good life sorted

Constantine and Verity, Good Life Sorted.

This weeks members interview features Constantine Karampatsos and Verity Batchelder of Good Life Sorted.

It would be fair to say that the sector the team at Good Life Sorted are working in is a hot potato, certainly if you read the press right now, elderly care is due somewhat of a shake up. With election promises to deliver on and a major funding shortfall to deal with. However, as Constantine was quick to point out, this discussion has been ongoing for the last ten years so don’t hold your breath. In the meantime the population is steadily ageing and our elderly friends and relatives need support.

The Good Life Sorted platform connects elderly customers with carers to help with specific tasks and it’s proving to be wildly popular. They’ve been a member of our start-up community for a while and we were delighted they agreed to be interviewed.

How did Good Life Sorted start?

Like a lot of start-ups Good Life Sorted came from a very personal place. Constantine taking inspiration from his grandma Zoe, who stayed active and independent in the comfort of her own home until she reached 96 years old. All that grandma needed was a hand with the daily chores and someone to enjoy a cup of tea with. Mary, a caring and reliable neighbour, visited grandma a few times a week for a few hours to make sure that she kept safe and that she had the support she needed to live independently.

The team recognised that this desire to stay in the home is incredibly strong, older people just need some support to make it work. Coupled to an increasingly ageing population, estimated at over 17 million Britons will be over 65 in 2035, there was an obvious gap for a business. Specifically a business that could connect the elderly with vetted helpers to ensure continued quality of life. To support all this the UK will need another 650,000 carers and we need companies like Good Life Sorted to help plug that hole.

The BBC explain it better

Verity was recently interview by the BBC, it’s a great piece so here’s the video.

Nobody is under any illusions as to the scope of the challenge we face as a society with elderly care. It’s great to see companies like Good Life Sorted creating novel solutions to the problem.

Funding and fundraising

Blushes ensue! Good Life Sorted found one of their key investors via the Decksender platform as part of their recent raise. So yes it definitely works. They will also be embarking on a second round towards the end of this year and into 2021. To date they have run a pre-seed round which has allowed them to get the product right and role out selectively in the south of the UK.

If you want to find out more about their next raise contact details are below.

Covid impact

It’s a question I’m asking everyone right now. Luckily the team weren’t too badly affected, In fact the lockdown period gave them an opportunity to do two crucial things.

Firstly they spent time asking their audience about their brand, finding out what resonated best in order to solidify their brand and messaging. As Verity says it was a vital exercise they may not have otherwise had time to complete. I whole heartedly agree with this. Too many start-ups don’t have a deep understanding of their own brands and it leads to confused messaging and inconsistencies.

Secondly they spent time improving their product. I don’t think i need to tell anyone how important that is.

They were due to make their first few hires and delayed this but as Constantine says:

Interviewing customers and stakeholders was the best value for money exercise we’ve done. We now really understand our brand and messaging and can act accordingly.

They also had to shorten their last raise a little. But i have no doubt that when they move onto their next round they won’t struggle to find backers.

The detail

If you’d like to learn more here’s some useful links:

Good Life Sorted

Verity on Linkedin linkedin.com/in/verity-batchelder-a270477

Constantine on Linkedin linkedin.com/in/karampatsos

Good Life Sorted raised money through Decksender. You can too.

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