Building a Startup is About Solving a Problem

Thompson and a friend spent two years developing Papaya Post, a subscription box for sharing cultural traditions with children. After launching in 2014, they tried more products, ads, and brand partnerships, but customer acquisition costs were too high. They shut the business down after investing about $20,000 each.

After the closure, Thompson studied startup advice and began asking parents what problems they faced. Their conversations kept returning to unreliable child care and the absence of a trusted support network. She reframed the opportunity as recreating a village through vetted caregivers, family matching, and scheduling.

With about $200 left and no programmer, Thompson tested the idea through text messages. She used Squarespace, Typeform, Stripe, Google Calendar, and Excel, and recruited three University of Washington students and 15 local families. Bookings grew from four in the first week, and she set weekly growth goals of 10 to 20 percent.

YC rejected Poppy’s first application but invited the company to reapply if it showed more growth and built a team. Thompson kept serving families, found technical co-founder Richard, and hired Sarah to recruit and vet caregivers. Poppy later got into YC, raised seed funding, and built a two-week cycle of setting and pursuing growth goals.

Thompson recommends letting curiosity and frustration guide early exploration, and learning from users instead of relying on supposed experts. She says a startup is about solving a problem, while funding buys time for experiments. Founders should choose one key metric, grow it steadily, and find people who can support them.