Franchise Update Magazine Issue I, 2016 | Page 23

Female Founders BY KERRY PIPES FOUNDED IN LOVE Necessity was the grandmother of this brand S helly Sun, co-founder of BrightStar Care, never planned to start a company. But in 2001, she and her husband, J.D. Sun, were struggling to find quality in-home care for his grandmother and discovered they weren’t alone. Soon after, they decided to take matters into their own hands. “We built a healthcare staffing company to provide the full continuum of care, from home care to supplemental staffing for corporate clients such as nursing homes and physicians,” she says. Sun says she worked 90 to 100 hours, 7 days a week in those early years, but the payoff has been worth it. They launched the company in 2002 and began franchising in 2005. “Although we already had three successful companyowned locations, we knew that through franchising we would be able to expand much faster than if we were to do it on our own,” she says. BrightStar Care was the first franchising company in the U.S. to specialize in both medical and non-medical care and healthcare staffing. Now a decade later, BrightStar has grown to more than 300 locations nationwide serving more than 15,000 families and generating more than $350 million in system-wide revenue. The brand offers a full continuum of caregiving in the home, including adult, elder, and child care, along with babysitter and nanny services. And Sun says there’s much more to come, including a new, complementary brand. “I’m excited about the start-up phase of our second brand, BrightStar Senior Living and Memory Care, and the international expansion of BrightStar Care in 2016,” she says. NAME: Shelly Sun TITLE: CEO, co-founder COMPANY: BrightStar Care SYSTEM-WIDE REVENUE: $350 million NO. OF UNITS: 309 INTERNATIONAL UNITS: 0 GROWTH PLANS: By 2018, we plan to have 3 brands and be operating in at least 8 international markets. In the next 10 years, I predict that BrightStar Care will be serving 250,000 families and will have grown in revenue to $3 billion. PUBLIC OR PRIVATE? Private YEAR COMPANY FOUNDED: 2002 YEAR STARTED FRANCHISING: 2005 YOUR YEARS IN FRANCHISING: 11 GETTING STARTED What inspired you to start your business? In late 2001, my husband J.D.’s grandmother was in need of quality inhome healthcare. Through our personal journey, we identified a gaping hole in the healthcare sector, and we saw firsthand the need for a better in-home care option. In early 2002, my husband’s grandmother passed away. Shortly after her death, we were given the book Rich Dad Poor Dad as a gift. The book relays a message for its readers to take control of their own destiny. We took this as a serious sign to start our own business that would offer families a service we were onc