Posted Under: Entrepreneurship, Our Heroes

Genevieve Thiers is our ’employee turned entrepreneur’ guest today under the “Our Heroes” series. After Genevieve was laid off from her job as a professional information developer she used her talent as a problem solver to start up Sittercity.com and assist mothers find babysitters via the internet. She felt that moms needed help in a BIG way and made it her mission to get the site up and running and play her role in making life easier for moms countrywide! Let’s hear about what Genevieve had to say…

DD: Who are you and what kind of corporate job were you at?

GT: My name is Genevieve Thiers. I was a professional information developer for IBM/Lotus and I worked with technical manuals.  I enjoyed the people and the work, but at the time IBM was buying the Lotus division so that led to layoffs in 2002 that affected many within the company.

DD: What made you leave the job? When did you realize that you wanted to be an entrepreneur & why?

GT: I had always known that I wanted to solve big problems, but I didn’t really identify with being an entrepreneur at that time.  I came up with Sittercity in 2000 while watching a nine-month pregnant mother climb 200 steps to post flyers for a sitter.  I was working nights and weekends to build the site, but at that time it seemed more like an after-hours hobby.  It was in 2002, ironically close to when I left Lotus due to the layoff, that I realized that the idea was “taking” and that moms really needed help across the country in a big way.  At that point it became a full-fledged mission.

DD: What did you do to break the corporate jail? How did you prepare yourself for the employee to entrepreneur transition?

GT: Because I had been building Sittercity on nights and weekends, it was actually a very smooth transition.  It made a lot of sense.  I was able to continue working on the site and I had a lot more time to concentrate on it.  I wasn’t able to afford to pay myself – I could not do that for many years – but I was able to work on it and on spreading the word about what we did.  I didn’t do any formal training per se. I really just threw myself into it and learned on the fly.  I am lucky that my husband (I was dating him at the time) was a veteran entrepreneur.  He offered lots of help and advice that I would not have had otherwise; he definitely prevented me from making a few common mistakes.

DD: What are your Top 5 tips for employees who want to be entrepreneurs but are hung up on something?

GT: I encourage aspiring entrepreneurs.  If you have the itch to start something, you have to scratch it or it will continue to bother you.   I would suggest five things:

1) Test before you jump: If you have an idea, subject it to a number of tests to make sure it’s real.  It’s never a good idea to jump ship based on having an idea alone.  You need to talk to the users you will be selling to and get a few of them to approve the product and also buy it before you leave a stable position.  This kind of thing is easy to do in your spare time – you just have to do it.

2) Manage your time: The best way to manage your time when starting a company and working in another one is to make sure that you cut out anything you don’t need.  TV – watch it when you’re working out to save time.   Look at where you are spending the most time and shave pieces out that you can use while creating your new startup.  Make sure you’re present and fully functional at work, too; since you are using that capital to initially grow your own thing, you owe the company you’re working for your full attention while you are on the clock.

3) Talk, talk, talk: You need to gather customers and champions so get your idea out there!  Talk to whomever you can trust…friends, family, partners…Not only will they as potential customers tell you what you need to know but you might also find that they are a source of valuable seed funding in the future.

4) Be organized: When creating a company, make sure to draw your road map in advance…take time to really figure out who your market is, the problem you are solving, the marketing plan, the financial plan, etc.  You won’t have time to do it later so be disciplined and do it now.  Googling “business plan template” will bring up lots of alternatives you can use.

5) When the time comes, jump!:  Often entrepreneurs that are working are so scared to jump that they don’t ever do it.  If you have a product and you’ve been able to gather some initial customers and traction, then gather your courage and make the leap.  It’s a better situation for everyone: you, your loved ones, and also your employer.  Remember – if you don’t make the leap, someone else might.  Get out there!

FYI: At Sittercity, I’ve even gone so far as to have an entrepreneurial library in Sittercity’s headquarters, and we also have an incubator for small companies.

DD: How are you now? Are you still in the same business, and how do you feel?

GT: I am still at Sittercity.com and it’s been incredible to watch it grow!  We went from having 600 sitters and 30 parents that I recruited on foot with flyers to having a million caregivers nationwide, standing by online to help parents.  Not only that, we also now have a corporate program, and companies like Avon and Mastercard are buying Sittercity as a corporate benefit for the whole company.  We now serve parents in five care divisions: child care, pet care, senior care, home care and tutoring, and we have 33 employees in corporate headquarters…and we’re still growing!  It’s been one of the most challenging but also one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done in my life.

DD: Wow! Thank you so much Genevieve! It has been a pleasure hearing about your entrepreneurial journey and the successful business that came out of all your hard work! I wish you all the best with Sittercity.

GT: Thank you, Devesh, for having an interest in my story and for understanding what entrepreneurs do. I am so lucky that the various services we offer are in great demand; we have grown into an enormous business with sitters all over America! Good luck with your blog and in all you do!

DD: Genevieve Thiers everyone, professional information developer turned entrepreneur and founder of Sittercity.com, a site which matches parents with local babysitters and nannies as well as dog walkers, senior care providers and tutors. It was great hearing about how her successful business was born after seeing a mother struggling to find a babysitter! Thanks Genevieve! And remember what she said: “If you have the itch to start something, you have to scratch it or it will continue to bother you.”

Success to all!!