West Tenth: Start a Real Home Business - Skip the MLM

A New Platform Empowering Women Entrepreneurs: West Tenth

A novel digital marketplace, West Tenth, has secured $1.5 million in seed funding to facilitate the launch and expansion of home-based businesses owned by women. The platform, accessible via a mobile application, enables women to advertise their services within their local communities.

Founding and Inspiration

West Tenth was co-founded by Lyn Johnson and Sara Sparhawk, whose professional paths initially converged in the finance sector. While Johnson continued her career in finance, Sparhawk transitioned to a role at Amazon.

Addressing Economic Disparity

Johnson’s experiences highlighted the economic inequalities faced by women in the United States. Currently, women possess only 32 cents for every dollar of financial assets held by men. A significant contributing factor is women’s frequent departure from the workforce, often to focus on raising children, resulting in extended periods without income.

“Society readily supports women leaving the workforce for childcare, yet provides inadequate support for their re-entry,” Johnson observes. “Recognizing this, women are increasingly choosing entrepreneurship as a viable alternative to traditional employment.”

Encouraging Entrepreneurship and Recognizing Hidden Talents

The core objective of West Tenth is to foster entrepreneurship among women. The platform aims to demonstrate that the skills honed within the home environment can, in fact, be leveraged to create successful businesses.

Diverse Business Opportunities

This encompasses a wide range of possibilities, including home-based baking and cooking, photography, interior design, floral arrangements, baby sleep consulting, event planning, crafting workshops, fitness instruction, and the creation of handmade goods.

While the platform isn’t exclusively for women, the current market dynamics favor female entrepreneurs, as they are more likely to be the primary caregivers who temporarily leave the workforce. Nevertheless, male entrepreneurs are also present on the platform.

Centralized Local Discovery

Many home-based entrepreneurs currently rely on platforms like Facebook for marketing. However, this approach can limit their reach if they aren’t actively engaged in local groups and responding to recommendations. West Tenth provides a centralized hub for local businesses, simplifying the discovery process for customers.

Within the app, customers can easily browse and shop local businesses, filtering by category using buttons at the top of the screen. Search results are sorted by proximity and include photos, descriptions, and starting prices. Direct communication with business owners is facilitated through integrated messaging, allowing users to request quotes or additional information.

Purchases are completed securely through Stripe payments integration. West Tenth charges a commission of 9.5% on each sale.

The Foundry: Education and Networking

A crucial component of West Tenth is its educational resource, known as The Foundry.

Subscription and Access to Resources

Business owners can access The Foundry through a quarterly subscription of $100 or an annual fee of $350. This grants them access to bi-monthly events, including classes covering essential aspects of establishing and managing a home-based business, such as marketing, customer acquisition, and business fundamentals.

Individual classes are also available for purchase at approximately $30 per session.

Attendees will also benefit from presentations by experienced professionals in the home-based business sector and the opportunity to participate in mastermind networking groups for collaborative idea exchange.

An Alternative to MLMs

This combination of education, networking, and business ownership aims to provide a viable alternative to multi-level marketing (MLM) companies, which are often a common path for women re-entering the workforce.

“We recognized that MLMs actively target women who have left the workforce – a significant, underutilized talent pool,” Johnson explains. “However, these models are often exploitative, with only the top 1% of distributors achieving profitability, while the majority experience financial losses and diminished social connections.”

“Our goal is to offer a genuine alternative to MLMs,” she adds.

MLM businesses are explicitly prohibited on the West Tenth platform.

Funding and Future Development

Having completed the Kansas City TechStars accelerator program, the startup has successfully raised $1.5 million in seed funding. The investment round was led by Better Ventures, with participation from Stand Together Ventures Lab, Kapital Partners, The Community Fund, Backstage Capital, Wedbush Ventures, and Gaingels.

These funds will be allocated to product development and user base expansion. Future plans include enhancing platform features to better showcase local businesses, such as incorporating shopping elements that display friends’ purchases and providing video demonstrations.

Since 2019, West Tenth has expanded its presence from 20 businesses to over 600, primarily in the suburban areas of Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. The company is now targeting growth in Phoenix, Boise, and Northern California.

Responding to a Growing Need

West Tenth’s expansion coincides with a period of increasing challenges for women’s employment, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

School and daycare closures, coupled with job losses, have disproportionately impacted women’s participation in the workforce. McKinsey reports that women accounted for nearly 56% of workforce exits since the pandemic’s onset, despite representing only 48% of the total workforce. This phenomenon, dubbed the “shecession,” is particularly affecting women of color.

“We’ve witnessed 5 million women leaving the workforce – some due to layoffs or furloughs, and a significant number due to the overwhelming demands of caregiving,” Johnson states.

“The issue is that when women leave the workforce for caregiving responsibilities, their contributions are often undervalued, making it even more difficult for them to return. Consequently, we anticipate a surge in economic activity within the home as women seek additional income sources by establishing businesses,” she concludes.

The West Tenth app is available for download on both iOS and Android devices.

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