Bill Gates’ youngest daughter Phoebe urges best friend and startup co-founder to leave boyfriend over sexist comment

By Phong Ngo May 10, 2025 | 03:22 pm PT

Phoebe Gates, the 22-year-old daughter of Bill Gates, revealed that she urged her best friend-turned-business partner Sophia Kianni to break up with her "childhood sweetheart" after a sexist comment he made.

Kianni, 23, recounted the moment on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast hosted by Alex Cooper, that when she told her then-boyfriend about her aspiration to become a senator, he responded, "I just think if you were a senator, it would be hard for the kids." Kianni described the comment as "so negative."

Phoebe then advised Kianni to "dump" the boyfriend, a suggestion that initially made Kianni "a little mad" because they had been together for four years and she thought they would eventually get married.

Kianni admitted to feeling "delusional" and, at the time, thought Phoebe was "trying to sabotage" her future marriage. However, when the couple eventually parted ways, Kianni admitted she was "a mess" over the breakup, and Phoebe, in turn, was the "most supportive friend," giving her "the best advice," Kianni said.

Phoebe Gates and Phia co-founder Sophia Kianni. Photo courtesy of Gates' Instagram

Phoebe and Sophia’s bond began at Stanford University, where they were roommates, a topic they discuss in more detail in their podcast "The Burnouts," as reported by People magazine.

"We were both supposed to room with the same girl ... and then we ended up being the only two paired together," said Sophia. Phoebe added, "I was freaking out."

As they discovered their shared interests, from "struggles around family and friendship" to a commitment to activism, they grew close.

Their first business attempt, a Bluetooth tampon, did not secure a spot in an entrepreneurship class pitch. Nevertheless, they pivoted to fashion, particularly resale shopping, a mutual passion, according to The New York Times.

On April 24, the pair launched Phia, an AI-driven platform that analyses market trends and compares them against a database of over 250 million second-hand items from platforms such as The RealReal, Vestiaire Collective, ThredUp, StockX, eBay, and Poshmark, as reported by The Verge.

Alongside her entrepreneurial ventures, Phoebe and Kianni also launched "The Burnouts," a podcast hosted under Cooper’s Unwell Network, entertainment magazine Us Weekly reported.