UrbanSitter unlocks your personal network to connect you with caregivers of friends, co-workers, moms groups, and parents from your kid’s school

UrbanSitter

urbansitter

Technology is power, and there is no doubt that we have grown more connected through time. But just because we are connected doesn’t mean we are connecting. Two positive trends that have become apparent through technology are the enablement of , as well as, facilitated physical interactions.  On the other hand, when there is good there is evil. Some negative tendencies that have become visible are the inability to connect intimately and the loss of value during human interactions.  What are the consequences of these findings? Should we accept that internet power is outgrowing human power or is there something we should do to lessen the domination technology has over us? virtual interactions Technology Mediated Communications Social Media Technology has made a multitude of . From fake news to likes on Instagram, to retweets… the list is endless. The internet serves as a source for all information, real and fake, right and wrong, moral and moral-less. No matter what it is you are looking for you can find an article to back up your point. This fake news-trend has given power to people that shouldn’t have power and has taken away talent from people who are extremely gifted. Cambridge Analytica: The Great Hack on Netflix shares how a single company with the right tools can cheat their way to the top whether it be through selling data, a presidential election, or buying data to keep secrets from the public. trends in social media Live Streaming People are drawn to one another as video and live streaming continue to grow. Whether through Twitch, “ ,” or Amazon Day Concert. We are blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. Between being somewhere in mind versus being somewhere in the flesh. In some aspects this is great because we can see live streams of concerts that we aren’t able to attend due to the cost of travel, cost of the concert, hotels, etc., however, is this taking away from creating real memories with others? Where is being stuck behind a screen taking you? Is it allowing you to grow? Or are you just left wishing your body was actually enjoying the moment? Sure, you just watched a live stream of Taylor Swift on Amazon and can talk over text message or facetime, but does it actually count? We can see what’s happening but we can’t physically be there. Does this cause us more pain or more pleasure? This generation has been brought to a whole new level of FOMO. the world’s leading live stream platform Virtual Reality VR is bridging the gap between digital and real world interactions. It uses computer technology to create a simulated environments that are an “alternate realities.” VR is often used in to create immersive experiences. It places you in a completely new environment and also serves as a puzzler with game elements in both the real world and virtual worlds. This use reflects humanity on a myriad of levels by bringing human knowledge and technology together towards the same goal. Users in the VR are completely immersed in their make believe reality but are measured against their achievements in their actual reality. VR has been applied to education, entertainment, and pretty much all types of industries. However, mainstream adoptions VR is still beyond reach. Only time will tell how the evolution of this innovative medium unfolds. escape rooms Brain Machine Interface In addition to technology bridging the gap between places and people, is a company in Silicon Valley bridging the gap between technology and neurology. It targets chronic nerve pain without the use of addictive opioids, which in turn reduces the number of drug overdose, addiction, and death. Technology, in the right hands, has amazing benefits with health and will continue to help medicine improve. Elon Musk’s Neuralink plans to bridge the gap completely between technology and humanity through brain implants. Linking human brains to computers may be the only way to not be overtaken by technology. If you can’t fight, why not unite? Neuralink Technology that facilitates human interactions Micro Mobility Scooters and e-bikes get people out and about. These electronics encourage people to walk and interact more with each other and the physical world around us. On the other end, walking and biking is healthier. Is technology making us lazier on our feet? Is saving time worth our health? Autonomous driving Self driving cars are right around the corner. Is there anything left that humans can do on their own? Self-driving cars are cool but do you want to know what’s even cooler? Knowing how to drive a car! This is a few steps too far. Soon humans won’t need to know how to do anything on their own. Commerce Platforms Many platforms have been created over the years to bring people together such as UrbanSitter and Uber. UrbanSitter is a way to in San Francisco. It allows parents to search for their ideal candidate and put their children in the best care. This site also allows and shows reviews. But what might be ideal for one parent could be disastrous for another parent, so it’s up to you to decide how you want to choose! Uber is an affordable way to get around cities and towns that connect people through shared rides. I have made friends taking a shared Uber and I’m sure you have too! It’s an easy and stress free way to make jokes and start up conversations! . find a nanny or babysitter Meetup Platforms Meetup platforms (dating or otherwise) serve as a way to bring people together via the internet to have real life human connections! and get married; many people meet on tinder and lose hope in an entire gender. Tinder is its own world of extremes. Friends have met the love of their lives, gone on incredible vacations, made lifelong friends and discovered new hobbies through new friends on Tinder. Tinder has allowed humans to find like-minded humans with busy schedules to meet. It is hard to meet people organically when everyone is on a different schedule and works, goes to the gym, runs errands, etc. Tinder has allowed human interaction to increase in many positive areas. Remember that old phrase, “Don’t talk to strangers.” Well, that is essentially what you are doing every time you match someone on Tinder. There are a lot of creeps in this world and allowing people to have access to your bio and your pictures that you don’t know can set you up for some scary stalking situations. But who knows, it may be worth it to find your soulmate. Many people meet through Tinder Conclusion At the end of the day, the possibilities with technology and humanity are endless. We watch the gap shrink and widen every second between what is, what could be, and what should be. Is this just the beginning of digital interactions replacing physical ones? Or is this the beginning of the end? Will we reach a countertrend and return to real life 1-on-1 and authenticity? Maybe technology has actually brought us closer into the lives of humans than ever before and we just don’t know how to handle all these feelings and information. This rapidly growing fascination has shown us what we are capable of and the fear of the unknown is both breaking and forming intense bonds between all kinds of people. Technology can both bring us together and tear us apart; the question is how are we going to choose unity every single day?

Is technology widening or closing the gap between humanity?

In a fast-paced world, where the cost of living is high and time is scarce, affording time for quality parenting has become a luxury. This has, however, given rise to a new segment of service providers called nannies or babysitters. While traces of hesitation still exist, most of the trouble or doubt associated with babysitting has disappeared. In fact, babysitting has become so essential that some parents who move into a new locality find it difficult to zero down on the most reliable babysitter. While on one side, the market for babysitters is growing, companies like Uber have ushered the era of on-demand services. It enables users to find the right service providers in an organized fashion. The convergence of a service like Uber and the growing market for babysitters will result in an on-demand app for availing babysitter services. The Opportunity A babysitter or nanny app provides advantages to both the service providers and those who are likely to avail their services. The application can also bring in elements of flexibility where parents can hire a Nanny for short periods - if they would want to go for dinner together. There can also be facilities to hire babysitters either for a day or for an extended period like a month or more. Why Uber for Babysitters? Babysitting has become more of a basic necessity for urban parents than a luxury. On one side, there is a spurt of growth in people moving in from different parts of the world to concentrated urban locations. Parallel to this, some people are constantly seeking opportunities to babysit and earn some income for themselves. A babysitting app like Uber will flawlessly bridge these gaps by using the right technology and business model. From a business perspective, this aggregation model holds a lot of potential when it comes to earning revenue. With the availability of Uber for babysitters scripts, it is just about aggregating the data. The technology is already taken care of. The Success Stories We have already seen applications like UrbanSitter, Bambino, and Bubble prove their success with this business model. While Urbansitter and Bambino operate in the United States, Bubble operates in the United Kingdom. All the brands provide apps for the two major mobile ecosystems, iOS and Android. UrbanSitter is available in more than 60 cities across the United States and has more than 150000 caregivers listed with it. The Bubble has over 30,000 users in Great Britain. These success stories establish the reliability of babysitting apps as a business. It also needs to be noted that there is quite a lot of space in the market to accommodate many other applications offering the same service. Now might be the perfect time for you to develop your . Uber for babysitters The Basic Features Any Uber for babysitters app needs to have the following minimum features. The features can be classified into three segments: The Essential Features These are the features that the app needs to survive and function! Without these features, the app will not make sense at all: -  the profile needs to be available for both users and babysitters. The profile should contain basic information such as their age, location, and the age group that they are adept in handling. Profile creation -  this feature enables the users to book their babysitter at a particular slot. Booking -  as soon as the babysitter starts working, the timer should be activated. It has to be in line with the initial booking that the user had made. This helps to track both the parties in a mutually acceptable way. Slot -  this feature helps users find nannies living around their location. This feature would extremely be useful in the case of short term requirements that needs to be responded to immediately. Geolocation -  the administrator panel is extremely useful in keeping a bird's eye view on all the activities of your application. It also helps you make important business decisions such as disabling a user or a nanny based on their behavior. It will also help you keep a tab on the payments. Administrator panel The Features of Convenience These are the set of features that could be done away with but would give a great deal of convenience when present. These features not only enhance the functionality but also the marketing appeal of the application. -  login credentials are essential to creating an account and the profile, but bringing the convenience of using social media accounts to sign in saves the user from a lot of hassle. It should also be mentioned that an application can use a few permissions from the social media platform to read some useful data. Signing in using social media accounts -  knowing what other parents think about a babysitter is undoubtedly useful in making a decision. A rating system can be used to grade both uses and babysitters.  The rating system can also make use of specific questions to gauge the specialization of a babysitter. Ratings, reviews, and recommendations -   The users can be given a facility to search for specific babysitters based on filters like age, experience, nationality, and language. This will help parents find the perfect nanny for their children. Search and category filters - it is true that payment can be taken offline. However, having an integrated payment system helps the babysitters and the users keep a tab on the payment that they have made or have to make. It also helps your business take the correct commission from these payments, which might be a hassle if the payments are made offline. In-app payment - push notifications can notify babysitters about their slots ahead of their work. The parent can also be informed about the end time of the babysitters, and if need be, they can extend their work right from that notification. Push notification Features for Security For many parents, their child is their most prized possession. It is common to have a parent focus a lot on the security of the children with babysitters. A few features can help enhance the safety of the services provided. -  maybe the parents are not anywhere close to their residence, but the connectivity these days ensures that video calling can happen without any hiccups. Having a periodic video call to monitor the child and the babysitter gives the parent a sense of satisfaction. Video calling -  as discussed among the basics, geotagging does help in finding the right providers. In addition to this, it also helps you in keeping a tab on the movement of the nanny. This ensures that the babysitter does not stray away from the baby during the caretaking period. Geotagging -  it is important for the app and the business to verify the validity and authenticity in addition to the identity of the babysitters that they have listed. It can be done by collecting valid ID proofs and address proofs. Background verification of the babysitters Monetizing Your App More than the product, it is the revenue that is important! With the babysitting app, there are multiple ways in which you can monetize your product. Advertisement For any product that is free to use, advertisement contributes to the biggest chunk of revenue. However, it should be kept in mind that the ads should be targeted and non-intrusive. Any advertisement that intrudes into the smooth functioning of the application or the interaction of the user is bound to backfire. Commission If we are calling the application an Uber for babysitters, the revenue has to be generated from the commission. In most cases, the business takes a percentage of the revenue generated by the babysitter as its commission. Freemium Model The freemium model would mean that a few additional features can be made available upon extra payment. The features can include listing a nanny on the top of the search result. Looking back at the commissions, the earnings of your business is proportional to the earnings of the babysitters. Conclusion It is quite evident that the potential for growth of a business that creates an app for babysitters is nothing short of astounding. It might be quite a hassle to analyze the market and ensure that you get your first batch of users and babysitters. However, with the availability of Uber for babysitter App in the market, the development process will never be an issue. All you need to do is find the right company to , and you are all set to step into the territory of profits, not baby steps but massive strides! create your babysitter booking app

Why Uber for Babysitters is the Best Way for Entrepreneurs to Generate Good Revenue?

How both B2B and B2C tech innovations are empowering today’s parents and childcare providers Today’s parenting landscape has evolved at a rapid pace. Compared to just a few decades ago, the makeup of the workforce is changing rapidly; the work participation rate for women with children under age 6 has grown significantly in the past 40 years, as has the percentage of families with children in which both parents work. Further, today’s parents, educators, employers, and children are living in a world that is increasingly tech-first. Parents — especially modern millennial parents — expect tech-forward, simple, and elegant solutions across all spheres of their lives, but particularly as they seek to raise the next generation. Though the parenting landscape and their accompanying expectations have changed over the past several decades, workplace and early education solutions have not kept pace, as evidenced by the across rural, urban, and suburban areas of the US. This imbalance offers up a large market opportunity both on the business-to-business and business-to-consumer side for software and solutions catered more towards today’s modern, mobile-friendly, tech-expert, and often dual-income, families. significant number of childcare “deserts” B2B Considerations for Tech-Enabled Childcare Childcare is an extremely emotional decision for a parent that requires a high amount of trust. Demand for high-quality, tech-forward, flexible, and affordable early education centers is high. Center operators need to prioritize caring for and educating the children at their schools. Early education providers today will succeed if they are able to provide this trust as well as the flexibility and transparency that today’s parents require. There’s an opportunity to use technology to help streamline childcare center operations and coordinate parent communications: Technology can help ease the administrative burden on providers and allow them to focus their energy on care and education, therefore taking advantage of the growing market environment. Providers like , , , or allow them to outsource non-core tasks like payroll, tuition and onboarding, staff training, online registration, or parent communications to better serve their customers. Sawyer Tadpoles SmartCare WeeCare B2C Considerations for Tech-Enabled Childcare Today’s parents expect technology to be seamlessly integrated into a growing proportion of their daily interactions. These parents are the same savvy, educated, mobile-friendly consumers they were before they had children; now they also value convenience, ease, and working with smart companies that have the potential to make their lives easier. , as offered by some of the providers outlined below: Parents today need future-forward support in raising the next generation (reinventing the way parents shop for kids) Rockets of Awesome (platform for parents to discover and book kid’s activities) Kidpass (helps parents find babysitters through people they trust) Urbansitter (networking app that connects like-minded mothers) Peanut Across both the B2B and B2C landscapes there is a huge opportunity for technology to help improve the experience of parents today, especially dual income and working families. If you’re a tech provider helping to improve the experience for childcare providers and parents navigating raising and educating children in today’s world, please reach out (particularly if you’re a growth-stage company that may be raising $10-$25M of capital in the near term!). To hear more of my thoughts in the future, follow me on the Catalyst blog , Twitter , LinkedIn or Medium . If you liked this post, please tap the clap icon to help to promote this piece to others or let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Stories, News & Mentions about URBANSITTER

Urbansitter’s Stories on HackerNoon