Dear mamas,
Six years ago, the world shut its doors — and so did we. The apps went dark, the bookings stopped, and the company we built together went quiet. I have carried every one of you with me through that quiet. The mama in Houston who hosted thirty children before most people knew our name. The night-shift nurses in Provo who kept each other's babies so they could keep other people's alive. The thousand of you who sent me thumbs-up selfies when it was just me answering every support email at my kitchen table.
I never called it a shutdown. I called it a chrysalis — because I knew what was inside it.
While Momni slept, the need we built it for did not. It grew. There are now hundreds of millions of children in this world who need care and can't get it, and right here at home, mamas are spending a fifth of everything they earn on childcare — when they can find it at all. The question that started Momni on March 16, 2017 has never been louder: who will care for all of these children?
And the answer hasn't changed either. It was never going to be a corporation. It was always us.
"When elephants sense one of their own is vulnerable, the mothers circle up."
So Momni is coming back — but I want to be honest with you about how, because it's different this time, and the difference is the point. If you want the long version, I wrote out the whole relaunch plan, and I sat down to name what six years taught us between 1.0 and 2.0.
There are no investors this time. No growth targets, no take-rate, no percentage skimmed off every hour of care. When you pay your Momni, she keeps every penny — Venmo, cash, her choice. Momni never touches a caregiving dollar. The whole platform runs on a dollar to circle up and a dollar to link together, and that little stream of dollars is enough, because this time the company stays small on purpose so the Circle can be the big thing.
And there is no pretending this time. Momni doesn't vet anyone — we never could, and the companies that claim to are selling you something that isn't real. Moms trust moms. You meet her, you ask your questions, you see her home, you decide — the way mothers have chosen care for each other for ten thousand years. What we built is the place where that trust can find you: the profiles, the reviews from other mamas, the Circles where you meet before you ever book.
If you were one of the first mamas — your pin is still on the map. I kept every one. They glow clay-colored now, like embers, city by city across all fifty states. When you come back, yours turns teal, and the whole Circle sees it light up. I cry a little every time one does. I'm not going to apologize for that.
If you're new — welcome, mama. You arrived right on time.
Hour for hour, mother to mother — the mission stands. Every hour of care shared in the Circle helps fund an hour for a mama who has no options at all, through the Momni Foundation. That promise outlived the company that made it. It will outlive this one too.
Thank you for waiting. Thank you for never really leaving. The chrysalis is open.