Downtown Daycare

This case tells the story of a young female entrepreneur, Rosemary Norwood, as she starts her own backup daycare company, Downtown Daycare. The case chronicles her career decisions, starting from her graduation at Wellesley in 1984, and leading to her contentious breakup from a daycare company to start her own firm. The primary focus of the case is on the issues related to financing her new venture, both at its inception and as it grows. Rosemary is admittedly weak with financial analysis, and the case highlights how those weaknesses may have caused her difficulty. After evaluating her initial efforts at raising money, the case ends with Rosemary deep in the process of negotiating with a few groups of investors. The growing demands on her time are also described, with many examples of Rosemary’s increasing frustration as there are more and more things for her to deal with at her company. Teaching Note available.