Genevieve Thiers
Founder and CEO, Sittercity
www.sittercity.com
You’re all glammed up, ready to go to the swankiest event of the year, when the phone rings and your best babysitter cancels.
Since many people would sooner give out their Social Security number than share the name of their reliable and reasonably priced childcare provider, you’ve got no plan B.
A tour of Sittercity might help to save you or your friends from scenarios like this one in the future. Genevieve Thiers launched Sittercity in 2001 to connect babysitters looking for work with parents looking for help, and since then, Sittercity has expanded into quite the metropolis.
Today Sittercity serves about 500,000 users in more than 30 locations throughout the U.S. and lists 150,000 babysitters nationwide. Genevieve projects sales for 2007 could hit between $3 million and $5 million.
Meet Genevieve in person at Ladies Who Launch LIVE in Cleveland on June 23rd, and read on to spark cool ideas for word-of-marketing and get Genevieve’s take on the upside of being rejected by VCs…
Born to Babysit
Genevieve: “Sittercity came directly from my personal experience - I’m actually the oldest of seven kids and two sets of twins. I’ve been babysitting my entire life, and Sittercity became a natural extension of what I’d been doing. I babysat for about 30 families in college - that’s how I worked my way through school.”
Doing Something Good Leads to Great Idea
“I was at school and saw a nine-month-pregnant mom walking up 352 steps from Boston College’s lower to upper campus posting signs for a babysitter - I was horrified. It was crazy. Basically I sent her home and I was posting her fliers for her, and I had the idea for Sittercity.”
‘Laughed Out of the Room’
“I think that most businesses… they expect that they’re going to start the traditional way. The traditional way is basically you go out and get VC funding, pitch it to the board, and launch the company. We tried this… I went to a lot of angel investors and VCs in Boston at the time and was basically laughed out of the room.
“They said, ‘It’s a babysitters club,’ and ‘My wife handles that,’… it was a big wow-they’re-not-getting-it kind of thing. I couldn’t get any funding it all.”
Benefits of Being Rejected
“We never have actually taken VC money. If you have an idea that’s good enough, you can grow it out of revenue. We had revenues from Day One. We had people signing up from Day One. It actually turned out to be the best thing ever that we weren’t funded right away. My tip would be - if you can start (your business) alone without a VC, do it (because that way you can keep control of your company).”
How She Funded Making First Hires
“I didn’t hire right away… what I did was I took a job at IBM and this was at a $40,000-a-year job as an editor. I did that and used anything I could scrape together from my salary to start the business. I think start-up costs for the whole site were $19,500.
“I hired two college friends - one to create our database and do programming and one to create the design of the site. I printed out 20,000 fliers, and went around (Boston) on foot posting fliers to find our first 600 babysitters.”
How Sittercity Became Boom Town
“We started getting Boston signups right away. At that point I did everything - my own marketing, my own PR. In the beginning I would drop fliers in cabs, drop them in shopping carts - it was really grassroots. Mothers that loved (Sittercity) would talk to other mothers and it just started growing and growing.
“By March of 2002, we had expanded to Cleveland and New York, which was interesting because… it was halfway because we wanted to expand and half because we got a lot of user requests. People started talking, the company started spreading itself.”
Best Practices in Word-of-Mouth Marketing
“We followed what the Web site was telling us… the first thing we learned was that it was viral. Seventy-six percent of users were coming to us via word-of-mouth.
“(In word-of-mouth marketing), we’ve done everything from grassroots work with local mothers’ groups and PTAs, to refer-a-user programs where you get a $10 gift certificate from Amazon.com. We also do a lot of advertising - from radio to billboards and print. And we host speed-sitting events… it’s like speed-dating, but for parents and babysitters. We bring that from city to city to generate viral buzz.”
PR Secret (from She Who Has Appeared on the ‘Today’ Show)
“We were a good story from the beginning. That’s all PR is - you need a good story. We have worked our story for a long time - we take a fun lighthearted approach to what we do, and because it’s fun, people love it. If you’re going to hire (a PR) agency, hire one that has a personal feel - make sure they ‘get’ you and they’re really excited about your business.”
Greatest Business Challenge
“Learning to let go. I think at the beginning (the business) was this world that I controlled. I had to learn to let go around 2004 and hire well. I made a few mistakes. Now we have the best team in the world - I worked so hard to find them. We’re as tight as any NFL football team. I had to learn that first of all, that was necessary and then how to build it.
“I think some entrepreneurs might make the mistake to try to hire more cheaply. The most important thing you’re going to be spending money on in your company is your people. If you can find someone incredibly high-quality, they’re worth the extra cost.”
Secret to a Successful Web Site
“We listen to our users, moms especially. We talk, talk, talk with them. If you just listen, you’re going to hear so many wonderful things that will give your audience what they need.
“We’ve heard from users… they don’t have any time. If you’re a mom, you’ve got 10 minutes and then the kids wake back up. We”ve made the site incredibly easy to use. Users asked us to expand our customer service, so we’ve hired own internal team.”
Entrepreneurial Influences
“There have been two major influences for me… first, the Women’s Business Development Center in Chicago. They’ve taught me everything from how to balance the books to connecting me with good contacts.
“The other amazing influence is my fiance, our VP Dan Ratner. He’s a veteran of four start-ups, so he has a huge amount of experience.Two things he’s taught me - first, to delegate. And the second thing he taught me is that it’s really important not to be reactive, but to think through decisions. I used to get information and react very quickly sometimes.”
Words of Advice
“Find your local women’s business development center - usually there’s one near every major city. Find it and use it.
“The second thing is I would urge women to do is find women who have done something you admire. Find that person, tackle them and find a way to talk to them. It’s all about being really loud and persistent in a cheery nice way.”
