Online caregiving marketplace Care.com held its initial public offering on January 24th, 2014. Regardless of location, an IPO is arguably one of the most thrilling milestones for many businesses. But the day the Waltham, Mass.-based company’s stock began trading marked a big moment for Boston’s tech ecosystem: Care.com was the first tech firm to host an IPO in essentially the past two years.
The newly-public Care.com is well-poised to crush it in public markets, too. The company saw $81.5 million in revenue and 68 percent year-over-year growth in 2013, according to its fiscal report. In fact, by the end of last year, Care.com had grown its users to 9.7 million, a 46 percent increase from 2012.
However, the company has a long way to go. "This is a huge and fragmented marketplace and despite being the largest player in the space, we’ve only got a two percent market penetration ... which means there’s a very long runway for growth," Care.com Co-founder and CEO Sheila Marcelo told BostInno via email.
Still, Care.com has made serious strides since its start in 2006. From the company’s first dollar raised to first share traded, Marcelo has born witness to Care.com’s challenges and triumphs in the last 14 years. Fortunately, Marcelo shared her reflections on the course of the company’s history and future steps in the following Q&A.
BostInno: When you began Care.com, would you ever have imagined the company would IPO?
Sheila Marcelo: Our vision for Care.com was to address a massive, fragmented problem for millions of families trying to not only find high quality care, but also have the resources and tools to manage care. It is delivering on that mission that has always been our first priority … how we would get there, as a private or public company, was always in the background. But did we think it was possible? It was certainly a scenario along with others we assessed.
Was there ever a time early on at Care.com when you or the team worried that the idea wasn't going to work out?
While we’ve always tested various elements of our service, we knew that focusing on helping solve problems and continuing to test and iterate, while building a great user experience, were the keys to success. And care is a universal need – it’s a $240 billion market in the U.S. alone. There’s a lifecycle of care and every family’s needs are different. Our focus is to address that breadth of needs for 42 million households in the US.
Care.com reported revenue of $82 million in 2013, with expected growth of 34 percent this year. What does the company have planned for 2014?
We’re focused on continuing to grow our core consumer matching business. This is a huge and fragmented marketplace and despite being the largest player in the space, we’ve only got a two percent market penetration ... which means there’s a very long runway for growth.
Now that the dust has settled on Care.com's IPO a bit, any thoughts or reflections on the journey?
You hear this frequently from CEOs but I can’t say it enough: it’s all about the team. You can have an amazing idea but if you don’t have a team that can execute the vision, it means nothing. I have the honor of advising some entrepreneurs and we talk a lot about building teams of people who share your passion and vision while bringing different talents and strengths to the table. The shared commitment to the mission is essential when you have to pivot – which you will – and the complementary strengths enable you to build things you never imagined.
Image via Matrix Partners
