Raising our own little girl in Portland, OR, we had various child care plans fall through during her first few years of life and found ourselves in the application & waitlist cycle again and again. Each time, we had no idea whether any of the waitlists we were on would pan out in time, and that uncertainty was stressful. We looked at each other, talked to other parents, and realized there had to be an easier way.

So we started asking several local child care providers about their experience managing waitlists. And we heard that managing waitlists was challenging for them as well -- full of paper forms, complicated Excel sheets, keeping track of lots of cash, and frequent questions from parents about where they stood on the list. That's when the idea for PDX Waitlist was born.

Over the past few years, we've built a robust website for both parents and child care centers -- where parents can apply for care, centers can manage their waitlists, and both sides can check a family's status or update their child care preferences. We've tried to create a product that we would use ourselves; in fact we are still on several of these waitlists and check our place regularly!

If there is ever anything that you have a question about or ideas about what we could improve, do not hestitate to drop us a line below. We'd love to hear from you!