Confessions of a Female Founder, review: Meghan's podcast is an inane stream of mindless aphorisms

Telegraph

08-04-2025

'I wanted it to be an environment of thanks and gratitude – compliments only.' While that is not Meghan, Duchess of Sussex describing her new podcast Confessions of a Female Founder it's a quote that certainly fits the bill, as the mother to the sixth in line to the British throne interviews female entrepreneurs to get the secrets of their success. However, there are no confessions or secrets – at one mystifying point Meghan says to her guest, 'You don't have to reveal all the secrets' – but there are plenty of self-care aphorisms, journeys of self-love and validation, discussions of bottling your essence, and great handfuls of mutual adoration.
The quote belongs to Meghan's first guest – the genuinely interesting Whitney Wolfe Herd, co-founder of dating app Bumble, the first self-made female billionaire (according to Forbes) and, most importantly for the purposes of this podcast, Meghan's pal. The gushing begins almost instantly, as Wolfe Herd describes Meghan and Harry as an 'elegant, iconic, classy couple' and Meghan calling Wolfe Herd 'the kind of friend who always seems to know exactly what to say' (which is presumably why she was invited on the podcast in the first place).
The frustrating thing is that Wolfe Herd, who is just 35, presumably does have wisdom to impart, having been part of the team that created Tinder before she created Bumble. Imagine the drive, the talent, the decisions and sheer bloody ruthlessness it must take to achieve what she has.
We get none of it. In this perfumed echo chamber, the best we get is a sense that Wolfe Herd didn't love school and that she wishes she hadn't worked so hard. 'The view isn't worth it,' says the woman who married an oil heir and is worth an estimated $400 million.
The pair speak a great amount of deliberately calculated nonsense. In a grim irony, Bumble was originally intended to be a female-only social media app to encourage kindness among girls. It became a dating app. Having recently returned as CEO, Wolfe Herd is given space to plug the product, telling Meghan that she is going to 're-architect the way people love'. There is no way, says the dating app billionaire, to feel better about yourself by relying on the validation of others.
We get some fleeting glimpses into Meghan's life, including a brief mention of the postpartum preeclampsia that both women suffered from, but other than that there is little sense that Meghan lives in the real world. When she discusses the benefits of prioritising her children over work, or how she never wants to miss drop-off or pick-up, it's as if she believes the rest of us are making the wrong choices. Wolfe Herd agrees: 'At my on-paper richest, I was my inward poorest.' Now her 'buckets' are better balanced. She is still worth $400 million.
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Apart from the surface-level waffle, the thing that will strike you is Meghan's. Distractingly odd. Staccato. Delivery. With a very UNusual, EMPHasis on. Various words. 'Inthatmoment,' she says on fretting about packaging for her products. 'It feels. Monumental. For example, a month ago I was. Ab. Solutely. ConSUMED. With packaging. Boxes. It'sallIcouldthinkabout.' In the actual conversation with Wolfe Herd, she is more relaxed and natural, but never adds much more than fulsome agreement and gentle tap-ins for her guest.
'Imagine if they'd given us a bottle of rose for this conversation,' says Wolfe Herd at the end, stumbling on a far better podcast premise than this superficial filler. It ends as it begins, in a flurry of love, self-love and affirmation. 'Oh my gosh, you're the best.' 'I'm proud of you.' 'Thank you.'