Today we’d like to introduce you to Jake Rothstein.
Jake, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
The idea came about after years of immersing myself in the industry and learning deeply about its many challenges. A few years ago, I co-founded a company in a similar space called Papa. We needed help caring for my own grandfather, who had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and came up with a way to utilize college students, studying to be healthcare professionals, to help with companionship and assistance for seniors. I quickly realized the breadth of loneliness and all of its negative impacts on health among the senior population and set out to build a more complete solution. I wanted to create an environment that I would feel good about my own parents living in.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Creating something from nothing is never a perfectly smooth road and there are constant learnings and pivots. Understanding what customers, or in our case, residents, want and need definitely keeps us on our toes. Everyone is a little different and as a team, we have been maniacally focused on building the best possible senior living alternative in the market. We’re trying to fulfill the requirements of the people who we believe are the best fits for our model. We feel strongly that what we’re building will help shape the future of the industry.
UpsideHōM – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
UpsideHōM is the only fully managed, shared living option for active and independent older adults. We like to call it “co-living for grown ups,” since traditionally this concept of co-living has been aimed primarily at Millennials. Co-living is simply when two or more people share common areas of a home but we add an additional layer of concierge-accessed services that older adults may need on top of housing. We utilize modern apartments in vibrant, safe, amenity-rich apartment communities and provide a turn-key and frictionless living experience for those who desire simplified living, later in life.
Currently, there are 11,000 people a day turning 65 in the US and loneliness among seniors is an epidemic that’s putting a tremendous burden on the healthcare system and families alike. According to the Harvard Business Review, loneliness is as damaging to a person’s health as smoking 15 cigarettes day. We are tackling what we see as the two biggest challenges among the aging population, loneliness and housing affordability.
UpsideHōM managers (our concierge team) offer residents a single point of contact and handle everything from coordination of basic repairs to rides for personal errands. Additionally, they arrange and organize dozens of other senior-focused activities and services and strive to keep residents active.
Because UpsideHōMs are shared, each location is able to provide the incredible benefits and amenities of facility life for up to 70% less than the cost of traditional independent senior living.
UpsideHōM recently launched with nearly 100 units available in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, with the goal of scaling nationally by 2021.
We’re extremely proud to be leading the charge on building the future of housing for older adults.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
From a business standpoint, we’re working to make the biggest positive impact to as many people’s lives as we can. If we improved just one person’s life, that would be great, but if we could do it for thousands or even millions sustainably, that would be a huge success.
Personally, success is defined by my relationships with the people closest to me. If those people are happy and I can have something to do with that happiness, I’d consider myself successful. Leaving the world better than I found it is what drives me.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.upsidehom.com
- Phone: 754-202-9883
- Email: info@joinupside.com
- Instagram: join_upsidehom
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/upsidehom
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