She Built an App That Broke the Internet While Recovering From Surgery

In this electrifying episode, Yaela Raber sits down with Nicole Retter, co-founder of PAM, the revolutionary app easing the invisible mental load carried by parents particularly mothers. What began as a duct-taped prototype created by a burnt-out mum has become one of the fastest-growing tools for families worldwide.

Nicole opens up about the day PAM went viral while she was in the hospital recovering from surgery, the chaos of scaling overnight, and the deep personal burnout that almost broke her. Together, she and Yaela unpack the dark side of high-achieving entrepreneurship, the addiction to productivity, and how Nicole rebuilt both her health and her leadership by finally slowing down.

This is a brutally honest conversation about motherhood, mental load, ADHD, and the hidden emotional toll of building something that matters and how reclaiming your own wellbeing is the ultimate act of power.

In This Episode We Discuss:

00:00 - Episode Trailer

01:22 When the app “broke the internet” overnight

03:50 The mental load parents carry and why PAM had to exist

06:30 Solving a problem 20 years overdue

07:56 ADHD, motherhood, and building a product for your past self

10:15 From burnout to body breakdown: the wake-up call

12:22 The scariest moment and the lesson it forced

14:50 The addiction to doing more and how it’s rewarded

17:00 Finding the line between obsession and burnout

19:42 Relearning to rest the hardest skill

21:20 Setting boundaries as a founder and mother

23:03 The guilt of “doing it wrong” and finding grace again

25:19 Recognizing the “have to” mindset as a warning sign

27:20 The myth of productivity and redefining success

30:10 The burnout loop: never feeling “enough”

33:42 Childhood patterns and the high-achiever trap

35:44 Reconnecting to the body after years of disconnection

38:12 Building PAM: from wine nights to beta testing

42:15 Turning messy steps into massive impact

46:10 Data, safety, and protecting what matters most

50:20 The lesson from her biggest business mistake

54:00 Full-circle moments: from wanting kids to building PAM for parents

56:00 The real measure of impact and the power of following intuition

Episode Resources:

Guest Website: https://nicoleretter.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicoleretter/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-retter/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicole.retter/

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