business model, business model canvas, columbia, customer development, lean launchpad, lean startup, steve blank

1. 1
BetterTogether.com
Home Sharing for Seniors
Section04, Group20
■ Noshad Irshad
■ Mehmet Onsiper
■ Carol Pak
■ Shouryadipta Sarkar
■ Bruno Zappa
Picture credits : “Alt together” movie
Interviews since last presentation: 4
Total Interview: 75
SilverStars
Ratings of Senior Services Providers

2. 2
• Customer sourcing:
– Hospitals and Doctors
– Assisted living facilities
(~homes)
– Nursing schools
– Service providers
• Apt search process:
• Brokers
• Landlords
Service providers
Key Partners
• Form large user base
– Publicize (SEO/ Facebook/
Multipliers)
• Identify user profile/
preferences/needs; Identity
check; Match users
• Intermediate payments with
guarantee
Key Activities
• What it is:
– Better, more joyful and
economic housing
alternative for seniors living
alone
– Possibility to live in a real
house/apartment with
company and shared
expenses (rent, utilities and
services providers)
- Allowing users to maintain
sense of autonomy
• What we do:
– Matchmaking
– Real Estate brokerage
– Offer service marketplace
platform (hire care takers,
house keepers, yoga
instructors, etc.)
Value Proposition
• Search process: Close
personal support and
Guidance during search
process
• Rental Period: Payment
mediator and “Hands-off”
automatic support during
rentals.
Customer
Relationships
• Seniors living alone in NYC
(later expanding to other
urban area), who would
enjoy company and or have
some sort of financial
constraint
Customer Segments
• Large user base
• Deep user data base
• Large service provider base
• Trained support staff
• Money:
• Advertising
• Customer Service
Key Resources
• Facebook, SEO
• Indirectly (through
sons and daughters)
and Directly
• Partnerships with Hospitals
and homes (revenue share
for indication of user). Senior
oriented companies
(multipliers)
Key Channels
• Publicity: reaching end user will require spending relevant amounts on
advertising
• Customer support: trained staff to deal with users concerns
• Programing costs
Cost Structure
• Low commission on rents
• Monthly payments
• Brokerage fee (if applicable)
• Low commission on hired services
• Advertising revenues
Revenue Streams
Day 1

3. 3
We thought that seniors living alone would benefit from home sharing
because they were either lonely or under financial pressure
■ We thought:
What we thought on day 1
Shared
Economy
Seniors
Home
Sharing
for
Seniors
■ Efficient Matchmaking would lead to senior’s with homes to share to find those who need houses, and
provide a complimentary set of senior services to augment the package
■ New Market
■ Generate Revenue by commissions on brokerage and services offered

4. 4
• Customer sourcing:
– Hospitals and Doctors
– Assisted living facilities
(~homes)
– Nursing schools
– Service providers
• Apt search process:
• Brokers
• Landlords
Key Partners
• Form large user base
– Publicize (SEO/ Facebook/
Multipliers)
• Identify user profile/
preferences/needs; Identity
check; Match users
• Intermediate payments with
guarantees
Key Activities
• What it is:
Home sharing for seniors
– Better, more joyful and
economic housing
alternative for seniors living
alone
– Possibility to live in a real
house/apartment with
company and shared
expenses (rent, utilities and
services providers)
- Allowing users to maintain
sense of autonomy
• What we do:
– Matchmaking
– Real Estate brokerage
– Mediate payments
– Offer service marketplace
platform (hire care takers,
house keepers, etc.)
Value Proposition
• Cust. Acq: Communicate
with children of seniors
• Search process: Close
personal support and during
search process
• Rental Period: Payment
mediator and “Hands-off”
automatic support during
rentals.
Customer
Relationships
• Seniors living alone in NYC
who would enjoy company
and or have some sort of
financial constraint, and
their children
• ‘Sub-segments’:
• Veterans
• Ethnic
groups
Customer Segments
• Large user base
• Deep user data base
• Large service provider base
• Trained support staff
• Money:
• Advertising
• Customer Service
Key Resources
• Facebook, SEO
• Indirectly (through
sons and daughters)
and Directly
• Partnerships with Hospitals
and homes (revenue share
for indication of user). Senior
oriented companies
(multipliers)
Key Channels
• Publicity: reaching end user will require spending relevant amounts on
advertising
• Customer support: trained staff to deal with users concerns
• Programing costs
Cost Structure
• Low commission on rents
• Monthly payments
• Brokerage fee (if applicable)
• Low commission on hired services
• Advertising revenues
Revenue Streams
BetterTogether.com - Home sharing for seniors Day 2

5. 5
• Customer sourcing:
– Hospitals and Doctors
– Assisted living facilities
(~homes)
– Nursing schools
– Service providers
• Apt search process:
• Brokers
• Landlords
Key Partners
• Form large user base
– Publicize (SEO/ Facebook/
Multipliers)
• Identify user profile/
preferences/needs; Identity
check; Match users
• Intermediate payments with
guarantees
Key Activities
• What it is:
Comprehensive Information
Portal to provide personalized
insights/services into the best
living opportunities for seniors
• Home sharing for seniors
– Better, more joyful and
economic housing alternative
for seniors living alone
– Possibility to live in a real
house/apartment with
company and shared
expenses (rent, utilities and
services providers)
- Allowing users to maintain
sense of autonomy
• What we do:
– Matchmaking
– Real Estate brokerage
– Mediate payments
– Offer service marketplace
platform (hire care takers,
house keepers, etc.)
Value Proposition
• Cust. Acq: Communicate
with children of seniors
• Search process: Close
personal support and during
search process
• Rental Period: Payment
mediator and “Hands-off”
automatic support during
rentals.
Customer
Relationships
• Seniors who are looking for
appropriate living
opportunities
• Sons/Daughters who are
looking for appropriate living
opportunities for their
parents
• Senior/Sons/Daughters
looking for elderly care
services
• Seniors living alone in NYC
who would enjoy company
and or have some sort of
financial constraint, and
their children
• ‘Sub-segments’:
• Veterans
• Ethnic
groups
Customer Segments
• Large user base
• Deep user data base
• Large service provider base
• Trained support staff
• Money:
• Advertising
• Customer Service
Key Resources
• Information sessions senior
centers, NORC, etc
• Facebook, SEO
• Indirectly (through sons
and daughters) and
Directly
• Partnerships with Hospitals and
homes (revenue share for
indication of user). Senior
oriented companies (multipliers)
Key Channels
• Website Maintenance and Research
• Publicity: reaching end user will require spending relevant amounts on
advertising
• Customer support: trained staff to deal with users concerns
• Programing costs
Cost Structure
• Low commission on rents
• Monthly payments
• Brokerage fee (if applicable)
• Low commission on hired services
• Advertising revenues
Revenue Streams
BetterTogether.com - Home sharing for seniors Day 3

6. 6
• Service providers
• Hospitals/Doctors
• Nurses
• Senior centers, NORCs, etc
Key Partners
• Comprehensive searching
• Clear explaining of housing
options
• Create, foment, and manage
relevant content
• Manage rankings and
reviews
• Manage advertising
Key Activities
• Number one destination to
help making seniors lives
better
• Explanatory guide
to all options in
LALA, with
recommendation
mechanism
• General services
• Social activities
• Ability to directly reach
more seniors/clients
Value Proposition
Customer
Relationships
• Users:
• Adults with senior
parents
• Seniors
• Partners:
• Services Providers
• Housing
establishment
• Event organizers
Customer Segments
• Large active user base
• Large service provider base
• Content
• Trained support staff
• Money:
• Advertising
• Customer Service
Key Resources Key Channels
• Sales force
• Content creation
• Website Maintenance / Programing
• Advertising/ SEO
• Customer support: trained staff to deal with users concerns
Cost Structure
• Advertising revenues
• Low commission on hired services and housing establishments
Revenue Streams
BetterTogether.com - Home sharing for seniors Day 4 – restarted from scratch
• AppStore & GooglePlay
• Senior Centers (word of mouth)
• Hospitals, Nursing Services and
Medical conferences
• Nonprofits: Meals on wheels
• Religious organization
• Am New York, Metro, etc
• Government
• SEO, Facebook
• Direct sales force
• Get: Acquire: with listed channels
Activate: request subscription to
access content
• Keep: Social activities; Community
sense; Surprise offers for members
• Grow: Referral program;
Recommended cross-sell
• Get: direct sales force
• Keep: customer relationship
• Grow: upselling ads

7. 7
From Tuesday through Friday we learned that our core hypotheses were
wrong
What we learned from day 2-4
hypotheses Experiment Result
#1
Many seniors who are
living alone are
searching for a better
condition
Talked to seniors,
children of seniors and
professionals in senior
care
Majority of seniors living
alone have a
established living
arrangement
#2
People are ready for
home sharing
Talked to potential
customers
The idea still sounds
somewhat
uncomfortable/ weird
#3
Savings would be
specially compelling for
seniors under financial
pressure
Talked to senior center
director about their
conditions
In NYC seniors have
access to low cost
housing and
governmental support
#4
Seniors that live alone
feel lonely
Talked to potential
customers and
professionals
In NYC seniors tend to
have active social life
out side of home (at
least our sample)
What should we
do?!?
And with the results….

8. 8
But we captured clues from customer interviews that lead us to a completely
new value proposition
What we learned from day 2-4
“I feel like I’ve reach a point in my
life when I need to take care of my
parents, not the other way around.
But I have no idea where to find
reliable services and
professionals”
Customer Segments
Christian,52
Husband, dad
of 3, busy
manager and
now looks
after his
parents too
“The information is all over, it’s so
hard to find. And I feel like
everyone is always trying to push
something, I never get a neutral
opinion.”
Noeline, 79
Lives in a
small
apartment
but sure
needs a little
help!
Jennifer, 32
Goes to
customers
homes. Likes
long lasting
relationships
“There isn’t effective way to reach
new customers. It is very hard for
me to publicize my services”
“It would help me get a lot of
customers!”
Children of seniors Seniors Service providers /
housing establishment
What do
they
REALLY
need?

9. 9
We then pivoted to being “The number one destination for making senior’s
lives better”
What we learned from day 2-4
• Number one destination to help making seniors
lives better
• Explanatory guide to all options in LALA,
with recommendation mechanism
• General services
• Social activities
• Access to large base of potential customers
• Become their best sales channel
Users
Partners
New dual Value Proposition

10. 10
But we realized a few important things about the market and the business
model, that would make execution difficult
What we learned from day 2-4
1. We wanted to be everything to
everyone
2. Our segments were too broad
3. Our scope was too broad
4. Very populated space
Better
Togeth
er .com
Ranking/
Listing
Services
Service
Providers
Information
Portals
Housing/Senior
Centers
Housing Services
Social
Activities
Blog
Advert.
Cust.
Support
Ratings …

11. 11
After a major pivot, we sharpened our value proposition and created a
service based on identified needs: SilverStars
Where we landed on day 5 (1/2)
SilverStars is the best and most trusted way
to find great senior service providers
Features:
 Search for various elderly care service
providers, incl.
 Home Care Services
 Nursing Services
 Senior Citizen Homes
 Insurances
 …
 View independent ratings of others (previous
users)
 Rate and comment on your experience
Gain / Value PropositionNeed
To quickly find
trustworthy and
services providers
„Yelp / Zagat for Senior Services“
SilverStars
Nursing Services

12. 12
SilverStars is an information service for needy old people and their
sons/daughters with several monetizing options
Where we landed on day 5 (2/2)
Caring Christian/Christina
 Son/Daughter of
75-90 year old parents who
need some sort of
assistance
 Can‘t provide the needed
assistance to parent
Customer Segments Future Business Model Options
Needy Noel/Noeline
 75-90 years old
 Retired from a good job
 Needs some sort of
assistance at home
 Wants to get the assistance
from a third party
 Revenue share of
bookings through platform
 Pay for content
(i.e. see X free reviews,
pay for further)
 Advertisement
 Exit Strategy
(e.g. Search Services such
as Google, Yahoo)
 …
Market Size
Senior home care industry
$57Bn
Spent on senior home care
17k
professionals
6mn
users

13. 13
Now we have to kick start ratings, by going after service providers,
identifying users and convincing them to rate service providers
What we’re going to do next
2016
Jan Feb Mar Apr
03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15
Check points
Finalize the search process
– Build MVP
– Test hypotheses
– Analyze competitive landscape in depth
– Benchmarking
Activity
Year
Month
Execute
– Create business data base
– Kickstart ratings (incentivize user participation)

14. 14
Thank you!
SilverStars
Ratings of Senior Services Providers

15. 15
Appendix

16. 16
Agenda:
■ Day 1: We thought that seniors living alone would benefit from home sharing because they were either
lonely or under financial pressure
■ Day 2-4: We learned:
• hypotheses was wrong:
– People under financial pressure had already help from government
– People living alone, are just fine the way they are
• There is a general lack of information on senior services
• We identified a need among sons/daughters of seniors: They want to hire reliable/trustworthy service
providers
– We decided to create a comprehensive informational portal
– We decided to narrow our product offering
• Talk about current players/competitors(?)
■ Where we landed: SILVER STARS Senior Service Provider Rating (~Zagat, ~Yelp) (Value proposition + mkt
size [total spent on service providers]
■ What we’re going to do next: Kickstart ratings

17. 17
Virtuous cycle: Incentivizing reviews will increase user base and service
provider listings
Where we landed on day 5
Initial Phase:
incentives to
kickstart
Input ratings
and reviews
Consult reviews and
get recommendations
Source clients
Identify and add
providers to
data base
Future: Sign up to
directory to be rated
2
3
4
5
6
1

18. 18
Yelp is a ratings and review company with a $1.62B market cap

19. 19
To grow, SilverStars will mimic Yelp’s growth strategy
■There are 3 components to the success of Yelp’s launch
1. Strategic regional launches
2. Business Database
3. Trustworthy, community-sourced, high quality reviews

20. 20
Strategic regional launches
■ We plan to launch in urban and sub-urban areas that
• Are popular for the aging population
– Miami, California, and Connecticut (TBC?)
• Have a high-density population
– NYC, Chicago, and Philadelphia (TBC)
“We didn't have a lot of money, only $1 million in seed financing. We focused on marketing and making the
site useful just in San Francisco. We thought that pattern of expansion might be the right one from looking at
Craigslist, which started in the Bay Area and then expanded from city to city.”
-Jeremy Stoppelman, CEO of yelp

21. 21
Business Database
• To kick start the process of building a platform for unsolicited business reviews, Yelp created
the framework by buying a database of over 20 million business locations
• This foundation of un-reviewed business locations was an open invitation for people to
review the business locations
• Likewise, SilverStars can build a pre-populated database within its launch cities

22. 22
Quality reviews
■ Based on the growth of mobile, the behavior of leaving reviews, and the personal nature of the types of businesses and end-
users that are using the services on SilverStars, we believe that there is enough incentive to source high-quality, user-
generated content and engage users
– A lot more research and interest on where your mom is residing compared to where to buy coffee or cut your hair
– A lot more caution and emotion regarding your parents’ housekeeper and grocery shopper
■ To encourage initial reviews, we have 4 ideas in mind:
1. SilverStars driven reviews
- We could have a team on the road to objectively write up initial reviews and take engaging photos
2. Super reviewers
- We could hire freelancers who support the initiative mentioned above and/or compensate (non-cash) community
members to become super reviewers (similar to Yelp Elite)
3. Incentives for businesses to drive reviews
- While paying reviewers may elicit low-quality or fake reviews, we could incentivize businesses to grow their
SilverStars page through the participation of their respective communities
Location based pop-up notifications for seniors to leave reviews for a SilverStars business and weekly nudges to ask them to
leave reviews in exchange for discounts, prizes or status
■ Once SilverStars reaches critical mass in a geographic area, businesses will want to further promote their service to increase
revenue and new businesses will need to create a SilverStars profile to compete with others

23. 23
• Keep previous revenue model
• Spin-off home sharing platform
• Commission of rentals and services
Revenue Model
• Advertising revenues
• Low commission on hired services and housing
establishments
Multi-channel, Get Strategy and revenue model
Channels & Get Strategy
1st
2nd
Two-phased revenue model
SEO
Wordof
mouth
Direct
Sales
• AdWords to be found by
Partners & Users
• Activation: request sign
up to access contact
• Guerrilla tactics to reach
Users not online
• Reaching Partners with
direct sales
Activation: request sign up to access contact
A hard to reach customer needs a lot of channels, especially in a two-side market place

24. 24
Testing Channel, ‘Get’ strategy and Revenue model hypotheses
Experiment
Get
Partners:
Partners have a hard time
to advertise their services
and reach customers
Get Users:
Users get information in
social centers
Pass/Fail criteria Resulthypotheses
Offering a platform to advertise by
charging fee
Offering a platform to advertise by
charging revenue commission
Users get information
online
At least 25% accept ?
Surveys online and interviews in
social centers
At least 50% say ‘yes’ ?

25. 25
Better
Together
.com
Ranking/Listing
Services
Service
Providers
Information
Portals
Housing/Senior
Centers