Building Space to Breathe for Modern Families.
Nikki Pak & Sophia Phieros, The Village Co
Modern parenting can feel like a logistical circus.
One parent working late, one child with swimming, another refusing bedtime. The Grandparents are in another town, your group chats are lighting up, and after all that, you’ll have to cancel your dinner reservation because you still haven’t found a babysitter.
When they first launched their babysitting platform 18 months ago, the goal was simple: help parents find childcare they could actually trust. It’s simple in theory, but much harder in practice.
As bookings rolled in, referrals spread, and more families leaned on the service, the pair realised they were building more than a place to book sitters - they were building something that parents had come to rely on.
“We started seeing that people weren’t just coming to us because they needed someone to watch the kids,” says Nikki. “They were coming to us because they needed space. Space to go to work, go to dinner, get to an appointment, go to a wedding, breathe for a minute.”
“And if that sitter showed up and it was a great fit, that changes a parent’s whole week,” adds Sophia. “That level of trust is huge.”
That insight has shaped everything since, including a full rebrand involving a name change to ‘The Village Co., a custom ( re)built platform, and a much bigger vision for what The Village Co. is becoming.
People don’t talk to their neighbours like they used to. We want to bring back that village mentality—where parents can rely on a network of trusted carers, even if they’re new to an area.
Turns out, parents need more than a babysitter.
The original version of the business - ‘It Takes a Village’ - did exactly what early startups are meant to do - it proved the idea. Parents used it, sitters joined, and families referred it, spreading demand beyond their original locations and prompting the change from “can you help me find someone for Saturday night?” into “when are you launching in our city?”
“That first platform was basically our practice run,” says Sophia. “It was the best MVP we could build at the time, and it taught us exactly what families actually needed.”
We learned very quickly this isn’t Uber. Parents don’t want a random person turning up every Friday. They want someone they know, someone their kids know, someone they can rebook.”
Then, the MVP started showing its cracks.
Like many founders, Nikki and Sophia hit the familiar startup moment: what gets you going isn’t what gets you scaling.
The system had done its job -it llet them launch, test, and grow - but behind the scenes, they were patching, workaround-ing, and manually holding together a service that had become deeply personal.
“There were all these band-aid solutions,” Nikki says. “We were just figuring out the fastest way to get to the endpoint every time.”
“And in childcare, the end point isn’t just a transaction,” adds Sophia. “You’re dealing with sensitive information, vetting, support, repeat bookings, relationships. There’s a lot more going on than someone clicking ‘book now’.”
So, they made the call to rebuild the whole thing.
Building Tech That Feels Human
With support from the Kiwibank Startup+ package, they began building a custom platform designed around what The Village Co. had actually become.
Instead of just availability, the platform looks deeper: who has newborn experience, who can do school pickups, who speaks other languages, who can support neurodiverse children, who can tutor, and who simply feels right for a family - because a “family vibe” is now part of the equation.
“We joke that some sitters are technically available, but they’re not your people,” says Sophia. “And every family knows exactly what that means.”
“We didn’t want to keep renting a platform that capped us,” says Nikki. “We needed to own the experience, the data, and what we build next.”
And that data - bookings, preferences, patterns, needs - is now driving everything.
They’re no longer guessing what parents want - they’re watching it unfold in real time.
“That first booking is where all the nerves live,” says Nikki. “If we get you through that, everything changes.”
Because Trust Doesn’t Scale on Autopilot
Most tech companies at this stage ask: how do we remove humans? But for The Village Co, they're asking how to keep them in - a reframing that has shaped everything.
The early “white-glove” support - messages, reassurance, follow-ups, helping nervous first bookings over the line - was core to building trust. After that, repeat bookings take over. Kids know their sitters, parents can relax, and relationships form. That's the village effect in action. It also matters on the sitter side - many are students, teachers, ECE workers, midwives, or parents themselves. Sophia says: "they're not just doing random jobs, they feel part of something."
Choosing to Grow at Their Own Pace
There’s a familiar startup pressure: raise fast, scale faster, automate everything, fix meaning later - but Nikki and Sophia have deliberately stepped away from that.
“At one point we asked if we should raise,” says Nikki. “But if we had done that too early, we would’ve been building to someone else’s agenda before we’d nailed our own.”
That slower pace has allowed clarity to emerge - not just on growth, but on what they don’t want to become. “What we’re building only works if it stays personal,” says Sophia. “If it stops feeling like a village, it stops working.”
What They’re Really Building Is Bigger Than Childcare
Now, with a rebrand complete, a custom platform launching, and a national Kiwibank campaign underway, The Village Co. is stepping into its next phase. Part of that next phase has been a shift from purely consumer growth to strategic B2B partnerships. The Village Co. has quietly scaled across the country through partnerships with some of New Zealand's largest employers, telcos, financial services firms and professional services companies, offering childcare support as a staff benefit.
It turns out the need for trusted, flexible childcare isn't just a parenting problem. It's a workforce problem. And businesses are starting to take notice. The systems are stronger, the vision is clearer, all while the why has stayed simple.
Parents aren’t just paying for childcare.
They’re paying for relief. For breathing room. For the ability to say yes again.
“If you get it, you get it,” says Nikki. “That feeling of finally having someone you trust show up at the door - that’s what this is.”
Check out The Village Co or connect with Nikki and Sophia via LinkedIn
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*** Story updated 30/06/2026