Fact: it takes money to build stuff.
As entrepreneurs everywhere can attest, there are many challenges to bringing a new product or technology to market and funding is one of them. A big one.
Many entrepreneurs have private investors in addition to investing our own capital – ‘cause you gotta bet on yourself, right? There are also state government programs to support promising startups. We’ve been chosen as a recipient for one such program in our own state, and the funding is going to come in useful down the home stretch as we take myFamilyChannel to market.
SeniorGroup Studios has received a $75,000 grant that is allowing us to fully immerse ourselves in the local aging care and entrepreneurial community. The grant also has allowed us to set up an office and continue development for myFamilyChannel. The funds were allocated by the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority to Nucleus: Kentucky’s Life Sciences and Innovation Center, which at the time was a subsidiary of the University of Louisville Foundation, as part of a $3 million tax incentive package from the state’s high-tech investment pool to assist startup companies locating in the university’s J.D. Nichols Campus for Innovation & Entrepreneurship. We’re told there were more than 40 applicants and 27 were chosen to receive funding.
Mary Tapolsky, a former Nucleus employee who now works in the Forcht Center for Entrepreneurship in the University of Louisville’s College of Business, was involved in the selection process for grant recipients through the program. We’ve worked really hard to understand our potential users, and Mary said this was one of the things that made SeniorGroup Studios and our myFamilyChannel platform stand out.
“One of the differentiating factors was the focus on customer discovery…really trying to understand how the product would benefit seniors and designing myFamilyChannel in a way that seniors could use it comfortably and easily,” she said.
That approach is part of our core philosophy, and it’s paying off in more ways than one. It’s good to know others see the value, too.
About myFamilyChannel
myFamilyChannel was developed by SeniorGroup Studios, a healthcare technology firm based in Louisville, Kentucky. Led by CEO Todd Smith, SeniorGroup is a progressive team comprised of healthcare, technology and media professionals whose mission is to use technology to help improve the quality of life in senior living communities.