I began my career in the traditional tech world. I followed a path many follow. I went to engineering school. I went to business school. I started my first company a little over 10 years ago. I worked in social media and advertising technology. Then, things changed. My grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and I spent 10 years navigating that journey with him and my family. He lived in New Hampshire on 14 acres in the woods down a dirt road, and I lived in New Jersey. Helping from afar was a challenge to say the least. We moved him to a facility. We weren’t satisfied, so we moved him to another facility.

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I started paying his bills and coordinating his finances and key decisions. We faced one crisis after another. Each time it was something we had never dealt with and didn’t know how to navigate. We had a good situation in the end.

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But I came away from the experience thinking there has to be a better way.

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There may have been helpful resources available if I had been smart enough to find them at the time. But they didn’t find me, that’s for sure.

During a pivotal moment in this family crisis, I went back to my job at Twitter, sat in a conference room, and debated for an hour how many pixels wide a mobile ad unit should be. Twitter has a meaningful mission, and I respect the people who work there. But I knew when I left the conference room, that era of my career was over. I’m glad somebody solved that problem. It just wasn’t going to be me. The work had lost its meaning to me. It was time to do something different.

That’s when I found Flatiron Health, a tech company focused on cancer research. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to join a company with an incredible mission and a wildly talented team. It also turned out to be a rocket ship. Diving into healthcare was rewarding, exhilarating, and terrifying all at the same time. But at its core, the work had meaning and purpose for me. I spent a lot of time with oncologists and cancer patients. Half of cancer patients are over 65, and I saw my own story playing out again and again. It was never just cancer. It was cancer plus so many other complexities that come with aging. The challenges I faced were not unique to me. They were pervasive. Every family goes through it at some point in some way.

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After 5 years at Flatiron, I decided to spend the next phase of my career helping families navigate the journey of aging. In parallel, I had been talking to the team at 25madison about different business ideas. They were researching senior loneliness and identified an opportunity focused on the physical home. AARP surveys show that 90% of seniors want to live at home for the rest of their lives. Pre-COVID! But homes aren’t built to grow with us as our needs and lifestyles change.

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What if we assessed seniors’ homes for safety hazards, made economical modifications to the houses, and expanded into a suite of services that empowered seniors to live safely and independently in the homes they love?

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That question evolved into a business plan, a mission, and an amazing team that I am now privileged to lead. We provide expert advice and make economical home modifications to keep people safe and comfortable in their homes for the long haul. Together, we can help people maintain their independence, improve their health and happiness, and get back to living their lives. If you would like advice for yourself or your family, would like to join us in this mission, or simply want to follow our journey, please reach out. We would love to hear from you!

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