Christina started building and testing solutions because she wanted something that made that moment feel easier and calmer without adding more clutter to the house. Now she’s combining her background in early years education with the day to day reality of solo parenting three children, working a full time day job and launching a startup.

learning as she goes what it takes to turn an idea into a real product and a real business. Christina, it’s been a while since I spoke to a mum at the very beginning of their journey in entrepreneurship and I’m so looking forward to this conversation. Welcome to the Mummy’s Business podcast.

Christina Townsend (01:20)
Thank you, nice to be here. And that sounds really funny hearing you talk about me like that. It’s like you’re talking about somebody else, which is strange. It doesn’t feel like that’s me when I hear you talk about that journey. I think, wow, that sounds quite impressive. And then I remember that that’s me, which is strange. Yeah.

Victoria (01:39)
It’s you. You know, it sounds

like a woman who is doing really bold, brave things. And I’m really looking forward to hearing your story in your own words because I enjoy crafting these bios, but it’s not the same as it would be coming from you. So let’s start with that decision. Okay, so what made you decide to bet on yourself and start a product business?

Christina Townsend (02:07)
So think the idea came to me a long, time ago. Kind of like you said in the bio, I’d worked in schools for a long time with early years children and kind of, you know, spent most of that time as you do in early years, observing children and watching how they play. And then having my own children in the bath. And I’ll be honest, bath time was like the least favourite time of my day. Like they were tired, I was tired. It would be a battle to get them in there.

And then when they were in there, the bath toys were just a bit crap really. then kind of there was nothing, once they got past the age of two, there was just nothing really that I could find on the market that was suitable, that would keep them interested, actually did anything. Like everything seemed to either float, which would sort of as a baby keep their interest for five minutes, or stick on the wall, but then it would fall off after kind of two weeks, and then it would just be piled up on the edge of the bath.

getting mouldy, and then they started asking for things from the kitchen to take into the bath, so kind cups and jugs and pots and pans, and that would keep kind of their interests sustained in the bath. think those two sort of things combined, I had this idea a really long time ago about having some kind of tubes and kind of an experimental set kind of for children to play with in the bath.

So the idea was, yes, seeded a long time ago and I just sort of sat on it for a long, time because, I was a teacher. I come from a family of teachers, had absolutely zero idea of what to do with an idea, how to translate that idea from an idea into an actual concept, into a product, a business, et cetera. So for years, I think it was just an idea in my head. And then I think

of older I think it sounds really cliche but I turned 40 and I just kind of had a bit of a you know one of those really cliche what am I doing my life moments I wasn’t really enjoying yeah we’ll be in there I wasn’t really enjoying teaching that much anymore I just found with three young children on my own and then teaching it was it was just too much I wasn’t giving the best of myself to either being at work or being at home and so I think I just really kind of

Victoria (04:13)
Yeah I can relate to that, yep.

Christina Townsend (04:31)
re-evaluated my life and I thought, what am I doing? And then this little idea just sort of wouldn’t go away really and just kind of kept niggling and niggling at me. So then I just kind of tentatively started literally Googling, how do you get, like, how do you make a product? Like I had no, no idea. And I’m not exaggerating when I say that I didn’t have a clue. just, really kind of Googling, how do you get an idea from an idea? How do you get a design? You know, just real kind of basics.

Victoria (04:47)
Mm.

Christina Townsend (05:02)
stuff. And then it kind of went from there really. I came across a design company, a British design company that did exactly that, like work with you to take an idea from an idea into a design into a product. They’re a husband and wife team and she actually used to be a teacher. So the very first step was just to book a call with them, just literally a call like this, just to kind of

talk through your idea. And that was the first step really and they were really helpful, really understood the idea and they had children of a similar age so they could kind of see the pain points and the benefits of the product and they kind of taught me through what the process would look like. So yeah, that was the real first step.

Victoria (05:56)
I I totally understand that you wouldn’t know where to begin. And perhaps if you had had somebody in your family who was entrepreneurial or somebody in your social network that you could speak to, you might have done that sooner. But I think it’s really, really hard to, like you say, to know where to start and actually to just start on Google without too much pressure and just do a bit of fact-finding and have a bit of curiosity about that process. Because I also, I’ve never…

had anything to do with a product business particularly. I wouldn’t know where to start either. I would literally do the same thing. And it sounds like you landed with exactly the right people. You people that really understood where you were coming from. And as you were speaking and sort of describing the pain point, I was thinking to our bathroom upstairs and we’ve got very fancy like, you know, boy girl sink situation in that room and the boys sink because I actually

Christina Townsend (06:31)
Yeah.

Victoria (06:55)
banish Chris to the other bathroom, which is the boy bathroom and mine is the girl bathroom where the girls will have their bath time. But his sink is piled high with moldy toys. And I hadn’t even, even in crafting your bio and doing a bit of research about spout, hadn’t really thought about that from my perspective. There are so many toys that you use them once, you cannot, and they’ve got holes in them, you cannot empty them out and they’re immediately.

on the decline to the point where, you you kind of try and empty them and all that black stuff comes out and you’re like, right, this toy now needs to go in the bin because it’s toxic. My children have been bathing in mold and that’s great. And now I feel like a really good mum. How long has it been like that? And you’re so right, actually finding something to keep them entertained once they’re past that sort of toddler stage is really difficult. And also,

Christina Townsend (07:35)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Victoria (07:54)
just the clutter issue because as moms, we spend our whole lives repatriating things. So I was thinking when you were taking pots and pans upstairs to the bath, I was like, I would hate that because I’m like, that is another, I’ve got to then take those and do you just leave them up there? Do you like, this is the of stuff that you think about? Do I just buy another set and they just like the cheap set and they live in the bath and then I have those in the bathroom or do I spend every evening taking them downstairs and washing them up in case they don’t, and putting them away in case they don’t want them ever again?

Christina Townsend (08:05)
You

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

The struggle is real. Yeah.

Victoria (08:24)
The stuff,

yeah, but it sounds like silly, but actually this is all stuff that impacts maternal wellbeing because this is jobs. This is the sort of, yes, yeah, yeah. And the sort of impact of every day seeing the pile of, know, mold in the toys that is like just existing in the sink.

Christina Townsend (08:36)
Yes, another thing isn’t it on the mental list that you’ve got to think about. Yeah, definitely.

Victoria (08:52)
in case somebody else or in the basin in case somebody else in case they want to play with them again and they may not but you don’t want to throw them away and actually I’ve seen images of what you’ve designed in its adult form and it’s really beautiful it just feels really like a nice addition to your home as opposed to this kind of pile of crap that I have expanding in the basin so tell me what happened when you spoke to this couple what was that process like how long did that take

Did you kind of have a clear idea of the design of your product and you were quite specific about it or did they have quite a lot of creative input? What was the next step?

Christina Townsend (09:31)
So

I literally sent them a photo of a drawing that I’d done that looked like a five-year-old had drawn it. It was that basic. Despite doing it, did do two design A-levels at school, but I still draw like a six-year-old. So I sent them a really, really basic sketch of my ideas. And then they linked me up with one of their designers who specialised in children’s toys and products and had designed some kind of award-winning.

Victoria (09:41)
Nice.

Christina Townsend (10:00)
children’s products, both here and in the States. So they put me in touch with her. So we had a few meetings where we kind of really went into detail, yeah, talking about my vision, my concept. So she really had a good understanding of what it was that I was trying to achieve. And then she went away and using my very basic childlike drawings, created kind of several different designs. And so it was a really sort of iterative process, going backwards and forwards, but it really stayed

true to my original concept. So although she did the wonderful drawings and the CAD designs and all that kind of thing, it really is very much my design, which I think was really important to me as well. So I didn’t want it to just become this product that somebody else had designed. wanted it, you know, this was my vision, my idea, and she stayed really true to that. yeah, we kept going backwards and forwards. And then the very first prototype that she sent me was actually cardboard, like a cardboard kind of fold out tray and little bits to kind of

check that it fitted on the bath and that kind of thing. And then various different prototypes that made from slightly different material, 3D printed. And just lots of testing and feedback and backwards and forwards to the prototype that we’ve got today, which actually is the tray is exactly as it will be. But the parts at the moment are 3D printed because of the tooling costs to make the actual product.

are so expensive, which I’m sure will come on to later talking about, funding and finance. So the prototype they have at the moment is 3D printed, but it’s fully functional and works sort of just as the actual final product will.

Victoria (11:32)
Yeah.

Okay, so how long was it between that first phone call that you had, that discovery call, and receiving this 3D printed prototype?

Christina Townsend (11:56)
It’s hard to remember now because it’s been a long time. There’s been a few kind of quite big life events that have happened along the way. I think, I mean, I think when I very first spoke to the design agency, it was probably maybe three or four years ago now when I had that first initial phone call. And then I think probably to getting the actual prototype was maybe

Victoria (11:58)
Hmm.

Christina Townsend (12:23)
two years. I mean, it didn’t need to take that long. But like I said, in that time, I got divorced. kind of things had to be put on pause for a while. And then my dad was very poorly, lost my dad. So kind of there’s been life events that have happened along the way that have made that journey much longer than it needed to be. But then actually, you know, I reflect a lot and I think about it a lot. And I think the journey is taken and this sounds a bit corny and a bit cliche, but I think it’s taken as long as it

it’s needed to have taken. I think I’ve learnt so much along the way and I think everything’s happened at the right time for me and for my life and I’m not a religious or spiritual person but I’m genuine believer in that things do happen for a reason and I think there are really kind of clear markers and reasons why things have happened at certain points and everything’s kind of coming together at the right time and

Yeah, so it’s taken a really long time. And I think you speak to anybody that calls, I I, yeah, I find it hard to think of myself as an entrepreneur. I don’t think of myself as an entrepreneur, but I think if you speak to anybody that does think of themselves as an entrepreneur, they will say to you, it’s such a roller coaster. And that is so true. there is so many highs, so many lows. You learn so many things along the way. And

I look back at some of the decisions I’ve made and some of the things that have happened and I kind of kick myself and think, you know, that was an unnecessary waste of money or that was, you know, a real waste of time. But I’ve got a mentor that I work with now who’s been fantastic. And, you know, she always says to me, but you only know what you know now because of those things that happened. So actually you can’t regret them and you can’t wish they didn’t happen because you wouldn’t be where you are now. wouldn’t, you know, things wouldn’t have happened. So.

I have to remind myself of that a lot that, yes, it’s taken a lot longer than I anticipated. It’s probably cost a lot more money than I anticipated, but actually all of those little things had to happen for me to get where I am. And I think that’s a really important lesson and one that’s been quite hard, but really key, I think. And yeah, yeah, I like that framing and it’s true. You you have, yeah, you have to.

Victoria (14:46)
Yeah.

Christina Townsend (14:50)
have those things happen to learn from them.

Victoria (14:53)
Exactly. And nothing is a failure, everything is a test. And considering that you had come from the world of teaching, you know, you had no experience of any of this. The idea that you were going to have an idea for a product, you know, have this really smooth design process that quite quickly led to a perfect prototype, launched it and it sold millions and you rode off into the sunset without any glitch. It’s just nonsense, isn’t it? That’s not how it goes.

Christina Townsend (15:15)
Yeah.

Victoria (15:20)
And often we see kind of the end of somebody’s entrepreneurial story and all of that mess that lies underneath it that it took to get them there is not first and foremost in what they’re talking about at that point. And that’s why I really love having these conversations because even people that I talk to at the end of that journey, not even at the end, there’s no end, there? But who are further along and who are established.

Christina Townsend (15:30)
Yeah.

Victoria (15:48)
I want to know about what it took to get there, what that journey was like, because by normalising those conversations, we make it seem accessible to teachers, to anybody who is thinking, like you said, at that point in life, you’re kind of moving out of your early phase of adulthood into midlife and thinking, do I enjoy my job? Is this working for my family? And if you don’t have anybody,

to kind of model to you that having a business of your own is a viable option, then it’s discounted. It doesn’t even occur to you sometimes. And actually, it’s really brave.

Christina Townsend (16:28)
Yeah, 100%, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, I definitely think that. yeah, like I said, my parents are both from an education background and I kind of shared with my mum quite early on this idea that I had around it. And I can’t remember exactly when I shared it with her, whether I had, I think I had the designs made. So I definitely had something kind of concrete. It was more than just kind of, oh, I’ve got this idea. And I kind of shared it with her and her sort of reaction, instant reaction was…

you know, don’t waste any more money on that. And that was really hard, really hard. think, my mum is wonderful. She’s like a fantastic mum, grandmother to my children. But I think that’s just it’s just a different mindset and kind of, you know, her generation, perhaps her background is, you know, why would you take a risk? Why would you do something out of the ordinary? And I think that’s

that also has been quite hard to overcome is that, I haven’t got anyone in my background that’s done anything like this. And so, so much of the journey as well has been, am I entitled? Sounds like the wrong word, but like, should I be doing this? it like, why am I, who am I to do this? Like, I’ve got no experience, but that’s been a massive hurdle to overcome. And yeah, going back to my mentor, think finding a mentor and working with a mentor was really instrumental in kind of

Victoria (17:39)
Yeah.

Christina Townsend (17:52)
changing that mindset because I think once I started working with her, it shifted from being just this idea that was sort of in my head and a dream, I suppose, to something that became real. And we suddenly started talking business plans and funding and, you know, all the kind of real business type things. It then made it into something real. And yes, you know, there’s still the imposter syndrome and all of that, but it actually, yeah, it became something then tangible and real.

Victoria (18:06)
Mm.

Christina Townsend (18:21)
rather than just this kind of dream, I think. yeah, definitely going back to your point about sort of, yeah, I didn’t know anyone. You know, I’ve got friends that have businesses and things like that, but nobody has like a product-based business. And that’s been really hard to find sort of guidance from people that have been through this exact journey. mean, there’s so many, everyone is so helpful and generous with their time. Like everyone I’ve reached out to, like complete strangers, but.

Victoria (18:50)
Mm.

Christina Townsend (18:51)
Everyone that you meet is so helpful and will share time, advice, guidance. You know, I couldn’t have asked for more, but it’s been really difficult to find someone that has launched a product from complete scratch. And so that’s been really difficult as well is, you know, there’s, and there’s a wealth, I mean, you know, what it’s like on Instagram, social media. There’s, you just bombarded all the time, aren’t you? With business, like grow your business, all these strategies, blah, blah, But nothing really around kind of, well, there is, but not as much around growing a product, literally from scratch.

Victoria (19:00)
Hmm.

Yeah.

Christina Townsend (19:20)
So

Victoria (19:21)
Yeah.

Christina Townsend (19:22)
yeah, that has been a massive challenge as well and kind of, you know, loads of things as well, like even, you know, the local authority offer loads of small business support, advice, workshops, et cetera, but even they, you know, it’s very little geared towards launching a product-based business. It was either kind of, you know, an online business or a service, that kind of thing, nothing really around a product.

Victoria (19:25)
Yeah. Yeah.

Christina Townsend (19:50)
So that has been a massive challenge as well.

Victoria (19:53)
Yeah, and you’re

so right. All of that messaging on social media, there’s a lot geared towards, you know, the idea of a passive, whatever that means, online business, you know, and actually the irony is the people that are telling you to do it are making money from you as you don’t, like it’s, you know, and there’s so much around that, so much, and even in this podcast, I’ve deliberately tried to find people who have product businesses. I’m always happy to hear from people who have pro-

Christina Townsend (20:01)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, it’s really, yeah, it’s so much of that now. Yeah, yeah.

Victoria (20:21)
product businesses, because I do think it’s less represented. And actually this, I love this idea that you had and the fact that you said that it just wouldn’t go away because that is how a lot of businesses start. But then once you start committing to it and you have that discovery call, so much of that journey then becomes about energy and energy at that stage is so vulnerable. You can have

Christina Townsend (20:23)
Mm-mm.

Victoria (20:49)
a conversation with your mum that you leave her house or wherever you were and you get in your car and you’re flat, you’re in waitress, lovely, lovely. Exactly, but this is the thing, you remember it so clearly and you probably always will because you know that your mum adores you and actually that that is coming out of her fear.

Christina Townsend (20:55)
In Waitrose, I remember we were in Waitrose. I remember it so clearly. It’s funny, isn’t it? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Victoria (21:13)
because she wants you to be safe and she wants you to be okay and you’ve got a stable job and why mess with it? And it is generational and there’s just a difference there, like you say, in mindset. And it’s not that she doesn’t believe you can do it even if you really sort of dug in. It’s not that, it’s just that you’ve got something good going on and you’ve got obviously, you know, you’ve got things going on in your life and why take on something else and it’s too much for you. And she’s worried about you and it comes from a good place, but…

Christina Townsend (21:33)
Yeah.

Victoria (21:41)
you’ve got this thing and you’re excited about it, but you’re also a bit scared and a bit lost as to what the steps are and what to do. And you don’t have many people to ask. And that sort of conversation can strip your energy and make you really doubt yourself. And then like you say, you find a mentor and those conversations, you leave them and you’re buzzing and you’re full of self-belief. Actually, this is possible. I can do it. I know what to do next.

Christina Townsend (21:52)
Yeah.

Victoria (22:10)
And it’s really important, I think, in those early stages to notice your energy. And it’s not just the conversations around your business. It’s also, as you said, what else is going on in your life? You know, if you’re navigating a divorce that is heavy, you’ve got three children, you cannot be energetically available for this business on those bleak days when you’re dealing with some of that.

Christina Townsend (22:21)
Mm.

Mm.

Victoria (22:40)
It’s just, it’s not going to be the right time for you. And it’s really good that you see now looking back that it has all panned out as it should because it sounds like now you’re in a better place and you’ve got more energy for it. And you know, losing your dad, it’s, these are enormous, devastating life events and to push yourself to pursue something.

Christina Townsend (22:55)
Mm.

Mm.

Victoria (23:10)
that is going to demand so much energy from you at a time when you’re depleted for so many personal reasons.

is a tricky one, you know.

Christina Townsend (23:22)
Yeah,

is. And I think as well, that’s sort of, I think, yes, I’ve had these big life events, but the flip side of that, I think, is starting at this point in my life, I think you become a lot more, not necessarily self-assured, but self-aware. I kind of, there are days even now where, you know, things are more settled in my personal life, but there are still days when I think I just can’t do this today. Like I’m just…

You know what it’s like, you’re a parent, I have a full-time job. Everything that life throws at you, some days it’s just too overwhelming. But I think I’m now at a place where, say maybe five years ago that would have like, I just need to give up then, I can’t do this. Whereas now I’m like, no, it’s okay, it’s just today, you’re just feeling overwhelmed and that’s fine. Tomorrow or the next day, you’ll be fine. And I really have got comfortable with that now. And I think that’s been a massive bonus is that I don’t worry about that now. I know there’ll be days when I think,

Victoria (23:50)
Yes.

Christina Townsend (24:18)
I just can’t even look at things today. Like I can’t even think about it and I just will close off from it. But then two days later I’ll come back and I’ll be on fire and I’ll get like a million things done. And actually I feel okay about that now. And I think that would have really stressed me out early on in my life when I was younger. So I it’s definitely a wisdom that comes with getting older and kind of understanding yourself a bit more and yeah, knowing that there will be days like that, but actually that is.

Victoria (24:20)
Mm, yeah.

Yeah, no, definitely, yeah.

Christina Townsend (24:45)
kind of all part of the journey. And going back to what you said about kind of when you look at other entrepreneurs or business people or anyone or even, you know, famous people, like you say, all you see is the pinnacle. You see them when they’ve made it, don’t you? And it’s not often you hear them talk about like the struggle or the journey to get there. And I think that’s what I sort of have to remind myself as well as 99.9 % of the ones that make it.

they make it because they just didn’t give up. It’s not necessarily that they’re any more talented than, you know, the vast majority of other people or that their business is necessarily, you know, loads better. It’s just that they, they don’t give up when they keep going and they keep going and they keep going. And I think that’s also what I have to sort of keep reminding myself is it is a slog. It’s an enjoyable slog, but it is a slog. And actually you’ve just got to keep going. And yeah. So no, it’s nice to be able to talk about.

this point of the journey, like you said, because I don’t think we do hear about it all that much. You tend to see the end point, don’t you? And then that’s why think then sometimes it makes it harder to start because you think, well, how on earth am I going to get there?

Victoria (25:50)
Yeah, exactly.

It does. It makes it feel inaccessible because, you know, so many mothers, I suppose, in particular, who are coming out of a corporate job or an institutionalised job like teaching in the NHS, you you literally, you have no idea of where to begin. You don’t know step one.

And these people are at step 2,335 and you’re looking at them thinking, well, I don’t even know what to do now. I’ve just got an idea. I don’t know. And actually to normalise the challenges along the way, think opens it up to people. And also to acknowledge that this is a whole life process. know, this is something, you know, when you become self-employed or freelance, an entrepreneur, whatever you want to call yourself at any stage.

Christina Townsend (26:14)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Victoria (26:42)
life, lives, you know, and you cannot separate yourself from your business, you become it. And so especially, you know, you’re launching a product business, it’s your idea, it’s like another baby, it’s another child that you’re birthing this bath toy into the world. And, you know, it relies in those early stages on your energy. And things are going to happen that mean that you have to allow it to go more slowly.

Christina Townsend (26:58)
Yeah.

Victoria (27:12)
because you’re not there, you’re not where you need to be, but that’s because there’s something else going on that’s really, really important. And I think actually I’ve not given myself grace in those situations before and I’ve had stuff going on at home or whatever it might be and I’ve been stressed. I’ve actually like just thrown myself even more so into work or into the business, whatever it might be. And energetically it doesn’t work is what I have learned.

because it comes from a place of dysregulation and panic. And actually people feel that. And so to give yourself grace to accept like this will come and it’s like, trust the process. This will happen, but it’s not happening today because today my head is not in the game. And you’re so right about that sort of maturity aspect because now, I mean, people talk about,

women working with their cycles as well. And that’s a whole other conversation, but just day to day and reacting as mom to like everything else that’s going on, you know, it’s half term. This is the one day that we’ve ended up having childcare, even though I arranged it all weeks and weeks ago, things change. And so actually I had ideas for what I was going to do this week for work and they haven’t happened. And I think we’re carrying a lot, you know, the full schedules and diaries of all our children and

that impacts the way we’re able to show up for a business. And it’s okay because that’s life and we’re all in it together. And I think having these conversations where we can kind of normalize that this is a blend of the whole of life. And actually there is a lot of personal growth that makes the slog fun. As you said before, you you learn so much about yourself. You’re learning anyway, as you get older.

Christina Townsend (28:45)
Mm.

Mm.

Yeah.

Victoria (29:10)
but that self-awareness also is accelerated when you start a business because you have to confront yourself and you have to understand and learn so many things about your nature and where your zone of genius is and where you get stuck. And it’s actually an adventure in itself. Do you feel like that?

Christina Townsend (29:31)
Yeah, definitely. Yeah, some days, you know, yeah, with the children, my job, I’ve got a dog, you know, and I sometimes will get to the end of the day and I sort of think, I’ll look back at like everything I’ve done in that day and it sometimes doesn’t feel productive because I’ve lived on like a chunk of something here and a chunk of something there and a chunk of a night so I don’t sort of feel like, I’ve really kind of achieved. But then actually when you sit back and you look at actually just what you have achieved in that day, like, it’s phenomenal. And so I think I’m getting much better at…

Victoria (29:39)
Yeah, the dog, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Christina Townsend (29:58)
at that as well, rather than berating myself or, you know, because like you say, you’ll have an idea in your head. I think, you know, that Monday, Tuesday this week, I thought, well, I’m to block those out and I’ll do kind of focus on spout like all day long. But then, things happen. Life gets in the way and I don’t do that. And I think previously I would have really berated myself and got really down that I haven’t done that, you know, achieve what I want to do. Whereas actually, again, I kind of flip it now and I think, well, okay, so might not have done exactly what you intended to do, but look at

Victoria (30:17)
Mm.

Christina Townsend (30:28)
actually what you have done and it’s mind-blowing and funnily enough I saw a post on Instagram the other day, I can’t remember who was, it just one that popped up in my feed and it was a girl responding to a post from Stephen Bartlett, know, Diary of a CEO about how you know should throw yourself more at your business and she just was responding yeah to you know all the things that like you have to do and you know in an ideal world I would love to spend.

Victoria (30:29)
Yeah, yeah.

Yes, I’ve probably seen a similar post, yeah.

Yeah, well, Stephen Bartlett, yeah. Yeah, he’s not sitting down, I your children are older, but he’s not sitting down to get stuck into, you know, something at his laptop and then being interrupted three minutes later by someone who needs the toilet and you need to go and wipe their bum. Like that’s not happening to him. So it’s important to acknowledge that we’re working within a different life, you know, set up. It’s not the same and we shouldn’t compare.

Christina Townsend (30:55)
every minute of my waking day on spout, but I can’t.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, and there’s no, in my children

are older now, the ones that are more independent, but the flip side of that is now they don’t go to bed in the evenings, so don’t even have evenings, like once they’re in bed, to kind of sit and focus. So that’s another struggle which I’m sure you can relate to as well, is that sort of mum guilt and just constantly.

Victoria (31:31)
That quiet time, yeah.

Yeah, because if they’re awake, you feel like you should be spending quality time with them all the time. don’t, you know, I know that yours, they don’t necessarily want your quality time. They just kind of want to be doing their own things sometimes, but you still feel it. That if you’re working, you’re somehow not present in inverted commas. And that’s, that’s a whole other thing that we have to kind of reconcile in our mind, because there’s this FOMO like, are we missing out? And I,

Christina Townsend (31:47)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, definitely.

day.

Victoria (32:11)
certainly grapple with that all the time. And it’s another layer, know, Stephen Barlet isn’t opening his laptop and feeling any sort of guilt about that. You know, it’s… Yeah.

Christina Townsend (32:13)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. I know, I going to say, oh, how wonderful it would be just to have one thing to

focus on. But then again, yeah, I think, well, wow, what a strength that is that we all have, that we are able to do all those things and still make progress. And I think, yeah, there is the guilt, but actually the children, since they’ve sort of known about Spout, like just from day one with them, contrast to kind of perhaps how…

my mum was, there was just never any doubt in their mind that this would be a success. They were just like, wow, this is great. Like you’ve got a business. you know, from the beginning for them, it wasn’t like, oh, this is an idea and it might not go anywhere. They were like, wow, this is your idea and mommy’s got a business. know, and I just love that kind of mindset the kids have. And again, I was listening to a different podcast this week that talked about how many adults get stuck doing things that they don’t love. And it said that when you’re a child, you know, you have such a sort of

Victoria (32:54)
That’s so lovely.

Christina Townsend (33:17)
simplistic view of the world but actually it’s really, you know what you like and you know what you’re good at at a really young age and we lose that as we go through school and life, it kind of gets knocked out of you and I thought yeah that’s so true isn’t it, like I love when I was young that’s what I love doing, designing and making things and I think I kind of went so far away from that and yeah so see yeah the way the children responded I think has been really

Victoria (33:36)
Yeah. Yeah.

Christina Townsend (33:44)
That’s what keeps me going as well because think they believe in me, they believe in the product and I say there’s never any doubt in their mind that this would become a thing and I think yeah I hold on to that some days as well, I my god what am I doing? I think no they think I can do it and they are proud and really excited by it which is really nice.

Victoria (34:03)
Yeah.

And energizing, know, like you say, that’s the boost sometimes when you’re feeling flat, which is going to happen. It’s inevitable that they could just come and say something, ask you a question about it. And that it’s a given because you’re their mum, you can do anything. You’re incredible in their eyes and there’s no hesitation and they’re not encumbered by any societal conditioning on this yet. They don’t see the risk.

Christina Townsend (34:17)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

No. Yeah.

Victoria (34:31)
probably because

Christina Townsend (34:31)
Yeah.

Victoria (34:32)
their brains probably haven’t developed that way yet, but we’ll take it. They’re not worried for you, they’re excited. And I think sometimes, especially, know, older kids can be our best champions, I think. And the fact that they share that journey with you and they’re going to follow it all through, you know, you can imagine, you know, just going to trade shows with them and them helping you out and packing things. And it’s just, it’s so nice. And what a role model then.

Christina Townsend (34:35)
Yeah, definitely, No, yeah.

Yeah, definitely, yeah.

Victoria (35:01)
you are for them. You know, you came out of teaching, yeah, but you came out of teaching and you didn’t know this was possible for you. And they’ll never have that.

Christina Townsend (35:03)
Yeah, I hope so.

Yeah, yeah, I I really,

yeah, I really hope that that does, yeah, kind of without wanting to sound too, that it does inspire them, you know, if they when they’re older, if they’ve got an idea and something they want to do that it does inspire them to think, yeah, can, you why can’t I do it? Like, of course I can. Yeah, definitely. I hope it, I hope it does. And yeah, no, they’ve just been really helpful. Obviously the older they get as well, you know, just things like social media, they’re way more savvy than

I’ve ever been.

Victoria (35:39)
Yes. Yeah, I’m waiting for my daughter to grow up and tell me how to do it. Yeah, yeah.

Christina Townsend (35:44)
Yeah, honestly, it’s just insane what they can, know, take

seven, five minutes, it would take me like all day. So definitely they’re useful in that sense. But no, they’ve been brilliant. And to use that word champions, definitely, so obviously my mentor has been fantastic, but I’ve got like a cool kind of group of friends or two in particular. From the beginning, when I did speak to them, it was just an idea.

Victoria (35:50)
Yeah.

Christina Townsend (36:12)
they were just like, my God, you have got to go for this. And I do kind of think, you actually if I hadn’t had them in my ear kind of encouraging me, would I have gone for it? Because, you know, like we said, it was just an idea. was just me had no experience, no background, you know, whatever. Would I have gone for it actually if they hadn’t believed? So I think, you know, I’m so grateful to them as well for kind of not only did they believe in the idea, but they believed in me as well, which I think

know, think as people, don’t sort tell each other that enough. And these two particular friends are so good at bigging you up. you know, I don’t mean that, you know, I want all my friends to tell me how wonderful I am. I don’t mean that at all. But sometimes I think you can’t see your own abilities, maybe. I don’t know. I think we’re all kind of.

just naturally aren’t you, kind of what I am anyway, like don’t believe in myself or kind of don’t, yeah, necessarily think I could do it. So actually having somebody external like that knows you well and say, no, absolutely can do this. And like, I believe that you can do it, I think is massive. And yes, I’m so grateful to them.

Victoria (37:25)
And that probably really deepened those friendships as well, because you will always hold on to that. And it’s playing back into this confidence piece that, you were a confident mother by that point, you’re a confident teacher, but you’re toying with this idea of doing something that you know nothing about and you have absolutely zero confidence. And it’s all very well to say like, you know, just believe in yourself, but actually sometimes we do need

people who know us inside out and back to front to just validate the idea a little bit and say, we believe in you. So give it a try. And landing in the right moment that can make all the difference to our trajectory. And I think it’s when you’re starting something new and there’s a lot of mystery around it, it is really scary even if you really want to do it.

Christina Townsend (38:04)
Mm. Mm.

Victoria (38:23)
and so many people don’t do it. And those are the people, yeah.

Christina Townsend (38:26)
Yeah, my mentor says that to me all the time. She says,

if it was easy, everyone would do it. Like days when I ask people, I can’t do it anymore, I want to give up. She’s like, if it was easy, everyone would do it. Yeah, that’s true.

Victoria (38:32)
Exactly.

Yeah, yeah, but it’s, you know, there is an awful lot of fun and self discovery and expansion that comes with the process. And, you know, you’ll never have any regrets. This idea that you had, and for a while, you know, it’s just an idea. If you hadn’t pursued it, you know, 10, 20 years time, you’d be kicking yourself a little bit that you didn’t try and…

Christina Townsend (39:08)
Yeah, definitely.

Victoria (39:10)
These are the people that I really hope this podcast gets to because I hate the idea of having regret. It’s like my biggest fear. And so I do all sorts of stupid stuff so that I don’t have that. But it is, know, stories like yours, you’re still in the early stages, but I think actually you’ve done most of the work because it is that self belief and it is investing in yourself. Let’s talk about that investment point.

Christina Townsend (39:36)
Yeah.

Victoria (39:40)
because with a product business, it’s very different to a service business. A service business is low barrier to entry on this front. You can have a skill and you can make a website and open an Instagram account and say, I have this skill, would anyone like me to share it with them? And that’s it. You’re done. Whereas a product business is a whole different kettle of fish. You do have to have some capital to put into it. And in that sense, you’re…

Christina Townsend (39:44)
Thank

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Victoria (40:08)
front loading a financial investment, you have to have some self belief. So how did you feel about that in those early stages and how’s that process been for you?

Christina Townsend (40:12)
Mm.

hard because yeah it is yeah that’s been the biggest barrier today without a doubt is cost because like you say you’ve got to have it’s a physical product you’ve got to have a physical product but in order to have a physical product you’ve got to make it so even you know getting the designs done getting the prototypes made getting to this point has been very costly and I’ve funded that today I have taken some kind of

Victoria (40:22)
Yeah.

Christina Townsend (40:49)
risks and you know again you know my ex-husband was not necessarily kind of a risk taker. mean they’ve been balanced risks, get me wrong, haven’t like sold my house or anything like that but I think yeah I believe in it and I believe that it will be success and so I’ve been prepared to take those risks but that it’s been hard especially yeah being a single parent, being financially responsible, there’s a limit to the risks that I can take obviously.

Victoria (41:02)
Yeah, yeah.

Christina Townsend (41:21)
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And again, that’s, know, I did speak to a guy really early on that has a product based business and he’s developed a few different products and he was really helpful in the beginning, but you know, even he acknowledged, he said to me, look, I was at a completely different time in my life. He said, I didn’t have children. I’d got made redundant. He said, I had all this cash floating around. I said, yeah, why not? I’ll give it a go. So it’s, again, that’s, that’s so different to kind of my situation and where I am.

Victoria (41:19)
Because it feels like they’re not just your risks, they’re also your children’s risks that you’re making that call on their behalf too. Yeah, I get that.

Mm-mm. Yeah.

Christina Townsend (41:50)
So yeah, funded to date. So we’ve got like one prototype, which has been expensive to have that prototype, but then that in itself also then provides limitations in terms of the amount of, you know, I’d love to be able to send samples out to influencers, et cetera, to kind of, you know, gain awareness and traction. But when you just have one, it’s very difficult. So you can send it to one person and then it comes back. So, you know, we have been doing that, but again, that’s taken a long time because there is only one. And then there’s also the risk. What if they…

broke it. We’ve got this one special prototype and that would be devastating if that got broken. So that has been difficult. I’ve had lots and lots of conversations with my mentor. I do have a manufacturing partner that is all kind of ready to go. And we’ve had lots of conversations about, just doing a really small sample run. But the kind of challenge that we’ve had is that the tooling costs to make the pieces are so expensive that

Victoria (42:19)
Yeah, yeah, Yeah, I thought that.

Christina Townsend (42:47)
it’s not worth, know, to produce a batch, you’ve got to produce a big batch to make it kind of viable. So yeah, that’s been the biggest kind of hurdle to date. So we are now at the point where, you know, we’re speaking to investors and beginning that kind of journey and we’re going to explore running a Kickstarter campaign kind of alongside that. So we’re kind of in the process of getting that started now. But yeah, that’s been

Victoria (42:52)
Yeah, yeah.

Christina Townsend (43:14)
biggest thing and also that for me going back to knowing nothing you know I knew nothing about you know writing a business plan with my mentor and looking at the financials and I mean I literally I had no clue even some of you know the terms and the words and you know phrases that you hear people in business talk about I’d be like I don’t know what that means and that was yeah and and you know being quite honest it’s quite embarrassing at times I feel like I should know this like why don’t I know this

Victoria (43:27)
Yeah.

What’s that? Yeah.

Yeah.

Christina Townsend (43:40)
And yeah, you know, sometimes even, you know, my mentor will ask me questions, well, you know, what’s the ROI on this or what’s the, and I sort of have this panic. And then I think then it becomes a fear and then it, yeah. And then it, it does then become a kind of, yeah, a sort of fear, a panic. And I think, yeah, as we’re sort of preparing to meet investors, that’s what I’m really having to work on and kind of be coached through is actually talking confidently about.

Victoria (43:48)
Googling, R-O-I, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah,

just learning a new language almost. Yeah.

Christina Townsend (44:07)
Exactly. And you know, we were never

taught anything like that at school, ever. know, mean, business plan, had literally had no idea how to even start to write a business plan, like the financial side of it, all of that, again, been a massive learning curve. And yeah, I say that’s been the, for me, that’s been the hardest part in terms of

I’ve enjoyed the whole process, but that side of it I find scary. And that again, that’s where my mentor has been brilliant because she is very business minded and has that experience. But I think that’s perhaps not talked about enough as well. It’s almost like assume that you know this lingo and you will know all of this. But again, I wasn’t up around that kind of language, those sort of conversations. So I had no idea at all.

Victoria (44:56)
Yeah, no completely.

Yeah.

And that in itself is a barrier to entry because it just deepens any imposter syndrome that you feel, you know, that you don’t know how to speak this language. You don’t feel qualified to be in that room. You know, when you go and meet investors, you know, you see it on dragons down and stuff, don’t you? You know, and the amount of prep that will go into that. And you have to know your numbers and you have to like,

Christina Townsend (45:23)
Yeah. Yeah.

Victoria (45:32)
And that I think Dragon’s End doesn’t necessarily do any favors because it kind of strips you of the opportunity to say, look, I’m brand new at this. I only learned what an ROI is three days ago. And I know what it is now and here are the figures, but I haven’t memorized them because this is new. However, and you can kind of play into anecdotal evidence as a strength when you’re pitching.

Christina Townsend (45:45)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Victoria (46:02)
but it doesn’t feel enough because you are holding all of that self-doubt. And it’s just something that will come and that evolves as you get further and further into it. But I think at the beginning, that language barrier, all these acronyms, you know, it’s almost enough to make you pull out. And that sounds crazy, but…

Christina Townsend (46:28)
Yeah.

Victoria (46:30)
you’re just like, it’s too much, it’s overwhelming. And it’s say in the online space, I’ve had, you know, I messaged someone the other day, they asked if they would, if I would share on the, on our stories, just a workshop that they were doing. And it was for mum’s, yeah, absolutely. And she was a previous guest on the podcast and I, and she just left her job at the NHS. And I said, well, send me your link to the landing page and I will include that in the story. So it’s super smooth.

And she’s like, literally just learned more landing pages. And every time I hear these, I feel like there’s so much I don’t know. And this is all brand new. And, you know, in the online world, there’s a lot of this, know, lead magnets, landing pages, whatever it might be. And it’s the same in any aspect of business. And it can feel like you’re just completely ill-equipped to have these conversations. And it’s actually a big deal to push through that.

Christina Townsend (47:04)
Mm.

Mm-mm.

Victoria (47:28)
because

these are all things that you can learn. And actually it’s acknowledging that the idea and your tenacity and your willingness to learn is what’s going to get you through it. And there’s nothing particularly impressive about knowing that ROI stands for return on investment. It’s just the knowing, but until you know it, you do, it does kind of hinder you and make you feel like you’re out of your depth. And I think that’s a really important point to note for people starting out.

Christina Townsend (47:32)
Mm.

Mm.

Yeah.

Mm.

Victoria (47:57)
this language is completely learnable and it’s way easier than like, it’s not like learning Mandarin. It’s limited vocabulary, but I think there are certainly rooms you can walk into where you feel intimidated by it. And again, the investment, the numbers, marketing yourself, you know, how have you found that? Because that’s something that you’re not taught in school and it’s something you definitely don’t need to worry about as a teacher.

Christina Townsend (48:02)
Yeah.

Yeah, definitely something

that I’m not comfortable with either. I remember a conversation really early on I had with someone that said, you’ve got an idea for a product or whatever, but you’ve got no idea about running a business. You come up with the idea, but you don’t think at the point when you have that idea, yes, I’m going to…

Victoria (48:29)
Yeah.

Christina Townsend (48:48)
this is going to become a business. Like you just think about your product and your idea, which actually, yeah, you don’t sort of think, well, actually I’m going have to learn how to set up a business and scratch, run a business, all of that. And yeah, without having any education on it at all. But like you say, it’s learnable. you know, like I say, everyone has been so helpful that I’ve sort of come into contact with and yeah, I have learned a huge amount. And as well, going back to my point about this happening at the right time in my life, I think,

Victoria (49:02)
Yeah. Yeah.

Christina Townsend (49:17)
Yes, while some of that stuff does still make me nervous, I have also now got to a point in my life where I think, well, so what if I don’t know that actually? you know, I’m sure there’s plenty of things, if I walk into a room full of investors, I’m sure there’s plenty of things they don’t know about things that I know, for instance, you know, would they be able to stand in front of a room of 30 children and be able to command the room? No, I don’t think they would. So I think I’ve sort of stopped, yeah, again, kind of being so down on myself for not knowing it all and thinking, yeah, I’m learning, you know, I’m trying and I am

Victoria (49:25)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yes, exactly. Yeah.

Christina Townsend (49:47)
getting there. yeah, that’s definitely been a challenge. And the thing that I think, yeah, I’ve probably found hardest really. Yeah, the marketing myself point. Yeah, that’s, yeah, the part probably I enjoy the least. Like I love, don’t get me wrong, I love.

I’m fine in a room full of people and talking to people and talking about the product, I’m quite comfortable with that. But the social media side of things, I’d like to do anything I can to avoid it. Because it’s hard, it’s really hard. And I think as well now, with the way that social media is going, it has become, is that even with a product-based business,

Victoria (50:21)
Yeah. Yeah.

Christina Townsend (50:36)
your social media presence is actually becoming less and less about the product, more and more about the story and the person. So for someone that’s not that comfortable with social media, that’s something I’m still working on.

Victoria (50:42)
Yeah. Yeah.

but you have

time, you have time. And again, that is, it’s confidence and competence, isn’t it? And you can choose how much you decide to share about your story. It’s not obligatory to share every detail, but even things like this, I think why it’s like that is because people just want to know about the human behind the product, because we’re all looking for human connection.

Christina Townsend (51:03)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Victoria (51:19)
And just knowing that you were a mum that found bath time a lot, you know, and was tired of having mouldy toys piled up at the side of the bath, you know, that’s, that’s almost enough. Because every mother immediately gets that. We’ve all got piles of rotten bath toys that we’re just kind of hanging on to in case they want to be played with. So it’s just about being relatable, I guess. But the more you do it, like everything else, like we’ve talked about, you know, like all the big business lingo and

Christina Townsend (51:23)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

India.

Victoria (51:49)
And everything, the more you do it, the more practice, the more confident. And it’s just a constant kind of journey of expansion of your comfort zone, isn’t it?

Christina Townsend (51:52)
Yeah.

Yeah, definitely. And I think as well, getting older, I’m definitely more open to doing that. think, yeah, 10 years ago, I just would have been like, no, no way, can’t do it. yeah, whereas now actually, yeah, it’s, there’s something quite nice.

Victoria (52:10)
Mortified, yeah, yeah, same, same.

Christina Townsend (52:18)
I’m enjoying getting older. I think there’s so much negativity, particularly around women, ageing, isn’t there, and getting older. Don’t get me wrong, I do look in the mirror sometimes and think, But the flip side of that is I do care less now I’m getting older, which is quite liberating, I think, and nice. think, well, don’t give a shit. If you don’t like it, you don’t like me, then say what? Move on.

Victoria (52:20)
Yeah, same, now I am. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, completely. Yeah, yeah, exactly. You’ve just

got less time to play with in life. And so if there’s something you want to do, you’ve got to do it. And if it involves putting out a reel that someone might not like, then whatever. Like you’re just pursuing your goals. And if someone else doesn’t like it, that’s for them, you know, and it is liberating. And I think it’s tragic that you can’t have that sort of attitude when you’re younger.

Christina Townsend (52:49)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, I look at younger people, entrepreneurs, whatever, and I have such respect for them. think, well, how have you got that level of confidence at that age? There’s just no way, no way I would have had that when I was 20, 25. Yeah. No, definitely.

Victoria (53:09)
the things we could have done.

Yeah, I think they’re unicorns. Yeah, yeah, it’s, I mean,

it’s definitely been a journey for me. And it sounds like it has been for you to get to that point where you give fewer shits about what other people think, but it is a superpower in business and something really amazing about starting this adventure in your forties, you know.

Christina Townsend (53:36)
Yeah. Yeah.

Victoria (53:50)
because you didn’t have to, you could have stayed where you were, but how exciting is it gonna be to see where this goes and to take your kids on that journey with you? I think it’s amazing.

Christina Townsend (53:54)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, and I think it’s the thing

that…

love as well. It’s mums, know, and dads, but it’s mainly mums I speak to and get the feedback from. You they genuinely, it works for them. They love it. Like it solves, I was saying, those pain points. their children love it. Children genuinely are excited by it, want to play with it. It keeps them engaged. So it solves that, yeah, pain time of the bath, but then, you know, with the added benefits of it looks nice in the bathroom, like one, one…

mum’s feed back, I almost forgot it was there, which was like a really nice compliment because that’s kind of what I wanted, like something that was unobtrusive and looks nice in a nice bathroom. And then the fact that it works for them as a bath tray, so kind of gives something back to mums as well. And like I said, goes in the dishwasher, sorry, so yeah, none of them are. So I think it’s, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it kind of, it solves all those problems. And I think that.

Victoria (54:38)
Yeah, yeah.

I didn’t know that. That’s amazing. Sold. I’m going to go and order one, pre-order one.

Christina Townsend (55:04)
Obviously when you set out with the product you want it to be success and you want it to solve a problem but I think it’s just, yeah, the feedback that we’ve been getting has just nailed it all and I think that’s the dream, isn’t it right? You want a product that works.

Victoria (55:19)
Yeah, yeah, and it propels you forward because you’re like,

right, well, it’s you know, however many mums who’ve trialed it. So let’s help more mums because that’s it at the end of the day, you’re solving a pain point. And, you know, just the calm of the way it packs away into something that is kind of just neutral and just adds to your space.

Christina Townsend (55:27)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Victoria (55:44)
when the rest of your house might be covered in plastic toys and all sorts of rubbish and your kid’s socks here, there and everywhere. And it’s just a little bit of calm that we need. I think it’s fantastic.

Christina Townsend (55:53)
Yeah. And it kind of,

think as well, like with, you know, watching children play with it, like it just kind of reminds you as well that children don’t need like all singing or dancing, toys. think we’re going, we’re gravitating, we, so much more, you know, louder, faster things where actually, you know, kids, they don’t need that. Like they just give them something simple, like some tubes and some pipes and some water. And it just, they love it and it keeps them engaged. And I think that’s…

really nice is I know, know, in my heart is a genuine, it’s good for the children. And I think, yeah, going back to my background in teaching my children that, know, kind of was also at the root of it as well is something that that really does work for children. It’s not just something that looks good or, you know, it’s functional. They genuinely love it. And my children now, you know, it’s like, when can we have it back? Because it’s always, you know, off being tested. And even, you know, my 11 year old will still want to play with it in the bath. And that’s the other thing as well as I think we’re

Victoria (56:44)
Yeah.

Christina Townsend (56:52)
know children were in such a rush to grow up and actually, yeah, the fact that my 11 year old still wants to play with the toy in the bath, like I love that. I think as well the fact that originally when we first started looking at it I wanted it to be made from bamboo, kind of with that more sort of take on it. But for various reasons we couldn’t. But actually, yes, okay, so it is made of plastic, it’s acrylic and plastic pieces. But…

It’s a toy that is going to last forever. You can pass it down from generation to generation. It’s going to last. And I really like that as well, that it’s something that my children pass on to their children and one of those things that stays in the family and won’t end up in landfill like all the other plastic toys that are currently in your sink.

Victoria (57:23)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, definitely.

Yeah.

Yes, well exactly. Yeah. And this is it. There are so many toys that are in my house right now. I’m looking at them behind the laptop that I know are destined for landfill eventually. And so this is a, it’s an intergenerational toy. It’s something that you can, it’s an heirloom and it’s something that you can pass on, you know, after that final play when they’re, you know, the youngest is 12 years old, you whack it through the dishwasher, put it in the attic and then hand it onto them when they have their kids.

Christina Townsend (57:58)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, exactly, yeah, yeah,

yeah.

Victoria (58:11)
And

this is what grandma designed. This is what started her empire. And of course, by then you’ll be on an island in the Maldives visiting occasionally. And it’s all part of the origin story. Yeah, I love it. Christine, I have one last question for you before I let you go. So looking back now at this stage in your life, when you reflect on your eight year old self, if you could have a conversation with her, what would you say?

Christina Townsend (58:15)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Wow.

I think, just that it sounds really cliche, corny, but just that belief in yourself, like you can do it. And there’s a really nice song that I came across recently by Ray La Montagne. It’s called Step Into Your Power. And it just keeps going on on Spotify. I think it’s quite serendipitous, but it says the lyrics are something like, you know, step into your power, everything that you need or something was given to you on the day that you were born. think, you know, that I just find that really lovely that actually, yeah, that.

It of has been in me all the time. It might have taken me until I was 40 to kind of realise and to make that dream kind of become a reality. But I think, yeah, like you are capable and you can do this. I think that would be my advice. And yeah, don’t give up. Keep going.

Victoria (59:35)
love it. Tell me where everybody can find you and learn more about spout and where they can pre-order. Where would you like them to go?

Christina Townsend (59:43)
Yep.

So we’re on Instagram at spout bath toys. And on Instagram, there’s a link to our website where you can sign up to a preorder list. So no payment, no commitment, but just sort of signalling your interest and then you’ll be notified when we do go into production, you’ll kind of get first dibs at the preorders. And we do have a website as well spout bath toys.com.

Victoria (59:49)
Yeah

Fantastic. Thank you so much, Christina. I’ve loved this. It’s been amazing. And I’m going to invite you back once you’ve made your first million and we’ll reflect. We could come and do it in the Maldives. I’ll come to you. That’ll be great.

Christina Townsend (1:00:12)
thank you. They’re really good.

when I’m in the Maldives. Definitely. My outdoor bath, kind of on my… Yeah, no, that would be brilliant.

Thank you. I really enjoyed it. It would be nice talking to you as well.

Victoria (1:00:34)
It’s been great. Thank you.

Christina Townsend (1:00:36)
Thanks so much.