Getting funding from a VC can be just as challenging as getting a job at a VC or private equity. We've all seen Dragon's Den (I hope); the task can be daunting and sometimes humiliating. For Genevieve Thier, she was apparently laughed out by VC's with patronizing undertones for her idea of a website that connects parents and caregivers. Keep in mind that this was right after the dot com crash. So what did she do?
I bootstrapped! I got 20,000 flyers and flyered 400 dorms in Boston to get the first 600 sitters, hired college friends to build the site, did hundreds of talks in church basements, and literally chased moms in supermarkets. I just kept thinking that if I had to convert moms one at a time, I would...until enough of them were doing it that I hit a tipping point.
The happy ending is that her website, Sittercity, has become America's largest caregiver and parent network, winning 16 awards and also making appearances in the mainstream media.
Maybe you've even used it. This story is yet another great example of success from perseverance that is often found and congratulated on WSO.
Would you have given this idea a chance if you were being pitched to? If you work(ed) at a VC firm, what is/was your experience like? Anyone else had a similar experience with a VC?
She was way ahead of her own time. That website probably would have done terrible 10 years ago. I don't even know anybody who has heard of it today. So, that's a no go for me.
Lets say she got the money from the VCs: would she have worked as hard? Would she have chased moms in supermarkets? Would she have canvased a college campus? It's hard to say.
Who knows, getting rejected by the VCs may have been the best thing to ever happen to her.
^ agree completely with illipride. There are opportunities in life that you can't capitalise on, only someone else can, and you can't chip in on. The people that have everything on the line forces you to go beyond the extra mile.
FYI
Feb. 2012
SitterCity, a leading online source for caregivers, acquired AssistedLivingSource.com and HomeCareProfile.com to form the core of its new eldercare platform, YearsAhead.com
Interesting...would be curious how she monetized it? looks like she charged parents a membership....probably a VERY nice business given the traffic is nearly all monetized and they are almost same size as WSO.
No metrics on what she sold it for?
She owns SitterCity, so she was the acquiror. I thought about launching a similar service four years ago, but couldn't come to terms with the liability aspect.
She's got to be making a killing; as you said, it is very easily monetised.
She's raised 30+ in VC so far, so clearly didn't take the laughter too hard:
http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/27/sittercity-raises-22-6-million-to-conn…
She owns SitterCity, so she was the acquiror. I thought about launching a similar service four years ago, but couldn't come to terms with the liability aspect.
She's got to be making a killing; as you said, it is very easily monetised.
She's raised 30+ in VC so far, so clearly didn't take the laughter too hard:
http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/27/sittercity-raises-22-6-million-to-conn…]
Building online business like this are probably the most difficult of any. You have the chicken and the egg problem.
Babysitters will only sign up to work for this site if they are actually going to get hired for a job. Parents looking for a babysitter are only going to come to the site if there's babysitters in their area that they trust to watch their kids. Clearly you have to do it the way she did, pull in 600 babysitters first. But that's A LOT of people for one woman bootstrapping to get engaged, and keep engaged until she has a sufficient number of moms coming to the site. Kudos to her.
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