Problem: As an adult who is often too busy to travel (and/or to clean/cook for myself), I often hope to learn about or discover something from another culture. Perhaps rather than traveling to another location, it would be possible to bring that location to me.
Solution: A business that helps you hire an Au Pair for your personal life and needs. Traditionally, Au Pairs are hired as nannies for young kids (this is what AuPairWorld does as they hope to help Au Pairs and Host Families connect). However, this business would focus on connecting Au Pairs as additional help around the house for adults rather than as nannies. Some of the tasks they would accomplish include housekeeping, culinary creation, and more.
Au Pair matching is actually quite difficult both for au pairs and for host families (as reported in The Great Au Pair Rush - The New York Times):
Au pairs pay fees to participate in the program, navigating a complex web of foreign recruiters, satellite offices and U.S. agencies that vary on a case-by-case basis. Including expenses associated with the J-1 visa application, the total out-of-pocket enrollment cost for au pairs usually hovers between $1,000 and $2,000, much of which is often nonrefundable. “I worked at least three months nonstop, two jobs, in order to save the money for the program,” Ms. Kobzeva added. “Now I’m literally in the middle of nowhere with no idea what to do.”
Enrollment for American host families is more straightforward: Between agency program fees and required au pair expenses (such as weekly stipends, travel and food, and up to $500 toward a mandatory education requirement), the total minimum cost of the program is around $20,000 a year, regardless of the number of children in the family. If a family pays only the minimum, it’s affordable when compared with traditional child care options.
A few areas for improvement under this business model include: (1) different age au pairs, for instance older hosts to offer more of a ‘cultural exchange’ or (2) different roles for au pairs to cater not just to the child-care market, but also to other markets and roles.
Every year, over 20,000 people register to become Au Pairs. Assuming each Au Pair can net the company around $10,000 this business could easily be worth $200 million if the market is fully captured. Though, since this business would also expand the market, the goal would be to create new services that could 5x-10x the number of potential registrants who would want to be “House Au Pairs.”
Monetization: Fees from hosts and au pairs.
Contributed by: Michael Bervell (Billion Dollar Startup Ideas)