Sittercity was founded by Genevieve Theirs while she was a college student in Boston. A baby-sitter herself, she soon discovered how desperate parents were to find good babysitters. It wasn't long before she began posting flyers all over campuses to recruit babysitters and began the website to make it easy for parents to find them. It's like online dating, only for parents and sitters.
The company and Genevieve have moved to Chicago, and Sittercity has expanded nationwide with a focus on 20 major metropolitan areas. Currently there are more than 150,000 sitters on the site, and the company's services have expanded to include SpeedSitting events (the speed dating format for evaluating sitters) and corporate programs to help companies solve childcare problems for their employees. Dan Ratner, a Chicago native and entrepreneur who founded Snapdragon and Driveitaway.com, has also joined the Sittercity team.
Dimensions: ~13 people x 5 years x $1.2 million in 2005 ($3 mil projected 2006)
Funding: $20,000 initial owner funding + angel funding in 2005
Customers: Parents who need a babysitter
Location: Chicago [River North] + www.sittercity.com
What's Next: Currently hiring executives for high level positions in operations/customer relations, marketing, and, soon, business development. Also, expanding to service petsitters, house sitters, and elderly care providers.
