[kyro]

I'm super-impressed and really happy to see this recent batch of YC companies tackling some very underserved and unsexy problems.

While Amulyte is not a new idea, I do think their product is a much-needed improvement on what's existed for some time. But will that improvement be enough for it to be a widely adopted product? I don't think so. Products offering similar solutions have been around with moderate levels of success, and neither seniors nor their caretakers are technologically savvy enough to see an accelerometer or self-quantification as selling points. And while selling to nursing homes might seem a good idea, they're already relatively well-monitored settings that account for only 20% of deaths due to falls in people ages 65yo+ [0].

I think this is mostly a marketing issue, and an interesting one. This is a morbid product. Buying it acknowledges to some degree that you're old, and on your way out. It's not like life insurance where you buy it once and don't think about it. Nor is it like taking medications that are contributing to your health. A product like this serves as a constant reminder of your fragility while not providing any immediately obvious benefit. Imagine putting it around your neck every day. Beyond the inherent psychological barriers that a product of this nature can create, marketing for this type of solution just hasn't seemed to help. Life Alert, a wear-around-your-neck monitor for the elderly that's been around for a long time, has been known for its "I've fallen and I can't get up!" campaign [1]. What elderly person or caregiver would ever want to relate to someone in that commercial?

I don't know what the answer to that problem is yet. How do you get people to acknowledge the eventual death of their beloved elderly and push them to be proactive in taking preventative measures without using scare tactics? I'm not sure, but coincidentally, I finally got to reading the article Slow Ideas by Atul Gawande [2] this morning that touches on similar problems -- problems that are insidious and have no immediate solution. He seems to strengthen PG's points on doing things that don't scale [3]. In particular, he talks about how marketing efforts, efforts that scaled, in India to combat cholera were unsuccessful, and how opting for the door-to-door method resulted in significant drops in mortality. The message of the article was that these problems require more than just slick ads and pamphlets. They require changing the norms, changing the way people perceive these problems. And from his experience, the most efficient and successful way of doing that is to do things that do not scale. Maybe that's the answer.

A product like this isn't just a shiny new toy someone orders from Amazon, or backs on Kickstarter. This touches on some very deep problems in our society and its views on preventative health, mostly that we don't take it seriously. I think a company like Amulyte should really focus its efforts on creating an effective marketing strategy. They may have the most advanced monitor in the world, but that won't tear down many of the barriers that exist for this type of product. And if they can crack that marketing problem, then there's a lot more success out there to be had. Some food for thought, Amulyte guys. Good luck! I'll definitely be watching closely.

[0] http://www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/Falls/nursing.h...

[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQlpDiXPZHQ

[2] http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/07/29/130729fa_fact_...

[3] http://paulgraham.com/ds.html

[tmh88j]

>very underserved and unsexy problems.

I find it sad that we have to give a company/startup praise for this. A business exists (the majority, at least) to make money, not to look "fun." If you have an idea that will make money, go for it. Don't try to squeeze pennies out of something that isn't there. It's as simple as that. That wasn't directed at you Kyro, just the "collective you" that is everyone.

[jacalulu]

Thanks for the feedback and input, you bring up some great points. We are currently working on a few ideas to make this device more senior friendly by adding features that would make it more than an alert pendant for them. We feel that the best way to get it right is to actually run a pilot program and get real user feedback. Right now we are focusing on solving a pain point, which for our target user is the fear of falling outside while alone. Once we have perfected this, we will be playing around with a few ideas during our pilot program. You can expect to see some new iterations and ideas emerge down the road that we are hoping will make this more than a simple help pendant.

As for selling to nursing homes, the stats might seem like a reassuring thing, but you might also be missing the underlying story. We have spoken with several retirement homes, and they have told us multiple stories about how staff (not necessarily at their home) have wanted to stop residents from leaving the grounds because they are worried that if something happens they won't be able to get help - and in some cases they do actually stop them from leaving. Point being, sometimes stats look good, because the rules and guidelines put in place to keep them looking good actually have a negative impact on a persons overall happiness and well being. So although the stats look nice, the bigger picture could still reveal that something is broken.

You are very right that this will be a marketing challenge, but I have hope. In my own case, my grandmother lives alone and my family wants her to continue doing so, but we also worry. Rather than having to ask her to move to a retirement home one day, it would be great if we could use a system like this to allow her to keep her freedom and independence while still having peace of mind that she will be ok. Our goal is to try to make a device like this feel empowering, rather than morbid, but we acknowledge that it will take some time. I have faith that something can be done in this space though because when you take a look at it, you can see how obviously broken it is ("I've fallen and I can't get up" is the perfect example of just how broken it is).

I actually read the article Slow Ideas last week and found it to be a great read. I agree that ads and pamphlets will not solve this problem, but doesn't mean we should shy away from trying to fix this broken industry. At YC we are constantly told to do things that do not scale at first, it's a strategy that has proven to work, and I'm all for trying it in this scenario.

Thanks again for your feedback, definitely some great food for thought :)

[mattzito]

If I can make a suggestion from my limited experience dealing with the older folks in my family - there's a number of older folks who see the current situation as you age as basically a binary choice: A) you stay home and maintain independence at the risk of having something bad happen to you or b) you go into a assisted living facility and give up your life and independence in exchange for better safety.

It's interesting to watch how assisted living facilities have been trying to mitigate b). A number of facilities I've seen recently are structured more as apartments where nurses, doctors, and additional care are on call when needed. Residents get to design their rooms when they move in, bring in their own furnishings, etc. It's trying to straddle a middle ground between a and b.

Similarly, I think amulyte can be marketed to families as peace of mind and care - and to the older folks as independence. This little button lets you do what you want without worrying about how someone will get to you if there's an issue.