A Conversation with Winnie Co-Founder Sara Mauskopf 

Sara Mauskopf, co-founder and CEO of Winnie, knows a lot about creating products that serve customer’s needs. Before co-founding Winnie, a childcare marketplace where families can find providers near them, Sara spent time at some of the world’s most well-known technology companies: X (formerly Twitter), Postmates, and Google. In these roles, she focused on how to align the needs of customers with different products. After Sara had her first child, her focus shifted to a different kind of customer: parents. 

“I suddenly cared a lot about making life easier for parents,” Sara said. It was from this desire that Winnie was born. In the nine years since its inception, Winnie has worked to help parents find the right care for their children and for childcare providers to build their communities.  

We asked Sara about the changes she has observed in what parents seek from childcare providers now, and what Center Directors and other early childhood education (ECE) professionals can do to engage prospective parents.  

1. What are some of the shifts in how parents seek childcare?  

What’s been interesting to see is the differences between parents needs pre-Covid and post-Covid. One of the big shifts we’ve seen lately is the kind of childcare options they’re looking for. Now, parents want flexibility. Part of this is because they have more flexible jobs, but the other part is that they want to “get away” with less paid care. If a parent has a hybrid schedule, they might want care only three days a week. Providers that can offer flexible schedules are more appealing to families.   

2. Have you noticed any changes in how childcare providers look for new families or serve those already enrolled?  

Yes, we are seeing shifts from childcare providers as well. We’re seeing a willingness to adopt technology in multiple ways to make things easier for parents. From how they take payments to how they communicate with families, providers are using technology that improves the childcare experience.  

3. How do Millennial and Gen Z parents differ from Gen X parents in their search for childcare? 

One issue we’ve noticed is that there’s a disconnect between how Millennial and Gen Z parents want to “purchase” childcare versus how the experience is being “sold” by the providers. Providers typically want parents to take a tour and visit the space before they provide parents with all the information—tuition cost, curriculum, etc.–they would need to decide if they want to enroll. We’re seeing that younger parents are more comfortable making this decision sight unseen. This generation has grown up with technology and is used to making massive purchases on the internet. Their expectation is they can go to a site like Winnie and purchase their child’s preschool right then.  

Winnie is trying to bridge that gap by setting the right expectations with parents while helping providers streamline the tour scheduling-to-enrollment process.  

4. What are you most optimistic about regarding the future of ECE? 

I’m very optimistic about the future! As a country, I think we’re really starting to value early childhood education. When we started Winnie, ECE was often overlooked and undervalued within the broader education system. In the presidential debates, it was discussed as a major issue facing this country. And it’s a bipartisan issue—everyone benefits when we have strong ECE. Also, due to Covid, parents better understand the value of ECE (of all education really) after being without it for a time. I think before, having quality education was a thing we all took for granted. I’m optimistic that all of this is leading to a better future where families can find and afford the care they need. 

What’s on the horizon for Winnie?  

Good question! As I mentioned earlier, we’re working on ways to help better set parents’ expectations about what the childcare process looks like so that they can understand where they are in that process. We’re working on features like tour scheduling to hopefully cut down the process from searching to enrolling. We’re also working on ways to help providers find the strongest prospective families for their centers so that they can serve these children faster without slowing down the pipeline with prospects who aren’t a great fit.  

At Early Learning Academies, we have seen the needs regarding childcare have changed in recent years as well. Here are some actions we’ve taken to help solve those needs:  

• Work with state programs to help ease the cost of childcare for families. As states respond to the growing need for childcare assistance, ELA is right there to help. In states like Colorado, which recently rolled Universal Preschool, our childcare centers have taken swift action to participate in this program to serve their communities. Our childcare centers in North Carolina, Michigan, Florida, and Ohio all collaborate with their respective state’s programs to ease the burden of cost for their families, too. 

• Utilize technology tools to better communicate with our families. As Sara mentioned above, the ways parents want to communicate continues to shift. Our centers utilize tools that allow them to send pictures and messages to parents to give them frequent updates on how their child is doing. Parents love receiving photos of their child learning how to spell their name or honing their fine motor skills through art projects!  

Different generations have different childcare needs, and as early childcare educators, we will always do everything we can to meet those needs!