| The Cool Company Awards 08 |
And the winner is…
“I’m not sure what makes a cool company but if it’s built on seeing a need, pursuing a dream, commitment, assisting others, passion, believing sleep is overrated and pushing on even when the task at hand seems impossible, then I’d like to introduce Bring Your Own Kids.” These opening words from Leah Squire, founder of our 2008 Micro Business Award winner, sum up the ethos of her ‘blog turned start-up’ that, in less than two years, has attracted an annual turnover of more than $3.5 million.
When judging the Micro Business Award category, it can become a futile battle attempting to compare apples with oranges. How does one compare a cleaning technology with a workplace health and safety software product with an ‘exploding’ online aggregator for families? It was a tough call but Bring Your Own Kids grabbed the attention of our judges by simply removing the ‘micro’ from ‘micro business’, taking a humble family blog, built with passion and integrity, and turning it into an international business.
Like many of our cool company contenders, Bring Your Own Kids was launched from simple beginnings. “As a family, we love to travel,” said Squire in her application. “But I found there was just no information available on places to go and things to do with kids. So, with $1,000, no knowledge of the internet, no marketing skills and no idea, I started our business, initially as a family travel blog.”
Today, whether it’s a day trip, a picnic in the park, a weekend getaway, a South Pacific holiday or round the world jaunt, Bring Your Own Kids is already assisting tens of thousands of families to get out and have fun together.
“The BYOkids mission is to give parents the confidence to travel with their kids. Our aim is to share our knowledge of free fun and activities for families through to the best holiday destinations with kids,” said Squire. “Parents know that they can come online and get honest, reliable information. We offer a ‘family-friendly guarantee’.”
Bring Your Own Kids understands that the family that plays together stays together. And, as even the most surly teenager will know, that’s pretty cool.
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