Hi parents and caregivers of NYC,

Firstly, apologies if you've seen this floating around other parent groups. I'm posting across a few communities to get as wide a range of perspectives as possible, so thank you for your patience!

A few months ago I was asked by a parent friend to help with school pickup. I had to say no. The reason: I was about to ask her for exactly the same thing. Neither of us could support the other as we were both running on empty.

That moment is why I'm building VILLAGE. It matches small groups of local NYC parents (3 to 5 families) based on values, parenting style, and geography. Not a friendship app. Functional support infrastructure built on trust. School pickups, sick days, clothing swaps, someone to call when everything falls apart.

I'm a Conversation Designer by profession and I'm using dealbreaker matching logic (think old-school OkCupid, actually how I met my husband many moons ago!) to make sure these villages actually show up for each other.

I'd love to hear from this community on two things:

1. On trust: what is the one vetting step or dealbreaker question that would make you feel comfortable letting another parent pick up your child?
2. On utility: would you trust this more as a paid subscription (keeping it high-intent) or free?

Will drop the landing page link in the comments if anyone wants to see what I've built so far. Would genuinely love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks!

Hi fellow founders,

I’m a parent in NYC and a first-time founder building from my dining room table, like so many of us. A few months ago, I had to tell my closest parent friend I couldn't cover a school pickup...I was about to ask her for exactly the same thing...neither one of us could support the other. We were each other’s whole village, and we were both running on empty.

I’m a Conversation Designer by profession, and I’m applying that logic to a project called VILLAGE. It matches small groups of local parents (3 to 5 families) based on values, parenting style, and geography.

This is not a friendship app. It’s functional support infrastructure built on trust. Think school pickups, sick days, and clothing swaps. I’m using a "dealbreaker" matching logic (inspired by old-school OkCupid - it worked for my husband and I!) to ensure these 'villages' actually show up for each other.

I'd love the perspective of this community on two things:

1. On Trust: As a parent, what is the one vetting step or "dealbreaker" question that would make you feel comfortable letting another parent pick up your child?
2. On Utility: Do you feel a subscription model (to keep the community high-intent) or a freemium model better preserves the "utility" aspect over a "social" one?

I'll drop the link to the landing page in the comments if anyone wants to see the framework!

Thanks in advance!

Appreciate you all and love seeing what you're making and building!

Edit: spelling!