Egg Freezing for Entrepreneurs: What Founders Need to Know About Preserving Their Fertility

During the early days of building Cofertility — back then, just a content platform designed to demystify the fertility journey — I was also navigating my own complicated path to parenthood. I was pouring myself into startup life, while silently wondering if I’d ever be able to grow my own family. It’s ironic, really: as entrepreneurs, we’re trained to think long-term, take calculated risks, and invest in future value. But when it comes to our own reproductive futures, we often delay, deny, or deprioritize one of the most critical investments we can make: fertility preservation.

I co-founded Cofertility with two incredible women, with each of us facing our own fertility struggles and all of us wishing we could go back in time to freeze our eggs. But the truth is, the best time to freeze your eggs is when you can least afford it. Especially when you're self-employed or building a company from scratch. No one tells you that — until now.

This article is here to say: egg freezing can be possible for entrepreneurs. In fact, it might be one of the smartest personal and professional decisions you make.

Why egg freezing can be a smart move for founders

Flexible timing around your cycle

Unlike IVF, which often carries an immediate time pressure (usually due to medical diagnoses or age-related urgency), egg freezing allows for flexibility. Most people freeze eggs for elective reasons — meaning you can wait until the timing aligns with your personal or professional schedule. As a founder, this flexibility can be key. You can plan a cycle during a quieter month, or even preemptively book it ahead of a business lull. In most cases, you’ll be able to choose when your cycle starts based on your own timing needs, and your doctor can help coordinate accordingly.

Mental clarity and reduced stress

Founders are constantly juggling risk and uncertainty. Fertility shouldn’t have to be one more unknown hanging over your head. At Cofertility, one of the most consistent pieces of feedback we hear from our members is that freezing eggs provides a sense of mental relief — like you’ve bought yourself more time. That clarity alone can improve decision-making, reduce emotional burnout, and allow you to pursue your goals with more freedom.

Optionality for the future

Freezing your eggs doesn’t mean you’re delaying motherhood. It means you’re creating options for yourself and your future family. Whether you envision kids in a year or in a decade, fertility preservation allows you to decouple your reproductive timeline from your business growth curve. And while frozen eggs aren’t an insurance policy or a guarantee of a future baby, studies have shown they can significantly improve your chances depending on age at retrieval. According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), future live birth success rates are highest when eggs are frozen before age 35.

How to balance egg freezing with startup life

How long it takes

The entire egg freezing process typically takes about 2–6 weeks:

• Initial consult and fertility testing: ~1 week
• Stimulation cycle with hormone injections: ~10–14 days
• Egg retrieval procedure: 1 day, with 1–2 days of recovery

While the time commitment is manageable, it does require planning, especially for someone with a packed founder schedule. You will also need to budget additional time to sort out things like insurance coverage, ordering your medication, and organizing your supplies.

Navigating appointments as a founder 

During the stimulation phase, you’ll have frequent early morning monitoring appointments (bloodwork and ultrasounds), often every other day for 1–2 weeks. These are very quick and usually happen before 9 am, so they can be built around your workday. However, I recommend avoiding major travel or high-stress events during this window in order to keep the process moving along. 

Some more specific tips for balancing your freezing cycle with founder duties include: 

• Avoid launching a product or closing a funding round that week: Egg retrieval week can be physically and emotionally taxing, so try to steer clear of high-stakes events that require intense focus, long hours, or crisis-mode thinking.
• Batch work ahead of time and delay non-urgent meetings: Front-load tasks that require deep work or decision-making so you’re not scrambling mid-cycle; non-time-sensitive meetings can usually wait a week or two.
• Communicate with your co-founders and team about your availability: Set expectations early by letting key team members know you'll be stepping back briefly — most people are supportive when you're transparent and proactive.
• Automate or delegate where possible: Use tools to automate repetitive tasks (like social media posting or email responses), and lean on team members, freelancers, or a virtual assistant to help keep things moving.

Support during retrieval week

The actual retrieval procedure itself is a short outpatient procedure performed under light anesthesia. You’ll need someone to drive you home and should block out at least one full day to rest. Some people feel back to normal the next day, others take a few days.

This is where your founder mindset helps: treat this like a product launch. Prepare, delegate, and trust your team. You may be surprised at how capable your support systems can be when you actually let them step in.

Costs and funding options for the self-employed

Out-of-pocket costs

Unfortunately, most U.S. insurance plans — including ACA plans for the self-employed — don’t cover egg freezing unless it's medically necessary (e.g. for cancer patients). That leaves many business owners paying out of pocket. Here's a ballpark of what to expect for costs of freezing your eggs:

• Initial consult and fertility testing: $350-$2,500
• Medication: $2,500-$8,500
• Egg retrieval cycle: $4,000–$10,000
• Storage fees: $600–$1,000/year
  

All in, a typical egg freezing cycle can cost anywhere between $10,000–$15,000.

Using HSA/FSA funds

If you have a Health Savings Account (HSA) or Flexible Spending Account (FSA), some parts of the process, like medications or diagnostic testing, may be eligible for reimbursement. You’ll need to check the specifics with your plan provider and may need a doctor’s note citing medical necessity.

Creative funding strategies

Entrepreneurs are no strangers to creative financing. Consider:

• Using a portion of business income if your structure allows owner draws
• Low-interest personal loans (including 0% APR credit card offers if paid off quickly)
• Crowdsourcing help from family or friends
• Joining a program like Cofertility’s Split model, where you can freeze your eggs for free when you donate half to a family who can’t conceive

Our mission at Cofertility is to radically improve access to egg freezing. We created the Split program to remove financial barriers and to build a more human, empathetic solution to family-building—for all parties involved. We also offer a Keep program, for those who want to freeze and keep 100% of their eggs, often at below-market rates with payment plans.

Final Thoughts

If you’re an entrepreneur who has ever wondered whether egg freezing was for “someone else” — someone richer, someone who isn’t launching a company, someone with better health benefits — know this: it can be for you, too.

I’ve walked this road and seen firsthand how overwhelming fertility decisions can be while you’re building a business, fundraising, and sacrificing everything for your dream. But your future family is worth protecting just as much as your company is. Freezing your eggs proactively could save many future founder headaches down the line in the event that you need to undergo fertility treatment to grow your family when you’re ready. 

Egg freezing for entrepreneurs is no longer out of reach. It’s just been out of the conversation. We’re here to change that. To learn more about the Cofertility Split program and see if you qualify, take our quiz today. It just takes one minute! 

Read more about entrepreneurs embarking on their egg freezing journeys:

• Simmone Taitt
• Rachel Liverman
• Aagya Mathur