Nicole Paolozzi
Name: Nicole Paolozzi
Current Job: Founder & CEO of NEO start-up OndeCare. With any extra time, I provide operational support to my husband’s business strategy firm, Bush Consulting Group – the firm that pays our bills (both personally and professionally).
Favorite restaurant in town? Umami in Chagrin Falls for the atmosphere, eclectic menu that never disappoints, awesome wine list, and flawless service. Umami is our special occasion place, but our regular go-to is Crumb & Spigot in Bainbridge – the food is always top-notch and the wine selection is good, too. I hope both these places survive.
Favorite thing about Cleveland? I have always been known to root for the underdog – especially when you see the passion in faces and the sheer effort expended to compete. Cleveland is an Underdog City – there is passion, commitment, fortitude, and kinship. Also, it is a great proving ground for a start-up – we are not early adopters of anything and everything. What one can build and grow in Cleveland can flourish almost anywhere.
Q: Nicole, you are the founder of OndeCare, what do you all do? OndeCare stands for on-demand care. We provide worry free ad hoc and part-time in-home care for loved ones of all ages and needs – infant/childcare, special needs care, and eldercare. Our private online platform (ondecare.com) connects credentialed care, safety, and education professionals (teachers, nurses, EMTs, etc.) with busy families that are juggling demanding jobs and care of loved ones.
Q: What I really like about your story is that you aren't technical, but went from an idea to a revenue-generating product without code. Can you talk about how you did that and why more non-technical founders should consider this path? Well, to be quite frank, this has not helped me in the quest for early-stage funding. But I do know that it has helped me develop the right solution before building the wrong one – premature tech development before really understanding the complexity of the problem is why I think many tech companies fail.
The foundation for my career was built at American Express Corporate Card and Corporate Travel Services – people might not think of Amex as a 2-sided marketplace, but it is exactly that. I developed and honed sales, customer service, process re-engineering, and change management skills at Amex. I also led our internal Knowledge Management team. We built our first Wikipedia-like employee resource library before there was Wikipedia – this was in the 90s. Finally, and most importantly, I have acutely felt the problem OndeCare is solving – both as a single mom with a demanding job and as a caregiver of my elderly in-laws.
OndeCare is a technology company but our product is the service of worry free on-demand care. With that focus, I found a template to customize to test the market. Today there are templates for everything – a MVP can be built with little to no knowledge of code, you just need to find the right template. Mine had to be a 2-sided marketplace. My choices in 2017 were ShareTribe and Near Me Marketplaces (now platformOS). I tried both and launched the one that had calendaring functionality at the time. platformOS engineers cringe at what I have done with their product – yes, I have incorporated png files of PowerPoint slides in lieu of code when necessary – but I also have earned their respect along the way. platformOS is going to build OndeCare 2.0. Adam Broadway, CEO of platformOS is providing equity and personally leading the project. Finally, know that OndeCare’s first employee was not a developer either but a Social Worker, Kimberly Cohen, LISW-S, with 20+ years’ experience. If anything, our commitment to the non-technical solution is why OndeCare clients are loyal and keep coming back to us when they need back-up.
Q: During this time, dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, how have you been staying proactive to navigate through this crisis? Most of our clients are proximate to their children and other dependents – furloughed or if they are lucky working from home. Like many companies, we saw a significant drop in business when schools closed. Rolling out evolving COVID-19 protocols and progressive PPE requirements has been a supply and logistics problem but because of the training and experience of our OndeCare Providers, adoption has been quick and easy – thank goodness. Also, fortunately, Cleveland Clinic added OndeCare to their COVID-19 employee resource page. Therefore, right now, we are happy we can continue to provide back-up care to essential employees and the elderly during this crisis.
Surviving and preparing for post-COVID is key. I have focused my energy on creative ways to fund the development of OndeCare 2.0. This month, Adam Broadway agreed to build it and we added our first in-house technology resource, Mathew Hall, Ph.D, B.M, B.Ch. Mathew is an entrepreneur with a 15-year background in medicine and education. Finally, instead of Seed Investors, I am looking to Accelerators to bridge the funding gap.
Q: I constantly hear from folks about the lack of women in technology. What can the Cleveland tech community do to increase equality in the industry? This is a problem everywhere and not just in technology. But to answer your question, I think it is a numbers game in higher education. The more women we teach tech, the more women can compete in tech. So, it starts with the schools. There are some bootcamps – Women Who Code and Girls Who Code – helping the cause but until the Computer Science schools change their enrollment numbers, the industry will not change.
Q: If you were not building OndeCare, what would you be doing? Writing fiction, maybe – honestly, I find this scarier than building a technology company. I have a few children’s stories, and outlines and chapters of dozens of books on various computers. At Purdue University an elective was what I found the most challenging and exciting – Creative Writing. It was challenging because it forced me to harness ideas, visions, and themes into an engaging exchange and flow of words. The exciting part was actually accomplishing that translation well enough to truly engage others. Technology enables independent publishers too, but again developing the product will be the really tough part.