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It’s difficult to stay independent as you get older. In the next ten years over 11 million adults will stop driving due to age related impairments. Many of them will be forced to rely on a patchwork of friends, family, community members and caregivers to get around.
I experienced this reality first hand when my grandmother lost her ability to drive. She lives far from relatives and doesn’t have access to public transportation. She had always imagined she would stay in her home forever. She didn’t want to leave and asked for help.
The first version of GoGoGrandparent let grandma easily request a Lyft or Uber ride by dialing a phone number from her flip phone. It was the first time she was able to take herself out after dark in a year.
That was 2016 and since then we’ve realized that transportation for seniors is a lot more than just ‘dumbing down’ technology. Getting a ride has tons of moving parts that get harder to handle as people age. GoGoGrandparent is successful today because we actively manage and monitor the requested trips. It’s been the key to making our product work for seniors. Today about 40% of our clients are using us with smartphones because “it’s just easier”.
Because we’ve witnessed this fundamental ‘things-get-harder-as-you-age’ problem we believe that GoGoGrandparent is positioned to take what we’ve done with rides and solve the caregiving problems all of us will eventually face. Our mission is to give people the choice to live in their homes for as long as they want.
We’re growing quickly nationwide and we’re looking to bring on folks who want to work on hard problems that directly impact everyone’s future wellbeing. If you have thoughts on what we’re doing please share here or reach out to me at justin@gogograndparent.com.