Sometimes the best businesses start with the simplest frustrations. For Karen Gee, founder of Cycle Sprog, it all began with a pair of missing gloves.
The Unexpected Beginning
Standing at her breakfast bar fourteen years ago, Karen was searching online for waterproof cycling gloves for her youngest son. He was commuting to preschool in a front bike seat, tiny hands on the handlebars, fingers freezing in the morning chill. Despite extensive searching, she couldn’t find what she needed.
“There needs to be a website for busy parents like me that just tells you where to go to get all this stuff,” she told her husband in exasperation.
His response? “Well, why don’t you set one up?”
Karen’s initial reaction wasn’t enthusiasm, it was disbelief. She was working four days a week as a project manager, raising two children under four, and felt overwhelmed. But the idea took root, growing like a persistent worm in her brain until she couldn’t ignore it anymore.
The Double Life
What makes Karen’s story particularly interesting is that she never intended to become a full-time entrepreneur. Today, she maintains what she calls a “double life”, running Cycle Sprog while continuing to work as a project manager on major corporate projects in the insurance industry.
Her path to this dual career was far from linear. After studying geography at university in Manchester, Karen landed her first role at the Royal Geographical Society in London, working as an assistant to the keeper of collections. When digitisation arrived, something unexpected happened: she discovered an innate talent for understanding databases and IT systems.
“This guy asked me to think about how I would categorise the collection overnight,” Karen recalls. “The next day he said, ‘Have you got a background in IT?’ I was like, no. He said, ‘Well you just designed a relational database for me.’ I was like, what’s a relational database?”
Building Cycle Sprog
When Cycle Sprog launched in May 2012, Karen’s mum was essentially the only reader. But gradually, emails started arriving from parents asking questions. A Facebook following grew. Brands began reaching out for reviews.
The business evolved organically, shaped by Karen’s own parenting journey. As her boys grew and she discovered new cycling solutions, she documented everything, the successes, the failures, and the practical advice parents desperately needed.
“I didn’t want it to just be about two white boys of a certain age,” Karen explains. “I needed a network.” She began tapping into friends, enlisting their help to showcase different types of cycling experiences across various ages and locations.
The Pivot Point
A crucial turning point came when affiliate marketing emerged, allowing Karen to monetise the business. She recalibrated, reducing her project management work to three days per week. Between projects, she would take breaks, sometimes six or nine months, to invest in growing Cycle Sprog, living frugally and saving strategically.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought unexpected challenges. Karen developed long COVID, and the experience made her realise the business needed to be future-proof. She couldn’t be the single point of failure.
“I couldn’t even get out of bed some days,” she shares. “That really made me realise I do need to future-proof this.”
Building a Team
The journey from solopreneur to business owner required Karen to learn entirely new skills. She transitioned from freelancers to part-time employees, bringing on team members like Saskia, Mildred, and Emily. Learning to delegate and manage her own team proved different from project management.
Today, the business runs largely without her daily involvement, exactly what she’d aimed for. Her team handles operations while Karen checks in at weekly meetings, finally achieving the sustainability she’d worked toward for five years.
Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
Karen’s guidance for others considering a similar path is refreshingly practical:
- Just start. Tell everyone you’re going to do it, the accountability helps overcome inertia.
- Be kind to yourself. There will be times when you need to put the business on hold. Karen once spent nine months working in Dublin without touching Cycle Sprog, only to discover visitor numbers had continued growing anyway.
- Find your niche. Don’t try to be everything to everyone. Understanding exactly what you offer, and what you don’t, helps build a genuine brand and loyal following.
- Avoid comparison traps. Social media’s highlight reels can be demoralising. Work out what functions for your family and circumstances, not what looks impressive online.
- Seek mentorship and networks. Karen credits mentors and business networks, including some surprising connections, like a Welsh sheep farmer, with providing crucial insights at different stages of growth.
Holiday Gift Guide Wisdom
As the holiday season approaches, Karen offers practical advice for cycling-related gifts:
- For bikes: Choose quality over character branding. Those Frozen or Spider-Man bikes might look appealing, but they’re often built as toys, heavy, with poor-quality brakes, and ultimately disappointing.
- Size matters: Never buy a bike for a child to grow into. An oversized bike is scary and dangerous, potentially putting children off cycling entirely.
- Consider second hand: Quality bikes retain value and can be resold, making pre-owned options from reputable brands a smart choice.
- Start with balance bikes: For young children, balance bikes (bikes without pedals) teach steering, stopping, and balance before adding the complexity of pedaling.
- Accessories add excitement: Once you have a quality bike, add embellishments like gloves, cycling jerseys, bells, or baskets to make kids feel cool.
The Road Ahead
Karen doesn’t know if there will come a day when Cycle Sprog completely replaces her project management work, and she’s okay with that uncertainty. She enjoys the variety, the adrenaline rush of corporate projects, and the creative fulfillment of her cycling business.
“Sometimes I’m sitting in a boardroom talking about insurance with senior executives, and then other times I’m talking to a parent about a balance bike,” she laughs. “Which world am I in?”
For now, she’s content navigating both worlds, helping families discover the joy of cycling together while managing complex corporate projects. It’s an unconventional path, but then again, the best journeys often are.
As Karen says, reflecting on her accidental entrepreneurship: “I never get fed up of parents contacting me saying, ‘I discovered this website and we’ve done this and bought that.’ That’s what makes it all worthwhile.”
To learn more about family cycling and find Karen’s practical guides, visit Cycle Sprog online:
Thank you so much Sukanya for such a lovely walk and talk. It was great to remember how far I’ve come, and also where I’m heading. Hopefully we’ll be back for an update in 15 years time!
Thank you so much for being part of this journey, and I look forward to seeing what you do next. I’ll see you in 15 years – if not sooner!