Author Genevieve Thiers

Genevieve Thiers took the nugget of idea she developed while in college and turned it into what has become a successful, multi-million dollar business. In September 2001, Thiers founded Sittercity.com, an online resource to help families and individuals across the nation find the care provider who meets their needs quickly, easily and most importantly safely. With this, Thiers not only started a company, but also created an entirely new industry that has skyrocketed in terms of size and popularity. Thiers, the oldest of seven children including two sets of twins, has personally logged more than 2,500 babysitting jobs in her lifetime and babysat for more than 30 families while pursuing her undergraduate degree at Boston College. Babysitting is in her blood One day, from her dorm room window, Thiers saw a nine-months pregnant woman climbing the steps from Boston College’s lower to upper campus, distributing flyers in an attempt to find the perfect babysitter. That’s when Thiers had an epiphany: What if there was one central place where parents could find all the sitters in their city? With that, Sittercity.com was born, along with the mission to ensure that no parent would ever have to say “I can’t find a sitter” again. When working to get Sittercity off the ground, Thiers pitched her idea to investors who said they weren’t interested because they didn’t fund “babysitting clubs”. Determined to see it through, Thiers borrowed $120 from her father to buy the Sittercity.com domain and started working on her new company. She spent her days at IBM, her nights singing and getting her Masters degree in opera, and her free time distributing 20,000 babysitter recruitment flyers across Boston on foot -- including canvassing 20 colleges in the Boston area to get the word out. It worked. Today Sittercity.com is the largest and most trusted source for in-home care, including babysitters, nannies, petsitters, senior caregivers, housekeepers and tutors. Sittercity.com now has more than 1 million caregiver profiles across the nation and a huge population of care seekers who post a new job on Sittercity.com every five minutes. The babysitter-turned-entrepreneur also published her first book, “Love at First Sit: A Parent’s Guide to Finding and Keeping the Perfect Babysitter,” in 2006. She currently serves as the iVillage Babysitting Expert, Momlogic’s Child Care expert. Thiers has appeared on the Today show, CBS Early Show, CNN, The Big Idea with Donnie Deutsch, Martha Stewart Living Radio and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Redbook, Parents, Parenting, Real Simple, Better Homes and Gardens, Working Mother as well as news programs in markets across the nation. In addition, Thiers has been recognized for her innovative vision and unique business- savvy, securing 14 national and international awards on behalf of herself and the company. In 2007, Thiers was listed on Forbes Junior Power League and in Crain’s Chicago Business "40 Under 40.” Prior to that, she was recognized in a ceremony by President Bush at the White House as the Small Business Administration Young Entrepreneur of the Year for 2006 and also received the Women’s Business Development Center Rising Star Award for 2005. Noted for her expertise and business acumen, Thiers has spoken at hundreds of entrepreneurial forums, young executive forums, mothers’ forums, colleges and conventions across America, and is a popular keynote speaker. She has been a guest lecturer at Harvard Business School, Kellogg School of Management, Babson College, Boston College, Columbia Collage in Chicago and University of Illinois. In addition to advising students, Thiers has also shared her small business expertise with various political figures, from former Secretary of the Treasury, Hank Paulson, to head of the SBA, Steven Preston, to Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.