Bill Gates is a proud dad of three children, who have all their own successful careers.
The world’s 13th richest man, 69, shares Jennifer, 30, Rory, 25, and Phoebe, 22 with ex-wife Melinda French Gates, 60.
Jennifer and Rory have chosen careers in medicine and politics respectively, but Phoebe is conquering the world of fashion.
The young entrepreneur has partnered with her Stanford college roommate Sophia Kianni, 23, to launch an online shopping app following their graduation last June.
Phia offers shoppers an easy way to compare the prices of new and used items across thousands of e-commerce sites, and it went live on April 24.
When his daughter told him about the idea for Phia, Gates told The New York Times, he was worried she wanted money for the startup.
Bill Gate’s youngest daughter, Phoebe, 22, is working on conquering the fashion world, and doing it without her family’s money; pictured in New York City in June 2022
The youngest child of Bill and Melinda Gates studied Human Biology at California’s Stanford University and graduated last year
‘Wow, a lot of people have tried, and there’s some big guys in there,’ he said. ‘I thought, “Oh boy, she’s going to come and ask.”‘
The billionaire said he probably would have given her funding if Phoebe had, but it would have come with conditions.
‘I would have kept her on a short leash and be doing business reviews, which I would have found tricky, and I probably would have been overly nice but wondered if it was the right thing to do? Luckily, it never happened,’ he explained.
He does, however, offer advice on personnel issues. ‘When it comes to shopping, I’m not exactly the target audience.’
Melinda Gates told Phoebe and her partner to raise the money on their own. ‘She saw it as a real opportunity for me to, like, learn and fail,’ the young entrepreneur said.
They started with $100,000 from Soma Capital and a Stanford grant of $250,000 from a social entrepreneurship program, and eventually procured another $500,000 from angel investors.
They’ve also received mentorship from female mentors, including Kris Jenner, Sara Blakely from Spanx and Joanne Bradford, the former president of Honey.
Kianni, who taught Phoebe how to improve her style via second hand clothes bought through resale sites such as Poshmark and The RealReal, include those on the app as well as 40 thousand other resale and retail companies.
Gates, 69, shares three children with ex-wife Melinda Gates. Jennifer, 30, and Rory, 25, have gone into medicine and politics, Phoebe, is the youngest and is an entrepreneur
Phoebe and her Stanford roommate Sophia Kianni, 23, have launched a new shopping tool called Phia. It compares clothing prices in real time across 40 thousand fashion retail and resale companies
The Phia app went live on April 24 and the partners and their team created a slick ad to explain how it works
The launch of Phia has also been covered by Wealth which explained how the program works.
‘Phia flashes real-time median prices so you know exactly when an item is worth buying new, and when it’s a better deal secondhand.’
The company has produced a commercial promoting the program on social media.
The app is free and the company will be funded through purchases on affiliate links.
Phoebe and Kianni have also launched their own podcast, The Burnouts, on the Unwell Network, in which they talk about navigating ‘the highs and lows of corporate culture as young women.’
There has been some pushback against the youngest Gates.
Phoebe said her mom Melinda French Gates, 60, encouraged her to raise the money on her own. ‘She saw it as a real opportunity for me to, like, learn and fail,’ the young entrepreneur told The New York Times; Pictured in New York City in September 2024
Asked if he would have provided funds if asked, Gates said yes, but ‘I would have kept her on a short leash and be doing business reviews, which I would have found tricky… Luckily, it never happened’; seen April 25 in NYC
‘I’d love to know how a daughter of a billionaire is “burnt out” y’all really gotta hire someone to gut check before yall do these passion projects,’ wrote one skeptic on social media.
‘Growing up, I realized that people are always going to have thoughts about me,’ she told The NYT.
‘If the business is successful, people will say, “It’s because of her family,” and a huge portion of that is true,’ she admitted.
‘I never would have been able to go to Stanford, or have such an amazing upbringing, or feel the drive to do something, if it wasn’t for my parents. But I also feel a huge amount of internalized pressure.’
