BY SARAH WADDELL
Jenna Fernandes is one of the passionate and impressive startup leaders who make the Stamford Innovation Center at 175 Atlantic St. their headquarters. Her business, CareBooker, provides a platform to help people take care of their commitments by engaging trained and reviewed service providers.
What does your business do?
“Online booking and payment services for care services such as child care, pet care, tutoring services, housekeeping, personal fitness and senior care.”
Where and why did you start your business?
“When I was working as a consultant in New York City, I noticed people were having problems finding care for their pets when they were gone, so I started Pet it Forward. The business helped people find the right care that they needed for their pets. From there, we were able to make booking care services for other things, like child care, easier.”
What have been some of your best achievements?
“Raising our first seed round of financing, hiring our first employee, customer service, a tech team in California, grown our user base to thousands.”
What are your goals for the future?
“We would love to be able to build a platform for booking in all American cities. Also, just getting our name out there and letting people know how we are different.”
What makes CareBooker different from its competitors?
“We don”™t require an expensive monthly membership fee to find service providers. We provide free, comprehensive background checks for providers that are free for families to view. We make it easy for people to book interviews by phone, Skype or at a location that works for them. And we make it simple to book care and pay online ”“ families can even easily add a tip.
“All of the reviews on the site are ”˜certified”™ ”“ which means someone had to actually book and pay for services with that provider via CareBooker in order to add the review/rate the provider.
“We collect data and use it to publish statistics, such as how many families re-book with a provider, etc. We are a simple way for care providers to manage their entire business and for families to manage hiring individuals or companies. We provide a ”˜Book Now”™ button any service provider on CareBooker can use to turn their own website into a booking and payment platform.”
What brought you to the Stamford Innovation Center?
“My husband worked across the street. Peter Propp, the SIC”™s chief marketing officer, brought him over for a tour. And then my husband brought me for a tour. It”™s great to not have an office but still have a place to get work done. I”™ve been here since August 2013.”
Sarah Waddell is a student at Sacred Heart University”™s film and television master”™s program and is the media content specialist for the Stamford Innovation Center.
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