Power of Companionship

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in personal care but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Geetika Sinha, Founder, and CEO of SitByCare, located in San Francisco, CA, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Companionship is healing. SitByCare is an online platform that matches companion sitters to people & patients when friends and families are unable to provide that connection. Our mission is to bring wellness to society and provide fulfilling gig-economy jobs.

Tell us about yourself

The SitByCare logo motivates me. Titli, which means butterfly, was the loving nickname I had for my daughter, Akanksha, which is now the logo and central theme of SitByCare, as a tribute to her. SitByCare is a service created in memory of the journey I shared with my daughter for two and a half months while she was in an intensive care unit due to a prolonged, critical illness. For the first time, I saw, experienced, and realized how a patient’s life in a hospital could be so full of loneliness and despair when their loved ones could not be by their side due to work and other time commitments.

Even though I was going through my own trauma, at times, I envisioned this place, called the hospital, to be more interactive and friendlier, an environment where patients can hope and feel better. This journey led me to Found SitByCare.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Building & Launching the SitByCare platform, relying entirely on hands-on experience as a non-technical founder.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

The single biggest challenge as a bootstrapped startup is creating a very dedicated team that is both geographically and skill-wise widely distributed. This involves task and time coordination between employees, paid freelancers, and many other experts volunteering because of their belief in the mission.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

Have Sthira Budhi:
Budhi is a Sanskrit word for Mind. Sthira means strength with connotations of resolution, courage & firmness. No other word can sum up the key requirements for a person to have in order to start, run and grow a business.
Be an Active Listener:
This helps team members to express & own their ideas. This is especially important for service-oriented companies like SitByCare or Amazon versus gadget-oriented companies like Tesla & Apple, which are led by forces of nature & their vision ( Ex: Elon Musk & Steve Jobs)
Be a Problem Solver:
As per my experience, the challenges of my life have become the solutions to the problems of my business & vice versa. After I lost my only child, founding SitByCare helped me to focus on a purpose greater than my grief. Creating this harmony between your own life experiences and your business helps both thrive.

As a non-technical business owner, you have to believe in the concept that you will be the only “Jack of All and Master of None” in the Company while persuading every team member to be a master in their area of expertise. Ex: A coder trying to design would be cost-efficient but definitely compromise the quality of the product. Even as a bootstrapped startup, you want to maintain a fine balance between cost & quality.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://sitbycare.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SitByCare
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sitbycare/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sitbycare/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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