Jen Saxton's "Most Unhinged" Fundraising Move

Hello friends & long-lost strangers!

It's been roughly one whole Leap Year since my last Annual Update email in 2020, but maybe I can get back on track :)

Tot Squad Updates

Since selling my car seat & stroller cleaning business in March 2020 to BabyQuip, the world's largest baby gear rental platform, I've been building a new Tot Squad (yes, we kept the name!). It's a platform that connects new & expecting parents with local (or virtual) service providers like lactation consultants, sleep experts, car seat installers, and more… kind of like Angie's List for parenting, with plans for 60 different types of services from conception through Kindergarten.

Much like Honeyfund, I'm excited to share that you can now find Tot Squad powering services as part of the Baby Registry experience at both Target and Amazon. Imagine putting a prenatal massage or a night nanny on your registry — we're making dreams come true, here!

Fundraising

In the last two months, we've seen the number of families adding services to their registry accelerating rapidly (literally already doubled TWICE!), and we've recently accepted scout funds from top Silicon Valley VC funds like a16z and Kleiner Perkins. If you're interested in investing alongside these folks, please get in touch!

In Q2 we'll be kicking off a larger seed round to fund our growth.

Partnerships

To make our gift cards even more valuable, we're soon to launch a Services Exchange with amazing partners like Dr. Becky at Good Inside, BabyQuip, and Good Buy Gear, where you can swap out your service for any number of other brands if you no longer need to be matched with one of our expert providers.

Personal Update

Life is crazy in Los Angeles with two preschoolers — Charlotte is almost ready for Kindergarten at 5.5yo and she loves swimming, Irish Dance, and Girl Scouts. Sophie turned 3 this week and loves ballet and princesses. After 15 years in the baby industry, it's so wild to think that my time with babies in the house has now come and gone!

Kern continues to work on independent film projects through Saxton Cinema and picks up freelance video editing too. We bought my grandmother's home in Austin two years ago, but for now plan to stay in California. We've enjoyed traveling all over with the girls, to Mexico, Hawaii, and a bazillion theme parks, even though our now 10yo bichon-frise Jack certainly misses us when we are gone.