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

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.

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

Poppy was not a failure; it achieved its mission of helping thousands of parents and caregivers, even if it didn't scale as I had hoped.

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.

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.

After my first startup failed, I started talking to parents to understand their biggest challenges, which led me to childcare.

The previous wave of tech-enabled services startups struggled due to low gross margins and complex operations, which hindered their scalability.

I realized that many parents are struggling with child care and that the caregivers deserve more recognition and opportunities.