agile, business model, corporate innovation, customer development, lean, lean startup, lean launchpad, stanford, steve blank, video, engr 245

1. Initial business idea:
Phone-based on-demand concierge service for older adults
Lessons learned presentation | 120 interviews
John
Deniston
MBA1
Deborah
Stamm
MBA1
Quinlan
Jung
MS CS
Eli
Bildner
MBA1
Suzanne
Adatto
MBA2/
MA Ed.
Silver Concierge

2. Total available market
(TAM):
Americans age 75+ not
living in nursing homes or
other full-care facilities
(US Census, US Dept. of HHS)
~18.1M
in the
beginning,
we had a lot
of ideas...

3. Total available market
(TAM):
Americans age 75+ not
living in nursing homes or
other full-care facilities
(US Census, US Dept. of HHS)
~18.1M
But then we
SPOKE with
customers and
tested
hypotheses
with our MVP
Would you call
us to order
transportation
and meals?

4. Total available market
(TAM):
Americans age 75+ not
living in nursing homes or
other full-care facilities
(US Census, US Dept. of HHS)
~18.1M
most of our
hypotheses,
it turns out,
were wrong*
*though a few were right

5. Total available market
(TAM):
Americans age 75+ not
living in nursing homes or
other full-care facilities
(US Census, US Dept. of HHS)
~18.1MThis is the story of how
we moved from
fiction to fact

6. The outline
Initial
needfinding
week 0 week 1 week 2 week 3
Continued
needfinding
tested value prop
(Landing Page)
prep’d MVP
& recruited
participants
week 4
pilot MVP
(Meals, online
shopping)
week 5
refine MVP
(+ Rides &
Groceries)
week 6
refine acquisition
Little House +
B2B Channels
week 7
pivot
nerdwallet for senior
care | B2B service for
assisted living
week 8
MVP feedback
structured diagnostic
quiz vs
open-ended chat
week 9
MVP feedback
caregiver
needfinding and
MVPs
Chapter 1: Silver Concierge
Chapter 1 Chapter 2: B2B Chapter 3: CareCoach

7. chapter 1:
silver concierge

8. customer =
adult children
key value
proposition:
access to on-
demand
services

9. chapter 1: silver concierge
week 3: 41 interviews
- target user ≠ economic buyer
- “seniors” ≠ a customer archetype
- being a caregiver is hard
- lack of access to services is a problem — & others are
noticing
Even before we launched
our MVP, we’d learned a lot
about our business.

10. Competitive
landscape

11. chapter 1: silver concierge
week 3: 41 interviews
MVP #1:
Silver
Concierge

12. chapter 1: silver concierge
week 4: 54 interviews
We get lots of interest from
caregivers, but sign up only
one older adult user
This is wonderful —
I’m going to tell all of
my friends!

13. chapter 1: silver concierge
week 4: 54 interviews
What we probably should
have done...
Let’s do in-depth
interviews with
the caregivers
and older adults
we weren’t able
to convert!

14. chapter 1: silver concierge
week 4: 54 interviews
What we did instead...
Let’s pilot for
another
week!

15. chapter 1: silver concierge
week 4: 54 interviews
(John working his
charm with the good
people of The Little
House)

16. chapter 1: silver concierge
week 5: 71 interviews
But not even John’s charm
can get us to product-market
fit...

17. chapter 1: silver concierge
week 5: 71 interviews
Customer (“care coordinator”)
Customer acquisition
Call to concierge
Service delivery
On-demand service
providers
Medical providers &
case managers
Friends & peers Senior communities

18. “The handoff between older adults and children, unless
the older adult is really incapacitated, is basically
impossible.”
- Laura Connors, ED Beacon Hill Village
“My grandmother is hugely stubborn and will not change
anything unless she absolutely has to.”
- Remote caregiver in Pennsylvania

19. Gain Creators
Customer Jobs
Independence
- Eat healthy meals
- Get safe rides
- Human connection
- Lack awareness of
current solutions
- Don’t want to be “needy”
- Senior care solutions expensive
- Tech solutions complicated &
lack help
- Lack of trust is major barrier
- Desire personal,
human interaction
User Segment
- Empowering (can use on own)
- Easy; no new tech required (phone)
- Trusted; satisfaction guaranteed
- Responsive & schedulable
- Affordable, clear pricing
- Provides human touch
Products
& Services
Phone access to:
- Meal delivery
- Ride services
- Access to previously unknown
resources, incl those otherwise
unreachable by phone
- Reduce life pressures; create
convenience
- Enable budgeting w/clear,
predictable pricing
- Preserve independence;
reduce anxiety about aging
- Trusted & guaranteed;
reduce uncertainty
- Remove barrier of tech
adoption
- Provide human connection
Customer
Jobs
Peace of mind
- Busy & balancing priorities
- Geographic separation
- Lack of tech adoption by
senior
- Crisis-driven solution finding
- Senior care solutions
expensive
- Reduced anxiety over care
- Reduced schedule burden
- Increased connection to senior
- Predictable spending
Gains
Users
Buyers
Pains
Gains
Pains
Gain
Creators
Pain
Relievers
Our value propositions simply
weren’t resonating...

20. Gain Creators
Customer Jobs
Independence
- Eat healthy meals
- Get safe rides
- Human connection
- Lack awareness of
current solutions
- Don’t want to be “needy”
- Senior care solutions expensive
- Tech solutions complicated &
lack help
- Lack of trust is major barrier
- Desire personal,
human interaction
User Segment
- Empowering (can use on own)
- Easy; no new tech required (phone)
- Trusted; satisfaction guaranteed
- Responsive & schedulable
- Affordable, clear pricing
- Provides human touch
Products
& Services
Phone access to:
- Meal delivery
- Ride services
- Access to previously unknown
resources, incl those otherwise
unreachable by phone
- Reduce life pressures; create
convenience
- Enable budgeting w/clear,
predictable pricing
- Preserve independence;
reduce anxiety about aging
- Trusted & guaranteed;
reduce uncertainty
- Remove barrier of tech
adoption
- Provide human connection
Customer
Jobs
Peace of mind
- Busy & balancing priorities
- Geographic separation
- Lack of tech adoption by
senior
- Crisis-driven solution finding
- Senior care solutions
expensive
- Reduced anxiety over care
- Reduced schedule burden
- Increased connection to senior
- Predictable spending
Gains
Users
Buyers
Pains
Gains
Pains
Gain
Creators
Pain
Relievers
Tech isn’t as big a
barrier to adoption
as we thought; but
trust is huge

21. “[They] do not want to do anything that will shut them in
the house more. Independence is not just about access
to basic needs, it is about getting out and being a part of
the larger world.”
- Bay Area Caregiver

22. Gain Creators
Customer Jobs
Independence
- Eat healthy meals
- Get safe rides
- Human connection
- Lack awareness of
current solutions
- Don’t want to be “needy”
- Senior care solutions expensive
- Tech solutions complicated &
lack help
- Lack of trust is major barrier
- Desire personal,
human interaction
User Segment
- Empowering (can use on own)
- Easy; no new tech required (phone)
- Trusted; satisfaction guaranteed
- Responsive & schedulable
- Affordable, clear pricing
- Provides human touch
Products
& Services
Phone access to:
- Meal delivery
- Ride services
- Access to previously unknown
resources, incl those otherwise
unreachable by phone
- Reduce life pressures; create
convenience
- Enable budgeting w/clear,
predictable pricing
- Preserve independence;
reduce anxiety about aging
- Trusted & guaranteed;
reduce uncertainty
- Remove barrier of tech
adoption
- Provide human connection
Customer
Jobs
Peace of mind
- Busy & balancing priorities
- Geographic separation
- Lack of tech adoption by
senior
- Crisis-driven solution finding
- Senior care solutions
expensive
- Reduced anxiety over care
- Reduced schedule burden
- Increased connection to senior
- Predictable spending
Gains
Users
Buyers
Pains
Gains
Pains
Gain
Creators
Pain
Relievers
“Improved” access to
services doesn’t mitigate
concerns about aging — it
amplifies them!

23. “I don’t want to be a part of a service where I wouldn't
know the driver.”
- Older adult, Palo Alto

24. chapter 2:
silver concierge (b2b)

25. chapter 2: b2b concierge
week 6: 84 interviews
Hypothesis:
If caregivers won’t intermediate to deliver
Silver Concierge to older adults, perhaps
elder living companies and facilities might….

26. chapter 2: b2b concierge
week 6: 84 interviews
Independent-living
facilities, senior
apartments, and
55+ villages will
want to partner
with us to outsource
service delivery

27. chapter 2: b2b concierge
week 6: 84 interviews
Volunteers are
enough to fill most
of our service
requests...
sounds interesting,
but we’re only doing
a few Uber rides a
month...

28. chapter 2: b2b concierge
week 7: 96 interviews
Positive feedback, but no one is really
grabbing this out of our hands...

29. chapter 2: b2b concierge
week 7: 96 interviews
(PIVOT)

30. chapter 3:
CareCoach | the pivot

31. chapter 3: CareCoach
week 7: 96 interviews
What we knew
- Older adults often don’t think there’s a problem
- Acquiring older adults as users is really hard (high CAC)
- Service provision doesn’t address loneliness/isolation
- Extreme price sensitivity
- High-touch service important => unit economics tough
- Caregivers are overwhelmed, overworked, and want support

32. Research and mastery of
latest senior-tech and
pricing
Logistics of on-demand
response to questions
Product and service
providers
AARP
Senior Activity Centers
Senior-housing
advisory+referral services
Caregiver Cara is 40-50
with a parent who is 75-90
and still living
independently but starting
to struggle
Cara is employed, busy
and has children of her
own
Cara is overwhelmed
Cara is worried about
affording care
Our customers are
product and service
providers (uber, lyft,
nursing homes, gadgets)
hoping to reach caregivers
and seniors
Personalized, expert
support to help you
navigate caring for an
older loved one
Trusted resource would
reduce time and stress
associated with
“becoming an expert”
caregiver
Transparent pricing
Emotional need- Guilt and
fear
Acquisition via web search
Mommy blogs
Caregiver blogs
Hospitals
Senior-housing
advisory+referral services
Employees committed to
providing gold-standard
content and service
Effective branding
Get: “acquire via online
search
Keep: quality product,
emails on latest tech
advances/products
Grow: Viral loop is critical;
“up-sell” to consulting
services
Referral fee from service providers
“Premium” personalized coach/consultant (could build in house or
partner with other service)
Biggest cost driver (unit economics/variable costs) is customer
acquisition
chapter 3: CareCoach
week 7: 96 interviews
CareCoach
BMC

33. What we found…
- Local knowledge critical
(scalability challenge)
- Acquisition is still challenging
(caregivers don’t necessarily
look online)
- “There are so many things I
know I should be doing, I don’t
even know where to start.”
- BUT: Huge, pressing pain points
around being a caregiver
chapter 3: CareCoach
week 8-9: 118 interviews

34. Focus on Caregivers
so what
comes next?

35. We didn’t find product-market
fit. But we uncovered a whole
lot of lessons.

36. THANK YOU
the teaching team: steve, steve, and jeff
our wonderful mentors: justin wickett & mar hershenson
our LLP classmates
our interviewees, testers, and supporters

37. Silver Concierge
Appendix:
Market Sizing and Customer Relationship Funnel

38. The
Opportunity
Total available market
(TAM):
Americans age 75+ not
living in nursing homes or
other full-care facilities
(US Census, US Dept. of HHS)
~18.1M
Served available market
(TAM):
...living in urban and major
suburban areas (50%) with
access to family or friend
caregivers (65%)
(US Admin. on Aging, Institute
on Aging )
~5.9M
Target market:
...with household incomes of
>$50,000 (49%)
(US Admin. on Aging)
~2.9M

39. Get
our B2C
Customer Relationships
Keep GrowAcquire:
Online Advertising
Traditional
Advertising:
Radio, print
(AARP)
Activate:
Create account +
pay first monthly fee
CAC:$100 LTV Revenue: $3,900 LTV Profit: $1,060*
Parent/Child connection
Deals from partners
Upsell:
Additional Services (if
partner revenue model)
Premium: In-person;
Tech support
Cross-Sell:
Lead-generation for
other products+
services: Evolve home
Modification,
Lindycare
*Lifetime @ 4 years

40. Get
our B2B2C
Customer Relationships
Keep GrowAcquire:
Direct Sales to
Independent Living
communities
Partnerships with
Senior Centers
Activate:
Activated accounts
with communities
CAC:$16,800 LTV Revenue: $457,500 LTV Profit: $97,500*
Sales leverage
Bulk pricing
Upsell:
Additional services
Tech support
Cross-Sell:
Lead-generation for
the independent
communities from
outside customers?
*Lifetime @ 5 years

41. CareCoach Appendix:
What would be next

42. What (would be) next:
TurboTax for Caregivers
Customer: Caregivers
Pain:
“Holy Cow, I now need to take care of my parent, I don’t even
know where to start or what to do”
Pain reliever:
A trusted platform to guide caregivers who are just getting
started and perhaps to help manage their finances as their
loved ones age further.
Revenue: Advertisement (likely through placement and
lead generation rather than banner ads). Potential to upsell for
finance management (fee basis) in future product iteration.