Timms and Bonnes chose a subscription model to generate revenue and relied on Google ads to appear in relevant searches, bypassing the traditional yellow pages advertisements.
Tims said in 2006 that during the first 11 months, more than 1,800 parents signed up, complete with a database of more than 2,000 babysitters. Today, the site has 9,000 educators and babysitters in major cities across Australia.
The plan was to earn enough money to pay their nanny. But after four years running the company, which had grown nationally and won a number of awards, they replaced their own ambitions, selling it to FairFax Media for a “seven-figure low” amount in 2009. The couple moved on to another business venture, Including their co-working space in Elsternwick.
Under the management of Fairfax, Findababysitter.com has been a powerful company. As part of what Fairfax dubbed Australia’s Metro Media, made up of “capital news, sports, lifestyle and business media”, findababysitter.com.au was contributing to the company’s monthly audience of 11 million consumers.
“It’s a business we love. We know how to do it… It’s just kind of a sustainable business.
Delia Times
But after the merger of Nine and Fairfax, the company announced that the site would be closed in early 2021.
“Findababysitter.com.au has not been an essential part of the company’s business strategy,” said a spokesperson for Nine.
Timms heard the news and the pair pounced, striking a deal with Nine to buy back the company for an undisclosed six-figure sum and, as Timms and Bonnes claim, at a modest profit.
“It’s a business we love. We know how to do it. I feel really old saying this, but it’s just kind of a sustainable business,” said Tims.
It did not come without challenges. In 2021, after a cyber attack on Nine Entertainment, Bones and his team of freelancers had to put their website back together from memory and the WayBack Machine digital internet archive.
“So we wondered if maybe we were a little less Keri Packer and maybe Burke and Wells a little bit,” Thames said.
Within five weeks, they were relaunched with a simple goal: to return as a market leader.
Despite the modest profits, buying back the business was still a risk, especially in an environment of high interest rates, which doesn’t bode well for tech companies. Similar companies such as AirTasker and Airbnb suffered from lower stocks over the course of the year.
With fears of an economic recession growing and families exposed to cost-of-living pressures, knowing whether families will start cutting spending is a risk the couple will have to take.
A subscription costs $229 for a year, or $75 for three months.
“It’s hard to tell,” Thames said, but alternatives, such as childcare agencies, can cost up to $3,000.
“As much as all technologies have changed, people with young children still need help. That won’t change, right?” Bones said.
This time, they’ve noticed changes in their business: More single parents and same-sex couples are using the site.
There are plans for an implementation, but the couple are comfortable with the same simple strategy they followed in their childhood: I have a good idea and I know where to go.
“You just want to keep it going and maintain its market leadership but to be honest, I don’t see us doubling in size or trebling in size or anything else. That’s not why we bought it.”
Originally published at Melbourne News Vine
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