Our Sittereco Summer: Product, Pivots, and Partnerships
Hello friends!
I’m Kha, a member of the Sittereco summer team alongside co-interns Erin and Taneeya. As we’ll be starting junior year at our respective colleges soon, our time at Sittereco is near end. The past two months have been nothing short of an exciting journey for us and Sittereco alike. Countless social media campaigns, a handful of partnership conversations, and a MN Business finalist nomination later, we’ve found ourselves at a crossroads concerning Sittereco’s next life stage. Follow along as the team and I retrace our steps through the summer, reflecting on the insights we’ve discovered so far and on how we hope to continue to grow the Sittereco brand.
Even in early June, the team knew something big was in store for Sittereco. Intuitively, it was a no-brainer that our product had positively established itself in the Twin Cities app space — Mana, our founder, basically curated the entire initial user base herself through speaking at conferences and connecting with daycares, after all. The less obvious insight was in our app analytics, as specifics in the numbers revealed a greater potential. In that first summer month, we witnessed a spike in app engagement involving over 700 users and new signups in pockets all over the world (North Carolina, Belgium, and Belarus, to name a few places). Global activity! We could hardly believe it.
As app engagement grew, we began testing different markets on social media to gain a holistic understanding of sitter and working parent needs. Late June brought a mix of campaigns that strengthened our social media presence on Facebook, Instagram, and our website blog and helped us further connect with existing and potential users. At the same time, the team also channeled efforts toward strategizing product development. We felt that in order to push the Sittereco journey forward and match our user growth, Sittereco would need some work on the product side. But what would this look like? Moving into July, the team shifted gears to envision a defined product roadmap for Sittereco.
The team was thinking hard on the idea of product development through July. Our minds first went toward brainstorming a list of new in-app features. Quickly, we landed on the possibility of implementing a scheduling component, where parents would be able to request a sitter in their area on-demand and at any time of day. “We could ‘uberize’ Sittereco,” Mana had exclaimed excitedly. The thought was promising and energizing, as we dipped our toes into researching crowdfunding and angel investing.
Eager to explore all opportunities, we then looked at potential partnerships and ways to drive development on the product and business side. It was in these conversations where we dreamt big about Sittereco’s potential impact on the childcare market. Truly, the sky was the limit as we began looking for partnerships and business development opportunities across childcare agencies. As of today, we’ve been in touch with several trusted agencies across the country and expect to continue partnership conversations into the fall. We’re hopeful that down the line, Sittereco and agencies, together, can provide childcare solutions for digital-era parents whenever and wherever. (As we carry on developing growth strategy, we are looking to reach out to a few more potential business partners. If you know any potential partners, please drop us a line. We’d love to connect!)
Come August and it’s almost time for us interns to say goodbye. Erin, guru on all things social media and branding, brought our presence to a new level through strategic social media campaigns. Taneeya found her voice in selling, as she met with potential partners and made numerous visits to daycares. Lastly, I was behind-the-scenes driving business development strategy, to involve identifying partners and starting partnership conversations. In the true spirit of empowering women — a focal point of Sittereco’s mission — our Sittereco summer has been full of learning experiences and opportunities to build confidence in the workforce.
The past few months have been unforgettable — truly. Speaking on behalf of the interns, we’ll be forever grateful for the mark we were able to make here at Sittereco. We’re excited to see where Sittereco will go next, wishing the rest of the team the best of luck.
Kha
