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Startup Help: How do I find my route to market?

By Wisani Shilumani
November 15, 2018

I've been working on building a product for quite some time now, call it an uber fo babysitters. I recently started focusing more on the problem at hand than the actual tech, which at its core just required some core services (auth, booking, messaging, payments and notifications).

I got the interest of around 100 sitters via an early access sign up, but I'm only comfortable with onboarding parents onto the platform when we get a few of the sitters vetted and have their profiles polished enough for presentation to parents.

Babysitting is a very sensitive topic. Do you think I should simply let people use the tech as they would on an exchange (where they do everything), or I should spend more time curating the parent experience (by vetting sitters and polishing profiles - ultimately presenting good options to parents)?

Additionally, what have been some of your launch stories and their routes to market?

Wisani Shilumani's avatarWisani Shilumani
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  1. 1

    Id spend some time vetting sitters and bring compliance to the platform at the sametime asking parents what would give them confidence. Join some parent groups on facebook or sitter groups and see what a normal exchange is like and what key questions/response are involved in both successful and unsuccessful exchanges.

    Furthermore I'd look into other platforms that offer it in a marketplace layout and see what features or steps they take to increase parent onboarding.

    Good luck

    Zac Grierson's avatar Zac Grierson
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    8 years ago
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    1. 1

      Thanks for the actionable points @Castle, will defs look into existing markets. Could you elaborate on what you mean by compliance?

      Wisani Shilumani's avatar Wisani Shilumani
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      8 years ago
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      1. 1

        In the UK we have a https://www.gov.uk/guidance/criminal-record-checks-for-childminders-and-childcare-workers also known as DBS. Most childminders are required to get this, im not sure if you have something like this in your region but it may help to show better compliancy during a vetting process.

        Zac Grierson's avatar Zac Grierson
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        8 years ago
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        1. 1

          Hey @Castle thanks for that facebook group tip. Thought I'd share a trick I've been using - haven't written a full script for it, but after joining some groups I read some posts - but it got hard for me to keep track. So I've been saving all the posts by autoscrolling and logging the text.

          var scroller = function(by) {
  window.scrollBy(0, by)
}

var logText = function() {
  document.querySelectorAll('div[data-ad-preview="message"]').forEach(item => console.log(item.innerText))
}

var startInterval = function(scrollBy, speed, endby) {
  var interval = setInterval(() => {
    this.scroller(scrollBy)
  }, speed*1000)

  setTimeout(() => {
    clearInterval(interval)
    logText()
  }, endby*1000)
}

startInterval(5000, 0.5, 60) //will log text after 60 seconds

          Just in case you ever find yourself in the position to scrape text for a word bubble or other analysis ;)

          Wisani Shilumani's avatar Wisani Shilumani
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          8 years ago
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        2. 1

          Ah amazing thanks for that, and yes we do have something similiar, but more directed towards childcare facilities - our requirements as they stand are that they have a police clearance and first aid level 2 training. Will look more into existing compliance regulations, thanks, super useful!

          Wisani Shilumani's avatar Wisani Shilumani
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          8 years ago
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  2. 1

    Hi @igitresethard, I had this idea a few years ago but the passion was not strong enough to go after it due to a plethora of pain points that I felt I would have had a hard time overcoming. It was this or something else; something else was chosen.

    Anyway, you should spend additional time curating the parent experience as you are dealing with people's children here. This is not a marketplace where parent buys the time of another to watch their kid. This is you building the bridge between trusted sitter and parent. Keep in mind that if I were going to use your application, I want to ensure that the individual on the other end of the phone is not only competent, but safe all around and no criminal history that will be determinental to my children.

    Jordan Anderson's avatar Jordan Anderson
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    8 years ago
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    1. 1

      Thanks for the insightful answer @avenged I 110% agree that it's not a marketplace for buying time. The order of the business is trust

      Wisani Shilumani's avatar Wisani Shilumani
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      8 years ago
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