Money
may be pouring into A.I., but if you’re looking to start a business, there’s a
huge market in more mundane areas, such as serving the rapidly growing number
of seniors.
EXPERT OPINION BY HOWARD TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V
AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH INVESTORS @HOWARDTULLMAN1
MAY 6, 2025
It seems that every
young entrepreneur these days is racing to imagine, build and deploy new
AI-infused products and services to meet expected and often wished-for demands
for solutions to unknown problems and cures for unknown diseases. They speed
ahead whether or not it makes even the slightest sense to incorporate AI as a
critical component of what they’re hoping to build.
It’s also unclear that
they even understand exactly what they’re pitching when pressed to explain the
technology beyond the superficial buzzwords that ChatGPT will happily supply
for them. But nobody wants to miss the parade. And equally anxious investors
are chasing similar dreams and throwing money at these stories with reckless
abandon, as long as the pitches contain those magic words.
This frantic approach is
costly, risky, uncertain, and the playing field is already grossly
overpopulated with well-funded participants of all sizes. Yet because the
underlying platforms that drive all these efforts are already largely
controlled by a few tech giants, the ultimate economics of even the most successful efforts will be
questionable.
While all the challenges
and obstacles are clear, no one honestly knows what the demand for any of these
offerings will be, and how any startup will be able to differentiate itself,
reach critical scale, and avoid being crushed or obviated by the big guys. This
is going to be a heavy lift and a long haul for rewards that are speculative at
best.
The opportunities in our
aging population
Forget the shiny
objects: there are huge unmet opportunities to create simple, inexpensive and
effective offerings for the immediate problems of millions of older consumers
in our rapidly aging population. Businesses that represent attractive
investments at considerably lower risk. Where entry and minimum viable product
(MVP) costs are low, milestones and success metrics are easy to define and
measure, and it should be clear in a relatively short time whether the dogs are
interested in eating the dog food.
In 2025, more than
11,000 Americans will turn 65 every single day, or about four million folks a
year, driven by the Baby Boomer generation, (born between 1946-1964). New and
important products and services for boomers don’t require the capital, compute,
natural resources, or technical expertise associated with chatbots, LLMs or
next-gen AI models. These people have problems, plenty of cash, are still
inexpensively reachable through traditional media channels and membership
organizations, and they acknowledge both their needs and the need for
solutions. They don’t require convincing as much as they simply need to be
informed, educated and encouraged to act in their own best interests.
Apart from bragging
rights, shiny object syndrome, and peer pressure, you have to wonder why more
new business builders aren’t focused on meeting these massive, albeit mundane,
needs. They could make a great living while they’re at it. I realize that
good, solid businesses might sound boring to certain people looking for the
next moon shot, but it’s hard to miss some of these substantial market gaps
when they’re staring you right in the face.
You can call this
strategy “catching the next age wave” and it reminds me of a great Warren
Buffett quote. He said: “I don’t look to jump over seven-foot bars; I look
around for one-foot bars that I can step over.”
Three considerations about
the market
Broadly speaking,
especially if you’re an involuntarily unemployed grown-up looking for a new
challenge, I’d suggest investigating three critical areas of non-medical, elder
assistance where there are immediate openings to set up shop without even
leaving your home or neighborhood. A little planning, some modest preparation,
and a little research will save you a lot of time, money and shoe leather. Your
friends, family and neighbors will readily support leads, suggestions and
recommendations as well as introductions to more prospects and target customers
and consumers than you can imagine.
Why? Mainly because
there are no communities in this entire country without thousands of
individuals in need of these kinds of services and support. Three initial
observations to provide some context.
First, many of these
services may exist for high-end, well-banked and connected individuals, but
they are virtually non-existent for middle-class consumers of any advanced age.
Second, to the extent
that any of the vendors purport to offer any in-person services along these
lines for technology products or mobile devices as opposed to tele-support, the
delivery personnel are universally abrupt, impatient and unempathetic kids who
no one wants to deal with, or welcome into their homes and private matters, and
who are typically somewhere on the behavioral spectrum. There’s a reason Best
Buy’s guys are called the Geek Squad.
Finally, and more
generally, the ideal entrepreneurs and operators of new service providers in
these areas will not be young people. They are mature individuals, disciplined
and hardworking, coming from prior careers in the corporate world, insurance,
banking, and even government, and who are organized, well-groomed, seasoned and
presentable.
Three services the market
needs now
The key areas where I
see very few players, but lots of potential, are assisted access, assisted
giving, and assisted relocation.
Assisted Access Businesses are
those primarily addressing the needs of seniors who have been left behind by
the rapid advances in technology. Services can include simplified tech support
and user education; hands-on, hand holding and in-person training; application
installations and regular updates and upgrades of equipment. Seniors need
all manner of confidentiality protection, device security and storage, as well
as recording, retention and retrieval of critical information regarding their
finances, passwords, bank and service accounts, and other verification
procedures and scam warnings.
Assisted Giving
Businesses address a different area
in which seniors and homeowners in particular are uninformed, unsupported and
largely incapable of acting efficiently and intelligently. While there are
zillions of criminal and fraudulent schemes targeting seniors that purport to
be serving charitable and philanthropic causes, here again my focus is on some
much more mundane, but no less important, services. Boomers have needs and
concerns regarding the timely, pre-death disposition of personal property,
artwork, family heirlooms, and jewelry, for example, which may be generically
addressed in formal wills and estate documents, but which typically are much
better and efficiently addressed while the owners are still living.
Unfortunately, here
again, with the exception of a tiny percentage of precious objects and works by
well-known artists (which are still difficult to have appraised or sold, even
at auction), there are simply no organizations, services or other providers to
help seniors plan, inventory and then rationally and prudently dispose of these
objects. Of course, some portion of the property and other possessions may be
desired by family or heirs, but in most cases – even if nearby family members
have some modest interest in assisting – the burden of all the effort
ultimately falls on the seniors.
Assisted Relocation
Businesses help seniors quickly and
efficiently sell their homes at realistic prices and also simultaneously
provide guidance and support for these individuals to move into smaller owned
or rented properties or into assisted living facilities. Moving Station is
one of the smart early players in this space. This is a very complex area and,
in most cases, requires close coordination to ensure smooth transitions. One
other difficult and emotional part of these transactions is how painful and
agonizing they can be for all of the parties concerned and especially other
younger family members. Having objective, independent and supportive
intermediaries is a crucial component for closing these kinds of deals in a
timely fashion.
Ultimately, what the
most successful operators of these new businesses will be selling are
themselves as well as comfort, reassurance, and attention to detail. No one’s
gonna care how much you know until they know how much you care….about them,
their affairs and their future.
