If You Need a Nanny, CitiNannies

I am really bummed I missed the last Houston Startup Happy Hour. I was all set to go and an hour before my departure, our nanny called in sick and left me running around the block trying to beg any able teenager to watch our kids, unsuccessfully. Childcare is a pivotal part of my life and can be aggravating.

So earlier this week, my wife received a mailer from a new startup, CitiNannies, an online matchmaking service connecting caregivers and families in need of help. Having gone through the process of interviewing and hiring a few nannies, I know that this is a great traditional business prime for innovation. From what I can tell, the core value proposition are the lower cost to families, the disintermediation of nanny “brokers” to make the process more efficient as well as the dual screening process conducted on both caregivers and families.

“I have been a nanny, nanny broker and nanny seeker myself and was very dissatisfied with the process,” stated Jennifer Nguyen, founder of CitiNannies. “It was a very ‘hit or miss’ process. Brokers would charge from 10%-20% of a nanny’s salary as a fee which is cost prohibitive to many familes in need of assitance with caregiving. Soon after I started my own agency, I came up with the idea to move the process online which allowed me to lower the service cost and pass those savings onto families.”

What I like about this site is how it exemplifies what the web was intended to do for traditional business models. Nguyen launched the site in January 2008. She is a serial entrepreneur as this is her 4th startup. CitiNannies competes with other online services like Nannies for Hire, eNanniesSource and 4Nannies.com.