Day 5 Interviews - Part 1

British Academy - Spoke to them and showed them our process map for a CRM system. They agreed that they think they could increase their profitability by having a better system in place and agreed to be part of our beta pilot.

Laura Kapelski - agreed to sign wait list concierge consent form and has unborn child on three-four waitlists already. She mentioned having several challenges talking to home care daycares and understanding her place on waitlists.

Day 4 Interviews

On day 4 we decided to learn more about the actual business and payment processes for individual daycares.

I spoke to La Petitite Academy about their system - they mentioned that they use an update internal CRM system but are not able to send updates and trigger emails to parents. As such they advise parents to call on a weekly basis to see if there has been any movement. They are unable to predict likelihood of waitlist places because availability depends on the age and schedule of the child. They said they would be interested in application that tied upto their CRM system and was parent facing

Horizons - Group Interview

Blog Interviews - Read through blogs on DCmothers relating to wait lists. Learned that many of them had been on wait lists for over a year. Mothers complained about paying for waitlists and then calling the daycares back who had no recollection of their account.

DayCare Interviews

British School - Mr. Meyers - Enrollment specialist. pre-k - 12th grade. About 60-80 kids under the age of 5 years old. They do not have a CRM system and find it difficult to reach out to parents. Since they are a newer school targeted at international clients - they don't have wait list challenges but would like to gain more enrollment to expand school.

Seasons Daycare: Very small daycare, no system in place, the women told me she would call me to schedule an interview later as she was busy warming meals.

St. John Episcol DayCare - They were not willing to talk. They said that they had a paper in place which suited them just fine. The office manager told me the director was busy and she would have her email me.

Georgetown Montessori - Very hesitant of sharing information.

Interview with a Professor (Also a Father of four)

It was not the best day to conduct interviews given the brutal weather in Washington, DC. But, we were lucky to bump into a very senior professor in the University and talk to him about his experience with day care services in the area. The professor stated that his wife and he were lucky in a way due to their seniority in the school. They were flexible with their work hours and routines and didn't have to use a nanny or day care for the initial months. But as the child grew, they had to consider day care centers in the area. They didn't want to consider any other day care centers beside the one in Georgetown. The professor said " If you don't apply for the wait list on Day 1, BAD IDEA!". The process is long and painful and feels like making a bet on whether you will get a spot or not, if you don't know how the priority system works in the day care center.



  

Interview with Paula (Mother of 2)

We interviewed Paula, a mother of two kids, on how her experience was looking for a child care service. With her first one, she just applied to one very reputable child care center in the DC area. She paid $100 to be considered for the wait list. After numerous calls and several years later, she hasn't still received a call. She felt cheated and robbed for nothing. She said that after such a bad experience with the 1st one, she applied to several day cares for her 2nd one. Although, she still has no better insight on whether her child will get a slot, she feels that at least one should open up. When asked if it would help to have someone take care of the wait list process, she replied "Oh my GOD! That will be a life savior." When asked what she feels could be the challenges, she felt that trust was important and that if she can actually trust the service to do an honest job. She was also scared if the day cares would discriminate parents who outsource the process to an agency.

Would you let us TayCare?

We approached expecting parents asking whether they had registered on any daycare waitlists. For those who had or were planning to soon, we asked what their experience had been. We followed up with the following questions: Would you like someone else to do the job for you? Would you pay for it? This are some of the answers we got:

• Jennifer (pregnant, full-time lawyer, her husband a full-time MBA student): "Yes! I enrolled on 4 wait lists and it's been so time consuming. We are looking to enroll in more wait lists and the process is overwhelming. I would pay for some help." After thinking for a few seconds she continued, "...but I would pay you, because I trust you and I know you'll be responsible, polite, and will get back to me with thorough and transparent feedback." Jennifer has been my friend for a few years.
• Laura and Dave (pregnant, full time employees): "How much would I have to pay?" --I hadn't thought about this yet--"a small monthly fee..." They said they thought it would be helpful to have someone making phonecalls and providing updatses for them. They would be interested if it didn't cost more than $40 per month
• Alicia: "I'm currently working part-time, and honestly, I prefer to take the time to do it myself. It's a very important decision and I like to have direct contact with the centers where I might enroll my baby"
• Shannon (pregnant) and her mother Claire: Shannon said she would love some help, and Shannon jumped in "you should have said so! I can help you with that!" Shannon chuckled. Under the hypothetical example that she didn't have her mother's help, she said she would be willing to pay for the services
• Julia (my friend, mother of twins, and one of my first interviewees): Sounds like a great idea, I might not be a full time employee, but taking care of twins is a full-time job for sure. My friend Anna is going through a lot of stress with the process too, maybe she'd be interested"
• Averi (my classmate's friend): "I wish I knew what my arrangement will be [...] I am on 5 lists and they are not very encouraging, estimating 18 to 30 months of wait-time [...] I would pay about $20 to have weekly updates on my status for a month and for gaining additional informed insights about my options."

The relationships of trust that I have with my friends is definitely a plus in offering these services, but this could be a good place to start building experience, relationships and a reputation for the business before we gain the trust of strangers.

Interview with Prity Singh (Mother of 2)

We interviewed Prity, a Project Manager and mother of 2. She described her pregnancy as a Roller Coaster ride. She said that with her first born, she just blanked out not knowing what to do. She had to eventually call her mother to take care of the little one. With her second one, she was more prepared as she reached out to several day cares in the area, early on in the process. Her initial list of day cares comprised of day cares that her friends and co-workers trusted and liked. As they were living in the metro area, the wait lists were long and information too unstructured.

How many day cares did yo apply to? I applied to 5 day cares.

How much did you pay for the wait lists? The fee varied from $70 - $150.

How many times did you call the day care centers to check the status? I called one day care center each day of the week because I couldn't have my mother come over again to look after the kids.  

Was the process frustrating? Oh Yes! I believe the season was busy, and often I got busy lines and they necessarily didn't return calls, so I had to redial quite often which took a lot of time from my busy schedule.

Would it help if someone you knew took care of the process for you? I guess it will. As long as they could ensure I could trust them with providing me accurate information as well as the day care sending out legit information to the agency.

Would you be willing to pay for this service?  I can start with a small amount. If they do a good job, I might pay more.