Silvenest Is a Homesharing Platform That Enables Older Adults to Thrive in Place

 

Tell us a little bit about Silvernest.

Silvernest is a home sharing platform. So we primarily help older adults that have extra space in their home connect with compatible roommates you know, to help increase income socialization as they’re trying to age in place.

How does it actually work? Let’s say I’m 65 years old, I’m an empty-nester. I have a spare bedroom or two, I go onto your website and…?

We try and provide a really easy interface to, you know, describe your room, upload pictures, set specific guidelines around how you’re willing to share your home and different spaces within your home.

You know, set up price, et cetera. So you basically go through the process of listing your home and then you can post that and then start to get personalized recommendations for potentially compatible roommates based on certain preferences, you set around kind of who you want to live with, who you envision living with.

And then we facilitate the ability to talk back and forth. You know, you can have people come visit the home. And then we provide the whole process for setting up a lease setting up payments and then also provide an insurance offering as well to protect you and the housemate. And then honestly, what we find often is that sometimes people have kind of forgotten how to live with a roommate.

So a lot of what we’ve been doing lately is providing more kind of tools and help and content to really relearn how to. You know, live with a roommate and take advantage of, of that time. 

how do you screen the housemate and the house owner? 

There’s a few different levels of that.

Obviously the integrity and security of our community is super important. So we do some more formal screening. We have background checks, identity verification, just to make sure who’s in the system is who they say they are. And then there’s more kind of just. Screening around, like I said, your preferences you know, kind of, what’s your schedule, what’s your preference around noise level, all things like that, that kind of come into play when you’re living with someone else.

And that helps us give more recommendations around here. People that may be good fits. You know, here are people that might have some different points of view on, on kind of how to live together, but you know, we like to let people still reach out and have those conversations. So it’s, it’s really around just your preferences for how you want to live.

So basically the whole idea around Silvernest is that people can not live alone so they can have companionship and they can also have some extra income. And when you  survey,  your user base, what is the main motivation? Is it a companionship for the extra income? 

It’s funny. I think.

Often we see that people sort of come for the extra income and stay for the companionship. And you know, I think if you talk to users, when they’re first considering this, the original impetus is often you know, . My costs are going up, but my fixed income isn’t necessarily meeting that need. I want some extra disposable income, and this is a great way to get that.

And then you talk to them six months later, a year later, and they couldn’t imagine living without a roommate, just because of the extra help around the house. You know, having someone to share a glass of wine with watch a movie together that becomes sort of the sticky part of it. But I think we are seeing more users over time, especially given COVID and just the reality of social isolation that.

Really are kind of starting with that. I just, you know, want someone else in the house? I talked to one user in this quote, really stuck with me. I kind of asked her, you know, why did she consider home sharing? And she was living alone and she actually had a life coach she was working with and the life coach  asked her kind of what are the periods in your life where you felt most enriched in your living situation?

And one of those periods was. In college with several roommates where there was always someone around, always someone to talk to, always someone you know, wondering when you were coming home. And so that realization kind of led her well, you know, I can still do this now. I have three extra bedrooms.

I can create that type of community in my existing home. So I thought that was a really cool sort of reframe of her situation and problem. 

And when you speak to your users, do they prefer someone to come and live with them who’s kind of their own age or some of them prefer younger people. Do you, do you even have like a demand from younger individuals looking to share a room with an older adult?

Yeah, so that it really it’s surprising to me how varied that is. So a lot of users you know, want to live with someone that’s similar age group you know, similar preferences, but we do have a lot of intergenerational pairings. And honestly, on the renter side, there’s much more diversity just because I think that problem is much more universal,  of just finding affordable places to live or more affordable places to live.

So there are a lot of our users that prefer that intergenerational connection. You know, looking to house a student who might not be able to afford rent close to where they’re going to school or where they work. We also have some really interesting conversations going with you know, service organizations, or we ran a pilot with teach for America, for example, where you know, often there’s people find it really hard to find affordable housing options where they’re trying to volunteer.

You know, or do good for the community. And I think those are great partnerships for a lot of our,  homeowners who, you know, sometimes are looking for shorter term stays or longer term stays. So there’s a lot of variety. 

And you mentioned that sometimes  the housemate also helps around the house a little bit.

So are there any instances where there is no exchange of money where it’s just like a barter deal? So I will deal with housework and I get to live in your house for free. 

We hear about that from time to time. Typically it’s just a reduction in rent. So people reduce rent, you know, 25%, 50% for that extra help.

And honestly it depends on sort of the extra help they agree upon. But normally there’s still, there’s still some rent payment involved, but it is, you know, a helpful reduction in rent. And then obviously, you know, we’re not a platform that’s meant to provide, you know, deep caregiving or any type of that service.

So we try and you know, help coach users to  set realistic expectations around kind of what help is, is needed around the house. And you know, users normally find find it to be really helpful. 

Absolutely. So who can use, silvernest? Where is it available currently? 

We are us based. We, we have listings, I think in 32 of 50 States.

And we have a few kind of markets, Florida Colorado, California that are you know, most active and you know, anyone can use Silvernest. Again, we don’t have any age limitations or restrictions, but we’ve really focused in on older adults just because I think the need there is more acute often.

And they’re often the ones that have the extra space you know, again are looking for, for ways to better connect with others, kind of feeling isolated. So that’s typically who uses the site.

last time we spoke, you mentioned to me that silver necks actually got acquired by a larger organization.

So how does that change things? Whether internally or externally. 

You know, it doesn’t change much. We still are very autonomous. and  independent, but we have extra resources when, and if we need it. And I think, you know, the, the greatest thing for me is over the last year, just to see the extent with which we can invest in this idea and this business has been extraordinary.

We’ve grown the team. You know, we’re getting to release more new features, listen to customers better just cause we have more again, more resources to approach this problem. And I think, think a little bit longer term, you know, early in the startup phase, you know, you have to plan for that next round.

You know, what metrics do you need to hit to. To raise money, you know, that that is often your thinking and it can put pressure on those short-term needs, those short-term metrics. What’s been great is just the, how freeing it is. I think, to think longer term around how do we really make an impact and how do we best in this idea to make home sharing a thing.

And I think that. That is probably the biggest challenge is you know, it’s funny when you graduate from college, getting that first job, it’s often a no brainer to live with other people to make ends meet, save a little more, but I think we have this. This sort of perception of life being  linear progression.

And once you’ve moved out on your own, no, not necessarily going back to having a roommate. So I think a lot of our responsibility is just sharing stories, educating people that, you know, this can be a great option. It’s not for everyone, but it can be a great option if you’re looking for that companionship and extra income.

So you’ve been working King in tech for quite some time. Now, one of your previous positions was actually with Kapost then,  with Mike and Nadir, which went on to start onward  another age tech company what made you join Silvernest? 

I loved my sorta tour through tech and startups, and I think I learned a ton along the way.

But I always felt like something was missing a little bit just in terms of the greater purpose and mission. And you know, feeling like the. Work I do at the end of the day. And then that the team does , will positively impact people’s lives. I think you know, I could, I could certainly convince myself that what I was doing led to that, but I think it was you know, it was something that felt missing and so.

You know, after my last role, the company was acquired, it was really, you know, felt like time for a change. And  I got to spend a few months just really soul searching for what I wanted to do. And you know, I had always been interested in aging tech and just. You know, like everyone, we all have a story of an aging parent or grandparent and the experience they went through, not being ideal.

And so I did a lot of reading, a lot of searching and was just really interested in this space, thinking about starting something and actually old board member of mine. She was the original founder of Silvernest. We connected and she, you know, just shared the story of. You know, how many people are struggling again, like we’ve talked about kind of making ends meet living alone and how something as simple as home-sharing can completely flip the script on that.

And I just, it totally clicked for me. And you know, I think there’s, there’s a lot of challenges in this business. There’s a lot of you know, things just like I mentioned around the education piece. That I think are just so exciting. But at the end of the day, it really feels like this is a business that if we’re successful people’s lives are enriched and that is pretty cool.

That is pretty cool. You mentioned that now that you’re part of a larger corporation, you have more resources at hand and you can plan, you can make plans for the longterm which startups don’t always have that luxury. So what is your bigger vision? Where do you see Silvernest in five or 10 years?

I think it’s something, you know, we’re, we’re learning and evolving every day, but as I think about. Silvernest it’s to me, it’s kind of built into the name. If we look at older adults and just what the challenges and opportunities are you know, aging in place. And I, I hate that term actually, because it feels so kind of passive.

Like you’re just sort of waiting. So we talk about, you know, how to someone really thrive in place. And if staying in the home is the right. Option for you and it’s not for everyone, but you know, if that is what your goals are, I think there’s a lot of value that can be brought from Silvernest and, and kind of partnering with other businesses to surround people in options and choices to live better at home.

And I think home sharing as a mechanism for that, you know, we get excited about thinking you know, what, what kind of changes would you need to the space to live with a roommate or just better live at home? You know, what other companies are really doing really cool things in this space that help you thrive in place and partnering with them.

I think there’s really an opportunity to just bring more of a cohesive experience to living at home and making that work for older adults. 

Thriving in place. I love it. So what types of companies are you looking to partner with or do you have a specific partnership on the roadmap that you’re currently working on?

We have kind of an early test of this. We’re building out a marketplace within Silvernest. That you know, we highlight companies like silver sneakers, for example, which is doing really cool things just around you know, fitness designed for older adults. I also think there’s kind of a mental health aspect to this and sort of reframing what retirement is.

So I think what modern elder Academy is doing you know, some other organizations I think is just so cool , I, especially in the U S I feel like the traditional view of retirement where, you know, you just, you leave your job and now it’s time to relax and sit back as just, I feel like it’s so outdated, and it’s really cool to see these companies that are thinking about how do we reframe retirement into you know, thinking about a second or third career, or kind of leveraging the sharing economy or gig economy to think about how people can work flexibly part-time I, I feel like people often lose their purpose in retirement. And so, you know, I think that’s a great compliment to Silvernest to not just think about your home, but think about what other services can we introduce users to, to really help them rethink about their, their purpose in retirement as well.

One of the challenges for aging and face is that sometimes your home that you raise your kids in has like too many stairs or it’s not accessible.  Do you have it on your roadmap to assist with home modifications?

Like, is that part of the marketplace maybe. 

Yeah, I I’m really interested in that piece of it and I also think it’s, it’s hard to always think about if someone’s goal is, is aging in place, you know, no matter what I, there are certainly circumstances where, you know, assisted living and, and, you know, or moving because the house just isn’t structured or conducive to, or safe to live at home.

 I think. I don’t want to say aging in places for everyone always, but when it is a goal, when it is feasible. Yeah. I think , there’s lots of opportunities to, you know, help connect people to the services or the financing you know, to, to make home modifications and you know, even tap into

as I mentioned kind of other companies that help whether it’s monitoring or things like that. I think you know, we can be a conduit for that. 

Amazing. Is there anything else you would like to add? 

 I’m just, excited by the amount of,  of innovation and thinking that starting to come into this space and I, I think.

You know, you probably share this view where a lot more is needed. I think you know, we tend to think about this like large group of 50 plus or 65 plus or boomers, but there are so many stories. There is so much variation in needs and aspirations in this group. And it’s, it’s cool to see the number of companies that are starting to come into this space.

And not just thinking about what. You know, this demographic needs, but also thinking about what they want in retirement and in this phase of life and how to enrich that. So first of all, I appreciate, you know, outlets, like you really highlighting companies in this space and bringing attention to it.

And I think we’re starting to see more and more innovation happening, which is just really exciting and exciting to be part of. 

Yes is it an exciting time in this ecosystem? It’s definitely grown in the faster years and I always, I I’ve been telling people in the past few months that I feel like we’re on the verge.

Like this ecosystem is on the verge of like exploding and yeah, we, we do see many more startups. We do see more investors, more accelerators to see big tech companies entering this space. And and you’re absolutely right. It’s not just about. Usability about how they can use things, but it’s also about desirability about what they want.

And I think unfortunately companies that aren’t specifically focused on this demographic, they don’t always make that a priority, unfortunately. And they’re missing out on a huge market segment. 

Yeah, I, you don’t have to look much further than a lot of the ads that run that just like it’s often, I think just depicting sort of the version of retirement.

Yeah. That is around like frailty. And there is so much more here. And to your point, thinking about just desirability, thinking about bringing great design, great brand to this group. Cause  they still have huge ambitions. They still have purpose and I think that’s just exciting to see.

So yeah, great to be part of. 

Absolutely Riley. It’s been a pleasure speaking to you again. I really am thankful for you taking the time. 

Thank you for the time. Really appreciate it.