Joanna McFarland wasHopSkipDrive was created by a working mother who needed a solution to the problem of getting her kids to school on time.
It was at a party that she attended with her child that the idea came to her. Every mom shared their story about a time when they felt like they were losing their child because there was no way to move them.
McFarland is launched HopSkipDrive with Carolyn Yashari Becher and Janelle McGlothlin — the three have eight kids among them — as a way to try to safely tackle this issue by hiring safe third-party drivers to get their kids around.
HopSkipDrive didn’t know at the time that it was entering a space where there would soon be quite a few startups raising venture capital to try to tackle the problem, too. Sheprd, a Massachusetts-based company, attempted to solve the problem by transporting children around in specially-tuned Land Rovers with snacks and iPads. Los Angeles-based Shuddle offered on-demand rides and was seen as more like an Uber for children.
Many of these startups have gone out of business. HopSkipDrive hasn’t. Why? Why? Because a pivot away from focusing solely on parents opened up a new revenue stream that allowed the company to surpass many other failed companies.
