Don't think Supercuts for childcare

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard “on-demand childcare will be the next start-up unicorn!”  And of course, the ubiquitous “make the Uber of childcare!”  In my research of the in-home care industry, I’ve found something about these claims to be unnerving.  Maybe it’s because I had a scary in-home caregiver story, or been burned one too many times by care cot com, or have come to fundamentally dislike the premise of most on-demand childcare arrangements out there.  However, there are exceptions. I do love me some nannyland childcare, a rigorous and reputable on-demand nanny service, when at a Disney resort.  When on-demand childcare services are tethered to an agency that vets, screens, and highly manages the matches, do they seem to work well.  However, these types of services are far and few between.  If there is one thing DEFINITELY NOT to do in the on-demand space, it is to request same day babysitting services on a facebook group!  We still see this happening plenty.

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Most of us moms (and maybe even a few dads) wouldn’t dare get an on-demand haircut at Supercuts.  And to be clear I’m not judging the quality of a Supercut: I take my kids there all the time and get just fine haircuts.  But moms, I know you (I am you) and we want to know, like, and trust our stylists: we would rarely walk in and trust someone work unseen and on-demand with our hair.  Which begs the question, why would we think of getting childcare, the tending of our most precious gifts, in the same way?!  What most moms (including myself) and dads WOULD do is wait for the perfect haircut from the perfect stylist we know and love.  We call or check an online calendar and see when our beloved stylist (and it may actually be at Supercuts) is available, sometimes planning weeks in advance, just so we can work with the best person for us.  We are patient, we adjust our schedules, and we even look forward to chatting and connecting with this special service person who we’ve build a relationship with, sometimes over many years.  Let’s start thinking of working with in-home caregivers in the same way.

Childcare startups should be modeled after the “favorite hair stylists” experience.  We should have efficient access to our caregivers’ schedules, be able to book them as easily as we would a hair stylist, and even consider developing several relationships with other caregivers / stylists.  Building a warm list of people offering our favorite services will enable us to get our coverage needs met and many times, if we get enough caregivers in rotation, accessing them can even feel on-demand.  Except it’s not on-demand, because you will have built a foundation, strategy, and system to access your favorite people.  And guess what!? You don’t have to figure out how to do this alone – at MomPros we are cooking up a system to make this all happen for you. 

So repeat after me: no more Supercuts or Ubers of childcare mentality!  Build the warm, rotating list.  We’ll help you!