Lynn Perkins was in a situation parents everywhere face. She was in need of a baby-sitter. It dawned on her that she could leverage her social network to find a sitter for her twin boys. It was during this moment that she realized the opportunity to leverage one’s social networks for finding short- and long-term childcare.
A natural matchmaker, Lynn recruited three co-founders to join her in this initiative. Each had complementary strengths — in engineering, product and marketing. The business idea became UrbanSitter, a network that offers background-checked sitters and nannies nearby. Even better, it shows the baby-sitters and nannies who take care of the children of other parents in your social network. After signing up and paying a monthly or annual membership fee, you’ll gain access to 120,000+ active sitters and nannies in the company’s database. And, the site averages a response time of under three minutes.
In episode #112 of I Want Her Job: The Podcast, Podcast Co-Founder Polina talks to Lynn about how UrbanSitter is helping to find childcare for essential workers during the COVID-19 crisis. Lynn also shares her story of navigating the 2008 financial crisis, and she offers advice for people who may need to seek career changes due to COVID-19 related impacts. The two also discuss two groups that are using UrbanSitter for the flexibility and income streams it provides — college students and retirees.
Whether you’re looking for childcare, or you’re a kiddo-loving individual looking for a job that can provide more income, listen to this episode to learn about this new way of connecting kids with care.