I realized that the childcare market is inherently margin-challenged, making it difficult to scale Poppy effectively.

I started Poppy not because I'm an expert in child care, but because I wanted to solve the anxiety I felt about who was taking care of my daughters.

The final decision to shut down came after realizing that the business model was not sustainable and that it was time to start fresh. I was tremendously lucky to have supportive investors who believed in the mission of Poppy, which made it easier to communicate the difficult decision to shut down.

I founded Poppy to connect families with vetted childcare providers, aiming to create a modern village for parents.

I explored three options: pivoting the business, seeking acquisition, or shutting it down completely, ultimately deciding to close Poppy.

The decision to shut down Poppy was made with the understanding that it was better to conserve capital and provide some breathing room for employees rather than prolonging the inevitable.

My most spectacular failure was being the first product manager on Google Hangouts, where despite having thousands of people and the full power of Google, we still couldn't build a great messaging product.

Despite the failure of our first product, we believed in our mission to improve communication and enhance people's lives, which motivated us to continue.

As founders, we often have amazing ideas and plans, but when things don't work out, it doesn't mean we failed; it just means the outcome was different than expected.