January 5×5 Night at Start Garden
Voting Closes:
January 20, 2025 11:59 pm
Impact
I believe that Kick It can play a role in fighting maternal isolation and loneliness (something that research tells us impacts a huge percentage of mothers, and contributes drastically to cases of postpartum depression). By creating an easy way for parents of young kids to connect with their friends/family/community, that takes into account the unpredictability of their schedules and allows social plans to fit in easily with what they are already doing, Kick It can help build community and connection at a stage in life when rallying around is so needed, can help improve maternal mental health, and contribute to overall increased wellness of parents and children.
I also think that Kick It can contribute to community building and connection, and help fight isolation in other communities too, not just for parents. But niche market is parents of young kids, especially stay at home parents who have kids under 3.
What I'll do with $5,000
Here is a breakdown of how I will use $5000:
- $3000 to pay to take part in an incubator program (currently applying to Stella and FounderGym). Being part of an incubator will absolutely allow me to see traction as it will help me grow my skills and knowledge as a founder, provide mentorship and guidance from industry experts as it relates understanding and accessing my niche market in order to see greater growth, put the product in front of peers and experts to critique and strengthen the app and make it as attractive and engaging to users as possible, and give me access to a network of different types of investors.
- $1000 to pay my engineering partner to add several key additional features to the app (eg ability to create friend groups, adding Google Maps API to Kick It status, creating private messaging ability). These features have been asked for by current users, and will make the app more useful and attractive to current and future users.
- $1000 will likely go toward childcare so that I can actually meaningfully participate in an incubator and dedicate time to building the sort of online presence that is needed to see growth and traction (I'm just being real here - childcare is a real expense to be considered when trying to establish and build a company, especially as a stay at home mum. It shouldn't be seen as a general operation if Start Garden is hoping to be an inclusive and diverse startup community).