Desiree Vargas Wrigley, Founder and CEO of Pearachute

Desiree Vargas Wrigley joins the podcast tomorrow to discuss the team and culture she’s building at her latest venture, Pearachute, how her leadership has changed over time, and much more.  Until then, read more about Desiree and the great things happening at Pearachute below.

  • What’s your title?
    • CEO and Founder
  • In 100 words or less, describe what your company does.
    • Pearachute is a kids’ activity club that makes it easy for parents and caregivers to discover, book, and drop into the best classes, camps, and activities all at the touch of a button, all for one affordable rate.  Parents choose either 3, 6, or unlimited classes each month and they can book from thousands of classes across hundreds of providers across Chicago, Dallas, and KC.
  • Where is the company based?
    • Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Kansas City
  • When was the company founded?
    • January of 2016
  • How many employees do you have?
    • 11
  • Is your company bootstrapped, or have you raised equity financing (VCs, angels, etc.)?
    • Seed round investors include Hyde Park Ventures, Chicago Ventures, Corazon Capital, Builders Studio, Techstars Ventures, my former co-founder at GiveForward : ) and individuals through the crowdfunding platform Republic.
  • What company accomplishment or milestone in the past 12 months are you most proud of?
    • I’m most proud of the fact that we’ve helped generate nearly $500K for locally owned businesses. 
  • What’s the #1 company issue or area of focus for you right now?
    • How to scale what’s working and learn from the things that can be improved.
  • What else?
    • We’re really proud to be the biggest equity crowdfunding campaign to date in Republic.  Most of that support came from out members and the Chicago tech ecosystem.