Join us as we dive into the world of AI with Rick Robinson, VP of Innovation at the AgeTech Collaborative from AARP! Hosted by Neal K. Shah, CEO of CareYaya, and Nirvana Tari, Chief Patient Officer.
CareYaya is the #1-rated solution for in-home senior care across America, providing industry-leading quality care at the most affordable rates. It is known especially for delivering the most reliable and affordable overnight senior care and 24-7 care in many major metro areas including Atlanta, Boston, San Francisco, and Washington D.C.
CareYaya is a celebrated and proud member of the AgeTech Collaborative from AARP.
AARP is the largest nonprofit, nonpartisan U.S. organization dedicated to empowering people aged 50+ through advocacy, services, research, and benefits. The AgeTech Collaborative from AARP is an ecosystem launched by AARP that brings together startups, investors, enterprises, testbeds, and service providers to accelerate technology innovations aimed at making aging easier and improving quality of life. Since its launch in 2016, it has invested roughly $6 million across over 80 AgeTech startups, helping them advance from pilot to market-ready solutions. Its mission is to discover innovators, accelerate technology deployment, and foster collaboration to drive meaningful impact in the growing $45 trillion longevity economy.
Full Episode Transcript
hey everyone thanks so much for joining us So super excited today We're here with the one and only Rick Robinson
who leads the H Techch collaborative from ARP So we're going to get into the nitty-gritty on what that means in a few
minutes but let's kick it off super interesting Rick tell us if somebody only watches the first couple of minutes
of this what's one future or really hot take that you want to leave people with
oh boy Um I would say that this opportunity is one
that if you do not get involved in now you're you're going to regret it because
this is the space where there is frankly the largest amount of money uh to be
captured and the biggest audience to be served and the largest group of people
who are currently being underserved Wow that's that's awesome So FOMO which
we know is a major driver of human motivation especially innovation you know thank you so much for addressing
that and I think that's awesome that you kicked it off with kind of market size and unmet need That's awesome to all the
innovators and uh entrepreneurs out there um that have cool ideas This is where the action is going to be So get
in now So yeah we've gone from like uh companies who are in the H tech space sort of being treated as a surprise like
what are you doing and we're moving now into more of well that's kind of obvious that you'd be focusing on that category
and soon I think it'll be more of an imperative kind kind of like AI today if your
company doesn't have AI in it it's like what are you doing and the right time to get into AI was five years ago right
like you know you got to think ahead of the trend exactly and I think that that that that's and we'll get into that in the conversation but you know the
demographics of the country and of the world are super obvious so it's like if you want to think ahead of what the world's going to be like in 2030 You got
to start planning now and that's where the winners are going to be That's great Totally Now that you mentioned that I'm curious to know what you wish people
knew about H Techch and more importantly what is the most surprising innovation that you've seen in Htech recently
well we kind of touched on it already I mean you know as of I think it was a couple of years ago our research
indicated that this space is an 8 trillion opportunity in the US alone Wow
And in uh and by 2050 which is not that far away uh you're talking about like
almost 30 trillion and this is uh the market opportunity size Um and then
worldwide you know it's going to reach I think in 2050 I think our numbers are like 96
trillion So these numbers are just you can't even really grasp them The point
is it's enormous and just going to be getting bigger and bigger over the next
decades Um so that's one thing to consider Um
so uh you know you had one other question to follow up on that What was that yeah Sorry just really quickly for
people at home He said trillion with a T not billion not million Correct Industry
96 trillion Yeah I can't know how many zeros that is but that's a lot Um I was
asking you what you think is the most surprising innovation that you've seen in the H tech space recently
Surprising um let's see What made you be like whoa I
didn't expect that Well you know I have seen we've got a couple of companies um
who are using AI to and your camera on your phone to be able to measure a lot
of things just by pointing it at your face Wow Including vitals and other measures and and also being able to
register your voice to determine is there a potential here for depression
etc So you know AI is being imple you know being integrated into products in
very practical ways that are also surprising and sometimes amazing Um so
those those things are are um are really interesting because I I it's very it's
it's fun to think about what the potential is and what we think is coming around the corner but it's uh awesome to
see it in uh in an application that's being executed today Um one one of those
apps is called together So you can check that out yourself Together All right that's pretty good to
know I mean that's I feel like a lot of the times like AI can be like maybe like
villainized and things like that but then you hear things like this and you're like "Oh my gosh that is the most incredible thing in the entire world
What have we been doing without AI this whole time you know?" So it's really cool to hear that from an AI pioneer
like yourself Yeah there's um there's uh you know a
lot of people you know don't realize that they're using AI already Just doesn't say AI on it um to some degree
you know deterministic AI has been around a very long time Um you know use an ATM machine in a way you were using
AI Um yeah So so a lot of people no matter the
age uh have been engaged with with artificial intelligence in a variety of ways and that's something that we'd like
to remind people who are very cautious about today's generative AI which is very different than yesterday's AI but
um but it is a way to kind of indicate and educate people that hey by the way
um you're already using it Wow Right
Who would have thought well Rick Robinson is leading a the hack
collaborative from AAP which is connecting startups and investors in the 8 trillion dollar longevity market As we
mentioned earlier um he is a serial entrepreneur and a former executive at wonderful companies like Politico and
the National Geographic but now he's on a mission to make aging awesome through
technology So I feel like we all want to know Rick We want we all want to get to
know Rick before the collaborative So tell us three fun facts about yourself before you joined H Techch H fun facts
Um you're like there's too many to pick I know Just I don't think people find it
very interesting But um one thing I I've learned about myself was I'm always late
to realizing that I'm too early Oh So that means I spent a lot of time have
spent a lot of time going down rabbit holes with new products and technology
where that say the audience wasn't ready for it yet Um and years later they're ready
So that's kind of an important lesson for myself but I'm I'm I'm still doing it So um facts about myself I don't know
I you know I built um kind of an early deterministic bot in chat rooms as an
experiment at uh digital cityol in I think 1998
Um and this sat inside of a chat room and depending on keywords that people typed it would pop up and respond Um we
tested it with advertisements I know gag Uh but but other things And and I think
that was that was kind of interesting at the time Quite a bit of time ago 98 that was
Yeah 98 98 99 around there Um
and then uh prior to that actually in like 9193 19913 I edited a magazine um
about the online world before the web It's called BBS magazine and that's sort
of what um got me interested in the whole online world and the power of
connecting people uh via computers Um so
that uh that allowed me to really understand this space and get a write about it report on it and then
eventually moved to AOL where I kind of helped develop it a bit Um and also when
I was in high school I was um I was a paid caregiver Uh so I I grew up in
Southwest Florida in a town called Naples with a lot of retirees and that
was one of my summer jobs I would go and uh spend time with folks with dementia
Um so it's it's a bit of full circle for me Wow You're doing kara before there
was ky Yeah that's cool Yeah Um so that was uh
yeah it was it was rewarding but also kind of still informs today when I think
about different htech products um particularly in the area of dementia I
do think back on my brief time there and you know try to call on that a little
bit Wow that's that's awesome That's a fact that I didn't even really know about myself I do I do have to ask this
just for my own personal gain is I guess take yourself back to 1991 1993 those
first like years in like your career and things like that Do you did you see like the
innovation going as far as it is right now or did you expect more from where we are in 2025
yeah Where's my jetpack um uh no I think tricked us like they were
like "Oh by 2030 you'll be talking to holograms like Facebook anymore." And I'm like "Where is that i want my Yeah
it's a good point There are things that I definitely would have expected we'd have by now." Um
I did I did think that not just because of Hollywood but um for other reasons I
thought there would be embodied you know robotics that we'd be able to utilize as tools robots I should say um which were
very close as you know um and um
uh I yeah so let's see what else would I have thought
um kind of 5050 50 You're like "Some of it is farther than I thought but we need to catch up in other places." Yeah I I
think that's I think that's definitely true Um I think uh the evolution of
online connectivity and how people interact I did not anticipate
kind of the backlash uh people uh primarily as you can say as a result of
mobile technology being so connected to a device that they um aren't spending
time with other people Um so I you know I didn't imagine that In fact I thought
that people would be using online platforms to engage in groups as well as
onetoone um as opposed to spending time kind of more doom
scrolling not real time with other humans Yeah um which is it's sort of a
contrary message because again fast forward to today and I I fully believe that the social isolation issue which is
enormous um in part or in whole can be remedied with online communication um
kind of like what we're doing now but in other ways too So I don't know it's I guess you could say it's a mixed bag Um
yeah the social isolation thing I'm really glad you pointed that out because that's something that so many people
don't realize that's actually affecting our older adults each and every day right now I think the surgeon general
said something crazy like smoking a pack of cigarettes a day is worse than being
or being lonely is worse than smoking The same smoking pack Yeah Yeah 15 cigarettes I think is it Um yeah that's
that's definitely definitely the case Um and you know what's interesting is it
doesn't just go for older adults This also you know applies to younger people
let's say who are hold up playing video games for extended periods of time um
and then opt for that instead of communicate with other humans um in the
flesh So yeah it's an issue across the board Definitely
Yeah which you know um and it's been a double-edged sword because it's like
it's helping some people and it's harming the others So where do we find that balance i hope I hope that we can
get there in in yeah few short years But absolutely I I totally agree with that
Yeah And we um we actually built with and invested in um a VR product that uh
it's called El Cove And it was an effort to build a virtual environment where
people who were or are socially isolated can kind of engage and have sort of
virtual presence with one another in a virtual space And it was very popular or
should say is very popular with with a lot of people um particularly older adults And we found a lot of behaviors
where older adults would go into this environment with their say their grandchildren and be able to communicate
with them even though they were thousands of miles apart Wow So that was pretty interesting Uh we all know VR is
not necessarily the future but these these technologies are converging Yeah
AR and version of VR and then you throw in artificial intelligence to create
virtual um call them companions and you can imagine a future where it is a
confluence of this technology where uh people won't have to be lonely anymore
Absolutely Well I still remember this like it was yesterday I think FaceTime had maybe just come out and my
grandparents they live overseas So back then like it used to be you had to pay an additional amount of money to be able
to make the overseas calls and then there was like WhatsApp and other apps like that that you could download and it's for free and then FaceTime came
about and it was just so accessible and revolutionary I remember the first time my I think my cousin was taking a video
of my grandma FaceTiming me and she looked at the phone and looked behind it and obviously knew in her mind that I
wasn't behind the phone She was just like "What the heck is going on?" So that was really cool to see And like now
she has her own iPhone and she knows how to like call on FaceTime me and we have our scheduled calls like every week and
it's amazing So I love that technology
right i I think um with a lot of older adults uh it's sort of a strange thing to say
but I kind of credit Facebook and their mobile application
with advancing people's abilities to and desire to use technology Um
because if that's the only way you're going to be able to reach your children or your photos of your grandchild
uh you'll figure out a way to use it Um and you know we see power users among
people who are well into their 80s Um and so this notion and it is a notion
that older adults are not capable or don't desire to use technology is a
fallacy We see it every day The uh the bigger issue is there's not enough
companies like yours and others who are employing modern technology in an
accessible way to meet the needs of older adults and and those who care for
them who can be any age Um it's just such a huge opportunity and like I said
not enough companies are are looking at that Um and I can you know I could go on
about stories even over just the last few years while we've been building the
H Techch collaborative and trying to recruit investors and big enterprises
into the collaborative having conversations with investors who are like
why why would we invest in a yeah you know in in people who are aging out
meaning they're dying uh which uh was was great because it gave me an opportunity to tell them how wrong they
were and how they were missing an enormous opportunity by ignoring it And
um I think telling that story as well as importantly investors particularly in
the valley are aging into a place now where their parents Yes are starting to
find you know needs and being like "Hey why doesn't the X or Y or Z exist?" Y
and then these investors are like "Yeah why the hell doesn't that exist?" Uh you know uh you know then they get it Then
the light bulb goes off Yeah And then if we're able to compound that message with
"By the way it's a huge market opportunity." Yeah um you put those two
things together then they start to think about okay well what what what startups can I invest in in this space
uh and that's where we also try to come in um and at the same time on the other side of the market we try to work with
entrepreneurs a lot of them happen to be younger and say to them look you know
don't don't think about necessarily the next photo app photo sharing app or what have you think about this market and how
you can apply that to to them Yeah So you get investors understanding that
this is a big opportunity You get entrepreneurs thinking about it as well or being told
by investors you know forget about that look over here then we have an al have
this alchemy we hope Um so we're we're you know we're getting there Um but it
uh it takes time and it takes a lot of selling and articulating the message and
bringing data but also success of companies We need you know to be able to
show examples and then people like you and Neil who's out there you know pounding pounding the story Um you know
we need more people kind of doing that Yeah And that that's a thanks you know thanks Rick for sharing that because I
think that like it's I think we lost your audio Oh all right Rick's going to take a quick break and then come come
right back But I just wish I could give that guy a megaphone I mean I know that myself as like a Gen Z who had just
graduated from college I didn't I didn't know the first thing about Htech but just literally sitting down for five
minutes and doing the slightest bit of research and understanding how one first of all how fast our population is aging
and two how necessary these like innovations are to every single one of our lives and will be impacting every
single one of us one day because aging is a privilege and if you do get to get old then that's really really good for
you Um so yeah that's just my two Yeah I think I think the the most interesting
point that Rick made um you know which resonates is why people have not capitalized on the opportunity and I
think the operative word is yet and you know I think a lot of the investors let's say in venture you know which
traditionally funds innovation in this country are investing in things that they experience directly or that they
experience indirectly through friends family etc and I think many of them have just simply not gone through the
experience and I think that was like a really interesting and profound insight that as they age into kind of like a
older middle-aged demographic which I would consider you know myself I'm kind of in the mid mid of my age it's like
you see it firsthand when you're taking care of someone I mean I think even starting kara it's like I became a caregiver prior to that I was an
investor on Wall Street and I was like I didn't know anything about the caregiving or aging industry and then it happened to me and I was like whoa like
this industry sucks there's no innovation here and there's a massive need um and then that inspires you to
say okay let me go do something about it so I think the investors are likely in the same boat as well as they get into this point you know where they're taking
care of spouses aging parents etc Um you know they're going to be like "Oh wow." Like there's a massive unmet need And I
think that hopefully will catalyze a shift in the priorities Hey Rick can you hear us now yeah I can hear you Can you
hear me yeah Yeah Perfect Awesome We're back Awesome We're back Learning learning for us all Um here we'll just
jump right into it you know I think we're we're only a few questions in but I think this actually our conversation
before was a great stepping stone into um you know into this point that what you guys are saying what you're building
at H Techch Collaborative from ARP So maybe that's a good you know uh segue into that you know that you're building
this whole ecosystem you know bringing the other startups investors um you know I think you know Nan and I were talking
about this uh over the weekend and it was kind of interesting that you know in other instances where there's a big unmet need like when the US was racing
with the Soviets you know and and beating them in a space race NASA kind of came together and did all this
innovation brought all these people together that now ends up affecting society you know with we have things like memory foam GPS all these other
technologies you know and and you guys are kind of in this similar situation where ARP P is like a missiondriven
organization you know working to improve the experience of aging in the country Um and you know they're trying to
revolutionize you know this field and you're basically here at Mission Control leading it So you know yeah give us a
look of like what's happening behind the scenes you know what's critically like what's something that wouldn't be on the website you know uh but really something
that we would be surprised that's changing the game of aging and that what you guys are working on
Um well let's see Um you know we started the collaborative uh about three and a
half years ago from nothing It was just an idea and uh we had been working a
little bit with startups We'd also been building our own products internally Um
but we had this idea that you know maybe there needs to be a platform for
everybody in Htech to be able to kind of come together and support one another Um
but also maybe do deals with one another um and you know discover opportunities
etc etc So we um we just set about you know building the platform trying to
recruit companies talking to early stage investors uh mid-stage late stage investors etc Um
and then you know test bed organizations enterprises uh and of course startups and you know
it was a lot of in the early days three and a half years ago it was a lot of persuading and a lot of educating It
still is when we're trying to recruit companies but um you know now we've got
over 600 companies in just three and a half years Wow So we're we're very you
know proud of that Um and uh you know the behind the scenes it's a lot of um
you know the online platform allows anybody to come on you know retrieve all kinds of research
and and data They can connect with companies in the collaborative Uh they
can engage with um with one another directly oneonone They can attend
different events that we put on all kinds of things Um but we also have a great team small but a great team that
um kind of gets assigned to everybody in the collaborative and they're there to
help put people together So you come in and you're like you know we really want to connect with you know X company or Y
company Um can you help can you help do a warm introduction or you know um etc
And they do that So it's very hightouch behind the scenes and as a result of
that we've had you know a lot of I can't go into detail but we've had a lot of
successful connections that ended up with with deals and engagements and um
there have been acquisitions and you know all the things that we want to see happening um are starting to happen So
that's that's a lot of stuff that you don't see behind the scenes Um and I think Yeah Go ahead No I I I think
that that's like the perfect segue into um what I was going to say And Neil and I have actually been on the receiving end of um the the collaborative like
good deeds that they're doing And um we at Kerry were a part of the collaborative two years ago and found it
super super valuable And now we are really really proud to officially announce that our new venture counterforce health has also been
selected to be in the next cohort So round of applause really quick That's
pretty awesome Um but I am curious like from your perspective how do startups
similar to ours kind of shape the EOS ecosystem oh they they they in many ways define
the ecosystem So um startups are at the heart of the ecosystem Of course we've
got hundreds of other companies who come in um and not anybody can come in
They've got to pass a lot of hurdles Um some of them are internal ARP is um is
fairly strict to make sure companies that we bring in uh don't have a lot of say agism violations as an example Um
and so so we can't just bring in anybody and so um at the heart though are the
startups and we've got I think about 200 startups we've in the collaborative um
many of whom we've invested in as well and they define things partly because in
many ways they're the best of the best So the process to get into the collaborative as a startup is you have
to apply to a pitch competition You have to get accepted
to pitch and today that's you know we could we could open up an application
for a pitch that we do you know many throughout the year and in person Um and
we could get over 100 applications which is awesome uh but we can only bring in
say 8 to 10 to pitch So we've got to go through and pair them down and and uh
then you know those 8 to 10 pitch and from those we sometimes do not invite
any of them into the collaborative Sometimes it's just a couple um because
we're looking for those companies that you know have great founders
that have an application of let's say technology that's um put forward in an
accessible interesting new or novel way that have some traction
and um you know that we believe that we can help them So after all of that they
come into our accelerator program and we work with them very closely hands-on
very hightouch for like eight weeks Then they graduate into the collaborative And
so what we end up getting is like the best of the best from around the world
into the ecosystem And you know you know founders a lot of them are very
assertive They're very aggressive They have very um you know they've got their their point of view which we you know we
we want And in many ways they then express to the market and to others in
the ecosystem here's where I think things are going or need to go And um so
in some occasions you know big big corporations who are part of the collaborative we get introduced we
introduce them to startups and that helps them think about meeting their market in a different way Um so yeah the
the the startups are kind of the heartbeat of of the ecosystem for sure
Nice And actually you know I'm glad you brought up the point about kind of like the leadership and you know how like that really especially on the founder
side you know how people have opinions Actually interestingly enough it seems like you guys have had um a big leadership announcement too in the last
few months And I've kind of like noticed it you know that um ARP at the top level announced a new CEO um with a really
impressive background in healthcare and innovation Dr Mter Jordan Um we followed
her immediately on LinkedIn It was like looking at her background I was like "Okay damn." like this is like a real force you know of like um healthc care
background innovation background kind of like an interesting leader you know to take over an organization like ARP seems
like a real force of nature And then I've been following a lot of her videos and what she's doing kind of in the community It's like really cool And yeah
would love to you know kind of hear uh from you you know is she leaning into like the age tech thing um what kind of
like new energy and fresh ideas and momentum is she kind of you know bringing to the bringing to the organization yeah absolutely I mean
she's just sort of a brute force intelligence It's um it's uh it's it's
very different Um the energy she brings is I feel is optimistic It is forward
thinking It is um you know it's bold and
assertive and um kind of in a way kind of open-ended like
the sense I get is why aren't we doing that why couldn't we be doing that kind
of questioning things that in the past might have been kind of um well you know
that's not ap Yeah So she's sort of opening it up to well why isn't that a herp um which is a kind of a it's a
breath of fresh air And she totally gets innovation the htech collaborative what
we're doing Uh and effectively is saying you know go bigger do more Wow Um that's
awesome So and she's very rational You know I think that probably relates to
the fact that she is a physician and she's looking at facts and data Yeah And
um obviously has the human side of it as you see from the videos Yes But um but
you know you bring her a story a narrative that's backed by data that
indicates where things are going and why we need to be there and she's she's open
to it Wow So it's uh you know it's it's pretty exciting to have someone like that as part of I was looking at her
profile and I was like um I kind of want to be her when I grow up Yeah
Yeah She's she's um she's a force She certainly is So I we do have a little
over 10 minutes left and we do have some pretty awesome audience Hot questions now Nana We do Um I'll I'll I'm gonna
ask like maybe one or two more from us and then I'll turn it over to the audience because we have some great
engagement from um our folks that are listening in But I've just been really curious to know So let's just like fast
forward five years It is now 2030 What kind of AI tools Rick do you think are going to really become everyday support
for older adults um I'm probably in the minority here but I do think embodied AI um some form of
robots that you can interact with talk to um but also who can be kind of
companions uh slash uh assistants in your home Yeah I do
think we're going to see those uh in an affordable way um you know ambient services
These are anything from just simply being able to make a request into the
air in in your call it your smart home or retrofitted home um and be able to
get a response and then have a conversation without necessarily a human
having to be in that loop um those I think that's going to be a standard for
sure Um and you know on a more kind of micro level and near-term level I do think you
know everybody's everybody's in a group chat you know um your iMessage or if
you're an Android your uh your your chat group or you're probably part of multiple Yeah Um and you're probably
part of a family group chat where you're maybe talking about the care of your mom
or your dad or or what have you Um why wouldn't you want an AI companion in
there who can kind of track the conversation remember everything that's
been said remind people about things that mom might need or have has said or
etc Um as a a support beacon if you will I think that's going to become very
common for uh for people to have is um in a group setting one person or one
entity in that group will not be flesh and blood Yeah that's that's pretty cool
I mean because like it's so many little things can fall through the gaps and AI can be the glue that fills that in for
you and I think so That's that's awesome I love that insight Um I h I don't know
Do we have time for me to ask one more question Neil yeah Yeah I would say unhinged opinion You know I think that all right we can ask a couple more
questions but I guess yeah Rick what you know any kind of hot tick or unhinged opinion where AI is going to be in two years because I know you're posting a
lot on LinkedIn so curious to get rid of that Yeah unhinged Um
I I think it'll be common place for uh people to never fully
die And what I mean by that is being able to
being able to um uh to train an AI on all things that are
Rick Um and being able to do it practively but also from artifacts that I've left
behind Um and then of course my voice and my image Um to have all that data Uh
we can already do this in a rudimentary way today Wow If you have that data captured
uh future technology would be able to make a virtual version of me where my
grandkids well I'm never going to have grandkids but uh anybody who wanted to
could have a conversation with a version of me
going forward I that's my Wow that's really that's really cool That's really interesting Haven't sp thought about
that much but digital immortality right that's kind of cool Followup So would it like do you think that in this perfect
world it would think like you like it would answer a question the same way that like it would think that you would answer that question well currently uh
you know it would it would it could depending on how much I can input into train the AI with my personality um ways
I've answered questions maybe ingesting this this very video um to get a sense
for my cadence and how I think or don't think and so on So to a degree I think
uh it will and I think over time even
after I'm gone I think technology will be able to be crafted to retrofit
who I was and bring that forward into a product that could also be contributed
to by relatives to say no not quite this he would actually be more like that Um
so my point is it's not necessarily what the technology is now It's about the
data that's available now right to preserve it So later as things advance
um these uh virtual humans will be able to be very representative Wow Whether we
whether we want that or not it's a different discussion I'm just saying Yeah No there's good there's good side
and bad side of that But either way it's super interesting to think about Someone did just comment I would like a Rick
Robinson doll that I could ask product questions to Honestly me too
Go I I just realized you can show the comments here So look here You can you can do that So that's Todd Feldman Thank
you That's awesome Rick So start uploading your digital avatar you know training the model so to speak So that's
pretty cool I've got I've got a rudiment rudimentary version of one that not ready to share
Of course not ready to share That's awesome I've been thinking about this
two years Nah six months Then there's other Okay so now we can switch over to comments because we have a few minutes
left and just still learning how to use interface but apparently never you realize we can click on these and yeah
here's Katherine um Ambrose is asking PBS Kansas Uh there's uh something
called empowering seniors Um so there's some great topics for future production And then a followup is how are you
getting your information out on television what would you like to share with viewers i guess Rick feel free to
take it Wow Um you know we're the hi Collaborative is we're a fairly small group and um you know we we have like an
outsiz impact Um so we don't have a big marketing team to be able to push things
out um with SEM SEO Yeah um in other ways uh over social but um
in other you know getting on television programs we've uh we've we've had some
success there where we had inbound wanting to know more about uh H Techch and Holl Collaborative and uh in
particular around events like our CES presence Um so we've gotten you know
different different programs have come to us there but if uh I forget what it
was in Kansas was interested PBS you should certainly Yeah should definitely reach out And more importantly you
should reach out to Ker Yaya We're we're really here to elevate and to promote
the the our startups Um because like I said those are they're the ones who are
providing the value to consumers the HA collaborative is more of a B2B platform
and ecosystem um to help these companies thrive Um so I would say yeah reach out
to me and I can bring other startups of interest um but also reach out to Kerrya
Nice Yeah I think that's awesome you know I appreciate it And I think both you know what you guys did at CS I think
was awesome And I think in two or three years you guys have kind of blown that up And this is like an awareness and a
media game And I do think it's like when you have like an unmet need like that making it cool giving the idea to people
that hey this is something you can be part of I think even doing the big booth seeing that there's other innovations
going on I think all that becomes kind of like circular you know so I think that's awesome Yeah We we first went to
see Yes uh six six years ago maybe we had a we had a tiny space it was uh I
don't know it was like 15 by 12 feet or something and uh and still we had people
coming up to us like what the hell is AP doing here um but it was it was it was
awesome to be able to turn it around and say "Well let me tell you why we're here." And take a look at some of the
products and some of the startups who are working in this space and people are always kind of shocked or kind of blown
away by it Yeah Um and fast forward to this year um you know we've got an
awesome events team led by um Amelia Haye some of the audience probably know Yeah We had like a 14,000
I think square foot space including a pickle pickle ball court 20 startups and
so on And so again that just allowed a larger audience a lot of techies uh to
kind of walk up and be like "Wait what?" Um and um you know I think it's it's
helped us you know recruit a lot of uh companies and and startups to rethink
this space Yeah Getting in front of them And you know one thing I'll share on that is one of the venture investors
actually told me at the conference that they scout around They walk around and
see what's happening every year Yeah And they look for trends and they were literally like I don't know anything
about age tech I'm not interested in the thing at all And they're like I've just been coming to the conference every year for the last 15 years and I noticed in
the last three years this this what you guys are doing a a collaborator from ARP went from like a new thing that I'd
never heard about to grew 4 500% And they're like I don't need to know anything I'm focusing on that So it's a
kind of like interesting market signal right people are looking for these signals So the fact that you guys are doing this big thing a lot of people are
coming I do feel like it it creates a self-reinforcing momentum So I think that's awesome because that is at least
you know example of one where somebody who didn't know anything about it wasn't interested in it is now paying wrapped
attention going back to their office and doing tons of research So you know thank you guys for that you know I think just
for bringing awareness and I guess maybe final question to wrap it up you know I guess what's one thing you want people to walk away with you know remembering
from this conversation what do you wish people knew more or understood about H techch not just as a market but as as a
mission you know I think just kind of inspirational final words Well you know we're we're here to make aging easier
Period And stop Um and you know people should should think that age tech is
modern tech It's not it's not some sort of uh creaky
old world technology We're about products that are bolstered by modern
technology in an accessible way for a very giant audience Um and you know we
are all aging or or I should say andor we're caring for somebody who is an
older adult So the mark the market place is just it's it's mind-blowing um once
people start to understand the breadth of this space So I would just say um you
know people should consider that and sort of um whenever thinking about if
you're a founder an entrepreneur if you're an investor or if you're in a big company thinking about how do I expand
my audience or serve them better Think about this population And if you're
unclear on how to reach them come to the ht collaborative
That's what we're here for Absolutely And I mean I think I say this for both me and Neil We could literally spend
hours and hours and hours talking about this And there's We didn't even go through half of the questions that we had planned So yeah Yeah I might want to
do another one That's have to plan another one Maybe an end of summer recap
or something Um just follow up and see or maybe I don't know Maybe Dr Vinter
Jordan wants to join you on the next one You know I think you you know you never know try You guys are really
single-handedly moving the market here and it's a massive market So yeah it's awesome Absolutely 100% There's still so
many comments in the chat I will uh try and just um you know answer all of those after the live Uh but we do appreciate
everybody for coming out today This was so wonderful Thank you Rick for taking the time for all of the wonderful insights And we will not leave you guys
hanging We will bring Rick back That is a promise Thanks Rick That was awesome
Yeah See you all Thank you Thank you