Bobbie: From Airbnb to Redefining Infant Formula

Laura Modi

Founder & CEO, Bobbie

2025

The Challenge

Growth That Outpaces Supply

"We are depleting inventory far quicker than our ability to replenish and the customers keep coming. We have about six days before we get to a place where we won't be able to serve those who've already made a commitment to Bobbie. We need to turn off our site and stop growing the business."

Real growth trap: when demand exceeds supply, you must choose between growth and trust
Infant formula is non-negotiable, running out means failing babies and families
The inventory crisis required turning OFF growth to honor existing customers
Slowth becomes strategy when supply chains can't keep pace

Framework

The Airbnb Lessons Laura Brought Forward

The supply is the product. At Airbnb, hosts were the product. At Bobbie, parents and their trust are the product.
Put them first before growth. Growth follows when you optimize for people, not metrics
Energy is the currency. Maintaining momentum and morale through crisis is non-negotiable
Storytelling moves people. Every update, every internal initiative, needs narrative that connects to why the work matters

The shift at Airbnb

Realized that optimizing for bookings wasn't the goal, putting hosts first made everything work. Same at Bobbie: put parents first, trust follows, growth follows.

Culture infrastructure

At Airbnb, everyone felt personally invested. At Bobbie (fully remote), Laura uses 1-on-1s across functions and personal check-ins to maintain that connection.

Brand Playbook

How Bobbie Built Loyalty During Crisis

Brand connects to problems people already have. Parents already feel guilt about formula. Bobbie solved the guilt, not invented a new problem.
Don't point fingers at competitors. Never say "breast is worse" or "competitors are bad." Just tell your story.
Brand the mundane. Internal processes like "Secret Shopping Program" for regulatory checks feel more real than "legal compliance review"
Embrace slowth. During 2022 formula shortage, supply constraints forced Laura to turn off growth. That move built deeper trust than chasing acquisition would have.

The three things keeping parents up at night

Laura's brand strategy: identify the top 3 pain points parents experience (guilt, ingredient concerns, product quality). Build brand messaging and creative only around those. Everything else is noise.

The FDA moment

Early days: FDA shut down Bobbie's warehouse over labeling claims. Laura relabeled everything and spent a year rebuilding trust with regulators. Slowth. But it built unshakeable product credibility.

Founder Playbook

The Risk-Taking Framework

Research deeply before leaping. Laura spent months understanding infant formula, the market, and her own financial runway.
Conviction is the filter. She had folders of ideas but only pursued Bobbie because she felt unshakeable conviction.
Timing meets intention. Luck plays a role, but intention and preparation make you ready when luck appears.
Support systems are leverage. Laura credits her EA Kendra as the multiplier that lets her operate at founder + mother scale.

The personal + professional marriageLaura had her first baby when Bobbie launched (DTC 2021). Had two more along the journey. Personal growth and professional growth fueled each other. When one slowed, the other accelerated. Both are needed.

Contrarian

What Bobbie Got Wrong (Then Right)

✗"Convince people breast is bad"INSTEAD →✓ Amplify the 83% already using formula. Don't argue with ideology. Solve for those who've already decided.

✗"Run toward growth at all costs"INSTEAD →✓ Turn off growth when supply can't match. In infant formula, breaking a promise is catastrophic. Slowth > growth.

✗"Formula is just a CPG"INSTEAD →✓ Formula is an identity category. Parents feel guilt + shame. Brand must solve the emotional problem, not just product.

✗"Disruptors are celebrated"INSTEAD →✓ Regulators resist disruption. FDA shut Bobbie down early. Patient collaboration with agencies beats confrontation every time.

Based on Laura Modi's episode on Lenny's Podcast. All ideas on this page are from the episode.Read the episode on Lenny’s Newsletter

Every sketch here began as a transcript.

Send us yours and we’ll draw it. $1 a transcript.

Sketch mine →

0:00