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THE CUSTOMER

Meet the nurse whose shift starts at 6am and whose sitter just canceled.

HYPOTHESIS
We believed shift workers would pay a premium for reliable backup childcare.
THE WORK WE DID
74
Interviews
11
Ride-alongs
3
Hospital Sites
6 weeks of field research, March–April 2024

What they told us

Verbatim from interviews
"I've lost two shifts this month because my regular sitter got sick. That's $600 I can't get back."
— Maria, ICU nurse, 3 years experience
"I have three backup numbers I call. When all three say no, I'm calling in sick and hoping they don't write me up."
— Jamal, surgical tech, single parent
"My manager knows if I miss another shift I'm on a PIP. So I'll pay whatever it takes."
— Keisha, ER nurse, works overnight

Willingness to Pay

n=74 shift workers, surveyed April 2024
Would not pay for backup Would pay $10–15 Would pay $20–25 Would pay $25+ 8% 18% 24% 68%
Key finding: More than two-thirds would pay $25 or more per booking for a vetted sitter who arrives within 90 minutes.
THE WEDGE

One tap, vetted sitter within 90 minutes

A mobile-first booking flow integrated with employer shift schedules. Sitters are W-2, background-checked, CPR-certified.

90min
Arrival SLA
$28
Per booking
Book Backup Care 6:00 AM – 2:00 PM 2:00 PM – 10:00 PM Confirm Booking

Market Sizing

U.S. childcare landscape, 2024
Total U.S. Childcare Market
$61B
Backup & On-Demand Segment
$9B
Addressable (Shift Workers, 3 Metro Areas)
$280M
Near-term wedge: 42,000 shift workers across hospital systems in SF, Seattle, Austin

12-Month Validation Plan

What the $1.2M funds
M1-3

Recruit Employer Partners

Sign 3 hospital systems; negotiate shift-data integrations; recruit initial sitter cohort (target: 25 W-2 sitters per metro).

M4-8

Ship Wedge & Measure

Launch mobile app to 500 nurses; track booking fill-rate, 90-min SLA compliance, repeat usage; iterate on sitter dispatch algorithm.

M9-12

Prove Unit Economics

Hit 200 monthly bookings; validate $28 booking fee covers fully-loaded sitter cost + 18% margin; prep Series A metrics deck.

The Team

Domain expertise where it matters

Imani Brooks

Founder & CEO

Ex-Care.com product lead; built on-demand marketplace for 2M families; Stanford MBA.

Marcus Chen

Head of Operations

Ex-Uber city ops manager; scaled driver supply across 8 cities; MIT Operations Research.

Dr. Aisha Patel

Clinical Advisor

Former NICU nurse, 12 years; deep ties to nursing networks in SF Bay Area and Seattle.

THE ASK

$1.2M pre-seed

Validate and ship the wedge with 3 employer partners in 12 months

Let's talk
Imani Brooks
imani@nestwork.co