How Rebecca Dredge’s award-winning app Kiddo is solving a common parenting challenge

Finding a babysitter can be tough and ridden with anxieties, especially for new parents.

It’s something Rebecca Dredge personally experienced when she started a family, and ultimately inspired her business, Kiddo – an app to find local, verified, trusted and affordable babysitters, nannies, and NDIS support workers.

Our friends at Women’s Agenda spoke to Dredge about her entrepreneurship journey to learn more about Kiddo, some of the challenges she’s faced, and the advice she has for other entrepreneurs, as part of our series marking Global Entrepreneurs Week.

Can you give us a brief description of your business?

I’m the CEO and founder of Kiddo, a care platform that gives parents more time and freedom by connecting them to local, verified, trusted and affordable babysitters, nannies, and NDIS support workers instantly.

Kiddo’s technology simplifies care options for parents in one place, tailoring care solutions based on a child’s needs. The inclusive care platform provides a haven of trust, connecting parents to verified, compassionate carers. Alongside a commitment to quality care, Kiddo empowers parents to enjoy reliable childcare, whether for crucial work commitments, professional networking, or well-deserved downtime.

Additionally, the app provides a space for special care for those who have young ones needing NDIS support. Kiddo has fully qualified and specialised carers to suit all needs for an array of children and families. Kiddo’s streamlined processes and functionality assists babysitters to take their services to the next level. Kiddo provides parents with peace of mind through its review and rating systems alongside the insurance coverage on all bookings. The structural concept of the app reassures families in knowing that all care providers have been fully identified, with completed Working with Children Checks. Since launching in late 2019, Kiddo has amassed more than 40,000 users.

More recently, I’ve wanted to create further connections in communities by tackling childcare shortages in the Early Childhood Education and Care sector. Tapping into Kiddo’s 15,000 registered care providers – we’ve extended our services to ‘Kiddo Childcare Recruitment’, a jobs marketplace that acts as a dynamic recruitment platform for child care centres, OSH centres, and kindergartens to connect with their child focussed carers on the Kiddo app.

We’re more than an app; we’re a community of people that care. Kiddo fosters strong connections within local communities, propelling growth, empowerment, and lasting relationships among our valued stakeholders.

What inspired you to start your business?

I had long worked in the banking and finance industry – it was only after returning from maternity leave that I felt somewhat out of place and had seen a softer side to the world. I had experienced the problem of trying to find a babysitter and had heard countless stories from other new parents. When I needed a babysitter personally, I turned to a traditional babysitting agency and had no idea who was being ‘sent’ to me. I turned to a Facebook page and thought ‘really am I doing this? I don’t know who these people are, what checks have been done’. I knew there had to be a more effective, transparent, and safer way to find in-home care for our children. Kiddo was born!

Since then, I’ve been on a mission to help families Australia-wide. Not only to provide parents with a safe place to find care but also a way for women in our communities to find flexible work options and create true connections.

We have babysitters as young as 18 and also carers in their 60s – hearing some of their stories has been truly inspirational. One story in particular, a lady in her 60s telling me how Kiddo had allowed her to feel valued, wanted, and at the same time having purpose again. She said it was amazing to be ‘actively selected by families for my age’ and that she ‘hadn’t felt valued in years’ – she referred to herself as a ‘Granny Nanny!” on Kiddo. It’s stories like these that inspire me to forge on for Kiddo every day.

What challenges have you faced, and how have you overcome them?

One of the greatest challenges was physically launching Kiddo – getting started as a solo, non-tech, boot-strapped founder, Kiddo was my first business. I had a two-year-old at home and worked in the front study to create Kiddo. Successfully launching a two-sided platform meant I had to ensure we had sufficient carers and parents registered and ready to use our services for launch day.

As a first-time entrepreneur and solo founder, I had to learn so much. I didn’t even have social media accounts when I launched Kiddo! Fortunately, I was able to grow my network of mentors, contractors, and advisors with amazing people who brought valuable expertise and support to the table. Throughout my journey with Kiddo, I made it a point to engage as many women and mothers as possible, as it aligned with our values and fostered some incredible connections with like-minded women in business.

However, by far, my biggest challenge was successfully undertaking a capital raise. Although I had the assistance of an incubator, I had to prepare and pitch it Shark Tank-style.

Do you have a vision for the future of your business?

My vision is for Kiddo to become a household name, to be the care platform or ‘virtual village of care’ that every family can rely on. We are proud that we provide families with inclusive care options. We have worked hard to ensure we have thousands of amazing child focussed caregivers on Kiddo. With the ‘tap of a few buttons’, parents can be matched to babysitters, nannies or NDIS support workers as needed. In the short term, we are looking to scale and grow our Kiddo recruitment service in the Early Childhood Education and Care sector. We know there are so many staffing shortages in childcare centres and just how much of an impact this is having on families. We want to solve and empower this sector – to allow more parents to return to work, more of our carers to take up work options efficiently. With our technology, we have the power to create true change!

Do you have any advice for aspiring women entrepreneurs?

We were recently recognised with the 2023 Women in Digital Innovator of the Year award. This award also made me reflect on the fact that, just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village or a tribe for a startup to succeed.

My advice for any aspiring woman entrepreneur is just to start, become obsessed with your customers, understand what their true problems are, and solve them. Remember the power of your dreams, set wild goals, and celebrate them when you achieve them! It makes them so much more meaningful when they happen. Never forget with a bit of hard work and having your ‘tribe’ by your side – women can achieve anything they set their minds to.

I’m deeply grateful to mentors, inspirational women, and those who support the wider tech industry as a whole, without them I could not have come this far. Organisations such as Women in Digital are vital – showcasing amazing diversity and talent while encouraging more connections that continue to make this ‘village’ we all need.

This article was first published by Women’s Agenda.