Uber for kids? New Seattle app aims to solve kid carpool woes

Seattle startup Pogo is working on an app that helps busy parents who spend hours not only driving their kids around, but also sorting out the carpool details.

Co-founder and CEO Melissa Lehman was working full-time as an international consultant two years ago when she had a toddler and a second baby on the way. Lehman had a nanny and three sets of grandparents who all helped with pick-up.

She said she probably spent 15 hours a week just figuring out who was doing what.

“I thought there’s just got to be a way to make things simpler for parents,” Lehman said.

Before the second baby came, she launched her startup. She was surprised an app like Pogo didn’t already exist — it’s slated for  June release.

“When you think about the proliferation of apps that help you, from everything from grocery delivery to wine delivery, it’s amazing that there are very few available for busy parents,” she said.

The app takes all those long text strings and email exchanges about which parent is doing carpool on which day and serves it up on a what is aimed at being a beautiful and easy to use platform.

Like Uber, it will track the rides via GPS. And like Facebook, you can create a private group or an open group.

If you want to use it to have your baby picked up, you can do that, too, though Lehman doubts that will be very popular.

“It is up to parents what age they choose. You can stipulate what kind of equipment you need, like a booster seat or a car seat for your child,” she said. “We anticipate that the core age range is really going to be between eight and 14. That corresponds with this awkward period where parents often don’t have a full-time nanny but their kids are really busy.”

Once Pogo is ready, parents can create groups with friends who already share carpool rides or they can allow friends of friends to tote their kids around. But if they want to arrange a playdate to get to know each other first, that works, too.

Later, if all goes well, Pogo will add a second tier. This level really is similar to Uber, but for kids.

A trained, vetted driver would pick up kids. Lehman explained that the need is so high, some parents are actually using Uber, especially when there are older kids who attend different schools and may also have club sports across town on a weekday afternoon.

“When you have 60 percent of parents where both parents work outside the home, parents often find themselves in a pinch,” she said. “And so Uber is an option they go to. I don’t think many parents are super proud of that choice but there are parents definitely that are using Uber in a pinch.”

Lehman says she’s talked to dozens of parents who say they do it.

Verizon certainly saw something in Pogo’s idea. It deemed Pogo the first prize winner of their Powerful Answers award last December and awarded the company $1 million.

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