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Care.com Founder Sheila Lirio Marcelo: How a Struggling Mom Built a Million Dollar Caregiving Empire | E140
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- [00:01]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
I remember my first job outside of college. I hid the fact that I was a young mom because I felt I was gonna get judged. I couldn't be my whole self. Alana as a young mom.
- [00:11]
Alana
Sheila Lirio Marcelo is a serial entrepreneur. She is best known for the founder of Care.com, one of the largest care marketplaces in the world.
- [00:22]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
I remembered two of my mentors that you promised where I was working pulled me aside, took me to lunch, and said, you're so talented. We think the world of you, but no one likes working with you.
- [00:33]
Alana
When you were starting out, it was way before the gig economy, basically kind of a new concept.
- [00:39]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
We opted to start with one side of the marketplace. We went and thought about the logic, and then we tested it and we said, listen, who has the deeper pocket and who's willing to pay?
- [00:49]
Alana
Talk to me for a second about those early days because I think this is where a lot of these dreams are killed.
- [00:56]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
It wasn't an easy road because I kept learning more about myself as I grew. You gotta have the inner drive to push, push, push an idea to see the light of day. But you also have to be.
- [01:21]
Alana
Sheila Lirio Marcelo is a serious powerhouse. She's a serial entrepreneur. She's actually best known for the founder of Care.com, some of you would probably know it. Care.com went public in 2014. It was acquired for 500 million in 2020. And Care.com is one of the largest care marketplaces in the world. Sheila is also the master in reinvention, which I love so much, and we'll talk about. And she's since taken a bold leap into the world of AI with her newest venture, Ohai AI, which is an AI Power household assistant. I mean, it makes so much sense. And I'm so excited to have this conversation because it includes everything I love about Leap Academy, about our show, about our programs. It's about breaking barriers. It's about creating massive impact, doing good, and reinventing. Sheila, I do want to take you back in time to your childhood and maybe some of these moments that defined you as a person because you've had an interesting childhood. You moved back and forth, you have a lot of siblings. So talk to me a little bit about that.
- [02:30]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
Yes, thank you. Born and raised in the Philippines. What's interesting is Philippines, a lot of people don't know, has one of the narrowest gender gap of the Asian countries in the World Economic Forum report, a matriarchal culture. So I had very much a assertive tiger mom, very ambitious, very Pushy, I would say she does not apologize for it at all. As we would say, unapologetically ambitious. My friend wrote that book. And then my dad was very much a teddy bear dad. Very nurturing, very loving, lots of hugs and kisses. Actually never minded cooking for us. Or sometimes when he visits me, even once in a while, he'll see my shirt wrinkled. He's like, would you like me to iron that for you? He's just a very sweet man. He's the kind of guy who stands at the window and says goodbye until he can't see us anymore. So very, very sweet man. My childhood had the lack of stereotypes around that Ilana. So I feel like as a leader, I embody both the feminine and the masculine in a comfortable way. I was raised with four brothers, so I'm very comfortable around guys, men, and having my voice and opinion heard because, you know, four brothers, you fight for it. And I'm sure you're part of your fighter pilot background. And my sister was just incredibly. She was an older sister, incredibly kind, athletic, thoughtful. So she was always a role model for me and was my protector as well, from my brother. So loved her very much. Probably the most memorable thing for me is I had gone back and forth between the United States in elementary school and the Philippines, and my parents decided that they wanted to send my four older siblings to boarding school. And my younger brother and I went to a local Catholic school in the province of the Philippines to relearn the language. It was also tough on my parents financially, be sending four kids immediately, six kids immediately to boarding school. So I gave them a year reprieve, saved money, but also send us into the province and learn the language all over again. But that was probably one of the best experiences in my life because it taught me and opened my eyes around the differences in economic backgrounds. I played with many of the kids on the street. I learned to clean floors in a local Catholic school that year. Taught me a lot. Not just the language, it also gave me a sense of respect and understanding of the Filipino culture. I speak dialogue fluently because of that and became really close to my grandparents.
- [05:07]
Alana
And by the way, is that one of those things that now, in retrospect, was an incredible experience, or was there, like a challenge that came with that as a kid, but now in retrospect, it prepared you? So how was that for you?
- [05:21]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
Huge challenge when I was a child because my brother and I felt like my older siblings went to this cool boarding school off to play, and we got left with my grandparents and went to Catholic school, cleaning floors and having to read in Tagalog fluently, standing in front of the class. It was also the way of teaching was very different from the United States. You had to say, yes, ma', am, stand up, ask for permission. Very different from being educated in the US So it was hard, but a lot of learning and appreciation, again, for economic differences. And it made me, as a child, much more aware of how important it was to give back and a sense of compassion at such a young age.
- [06:10]
Alana
And I think seeing people as who they are and not necessarily their financial background, which I think is a lot of what you embody in care.com, right?
- [06:19]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
Yes. And when you're a child and you're just playing on the street together, there's just a sense of beauty. Everybody's equal and everyone's equal.
- [06:27]
Alana
I love that. I love that. And then you come to college in the US Tell me a little bit about that experience, because again, you went back and forth, but it's still an overwhelming experience to move across oceans and languages and all of that. So share with that.
- [06:44]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
It was hard, but what was great is that my older siblings had set the path to go and my older sister had gone to Mount Holyoke. So when I went to Mount Holyoke College, I was very excited. In all women's college, I will say, Alana, that that's when I started reading about feminism and books, because prior to that, in the Philippines, I didn't experience a lot of those challenges. We had female leaders as role models, female CEOs. And then I read about it, and it was interesting as well, because I remember my first job outside of college. I'd gotten pregnant between my sophomore and junior year, and I hid the fact that I was a mom. When I went off to college, the challenges for me were the fact that I felt like, hey, spoken up as a woman. And now I had to hide myself from my first job interview where I hid the fact that I was a young mom because I felt I was going to get judged. Actually, my best friend, one of my best friends to this day, Bob Swenson, was, was one of my office mates. And during the first interview, he had actually coached me in that first job because he heard that I was a young mom. He said, don't tell anybody that you're a mother for these. You're not going to get the job. And that company is no longer in existence. But back then, that was hard because I felt like I couldn't be my whole self.
- [08:03]
Alana
Alana, so tell me about that moment, you eventually get the job and you start juggling motherhood and career and what is it like and what are some of the big things that it teaches you?
- [08:15]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
It was definitely a lot of stress, a lot of insecurity. I was worried about being judged that I wasn't around enough for my children because I was the breadwinner. My husband graduated from Yale, but he had experienced a lot of tragedy in his life and decided he wanted to be a social worker as part of his healing. So I became the point person and the breadwinner for our family. But then I didn't ever feel like I was doing anything right. I didn't feel I was around enough for our kids, nor did I feel like I was going to advance at work. And so what I ended up doing, Alana, is I overworked myself. I barely slept years later. Obviously, that's not great with the research, but back then it felt was like, you know, we're trying to get strikes to show we're tough and we were going to advance in our careers and also do the best we can at home. But I didn't sleep for many, many years, very few hours, and obviously starts to take a toll on my body. And I felt it definitely in my 40s. Back then, in my 20s and 30s, I was just like, you know what? I've got the energy. I'm going to power through it. But something hit me in my early 20s. It was again, one of my first jobs. It was after the company that I hid the fact that I was a mom. I left there because I didn't feel, like, totally comfortable in that situation. And I ended up doing a telecom consulting company and eventually sold to the economist. But that one of those first jobs. I traveled to six countries in three weeks and covering telecom research and interviewing companies in Asia. And I ended up in hospital one when I got back.
- [09:55]
Alana
What year is that roughly?
- [09:56]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
It might have been 95.
- [09:59]
Alana
Okay, so way before care.com, amazing. So that creates this whole epiphany like, oh, crap, like, I need to take care of myself.
- [10:07]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
Yeah, three weeks in the hospital and I'm the breadwinner. I've got a little kid at home. This was before our younger son was born, but just me and Ron and Ryan and I started to read up on managing stress because I just needed to keep up. And that's when I started meditating. I helped get myself an executive coach on my own. And then I started reading up on meditation, practicing. That helped me really settle a lot of my mind. In managing my stress didn't impact the fact that I made bad decisions about sleep, but helped me really manage a calmness and an anxiety around overexertion. And also starting to address expectation of perfection because I was a young mom. And also what my expectations were at work. And then fast forward. Meditation has been such a gift in my life that then later I kept it up. I call it the second chapter of meditation in my life which was really how did I use meditation to raise my self awareness as a leader? Started to use that. And then this third chapter we can talk about later. But this whole mental load has always been a heavy, heavy thing for me, which is why I'm doing Ojai.
- [11:21]
Alana
But again, there's like a gap between that and care.com so where those moments that suddenly define you and saying, you know what, I actually need to follow this crazy path instead of my comfortable path.
- [11:37]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
It was actual mentors and sponsors in each part of my career that dragged me along, meaning they saw my talent that said, hey, you're ready to manage people, you're ready to be a director, and then you're ready to be a vp. We're going to promote you onto the management team. In my late 20s, I was always curious. I interested in strategy consulting and background like to solve problems. People also saw a warmth in me and a charisma. But I, I had a terrible kind of observation at work. And again the role models were simply masculine. And I'm not saying they just male because females can also be masculine. But it was like the way to advance at work meant you had to be firm. Of course you have to be clear, but your style had to be demanding and less empathetic. And so I didn't feel like I brought my whole self to work. That's not really who I was. And so I remembered two of my mentors that you promised where I was working, pulled me aside, took me to lunch and said, you're so talented. We think the world of you, but no one likes working with you. You've got to get out of your own way and you've got to figure this out because we see you. But you need to figure this out. You've got a lot that you've got to shed. And so that was the second part of my real meditative chapter and journaling and getting coaches and really understanding and just being much more open about who I was and what I needed to learn. And it wasn't an easy road because I kept every moment learning, learning more about myself. As I grew and then the other thing beside my leadership journey was starting to learn different business models. At business school, I did my J.D. mBA at Harvard. I took two classes, Information Age Businesses and Women Building Businesses. And I'm dating myself on both. They don't teach either one of them anymore. Thank God they don't teach women building business, because women do build businesses. But I got pregnant my last year. But during those courses, I wrote a business plan called Metro Move, which was a marketplace using the Internet to find real estate, which became Zillow, like a Zillow, like model.
- [13:52]
Alana
Ah, funny.
- [13:53]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
But you could see that I was already starting to think of marketplaces. So instead I layered in marketplaces for families and caregivers, which makes sense. And then after business school, I worked for a good friend of mine to help him scale his company. I became a GM for him called the Ladders. And it was helping people find jobs. And so if you think of care.com, it was families looking for caregivers and caregivers looking for jobs. So it was a marketplace, four jobs. And then I had worked at a company that was like a loyalty program that helped families save money for college. So I became very interested in the pain points that family were going through. So business model interests, proximity to my challenges, the growth towards leadership, people pushing me along, and people then started to say, you know what? You're ready to be a CEO. And I was like, no, you got to be kidding. So I did a short stint as an entrepreneur in residence at Matrix Partners. A very good friend of mine, Nick Baim, who was a partner there at the time, convinced me to write a business plan. And I wrote it and it was.
- [14:56]
Alana
Care.Com and I want to stop here for a second, Sheila, because I think some of our listeners sometimes say, but, oh my God, but I'm a generalist and I don't know what's my specialty and all of that. And in fact, I want them to extra listen to you because in fact, the generalist is what create sheila ncare.com right? The fact that you knew care and you understood jobs and you understood marketplaces and you understood leadership and you, you know what I'm saying? And you were entrepreneur in the res. It was actually that breadth that made you a better leader and a lot more ready to create, I believe, the business that you created. Am I right?
- [15:35]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
Yeah. I think even in this modern AI world, even a functional job these days, if we're hiring people, the starting point is actually better to be a generalist, to problem solve in a Lot of different areas because now all the jobs are merging. And in fact, if you're a problem solver and this. I learned a lot in strategy consulting. I tend to want to hire people with that kind of background too, because you can send problems my way. I remember I worked on a project, I did a strategy consulting. I worked for a monitor company at the time when I was in business school. And I got sent to the Philippines from the Hong Kong office to measure the number of bottles that were floating around at the time called Bub, which was Coca Cola Company doesn't exist anymore. So I think I'm okay saying it was Coca Cola. We had to count the bottles that were floating around in inventory. In It's a kind of problem like that. You have to use your skills to say, okay, well, let's figure that out. So it's the same if I have to go hire someone that I've never hired before in a job like, oh, how do I go learn to go do that? It's approaching different problems. And I often will break it down for people to say, okay, this thing that's coming at us, is it a people problem? Is it a process problem? Is it a communication leadership problem? And by the way, not everything is just 100% one thing. We also have to unpack it and wait. And then that's part of leadership journey is learning about yourself. As part of being a generalist is also the honesty and accountability of saying, what part am I responsible for in solving this and what part is it with my colleagues? So then it's a collaborative effort and people start to see your leadership skills and your humanity around that. So the generalist, to answer your question, it really is a fulsome approach to kind of say problems exist to come for us to have the fun to create and solve problems with. Right. And we can't view these things as like things that limit us. Also. I think the important thing, Elana, is to not pigeonhole people. That includes yourself. Because then if you pigeonhole yourself, you limit yourself. But you also do that to other people when you lead. When you say that person just marketing, that person's just a great copywriter, she doesn't really isn't great at that. So first that impacts someone's ability to be inspired by you to solve problems on their own. It limits their own confidence to pursue. And so they learn kind of this micro dependency on you. And then you don't like yourself being a micromanager.
- [17:58]
Alana
And so that doesn't work. It doesn't work. And I Think today and we'll talk about care.com because I don't want to derail. But in general today, I will hire any day on hunger and ability to learn. That's mostly what's going to make the difference these days. But let's go back to, I think it was 2006.
- [18:16]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
Yes.
- [18:17]
Alana
And you're suddenly coming up with this crazy idea. And at that point, are you still the sole breadwinner or the main breadwinner?
- [18:27]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
I'm still the primary breadwinner.
- [18:29]
Alana
Okay, so talk to me about the pain or the fear of, oh, my God, I'm gonna do this. Where does it take you?
- [18:37]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
It was interesting. Wasn't the insecurity of taking a risk to be a CEO. People were saying, you know, that I'm ready and I'm listening and I'm open. It was more the insecurity that I was going to be judged to start a company that was female focused and female centric, that it wasn't going to be deemed a serious enough company because many of my male Internet colleagues were doing cooler, better companies. And this was care. It was a soft issue. And I had a very good friend who was also female in investment banking. She and I went to business school together who said, after all of your experience, because I'd done you promise and the ladders and my jdmba, she said, why would you start a babysitting company, really, that's going to solve problems in the world? And I then was taken out by a male mentor who said, are you in the pain business or are you in the pleasure business? The question was posed in a way, Alana, that I, in my entire career, my mentor pointed out that I had been solving consumer pain, looking for a job, trying to save for college, now looking for care. Because I'd written the care business plan and I put it on hold. And the pleasure business was I was considering joining and being CEO of a hot mobile company, entertainment company. And so my mentor is like, is that really who you are? Is this really what you want to be doing? We get that that's the label of the popular thing to be doing, but is that you?
- [20:07]
Alana
Wow.
- [20:08]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
So it was a really good lunch. It was an honesty in holding up the mirror. And I went home. And the next day I went to Matrix. I said, let's go, let's start. I'm ready to go.
- [20:21]
Alana
We need to pause for a super brief break. And while we do, take a moment and share this episode with every single person who may be inspired by this, because this information can truly Change your life and theirs. Now I want to check in with you. Yes, you are you driven, but maybe feeling stuck in your career or a fraction of who you know you could be? Do you secretly feel you should have been further along in your income, influence or impact? Do you ever wonder how to create not just a paycheck, but the life you want with a paycheck? The thought leadership, the legacy, the freedom. Because that was me. And that's exactly why I created the Leap Academy program, which already changed the thousands of careers and lives. Look, getting intentional and strategic with your career is now more important than ever. The skills for success have changed. Aq, adaptability, reinventing and leaping are today the most important skills for the future of work. Building portfolio careers, multiple streams of income and ventures are no longer a nice to have. It's a must have. But no one is teaching this except for us in Leap Academy. So if you want more from your career in Life, go to leapacademy.com training check out this completely free training about ways to fast track your career and you'll even be able to book a completely free strategy call with my team. That's leapacademy.com training so talk to me about the first days because I think a lot of our listeners are like, I have all these ideas. I'd love to do something bigger for myself, but then I'm scared and I don't know where the money is gonna come from. What if I fail and somebody will ask me if this is what I wanna do and do I wanna be in the babysitter business and it will take that dream away. So talk to me for a second about those early days because I think this is where a lot of these dreams are killed.
- [22:16]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
Yeah, it's the same advice I gave myself. I've given myself and our team at Ojai. And I mentor and I coach entrepreneurs who pitch me an idea. Key things I will say is, okay, sounds like a great idea, but we need to run small, fast experiments for us to test the idea. And you need to figure out, is this always this balance, Alana. Because how do you stay passionate about something but yet objectively dispassionate that you're open to feedback? Because you got to have the inner drive to push an idea to see the light of day, but you also have to be dispassionate about and objective enough to look at the data. So I always call in leadership these opposing forces. And if you accept the fact that like, hey, I've got a thesis, I always say, look, be strong about a thesis and then be open to prove it. So we ran a lot of tests in the early days back then it was Craigslist. And so we scraped and looked at Craigslist across the country on supply demand. Was there enough there? Did it prove our thesis around care as a pain point? And so people posting because back then yellow pages were going away, there wasn't classifieds anymore. How are we going to test? We were also very fortunate to run these fast lean tests because SEM and all of these things were just starting with Google. So we were able to do quick bids, paid bids at the time and we were one of the early, early users of Google back then. And so we were able to get feedback right away on the data. There's some things we got wrong. For example, I had a thesis that senior care was going to be a very big market from the beginning. When we found it in 2006, it didn't happen until 10 years later. And I kept testing every year. I was like, let's test again, let's test again. It's not there because we're the demographics. And a lot of academics were saying this is where it's going to go. But it wasn't actually showing up in the production data that was in market. So running lean test super important. And then I guess you ask yourself, well then where does the passion come in? The passion needs to come in to say the broad brush of something that's proximate to solve a problem. I become very passionate about solving the problem. How we get there may be different because that's where I'm open and I still do it with ois. Like is the problem clear? If the problem is clear and even that we have to validate and if there's a need in the market, we'll find a way. Yes, it's like building, it's like creating, it's like art. That's the fun part about entrepreneurship.
- [24:55]
Alana
I love this. And by the way, we had Craig from Craigslist talk about his story. So that was really, really fun. But I want to take you back for a second because at that point when you're starting out, and I want to talk to the listeners here, the concept of a two sided market, yes, there was a little bit of seeds, but it's really early days. There was a little bit of ebay upwork, maybe taskrabbit a little bit after. But it was way before the gig economy, way before the titans like Uber and Fiverr and startup accelerators like nfx. Didn't exist. You know, they came much later. So. And for those, by the way, who don't know what's a two sided market, let me just, you know, it's relatively easy to get the businesses and providers on and Sheila, you're going to correct me if I'm wrong, but it's much harder to get the consumer traction right. So how do you get around it and how do you get started with this? Basically kind of a new concept.
- [25:50]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
It was a very new concept. So what we did is we went on Craigslist, we did SEM, it allowed us quickly. Some marketplaces were starting like Yelp and others that were localized by building the supply and the demand side. Our thesis was different from the analytics that we did and the testing that we did that we launched 20 cities right away and we opted to start with one side of the marketplace. We went and thought about the logic and then we tested it and we said, listen, who has the deeper pocket and who's willing to pay? And if the families are the ones willing to pay and the caregivers are looking for jobs, then ultimately when we first start in the marketplace, who is our product? Our product are the caregivers. And then we started background checks from day one. What were they looking for? We interviewed families, they were looking for trust, they were looking for diverse experiences. Someone was teaching soccer, spoke different languages. What were the kinds of things that were important to families with regards to looking for caregivers. And we started to focus on that on the recruiting side, built that out. The one thing, and it's similar to OHI is when you get to data early, it's important to also understand what are the important KPIs that are actually going to get you to product market fit. So you got to identify your bullseye, keep testing and make sure that's your bullseye, build a product towards that bullseye and then what are the key KPIs that you really need to focus on in the early days and stay focused on that. Really focus and just hone in on it. Hone in on it, hone in on it until you got, you start to see it. And what I mean by that is, you know, in the early days because of the liquidity that's important in a marketplace. We knew the ratio early of how many caregivers to each family paying family member was necessary per zip code in the country. And we got to there fast. So it's very data driven. So then we just started to hit that number. That became our focus. We went to Every zip code. And we're like, that's an interesting number. We gotta go. Hit it, hit it, hit it, hit it, hit it, hit it. And then it started to take off. So it's finding those things that are early that really helps drive the dates.
- [28:07]
Alana
I wonder about some of the biggest challenges in the beginning. The first one that pops in my mind is the trust factor, delegating care, et cetera. That to me is probably one of the things that probably needed a lot of work. But talk to me about those challenges that in the beginning.
- [28:24]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
Well, in the beginning, I also. It's also timing too, Alana. Right? So I had Observed that look, monster.com, people matching to find jobs. It happened 10 years before care. Then dating happened. Match.com happened, I think five years before care. And so we were ready. And we saw it in the testing, the consumer marketplace. We can identify a problem, but if the solution is just not ready. And a good friend of mine, Zoe and Michael Burch, ended up being in our seed round or in the early rounds, and they started a babysitting marketplace in Europe. And I didn't even know about this. I met them years later and they were like, can we invest? Because we love the idea. And we tried it back in the uk, but it was too early. And so sometimes timing is really, really important when you launch something, right, because again, you're gonna have the thesis and then if it's not ready overall with regards to the market. So we had to really pay attention to that. And like I said, I got the timing off in senior care. I didn't think that was ready.
- [29:25]
Alana
Talk to me about the challenges. So you're starting this crazy things. You have a little bit of cash, I think, from being an executive in residence.
- [29:34]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
We actually, in our seed round raised about $7.5 million. It was a lot. We knew we were going to go national right away, so we decided to double down on our seed round. The other thing you had asked me was, how did you build trust? So the market was ready with regards to the move, because even if we did all these things on trust in the product, if the market wasn't ready. So what we did from the get go, and we knew in interviewing families is we background checked every caregiver says the launch of the company, and no one had done that, right? No one had like invested the kinds of things we were doing with regards to screening. We then added moms, we call them the care force, to actually help with the screening and the caregivers and then the background check, because we wanted moms because they were aware. We also added a lot of fraud controls, which is unfortunate. But a large part of what happens in marketplaces is that mostly men cause problems around predator type behaviors or posting jobs that are inappropriate and language that's inappropriate. We started screening those very early, from the get go.
- [30:48]
Alana
I wouldn't even thought about it. Yeah, okay, that makes sense.
- [30:51]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
We were really putting in a lot of investment in safety from the beginning because each of the founders, our philosophy actually was that we had to feel comfortable using the product.
- [31:02]
Alana
And did you, by the way, use your own product?
- [31:05]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
Yes. Yes. From tutors to babysitters to. Yes. Pet sitters. Yeah.
- [31:12]
Alana
And then you decide to go IPO and then exit. Why even go through that crazy journey? What was it like? Was it daunting?
- [31:23]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
We had prepared the company to go public and we started that process two years before in 2010, actually, we were contemplating taking the company public. We were on a trajectory where we were doubling, tripling every year, and it was going really, really well. So that was 2010. And then in 2012, what we started to do is execute against that plan where we ended up buying three companies before going public. We raised another 50. We had raised a lot of money. And part of the buying the companies was to also show consistent growth. Once you're public, you had to be 100 million in revenue. And you know, that rule of 2020, 20% growth, 20% EBITDA, it's more than that now. But back then that was sort of the rule of thumb that the data showed around what was highly correlated for companies that did well. So for two years, we really honed in on an execution plan to prepare to go public. We had gotten some offers and we had a really beautiful offer to sell the company prior to taking it public. We could have taken that, but we opted to pass on it and instead take the company public. For me, I really wanted the caregivers and the families to get a chance to own care.com especially once you're public. It's also, I felt like even though it was a private company, there's a feeling that I had that it was rare to have a socially driven company that was helping millions. It was affordable and accessible for all to be somewhat like a public good, you know, even though it's private, it's like there was a sense of that I had around it that was important to me. So I felt like, you know, going public made sense.
- [33:06]
Alana
How lonely are some of these decisions versus how much did you have, like a lot of advisors Helping you with deciding and some of these big decisions that could take your sleep away.
- [33:20]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
What helped a lot is that I had a great group of co founders from the beginning and we stayed together through it all and that made all the difference and that was super important for us or sharing our values and our alignment from the beginning. You know, it's funny, all three of them have become CEOs after we exited. Yeah, they did such a great job. And each one of them, one was in tech, Dave was, Donna was in operations, and Zinu was in marketing. And everyone, most everyone stayed through the end, close to the end. And Donna decided to go get a business degree and then ended up teaching at mit. And then Zinu also moved on, but shortly after we all left. I mean, it was just a short, short difference in time, but that really made the difference. Alana and I often coach people who start companies to have an incredible co founding group. I just celebrated my 55th birthday. My co founders of CARE were there. We all sang a song together. So we stayed close. Great advisors, great sponsors. I think there is an importance of a vulnerability. It's always a challenge. I think especially as founders, we think we have to have all the answers. And from the beginning, and even my investors today in Ohio, I'm very open and transparent about the challenges, where we're at, where we could use the help. And investors really like that, by the way. So that helped me a lot with the mental load that I wasn't just solo. But no matter what, Alana, it is a lot, especially from founding growth and then running a public company and doing it all in one fell swoop is. It was a lot. And raising children and staying in the same marriage, it's a lot.
- [35:03]
Alana
I mean, I can only imagine again, you decide to take a little bit of a different route. Eventually the company is also acquired and now you're working at Ojai. Walk me through a little bit of that reinvention, if you will, and that process of essentially saying, okay, what do I want to do next? For some reason, it's not sitting and slurping margaritas on the beach. So Sheila, take me there.
- [35:31]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
Well, I definitely went through the importance of the pause, right, and the sabbatical and really regrouping from myself. What did I want to do? Was I ready to retire? What's interesting, Alana, is in my, my next chapter, I had already felt like I lived a purpose driven life that I loved. Like I loved my job, I loved creating something. I wasn't chasing financial, nor was I Chasing fame. And so I was sitting there going, well, what do I do next? That would really motivate me and some for some founders, they're going to be like, can I top that one? It wasn't that either. For me it was. I didn't think I would even go back to the care industry. In fact, you heard me say, even at the beginning of care, I was insecure to be labeled that. So throughout running care, the only reason I became the face for the television is because my team said statistically significant testing suggested that it was converting so that I was like, I was cheap and free. We also had a bunch of websites trying to copy us and the only thing they couldn't copy was my face on the homepage. But for me, I started to realize I did a lot more inner work. This is my third chapter in my meditation and a lot of my breath work that it came to me and I started realizing this is my calling. This is what gives me joy. It's trying to solve problems for families. I could have done many things. I could have just joined boards. I could have joined private equity firms or venture capital firms. There was lots of different things, both my experience, my education and background. But I love building things. I also started to draw. I drew back in middle school and didn't think it was an important class and because I felt like, you're never going to get paid for this. And you know, I spent the year that was sabbatical, designed our apartment here in New York and I just got into and realized I do love to create and build. That's who I am and I'd like to solve things. And I continue to be very interested in families. And then I was gifted by our kids and the powers that be in life of a beautiful grandchild. Oh my God.
- [37:47]
Alana
Yeah.
- [37:48]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
So I'm back again reliving care now in the Ojai world and solving it because I watch my daughter in law.
- [37:55]
Alana
By the way, those are on YouTube. She looks about 40, so that's insanely annoying. But congratulations.
- [38:04]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
Thank you, thank you, thank you. But yeah, it's been a joy and it's made me realize as I watch my daughter in law, Chloe and our son Ryan, the struggle the parents go through. And it's real. It's a lot of juggling, it's a lot of figuring things out. And that mental load is real. And so even though care services for care.com had scaled and you definitely need additional help, it hasn't removed all the difficulty that families are still on a Sunday night Typing away, trying to keep track of all the schedules and where was the email and what am I missing and what's going on this week? And, and by the way, the schedules for basketball or dance or swimming never seem to match up the school schedule because those are extracurricular activities. I mean, we have to figure it out on our own and it doesn't matter whether we have assistance at work.
- [38:55]
Alana
It's amazing.
- [38:55]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
We still have to figure all this out.
- [38:57]
Alana
We need to pause for a super brief break. And while we do, take a moment and share this episode with every single person who may be inspired by this, because this information can truly change your life and theirs. Now, every cool opportunity you will ever find is most likely from a hidden market. It's the people who think about you when you're not in the room and bring the right opportunities to you. This means that the people you hang out with truly matter. That's why we created our flagship live event in San Jose, California in the heart of Silicon Valley. It's February 26th to 28th and is the number one conference for reinvention, leadership and careers. And in the United States, it has speakers like the former president of Starbucks and many other leaders, including yours truly, myself, and I'd love to personally welcome you, give you a hug and hear what you think about the podcast. We'll have many networking opportunities, photo opportunities, and we already know every single person after this event will go supersonic on their reputation and career. So grab your tickets quickly because this event always sells out. So go to leapacademy.com leapcon or you can search on Google Leapcon 2026. It's L, E, A P, C O, N. Don't miss out where the most impactful leaders hang out in February. So go to leapacademy.com leapcon I will see you there. For whatever reason, you decide to jump head first and to start another company. So let's talk a little bit about Ojai. And I still wanna also leave room for a little bit of, you know, like your mindset around everything. So talk to me a little bit about Ohi.
- [40:41]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
Yeah, so it is a household assistant. It's Ohai AI. It's humanity with an AI. And it's O, which you have someone hugging you and taking care of you and you have an O. And our newest thing that we're super excited about is called Smart O. Hi Sync, which you just come online, you tell us all the apps, you use, the craziness of your world, and we will summarize it for you make it easy for you on your calendar every week, and then you go through every day and just really swipe through and it'll just say, here are your conflicts, here are some reminders. Here's what needs to happen. Who do you pick up for Johnny? Let's do your meal plan for dinner and just make it super easy and so that you can just let go of all these things and feel like an exceptional parent and spend your time on the quality time with your kids.
- [41:32]
Alana
And what actually matters. I love that.
- [41:34]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
That's right. Right. Be able to make meals regularly feel great about their nutrition instead of rushing things. Yeah. Making quick decisions, quick bets.
- [41:43]
Alana
And how old is Ojai?
- [41:46]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
The app just launched this April. The iOS app and the Android's about to launch before the holidays.
- [41:53]
Alana
Yeah, I just downloaded it as well, so I was like, very excited. But congratulations. So, first of all, this is huge. And again, I do believe that more and more we're gonna have those helpers that are connected to everything and take care of our life, because right now it's inundating and it doesn't make sense. So.
- [42:12]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
And it's a lot. And I also think the challenge for families, even though you have a lot of tech on this incredible device, the challenges that the school system, you're in the educational field, you know, the school systems, the community activities, all of that, they're not as up to speed in tech. So it's still on the parents. We're still getting 11 page newsletters in, like, small font, and it's very easy to miss things. And, you know, how many messaging apps do you use to keep track of them?
- [42:43]
Alana
Right. Endless.
- [42:44]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
And email is not our favorite thing anymore to communicate. That's still how many schools and different community programs communicate?
- [42:55]
Alana
Totally. Initially we touched a little bit about mindset and meditation and sounds like that was a big thing for you. I think it's really going to help our listeners. I mean, some of them lost their job, some of them are trying to figure out what's next, some of them are holding on and trying to get that promotion or trying to figure out what's next next for them and maybe start something of their own or make that more successful. And they're listening to this and sometimes the rejection is really hard. The naysayers, the hate, you know, all of this is coming at you. How do you navigate through those waves of emotions? Sheila?
- [43:33]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
I definitely. I do transcendental meditation twice a day.
- [43:39]
Alana
Tell us more what it is, because for me, that's like, I don't know what you're talking about. So talk to me.
- [43:45]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
There's different types of meditation. This is a very accessible one. It's 20 minutes per sitting and for some people that could be a challenge. And so I often say, you know, start with a headspace or calm app and do a few minutes at a time and then you, you get there. What makes this one accessible is your guru. You can go to tm, I think it's tm.com or tm.org and you find a practitioner who gives you and trains you and gives you a mantra. It's a made up word. And the beautiful thing about this made up word is that it means nothing actually. It's like often two syllables. And what happens is you have thoughts in your head that you observe, that you replace simply by this meaningless word. And what you're really doing every day is cleansing your thoughts so that you start to say, I am not my thoughts. And it's really putting it into this. So you're going to not judging your thoughts, no meaning to your thoughts, to something with no meaning. And that practice is actually very calming because it's similar to working out muscles and making them stronger. That when you have stressful thoughts throughout the day or thoughts that don't serve you, you become trained that you can just replace it with something non judgmental that means nothing, that then calms you, calms your entire body and manages your anxiety so that you can then get rid of lizard brain, have clearer thoughts, and then you are able to solve problems better because you're stepping away from it as you go deeper into meditation, a practice of what we call witnessing. Witnessing that again you are not your thoughts separating yourself as if it was like a third person watching yourself. It's creates a calmness and an objectivity. Just like when you're starting a company. Be objective and looking at the data, you start to observe yourself and say, okay, I'm reacting a certain way. And then you start to ask why. And then the inner work is, you gotta dig. There's a great thing that therapists use all the time called internal family systems. And it's parts and learning all parts about yourself. And sometimes we are triggered and we act a certain way because it's inherently programmed since our childhood. And sometimes with therapists you have to go all the way back and really understand, ooh, what created that imprint that then programs us even as adults. And so when you start to observe it, distant from it, you're able to then talk through it and realize that's not really who I am. That's just a six year old that reacted to something and that's not her fault. She's totally fine, she's totally cool. And so you stop judging that and then you just start to be clear, clearer on your purpose, clear on your thinking and what's important. Because the longest distance is from here to your heart and you start to really trust your heart a lot more. My mantra is trust and love and live in joy. Wow.
- [46:48]
Alana
Is there like a certain moment in time that built you to who you are today?
- [46:55]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
Yeah. An awakening, we call it. Yeah. Well, what's interesting, as I've been doing a lot of this work, is that consciousness actually existed from conception. Right. And if you believe in that, the reality is I've always been me. Right. So it's actually never gone away. But part of the journey is finding my true self. Right. So how do we actually declutter that? And what do I mean by declutter? How do we again understand that nature and our thinking, they're just thoughts, that's not necessarily our true consciousness? And so how do we unpack all of that? So back to your question around the awakening. I think it's been progressive, Alana. It helped a lot that sometimes pain and suffering is what brings you and the challenges you've been asking me about. Challenge is what then really awakens you. And so I was in my 20s, landing in the hospital. I remember staring at the curtain in there and they couldn't figure out what it was. And my husband was at home with Ryan and tears going down my face, saying, what is happening with my life? You know, what am I going to do with this? And so I started to seek out meditation as a way to better understand how do I get peace? How do I figure this out? So I've been on the hunt for that for a while. And then in leadership and when you're challenged where my friends took me out and said, no one wants to work with you. I mean, that's like a dagger to the heart. Or later on when my son says, you haven't been around enough after high school, that's a dagger to the heart. So there's lots and lots of soul searching conversations I've had throughout my life that for me, how do we pause and really ask what is my truth? What's really going on? How do I get to that? And the more that I have found to be on that journey of truth, the more that then I'm getting to calm and peace.
- [48:52]
Alana
Wow, that's brilliant, Sheila. I love that because There are moments that define us, but like you said, they just shed a light on the person that you are anyway. But maybe it brings it to surface for those who are listening, for people who are reinventing themselves right now. What would be something that you wish your younger self would know better?
- [49:17]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
I think there's a few things. One, I think when we're going through the challenge, there's a feeling of victimhood, and we feel alone and we feel like it's only happening to us and it must be something's wrong with us when in reality, we're all human. Because you're listening to me on this podcast and you're saying, wow, how could she have had challenges? We all, oh, my gosh, I've had so many challenges, and it is part of us being human. And I keep thinking that the other side, I Sometimes when I'm in the challenge, I'll say, five years from now, am I really going to be stressed about sweating this small thing that I think is the sky is falling and is the biggest problem in the world, when in reality, five years from now, I mean, we've had that. You and I could talk about that and go look back like, what was like, oh, my God, my head is exploding. This thing is like crashing. And then five years later, you're like, that. What was that? We tend to, again, as brains, it's nature, we tend to create these stories and striving for ourselves. And so that's why I say, if you just witness and you separate yourself, it's really important and to have that practice to say, how would I assess this later? And is this really going to be a big deal? The second one's a really interesting one that I wish my younger self. It is, how do you feel? Special, but yet live life with a humility of ordinary.
- [50:40]
Alana
Whoa. Tell me more.
- [50:44]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
It's a hard one. It's these opposing forces again. How do you be passionate but dispassionate? It's a sense of knowing that everyone is special. And that comparison is, I think, what they say is the thief of joy, right? Is like realizing and really believing that I am special, but so is everybody else. And that's what makes us ordinary. And I think when you start adopting that, you start to realize, I don't know everything. I may have knowledge, but I don't know everything. I can learn from everybody. I'm much more patient, I'm much more compassionate, I'm much more loving. And I think at the end of the day, it's like, aren't all those things, important things about why I would love myself. And yet I am special, but I'm just like everybody else. It's a little bit of a ninja move on yourself, but that I would say. And when you get to that level of peace, I think despite the changes that are happening, the challenges in the macro environment and you're feeling like there's no hope, it's really coming to this sense that I am enough, I'm kind, I love people, I am special, I am unique in my own way and I'm here to serve and love others. It'll get you through so many things and a sense of gratefulness for this beautiful life.
- [52:06]
Alana
That was a mic drop, Sheila. That is so, so, so, so good. So how do they find you?
- [52:13]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
Or ojai AI Sheila Liriomarcello on Instagram. It's also Sheila Lerio Marcelo on LinkedIn and it's Ojai o h AI AI. And come check us out, play around with it, give us feedback. We're still early, we're seed round and we're here to help. That's really what we're about.
- [52:32]
Alana
And Sheila, I love your heart. I love your inspiration. Thank you for coming to the show Show. It was so, so, so fun.
- [52:38]
Sheila Lirio Marcelo
Thank you for having me.
- [52:51]
Alana
Remember, this episode is not just for you and me. You never know whose life you're meant to change by sharing this episode with them. And if you love today's episode, please click the subscribe or download button for the show and give it a five star review. This really means the world. Join me in helping tens of millions of individuals reinvent their career and leap into their full potential. Look, getting intentional and strategic with your career is now more important than ever. The skills for success have changed. AQ adaptability, reinventing and leaping are today the most important skills for the future of work. Building portfolio careers, multiple streams of income and ventures are no longer a nice to have. It's a must have. But no one is teaching this except for us in Leap Academy. So if you want more from your career in Life, go to leapacademy.com training check out our completely free training about ways to fast track your career. You'll even be able to book a completely free career strategy call with my team. So go to leapacademy.com training.