In the last 2 years I have attended dozens of conferences, events, dinners and networking events for founders in the CareTech, FamTech, EdTech, and ParentTech spaces. It was all in service of connecting with other founders, meeting potential investors, and broadening my network of entrepreneurs building products to support families. On my own (AND/BOTH) podcast I’ve interviewed dozens of founders building for caregivers, sharing how the pain points of their experience of caring for another without the product or platform sparked their own entrepreneurial journey. These were individuals that have lived the frustration and overwhelm that their products were going to solve for others.
Last spring I attended a three day conference in Las Vegas for HR leaders, not as someone working in the HR field, but as a tech founder wanting to learn more about the HR/B2B side of the benefits. Each table I sat at for meals- breakfast, lunch and dinner, when people asked what I did for work, I explained that I was building a platform for family caregivers.
At each of those tables, they shared their own story of their caregiving journey, not just one person at the table, but everyone in the other seven seats had a caregiving/work related experience. Whether it was a mother navigating maternity leave, fathers concerned about paternity leave, caregivers taking time off to care for their family or those that jumped into caregiving thinking it was going to be temporary but were now many years into it. Many of these people spoke about wishing they could have found something that would help their caregiving journey- products that existed and I knew about from being a founder in the caregiving space.
Presenters on stage at that conference spoke about the need to support employees “as a whole person” as no longer optional, but necessary to hire, retain and support the best talent for roles. Benefits outside of healthcare, dental and 401K were estimated to be the fastest growing sector of offerings companies were looking for because this is what employees were asking for. The other, often unacknowledged, elephant in the room was how to create the culture in corporate settings that support caregivers to come forward and utilize these provided benefits. These conversations are happening, the awareness of the need to support caregivers is present and we are at an opportune time to bring products to market.
At a dinner in NYC last fall I sat at a table with 10 founders all building products aimed at solving a pain point they had experienced themselves- on call pediatrician support, digestive support for kids, an agency of verified childcare providers, IEP support for families navigating services, a platform to support family caregiver care collaboration. Sitting at that table with these mission driven founders was inspiring, there was so much passion and drive around the products they were building and their palpable desire to help others. When the conversation turned to growth many commented on the difficulty of finding customers that could or would use the product if they knew about it. Social media and marketing have become large budget, difficult to break into, avenues to reach customers, customers like the people at those tables in Las Vegas.
Many emerging platforms are steered towards B2B channel sales to try and reach customers accessing benefits through their employer. But, according to MetLife’s 21st annual U.S. Employee Benefit Trends Study (EBTS), “53% of Gen Z and 55% of Millennials say there are elements of their benefits package they don’t fully understand,” meaning even if these products are included in their benefits package, they may not be using them. Benefits products that aren’t utilized impact their contract renewal prospects and further impede access for caregivers who could potentially benefit from their use.
So how to we connect these founders with the caregivers that could benefit from what they are building? What about individuals that cannot access these because they do not have corporate careers, or have retired to be full time caregivers?
If employers continue to be responsible for sourcing products, it creates an accessibility bottleneck and the impact lands directly in the lap of family caregivers.
There are 63 million family caregivers in the US, a number that is growing by 10 million people every 5 years. That’s a lot of “laps.” Couple that with, according to Care.com, “50% of family caregivers do not self-identify as caregivers,” simply because they feel as though caregiving is “part of the role” of spouse, partner, child or relative of someone needing care outside of the healthcare of paid caregiving system. If we combine those two statistics, there are potentially 126 million caregivers in this country, or 1 in 3 Americans are unpaid family caregivers, without formal infrastructure to support them.
In my own experience as a clinician turned founder, building Dovetail to support family caregiver communication and collaboration, these events, conferences and lunches have been the best opportunity to explain what we’re building and to be able to reach those that are looking for it. Being able to connect directly with potential customers at these events has meant meeting people that were looking for a solution. But what about those that don’t know there’s something out there for them to find?
Outside of a corporate benefits package, caregivers are left to find solutions through word of mouth or internet searches, creating an unnecessary accessibility gap. These products and platforms can become the care infrastructure that family caregivers need and these founders would be able to find and support their intended audience.
But who has time, when caregivers already average 27 hours per week on care related activities outside of their own lives and work, to sift through databases of platforms? Finding these aligned products is only half of the challenge, the other half is implementing them.
The perceived barrier to implementing a product or service is the on-ramping or initiation time cost that caregivers do not have. Many family caregivers will continue to use a patched together system instead of a more pointed solution, because they are comfortable with the “known” vs. the “unknown.” The muscle memory of a patched together solution is more comfort than trying to rework a system that has no margin for error. Will it work? Will it be the right fit for our family or all of us helping this person? What if I spend all this effort to onboard and something gets missed?
So how can family caregivers find products, regardless of their access to workplace benefits, that align with their specific needs and can be implemented today?
We’re building it.
We are creating a space for caregivers to share their specific needs and be matched with services, products and platforms that allow them to build their own, unique, caregiver infrastructure. Alongside that we are creating a space for innovators, service providers and product designers to connect with caregivers they are building these products for. We’re building an alternative way for caregivers and founders to find each other, so that these products can get into the hands of those that need them.
We’re calling it Nurtured, because that’s what caregivers deserve.
We’re going to bridge the gap between founders and caregivers so that customized care infrastructure is easier to build, can be adapted over time as needs change, and can support our entire caregiving journey.
If you have helped another person with any aspect of their day, from picking up groceries to helping arrange doctor’s appointments, you’ve participated in caregiving. We want to help connect you with support by learning more about your specific needs, please take our quick (3 minute) quiz and let us know what your needs are:
I have had the pleasure of meeting dozens of innovators building mission driven and important products, many of which stem from their own personal experiences. If you are a founder, building for family caregivers of any an all varieties (including parents, sandwich caregivers, etc.) apply to join our network of service providers and platforms here:
Founders and innovators apply here
Caregiving is something we are all going to experience, either as a recipient, facilitator or provider of at some point in our lives. We are going to make it easier to find exactly what you’re looking for so that you have the infrastructure you need to support you in that journey.
Ashley
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