Phoebe Gates Shares Insights on Startup Success and Personal Life in Recent Interviews
New York City, June 26, 2025 — Phoebe Gates, the 22-year-old daughter of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and philanthropist Melinda French Gates, has made headlines with her entrepreneurial ventures and candid revelations about her personal and family life. The Stanford graduate, who co-founded the AI-powered fashion app Phia, recently shared a clever ChatGPT hack she uses daily and opened up about her father’s social quirks, sparking widespread interest.
A Rising Entrepreneur with Phia
Phoebe, alongside her former Stanford roommate Sophia Kianni, launched Phia, a digital fashion platform that aggregates prices across thousands of websites, offering users a seamless way to compare new and second-hand clothing. In a June 24 appearance on The Burnouts podcast, Phoebe revealed how she and Kianni leverage ChatGPT to “reverse engineer” viral videos, analyzing patterns in successful content to craft marketing scripts for Phia. “You should not be starting anything from scratch. The internet exists for a reason,” Kianni said, highlighting their data-driven approach. This strategy has helped Phia gain traction, positioning it as a potential “Booking.com of fashion.”
Bill Gates expressed relief at not funding Phia, noting in a New York Times interview that it spared him from micromanaging his daughter’s venture. “I would have kept her on a short leash and been doing business reviews, which I would have found tricky,” he said on April 24. Instead, he offers guidance on personnel matters, humorously admitting, “When it comes to shopping, I’m not exactly the target audience.”
Navigating Investor Bias and Family Dynamics
Phoebe’s journey as a young female entrepreneur hasn’t been without challenges. On The Burnouts, she shared how potential investors questioned her about future motherhood while raising funds for Phia, reflecting biases noted in an Oxfam study that found women hold fewer than 7% of top leadership roles globally. After tearfully discussing this with her mother, Melinda advised her to recognize her own resilience: “You answered your own question,” Melinda told her.
In a May 1 appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast, Phoebe offered a glimpse into her personal life, describing the “terrifying” experience for boyfriends meeting her father, whom she described as “socially awkward” due to his likely Asperger’s syndrome, now recognized as part of Autism Spectrum Disorder. “For the guy, terrifying. For me, it’s hilarious,” she said, noting how Bill’s tendency to mispronounce names adds humor to these encounters.
Phoebe also addressed her relationship with Arthur Donald, Paul McCartney’s grandson, whom she has been dating since 2023. In a New York Times profile, she revealed a lighthearted disagreement over a $20 painting in her apartment that Donald “hates.” The couple, who met through Donald’s aunt, Stella McCartney, balances their bicoastal relationship between New York and California.
Addressing Controversies
Phoebe’s public profile has drawn scrutiny, including unverified claims on X alleging she was ostracized by friends over her father’s vaccine initiatives. These posts, lacking credible evidence, appear to stem from misinformation about Bill Gates’ philanthropy and should be approached with skepticism.
What This Means
Phoebe Gates is carving her own path as an entrepreneur and advocate, leveraging AI to innovate in fashion while navigating the complexities of her family’s legacy. Her openness about her father’s quirks and her business challenges highlights a relatable side to her privileged upbringing. As Phia grows, Phoebe’s story underscores the power of resilience and strategic thinking in a digital age, with her next moves likely to keep her in the spotlight.
