Alicia Navarro talks to Entrepreneur UK about building FLOWN, a platform that helps you get more done, leading while pregnant, and why focus – not hustle – fuels momentum

When Alicia Navarro stepped away from Skimlinks, the content monetisation platform she co-founded and led for over a decade, she didn’t intend to disappear quietly into advisory roles or start-up investing. Instead, she did what seasoned entrepreneurs often warn against: she started again. This time, however, she started differently. She designed a company where focus, intentional rest, and remote culture come first.

“With FLOWN, I learned the power of designing culture with intention,” she says. “At Skimlinks, the culture naturally evolved around camaraderie – we had an in-office environment where employee satisfaction and commercial success thrived because coming to work was fun, collaborative, and rewarding. But when I founded FLOWN, I wanted to take a different approach from day one. I was committed to a remote-first model and so thought carefully about how to create a culture that could thrive not despite the distributed setup, but because of it.” The result is a company focused on helping people work with more focus and less distraction, offering structured tools and sessions aimed at supporting concentration, routine, and periods of meaningful rest.

“That meant intentionally crafting values and practices that aligned with our mission,” Navarro explains. “From the start, FLOWN’s culture was purposefully different – our hiring, our ways of working, and even our rituals reflect a focus on productivity and intentional rest. I believe lasting greatness stems from focus, balance, and creativity – and that’s exactly what our culture is designed to nurture.”

This philosophy is personal. For Navarro, productivity isn’t about pushing harder; it’s about working smarter, with rhythm. “It starts with embracing the idea that focus is momentum,” she says. “I use time-blocking religiously, dedicating protected chunks of my day to deep work, and treating those blocks with the same respect I would give to an important meeting. I also front-load my week with team meetings and one-to-ones, which frees up the latter half for cognitively demanding work that requires real focus. As a founder, you’re constantly being pulled in multiple directions, but momentum doesn’t come from doing more – it comes from doing the right things with clarity and presence.”

That clarity has been hard-won. As a female founder navigating the tech world while pregnant, Navarro speaks candidly about the emotional and physical toll it can take. “As a pregnant founder, the unique pressures I’m facing feel incredibly present,” she says. “Balancing the cerebral, assertive mindset required to lead a company with the embodied, emotionally connected state that pregnancy invites – it’s not easy. There’s a constant tension between those two modes of being. And with that comes a persistent fear: that the stress and demands of work might impact my mental wellbeing or even affect my unborn child.”

She’s quick to point out, though, that this duality isn’t unique to pregnancy. “I believe many female founders navigate similar contradictions. There’s an ongoing pressure to embody both traditionally ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ energies – to be decisive and driven, yet also empathetic and grounded. That dual expectation, across such a wide spectrum of responsibilities, is a real challenge.”

Compared to her first time founding a company, FLOWN came with advantages: a solid reputation, strong network, and sharper instincts. “The first time was definitely harder – I was starting from zero. No network, no experience, no reputation. But I had something to prove,” she says. This time around, things are different. I have a strong network, decades of experience, and a solid reputation in the industry. That foundation makes a real difference when it comes to things like fundraising, attracting talent, and gaining media attention. I’m also older now, which I’ve come to see as an advantage. It forces me to focus on the things that truly move the needle, rather than feeling the pressure to attend every networking event or investor gathering. I’m much more intentional with how and where I use my time and energy.”

This sense of intentionalit – —of doing less, better – runs through every element of her leadership. And when it comes to rest, Navarro is as much an advocate as a practitioner.

“By reminding [entrepreneurs] that their brain is their most valuable asset and it doesn’t operate well when it’s constantly depleted,” she says. “The science is clear: rest boosts creativity, clarity, and decision-making. But more than that, I try to model it myself. FLOWN exists to normalise this. Rest isn’t the reward for productivity, it’s part of it. Once entrepreneurs experience how much more effective they are after a period of rest or focus, they don’t go back.”

For the future of tech leadership, Navarro believes women are poised to drive meaningful change – not by mimicking outdated models of success, but by redefining them.

“Women often bring a more empathetic lens to leadership – one that allows for deeper analysis of situations, a nuanced understanding of how decisions impact multiple stakeholders, and a natural drive to find balance in how those decisions are made. This kind of intuitive impact analysis is an often overlooked strength. I also believe women tend to foster cohesive, high-functioning teams. That’s a huge asset for any company, because it helps retain one of the most valuable forms of capital: the knowledge, trust, and experience that exist within a team.”