Today's Entrepreneur: Lynn Perkins

"As a leader, it's important to demonstrate resilience"

Today’s entrepreneur is Lynn Perkins, co-founder and CEO at UrbanSitter.

UrbanSitter is a web and mobile platform connecting parents with recommended local babysitters and nannies. The San Francisco-based platform lets parents schedule childcare specialists within minutes, and babysitters to create their profiles for hire, where clients can leave kudos.

Here are some cool things about Lynn, based on her Vator profile. 

I am: An entrepreneur

Why? I love creating businesses from scratch and working with smart, motivated people.

I founded or co-founded: UrbanSitter

I work or worked for: Joie de Vivre Hospitality, LaSalle Partners, Gap Inc., Bridgepath

My favorite startups: Dropbox, HotelTonight, GoodReads, SportsForce

What's most frustrating and rewarding about entrepreneurship/innovation?

The most rewarding thing about innovation is seeing how your company can positively impact somebody's life through increased efficiency, providing a needed service, or offering a helpful product.

As an entrepreneur, it can be frustrating when your live product/service is in one stage, but you have a plan of where it can or will be in six months, and that product/service is better. Juggling and prioritizing resources early on can be tough.

What are the top three lessons you learned as an entrepreneur?

1. Connect with the customer from the start. Getting feedback from users in the demographic you are targeting is crucial;

2. Work with partners you trust.There are so many things to accomplish at a startup and it is nice to work with people who trust each other, who prioritize tasks and get work done. It is even better if you enjoy the company of one another;

3. Be patient. Even though new businesses work at incredible speeds, I've learned that it can be really valuable, when making key decisions, to slow down and even postpone making decisions for some time. Often, the right strategic decision, investment partner selection, or the next step in development becomes obvious when you step back and take a break.

Taking care of business at home and at the office

A startup veteran, Lynn has more than 15 years of experience building and growing e-commerce. Prior to founding UrbanSitter, Lynn served as founder and CEO of Xuny.com and VP of Business Development at Bridgepath.com. At Gap Inc., LaSalle Partners and Joie de Vivre Hospitality, Lynn gained extensive business and transaction experience. 

Lynn is a proud mom of three children. Her family and colleagues, she says, are her biggest supporters. Juggling business development and housewife chores is tough, and she is most thankful for her husband's support. Not only does he play a huge role with the kids, but he's also a good sounding board when Lynn needs work advice. When Lynn focuses on fundraising, her co-founders and colleagues pitch alongside, and keep the company running strong. “What's been amazing to me,” says Lynn, “Is that we are several years into the business now and we all still admire each other and really enjoy working together.”