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Interviews about the problem we want to solve







Caroline

Presentation:

Age:34
Living situation: She lives in a house with her family
Personal situation: Married and has children


Interview:

How many kids do you have?
I have 2, one little girl and one little boy!


How old are they?
My girl has 9 and my boy 7


Do you work? If yes, what is your profession?
Yes, I am working in a real estate agency, I really like my job


Do your kids have extracurricular activities?
Yes, many. My husband and I want them to try as many things as possible for them to find what they really like. We think that extracurricular activities are really important in the education, we really don't want them to stay home all the time in front of the television.

What type of activities do they do?
Our girl is doing classical dance and gym one time per week each. And our boy is doing judo but 2 times a week because he really likes it and he is great! And most of the time on Sundays, we try to go all together to the swimming pool.

How often do you have to take them somewhere?
Well, my girl has dance on Wednesdays afternoon and Gym on Fridays nights. My boy goes to the judo on Mondays and Wednesdays nights.

How much time per week do you spend bringing them to their activities and pick them up?
A lot of time because our house is far from everything. But I cannot complain because we wanted them to have a lot of activities. But if you want a number, we spend around 2h30 per week bringing them and picking them up from their activities.


Do you always have the time to bring your kids to school/activities?
No, it is often hard because when we come back from work we are tired and we don't want take the car again and go in the traffic. Moreover, they are not doing the same activities so we constantly have to be at two places at the same time, it is really hard to manage. That is the reason why I am not working on Wednesdays afternoon. At first I was, but it was too complicated so I stopped, it is much easier now. And my husband, is coming back from work earlier on Mondays and Fridays to take the kids to their activities. It is a lot of organization but we are managing it.

Do you have a nanny at home?
Yes we have. The school is not that far from our house, so she is picking them up at school and they are walking home after. She is mostly helping them for their homework.

Why isn't she taking them to their activities?
Because they don't have the same activities so for example if she is taking our boy to judo, our girl would have to stay alone at home or go with her but neither is a good solution. We prefer her to stay at home and take care of them.

So how do you usually get your kids to those activities?
As I said, me or my husband are taking them by car.

What is the biggest problem with that?
The biggest problem is that there is a lot of traffic in the city, so we are losing a lot of time and we are often late. We are doing a lot of goings and comings and it is exhausting.

How are you solving the problem now?
Well for now we are not really solving the problem since it is the best solution that we found until now... Let's say that we are "dealing" with problem!


Have you tried something else?
Yes, we tried carpooling with the other moms which are in our neighborhood but it was also too complicated because sometimes the child of the parent who was supposed to get our kids to their activities was sick or couldn't go and so we ended up with no solution and our kids couldn't go to their activities. Carpooling is a good solution but it is not really reliable solution so we had to find a reliable one. But we are still doing it sometimes.


Would you let your kid go to school or extracurricular activities by himself?
Well, they could go by bus but they are way too young! So no.

What do you think about taxis? Are they adapted to kids?
Taxis are really convenient, but for adults. I would never put my kids in a taxi, I would be too afraid not to see them again!!

Would you trust someone with your kids if its profession is "driver only for children”?
Mmmh... maybe, I don't know. In fact, I have never heard of this kind of profession so I don't really know. But why not, I mean I would have to know everything about this driver, but I think I could trust him but only if I really can't take my children to their activities by myself.

What would make you trust this person?
I would need to have all the information about him and to have the certainty that the information are true. I would like to know about his background, his family, his experiences... I would trust this person only if I have the proof that he is a good person and that nothing can happen to my kid.

Do you think this problem is worth solving?
Of course! I know a lot of families who have this problem. They don't know how to take their kids to their activities! But you know... it is really hard to trust someone else than yourself with your kids!


Interpretation
This mother could be one of our customer because she has experienced the problem and she is looking for solution as well. However, she mentioned the problem of trust because her children are really young and she is not comfortable leaving them with someone she doesn't know. So we need to find a solution for this trust issue, but to sum up she was saying that if the trust issue was solved it would be a wonderful idea.


Sofia

Presentation:

Age:23
Living situation: She lives with her family 
Personal situation: Non married with a child
Interview:

How many kids do you have?
I have 1 boy.


How old is he?
He is going to be 3 in January.

Do you work? If yes, what is your profession?
Yes, I work from home sawing cushions, clothes, bags. I have my own brand.


Does your kid have extracurricular activities?
Yes, my boy goes to swimming twice per week


How often do you have to take him somewhere?
Well, at the moment I take him to day care for a couple of hours in the morning and in the afternoon if he has swimming I take him to swimming classes but if not I’ll take him to the park, with his cousin to play, or at least for a walk. 

How much time per week do you spend bringing them to their activities and pick them up?
At least 7 hours or a bit more.


Do you always have the time to bring your kids to school/activities?
No, sometimes it’s really hard for me because of the amount of work I need to do.

Do you have a nanny at home?
No

So how do you usually get your kids to those activities?
I always ask my mom or my brothers.

What is the biggest problem with that?
That they also have a life. There have been days my boy need to wait at the day care just because everyone is busy.

How are you solving the problem now?
Stopping my work and going to pick him up.


Have you tried something else?
Once I couldn’t because my car was getting fixed. So I called one of my closest friends to pick him up and bring him home.


Would you let your kid go to school or extracurricular activities by himself?
No, he is too small.

What do you think about taxis? Are they adapted to kids?
They are convenient if I’m with him.

Would you trust someone with your kid if its profession is "driver only for children”?
Yes.

What would make you trust this person?
If I knew who she was or at least get to know her.

Do you think this problem is worth solving?
Yes.  I’m a single mom and my job is the only thing that me and my kid get as an income. He is still really young for me to have a full-time job. So whenever I have an order it is really disturbing stopping to go pick him up.

Do you have any more comments about this problem?
This solution need to be an affordable price. 

Interpretation
This mother could be our customer, but her main issue is the price of our service. She does not have much income to pay for every single time but in an emergency I’m sure she would do it.


Alejandra


Presentation:
Age: 28 
Living situation: Lives in an apartment in the center of the city
Personal situation: in couple with one child

Interview:

How many kids do you have?
I have only one boy for now

How old is he?
He is 7

Do you work? If yes, what is your profession?
Yes, I am working as a secretary

Does your kid have extracurricular activities?
Yes, he just started football this year


How often do you have to take him to his activity?
He is going one time per week, and it is his grandma who is taking him to football.


Is she always available to take him?
Yes, she is living next to our house so she is always taking care of him when we can't and if she is really not available, his grandpa can also take care of him

 Have you tried any other solution to take him to his activity?
No never since he started only this year


 What do you think about taxis? Are they adapted to kids?
I am taking taxis really often and I think that they are really practical but it is dangerous for kids. We hear too many bad stories.

Would you trust someone with your kids if its profession is "driver only for children”?
Why not if it is really secured, but for now my son is too young. I think this solution can work only if the children are a little bit older like 10-12.

What would make you trust this person?
I always look at testimonies for everything that I do so I would say the opinions and testimonies of people who know and who already had to deal with this person.


Interpretation:
This mother doesn't really feel the need of this solution since she has her family to take care of her child. Moreover, she has only one child which reduces the risk of having this problem. However, she believes that drivers for children could be a great idea but she thinks that children have to be at least 10 because before it is too young. As a result, we might need to reconsidered the age range of our solution.


Virginie

Presentation:
Age: 49
Living situation: In a house with her family
Personal situation: Married with children


Interview:

How many kids do you have?
I have 4 daughters

How old are they?
They are 23, 20, 14 and 11. Only the two youngest one are still living with my husband and I

Do you work? If yes, what is your profession?
Yes, I am working full time. I am an engineer and my husband as well

Do your 2 youngest daughters have extracurricular activities?
Yes, they have a lot!

What type of activities do they do?
One is doing horse riding, classical dance, jazz dance and piano. The other one is doing piano, guitar, gym and dance.

How often do you have to take them somewhere?
Well, they have each activity one time per week but they are doing piano and guitar at home so 6 times per week.

How much time per week do you spend bringing them to their activities and pick them up?
The activities are not that far from our home, maximum 10 minutes.  If we make the calculations I believe we spend around 3h per weeks in the car to bring them to their activities.

Do you always have the time to bring your kids to school/activities?
No, it is complicated because I am working from 9am to 6pm. So must of the time our nanny is taking them to their activity and I am picking them up.

What is the biggest problem with that?
The biggest problem with that is the fact that my children are old enough to stay home alone but I still have to pay for a nanny because we need someone to take them to their activities. As a result, the nanny is staying at home only to drive them to their activities but she is not really helpful for them at home.
Moreover, the nanny is coming only the days when they have activities but it is only on Wednesdays and Fridays because my husband can take care of them on Tuesdays and I can on Thursdays. As a result, the nanny is coming only 2 days a week for only a couple of hours so it is not really interesting for her since most of the nanny are looking for a full time job. So we have troubles keeping a constant and reliable nanny.


Have you tried something else?
We tried carpooling but the problem is that if one mom takes your kids to their activities one week, you will have to do it the following week to be fair and I can't since I am working so it is not a long term solution...

Would you let your kids go to school or extracurricular activities by themselves?
Yes, my daughter which is 14 could start taking the bus alone, and she is doing it sometimes but the youngest one is still too young to take the bus by herself. Moreover, it is taking them a lot of time to go to their activities by bus and they also have homework to do at night so we don't want them to lose too much time.

What do you think about taxis? Are they adapted to kids?
My husband, my 2 oldest daughters and me are often taking taxis or uber and we are really satisfied, we never had any problems. Well is not really adapted for kids since it is illegal to put them in one alone anyway but I think it is secured.

Would you trust someone with your kids if its profession is "driver only for children”?
Well if it is his profession and that everything is secured, checked and certified, yes!
It would be amazing to have drivers for children! And you know, I already had to 2 older children so now I am not as scared as I was with them because of the experience.

Do you have any more comments about this problem?
Yes, you talk a lot about the extracurricular activities but it is not the only problem. At a certain age your children also want to go to their friends' house for a sleepover or a playdate and this is often the weekend. But personally, I am working all week and during the weekend I have a lot of things to do at home and I am tired. I don't have the time to take them everywhere... I don't want to say no every time so I try to find the time but it is no always easy. This is also a problem that your "driver for children" could solve!


Interpretation:
This mom could totally be a customer of our solution. She clearly has the problem and feels the need for a solution. She doesn't look really worried about the trust issue that we have seen with others interviews. This is due to the fact that she had many children so she is used at letting them go. Moreover, she had a new dimension to the problem since she explained that school and extracurricular activities were not the only problems. She also talks about the sleepovers, parties....

EMILIO

Presentation:

Age:34
Living situation: He just moved to Barcelona 
Personal situation: Non married and has 2 children 


Interview:

How many kids do you have? How old are they?
I have 2 kids, my girl is 10 and my boy is 18 months. 


Do you work? If yes, what is your profession?
Yes, I own my own company but at the moment I’m taking a course 3 times per week.

Do your kids live in Barcelona?
No, my older daughter lives in Berlin and my younger boy lives in Madrid, with my girlfriend. But my daughter is going to be in Barcelona for a month and my younger boy is coming in two weeks to live with me.

Do you spend a lot of time with them?
At the moment my girl is always with me, but I still need to work and finish my course that is 3 times per week.

What’s your biggest issue that your kids are staying with you?
I barely have time to work, and I didn't have anyone with who to leave them while Im in my course, that’s why I hire you. 

Why did you hire me? 
A friend suggests me that I went into a Facebook group named "Mexicanos en Barcelona." I posted if someone wanted to be a baby sitter for a couple of days in the afternoons. Tons of girls answer me. There was this girl that send me a private message and after an hour of nor answering she started accusing me that it wasn’t a real job. I started seeing the profile pictures of the girls who responded and I saw your profile It you seemed cool and easy going so that why I called you.

Can you tell if someone looks trust worth by a picture?
At the moment a Facebook profile can tell a lot about a person.  You looked trustworthy.

Do you think people could trust people by only seeing them?
Yes, you can make a profile of someone by only looking at the person.


Interpretation
This interview was really help full, just because we have a lot of concern about trust issue and with this interview we can realize that they are people which can trust someone else only by judging by the looks.  

Laurence

Presentation:
Age: 50
Living situation: In a house with her family
Personal situation: Married with children

Interview:

How many kids do you have?
I have 3 daughters.

How old are they?
They are 20, 18 and 13. The oldest and youngest are still living with my husband and I and the one in the middle left for this year only.

Do you work? If yes, what is your profession?
Yes, I am working full time. I am a pharmacist for now 25 years.

Does your younger daughter have extracurricular activities?
Yes, she has only one now because it takes her most of her free time during the week.

What type of activity it is?
It's classes of singing. She has been taken to sing at something called "Maîtrise des hauts-de-seine", which means that in addition of trainings, she has also a lot of rehearsals and concerts to do.

How often do you have to take her there?
In average, it's twice per week but when she has concerts and rehearsals it's more four times a week, so quite a lot.

How much time per week do you spend bringing and picking her home?
Well, I can't bring her there because of my job but I need to take her back home. So it's like 30 minutes to go by car so to pick her up I need at least one hour because there's also a lot of traffic at these hours. So on normal weeks it takes me 2 hours per week and for "special" weeks it can take me way more time, depending on where the concerts are, so until maybe 5-6 hours. But it is not always me since my husband is doing the transportation some days as well.

Do you always have time to bring your daughters to their schools/activities?
For my 2 older daughters, I usually don't bring them to classes anymore, it is rare. But for the youngest I have time to bring her to school if she starts at 8 and me 9, which is often. Then, to pick her up from school, I can only on 2 days of the week when I finish earlier. On other days she takes the bus. And to go to her activities, as I said, I can only pick her up.

What is the biggest problem with that?
The biggest problem concerns the classes of singing. Indeed, for school it takes her time to go there by bus but I don't have choice and it is pretty easy to access. But for going to classes of singing she needs to take a lot of different transports and it is complicated. And knowing that she's taking these transports alone does not me make feel comfortable. And at the opposite, it stays also an issue to pick her up because it takes me a lot of time because of the traffic but I can't let her take these transports at night so I don't really have choice.

Have you tried something else?
Well sometimes I have the help of others parents. But when it is my time to take their children home, it is taking me much more time than if I had only my daughter so it's not really helpful.

Would you let your daughter go to school or extracurricular activities by herself?
That's what I'm doing, but as I said, the problem is that I'm really stressed when she's taking transports. Especially for her extracurricular activity. Hopefully, she has a phone to send me messages to reassure me then but when she has no battery left I become really anxious...

What do you think about taxis? Are they adapted to kids?
I think that they're not adapted to kids at all. I'm telling that only if they're alone of course.  I would never let her go in a taxi alone except if I put her in there and talk to the driver before because we never know what can happen next.

Would you trust someone with your kids if its profession is "driver only for children"?
In that case, depending on the conditions, why not. Because I think that it would be really adapted for them, and that security would be checked.

Do you have any more comments about the process of bringing and picking up your children?
Yes, I think that some solutions which are more adapted to kids should be put in place. Most of the time, if parents are not available, it becomes really complicated to find safe solutions, because public transports, and especially in big towns, are really dangerous.



Interpretation:
This woman, concerning her answers, clearly searches an easier way to carry back her daughter from her activity. Then, we also understand the fact that she's really concerned about the security of her daughter, that makes her really anxious about the situations. I think our solution would fit to her needs, but for this kind of potential customers, we need to be really precise concerning the conditions of the solution we propose to convince them.



Marguerite

Presentation:

Age:43
Living situation: She lives in an apartment with her family
Personal situation: Married and has 2 children 


Interview:

How many kids do you have?
I have 2, one girl, the oldest, and one boy the youngest.


How old are they?
My girl has 13 and my boy 11.


Do you work? If yes, what is your profession?
Yes, I am working for a publicity agency. 


Do your kids have extracurricular activities?
Yes, my daughter has two extracurricular activities and my son has three. 

What type of activities do they do?
My girl is doing dance, classical dance and also music, she plays piano. On his side, my son is doing a lot of sport to channel his energy, so he's doing football and swimming. But he also has obligatory courses of catechesis once a week.

How often do you have to take them somewhere?
For my daughter, she has music every Wednesdays and dance every Fridays. Concerning my son, he goes to football every Thursdays and Saturdays and swims on Sundays and his courses of catechesis are on Tuesdays.

How much time per week do you spend bringing them to their activities and pick them up?
Honestly, a lot of time. I bring my daughter to every classes of music because it's far from the house, but for dance she can go by her own, she's old enough. And for my son I need to bring him to swimming, my husband brings him twice a week to football and for catechesis, I needed to have a babysitter to bring him there on Tuesdays afternoons after school. So in total it takes me all my free time.

Do you always have the time to bring your kids to school/activities?
Well I only bring my daughter once a week to dance and my son once a week to swimming because it's quite far and there is not any public transport to bring them there. For football, my husband can bring my son there because he has time after work and he has a motorcycle so he doesn't have much problem of traffic. And for dance, my daughter carries herself there because she can go by walking from house. And finally for catechesis I think my son is not old enough to go there by his own that's why I took a baby-sitter only for Tuesdays afternoons/night. 

Do you have a nanny at home?
Having a nanny would be too expensive for us and not that useful. Indeed, we only need one to bring our son to catechesis after school but for other activities it's less expensive to bring them by our own rather than taking a nanny. Because except concerning extracurricular activities our kids are not irresponsible and can stay alone at home.

So how do you usually get your kids to those activities?
Well for me by car it's easier even if we often have problem of traffic, but for my husband he prefers to take his motorcycle to avoid this kind of problem.

What is the biggest problem with that?
The biggest problem is the fact that activities are not that long, and because of the traffic we take a lot of time to go home and finally I stay like 20 minutes at home before coming back to pick them up from their activity. And the one of my husband is that he's not always on time after work so my son is often late to football.

How are you solving the problem now?
Well we're living like that, we still are searching for a solution that could make our life easier and less exhausting above all.

Have you tried something else?
Not really because I don't like carpooling, I think it's not that easier because sometimes you can't bring your children to their activity so it happens sometimes it's not that bad, but when it's your turn to bring kids to their activities and you can't it always bring them which creates problems afterwards. 

Would you let your kid go to school or extracurricular activities by themselves?
Actually, except for my daughter concerning her classes of dance because it's really close to my apartment, no because my son is too young and transports to go to their activities are not easy to find.

What do you think about taxis ? Are they adapted to kids?
I'm sorry but really not! I've never seen a kid alone in a taxi, it's too weird!

Would you trust someone with your kids if its profession is "driver only for children”?
Honestly I don't know because I've never seen this yet. I'll need to know how it happens with others to let my opinion about the subject. I don't want to put my kids in danger you see?

-What would make you trust this person?
First of all the fact that he already made travel with other kids before, to know their opinion about him. And then, to know a bit of him, not to think that my kid is with a total stranger.

Do you think this problem is worth solving?
Actually I think so. It would be cool to have another alternative to bring our kids to some places because it's true that it's not always easy to be the taxi driver for them every time! Even if it may won't become a habit to use this alternative, it would be a backup plan for many parents.

Do you have any more comments about this problem?
I just want to see what future proposition you are going to propose!




Interpretation
Thanks to this interview, we could observe that this mother could be one of our potential customer. She seems to be pretty curious about the idea because as she said it could be useful for some times. The thing is that we should invent some things to put these clients into regular customers rather than occasional ones.


Sofia

Presentation:

Personal situation: Married with 2 kids

Interview:

How many kids do you have?
 2

How old are they?
My girl is 6 and my boy 8 years.


Do you work? If yes, what is your profession?
No, I am a home stay mom. 


Do your kids have extracurricular activities? What type of activities do they do?
Yes, my girl dances ballet and the boy plays football. 

How often do you have to take them somewhere?
I take my kids everywhere, to school every single day and to the curricular activities 

How much time per week do you spend bringing them to their activities and pick them up?
We use the metro; the school is not far from home. But their activities are a bit farther.  


Do you always have the time to bring your kids to school/activities?
I tried to do make my schedule so I can pick them up, if not I can always ask my husband or my mom. 

What is the biggest problem with that?
It happens that my husband or I can’t pick them up because of different circumstances. 

How are you solving the problem now?
I will hire a baby sitter.

Would you trust a babysitter to take them home is she could drive?
yes of course.

Interpretation: 
Sofia would not be our customer number one since she is a home stay home so she has time to take her children to their actives and she also have her husband or her mom to help her. However, she likes the idea and could be a customer if she had an emergency and needed someone to take her children somewhere.


Monika
Presentation:

Age:38
Living situation: She lives in an apartment with her family
Personal situation: Divorced and has 2 children 


Interview:

How many kids do you have?
Two boys


How old are they?
Jacob 12 and Timon 9


Do you work? If yes, what is your profession?
By far yes, in an office.


Do your kids have extracurricular activities?
Yes, they both have English and swimming classes

How often do you have to take them somewhere?
I take them to English 2 times a week and to swimming every day. One i bring for classes at 6:15, the other at 7:45 every day. Timon ends at 16, Jacob at 17. It is kind of exhausting actually...

And what about those English classes?
Timon has English on Fridays 17-19:00, and Jacob on Saturdays 11-13:00. However, if they have swimming competition on Saturday then no English. But I have to take them there as well of course…

How do you usually get your kids to those places?
By car… or someone else take them there.


What is the biggest problem with that?
The biggest problem is driving them to all those places.

How are you solving the problem now?
Either I take them, or I contact other parents and we create some kind of schedule with shifts to take kids places. It differs who is taking them there and who picks them up, depending on when and who of that our group of parents have time. For example, I pick up boys from swimming at 17:00 from the other end of the city on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays they come back by themselves. But, on mornings in one week a mom of Jacob’s friend takes them to school, and on another week it’s different. But that’s just for Jacob. Timon, I take a pick up every day to and from school.

Would you let your kids go to school or extracurricular activities by themselves?
Yes, last year the older was using the bus sometimes, but now the swimming pool is way further.

Do you have a nanny at home?
no

What do you think about taxis? Are they adapted to kids?
Yes, of course

What would make you trust this person?
Lot of information

Do you have any more comments about this problem?
There could be those small buses, like in America.


Interpretation
This mother could be our customer, and it would be easier to hire someone because it is not that necessarily for the baby sitter to drive. 



Sylwia

Presentation:

Age: 49
Living situation: She lives with her boyfriend, and her kids left the nest already.

Personal situation: In a relationship, have 2 kids.

How many kids do you have?
Two.

How old are they?
25 and 28.

When your kids were younger, were you working?
Yes, of course, I was.

Did they have extracurricular activities?
Yes, they had been attending some courses like maths or language, which were held in the school after classes.

How were you taking them to school?
They had 10 min of walk, and they were doing it on their own.

What about when they were even younger?
Same. Maybe when they were really small, then grandparents were taking them there.

So the school was always close by and there was no real need to drive them?
Primary school yes, and then they were big enough to take the bus on their own.

What age were they, when you let them go to school on their own?
6 and 7, so the whole primary school.

What do you think about small kids driving in the taxi on their own? Would you be O.K. with, for example, a 6-year-old taking one alone?

Hmmm, I don’t know…. But actually… yes, I think they are safe.

Interpretation
This interview might seem unhelpful, because the parenting was long done. However, gives us a good hint, that if children live near schools, then there is no need for driving. And again grandparents are stealing our potential customers.


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