Fran Maier, Founder of BabyQuip
Name: Fran Maier
Company: BabyQuip
Who is Fran Maier?
A super-founder who led or contributed to five successful business ventures, Fran co-founded unicorn Match.com, transformed non-profit TRUSTe into thriving for-profit TrustArc, and has raised more than $30 million in venture funding. She is now the CEO and Founder of BabyQuip. A frequent keynote speaker, media subject and personality, Fran is a thought leader in the areas of entrepreneurship, women in business, and family travel. She has appeared in major media like Forbes, CNBC and ABC’s Shark Tank, and hosted a popular radio show; she is a regular podcast guest and authors articles for publications including The Washington Post and Mashable.
In less than three sentences tell us about your company and what you do.
Fran Maier is CEO and Founder of BabyQuip, the #1 global baby gear rental brand. Since its inception in 2016, BabyQuip has expanded into more than 1,000 markets, recruited thousands of independent gig economy entrepreneurs (Quality Providers) to provide services, and formed partnerships with leading brands like VRBO, Destination Hotels by Hyatt, and Guesty. BabyQuip is now serving families in the United States, Mexico, Australia, Canada, and beyond.
What lesson or skill did you take with you from a prior job to help you succeed in your role today?
Co-founding Match.com taught me that trust and safety are paramount when you’re building a brand from scratch. We had to make sure that women who joined (since they were what brought the men!) felt like they were not putting themselves in a position to be taken advantage of but, rather, that they were supported to try something new, comfortable, and fun. Particularly with BabyQuip, where families are trusting us with their children, Trust and Safety are our key priorities. We have a portfolio of initiatives that prioritize clean, safe experiences when you rent from BabyQuip including specialized safety and cleanliness training for our QPs; $1MM liability insurance; and background checks for all of our Providers. BabyQuip’s strengths in Trust and Safety are key drivers of our stellar customer NPS of 94 and our hard earned brand credibility.
Let’s talk social media—who handles it for your company (you, an internal team member, an outsourced solution?) and what is the secret to making it successful? What is the biggest challenge?
We do all our social media in-house. Our social media manager handles content creation, influencer management, and all our posting and analysis. Our secret to making our social successful (our total followers increased by 153% in 2022!) is creating social channels where people can have a laugh and get travel tips and tricks all in one. Also, posting consistently keeps people’s attention and allows them to engage repeatedly. We've also aggressively pursued relationships with key influencers and thought leaders to keep our social media credible and trusted by customers. The biggest challenge is staying on top of the trends as social moves so quickly while staying true to who BabyQuip is as a brand.
How do you support other female founders and women in business?
Apart from empowering our network of Quality Providers, I am passionate about mentoring women and sharing my expertise. As a board member, I’ve served organizations like GE Capital Bank, Children’s Council of San Francisco, Stanford Women on Boards, and Girls in Tech. I’m also an advisor to many start-ups including Portfolia, Women’s Start-up Lab, Sign-up.com, and Kango.
What does BEING a FoundHer mean to you?
Being a FoundHer is right in line with my personal values. I love being an entrepreneur, and I’ve had some great success! I also strive to empower female entrepreneurs and have built my current venture, BabyQuip, to build new entrepreneurs across the globe. BabyQuip’s Quality Providers (QPs) run their own businesses, from choosing their inventory, setting pricing, maintaining the gear, spearheading local marketing, and more. We provide the platform, educational resources, national marketing and, of course, our brand name, but they are the biggest drivers of their own success. We now have over 1,400 QPs in our network, and I am extraordinarily proud that I’ve created so many business owners.
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