Jeffrey Gray With AgeTech Atlanta

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studio in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio, brought to you by Kennesaw State University’s Executive MBA program, the accelerated degree program for working professionals looking to advance their career and enhance their leadership skills. And now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Atlanta Business Radio. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, CSU’s executive MBA program. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Atlanta Business Radio, we have Jeff Gray with Age Tech Atlanta. Welcome.

Jeff Gray: Hey, thanks. It’s great to be here.

Lee Kantor: I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about Atlanta. How are you serving folks?

Jeff Gray: So age Tech Atlanta is a community of innovators and educators and influencers and others, all who are trying to redefine the experience of aging through technology. And we have built this community into the largest of its kind in North America. So Atlanta is home to some of the greatest entrepreneurs and innovators in the in the space of age tech.

Lee Kantor: So what is your background? What led you to be involved in this community?

Jeff Gray: Well, I moved to Atlanta for 25 years ago or about 25 years ago as a part of my the sale of my first business, which was in an entire different technology sector. But after I lost my mom to Alzheimer’s in 2015, I started on a journey of innovation, founded an early company called the memory Kit. But I got interested in trying to solve problems around Aging care course, the Alzheimer’s and Dementia diseases. And that was in 2015. And that led me to over time, create a large network and found H tech Atlanta as a way for folks to get together and network, learn and grow.

Lee Kantor: Was H Tech Atlanta part of like a larger organization or did you start this just from, hey, I think there’s a space here that we should bring some smart people around and see what we can do.

Jeff Gray: Yeah, more the latter. You know, I’ve been I’ve had my home base business wise at the Atlanta Tech Village since 2016, and I had a lot of folks who asked me over the years, hey, Jeff, why don’t you start a little net or not even start a group? But why don’t you throw a networking event? Because I was introducing people over the years, making cross connections, helping other people meet folks that could, you know, help them, you know, increase their knowledge or get some traction in their business. So we did that three years ago, started it with a networking group and a margarita bar, by the way. And from there grew this organization organically by meeting every other month since we started.

Lee Kantor: And then what are you kind of defining the parameters of agetec as like what are the components, like you mentioned, Alzheimer’s. I can understand kind of medical components to this group, but does it involve like, you know, active lifestyle for retirees or like are there, you know, other components or is it kind of just focused on health?

Jeff Gray: No, it’s more towards the latter. So we have you know, we have startups and large ventures that are focused both that are focused on things like, you know, health care, senior living, senior care, home health, those kind of things that your mind would naturally go to. Also, some of the diseases that we commonly associate with aging, like Alzheimer’s, dementia, to some extent Parkinson’s, but we see the whole age tech ecosystem as a lot bigger We think that there’s room for innovation in travel and tourism, finance and banking, retail, um, uh, home improvement. Um, so there’s lots of areas where there’s innovation for aging populations. Remember, you know, they there’s a commonly, uh, bandied about statistic, but it’s even though we hear it often, it’s still worth noting that, you know, today, um, and every day, some 10,000 people turn 65 in the US, um, uh, people over 55, actually, Boomer, Gen X and boomers own 71% of all single family occupied houses in the US. It’s $0.50 on every dollar spent in America of our GDP is by an older adult. So it’s a huge sector of the economy. And yet there’s definitely, uh, innovation in those areas you mentioned. But as you alluded to, it’s a much bigger tent, if you will, than just care.

Lee Kantor: So what are you trying to do with age tech Atlanta? Are you looking for more members of the group, or are you looking for more organizations that are touching this space to, you know, just learn about like what? What’s kind of the goal?

Jeff Gray: Yeah. Well, the mission is actually to build Atlanta into the center of excellence and innovation for tech. And while we’re at it, we’re also trying to make Atlanta the best place for older adults and their loved ones to call home. But we’re always looking to engage entrepreneurs, educators and researchers as well as larger ventures. Um, healthcare systems, healthcare providers. Did you know digital health innovators? Um, we meet our I would say foundationally, we built ourselves on a meeting every other month where we always have three presenters that show their new technology or new innovations in the space, so we’re always looking to invite more people to come. And you know, those events themselves offer incredible opportunities for people to meet one another in a casual setting, but in a learning setting as well. So that’s one of the main ways we help, is by putting people together every other month, every year, um, where they can meet each other, connect, find opportunities to do business, maybe to engage in pilots, to do research together, those kinds of activities.

Lee Kantor: Now, are you finding the folks that are playing in this space? Are they themselves kind of the seniors, or are there young people that are also getting involved?

Jeff Gray: Yeah. You know, uh, well, first of all, I would say that the majority of the age tech ventures that we see are, you know, the overwhelming majority, like 90% of them are story led. And I mean that what I mean by that is something happened in that person’s life, um, that gave them that aha moment, or they went through a difficult journey and they, they went about the business of trying to tackle problems that they had. I would say that the majority of founders are not over 55, I would say. I we’ve never really tracked that, but it’s a pretty mixed group. Um, we have a couple of founders in their 70s. Hey, I’m 62, but it is a it is a young crowd. Um, I’m always fascinated and encouraged by the interest really young founders in their in their 20s and early 30s. Uh, the interest and passion they have for this space.

Lee Kantor: So, um, share a little bit you mentioned a little bit about what happens at one of these events. Um, I know margaritas are involved sometimes. Um, and you mentioned some, some speakers, but, like. So, um, is it at Tech Village? Is that where they’re usually located or they’re around town.

Jeff Gray: Mostly at the Tech Village, but we have um, we are events are sometimes hosted off site. We publish them at Tech Atlanta on our events page. Um, but yeah, I would say, you know, we have a great partnership with the Atlanta Tech Village that I can tell you a little bit more about, but most of them are here. Um, again, we publish them and we send them out to our whole mailing list, uh, as soon as we have another date. We’ve also, uh, at the atdc is hosted a couple, and we’ve had an event or two at a partner site. Um, so we mix it up a little, but most of them are here at the Tech Village.

Lee Kantor: And then how many companies are involved with the group right now?

Jeff Gray: Well, you know, our mailing list is about a thousand of those. We’ve got a couple of hundred companies at various stages. The core group of innovator companies is closer to 70. Um, but in addition to the, to the, you know, the tech startups themselves, um, you know, we’re working with, you know, the we’re, you know, interacting with Georgia State and Emory and Georgia Tech, right. Obvious folks who are innovating some and their students. Uh, other incubator and accelerator program. So the the ecosystem is not just the startups. And we also have, you know, it’s it’s startups and upstarts at all different sizes and stages. So it’s not just the scrappy startup with an idea on the back of an envelope. We’ve got some fairly large ventures that have got some serious traction in the industry. Companies like AQ, shield, Welcome Home Software, uh, that are fairly well known, that are at, you know, they’re operating at large scale and now giving back and supporting the ecosystem.

Lee Kantor: Now as part of the community is you mentioned incubators. Is that part of kind of the roadmap where you’re trying to incubate some of these ideas as well? Or is it just to be a community for people in the space to, you know, kind of mix and mingle and learn from each other.

Jeff Gray: Well, we over the years, we’ve had about 125 or 1 on ones that have led to about 450 introductions to capital, community content, um, partners. Um, so we are active, uh, you know, sounding boards and mentors on an ongoing basis. We don’t operate as a formal incubator or an accelerator because there’s a lot of those both in Atlanta and beyond. Um, but we have an open door. All of our contact information, information is easy to find, either on our website or LinkedIn. We’re always here for our founders to help them solve a problem or if they need an introduction. We do host, um, pitch competitions and other signature events, um, where we’ll, you know, we’ll do specific programing or content or an event for the industry itself. So last two years in a row, we’ve produced the tech Challenge Innovation Showcase Pitch competition in partnership with the American Society on Aging. So it’s an example of, um, of some of the things that we’ll do that go beyond the meet ups.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned some news with Tech Village. You want to share that?

Jeff Gray: Yeah, I’d love to. So, um, as of a few months ago, we kind of expanded on our partnership with ETV, has been supporting of us of what we’re doing from day one. Uh, they expanded that support. Um, have provided us some larger office space. The key part of the partnership that’s really exciting. Um, is that we now have two scholarships to offer tech startups who can work in in our office for six months to a year at a time. And this is great for for founders who are, um, either kind of early on and need some need some space, maybe save some money, or maybe they just want to benefit from the environment over here at the Tech Village, which I’m sure you’ve been over here. There’s really no place like it. Um, you know, if you if you want to meet some people that can maybe help your business grow, spend an hour in the community center or a couple of hours just working down there. People come up and introduce you. They want to know what you’re doing, what you’re working on, and how they can help. Um, so we’ve got two founders, one, uh, a guy named Bryce Folsom, who’s the founder of a company called E-life, which is a wristband that connects to a mobile app, which at the top of it would allow first responders to have all of the medical information about a person wearing the band, even if they couldn’t communicate themselves. Um, and a company founded by Melody Roberts called Live Labs, which is a female incontinence product that’s, um, going through its development and FDA approval process. So we have two entrepreneurs now in residence with us as they’re building their companies, um, fully supported by us and the networks that we provide them.

Lee Kantor: Now, are you finding that, um, maybe across the country or even internationally, there’s more and more, uh, you know, technology startups that are playing in this space or at least exploring this space, is this kind of a growth area.

Jeff Gray: It really is. So, um, I’m sure a lot of your listeners and you have heard of AARP, um, which is a huge organization. They, um, have a they have a program called the Tech Collaborative. So they’ve been fostering innovation in the space. They’ve really validated it. Um, and um, all of that programing is, is virtual. And then we are actually mentoring new communities, helping communities grow, um, using our playbook and what we’ve learned in other cities around the country right now. So we’re working with, with groups of of innovators in LA, Denver, Chicago, New York, Washington DC and Toronto. So, um, yes, we’ve found our found that not only are we able to reach out throughout the southeast. Um, but over the last two years, after about after our first year, we started receiving lots of outreach from folks saying, hey, can you help us, um, grow similar communities in our areas? So we’re going to do six of those all under the Atlanta umbrella. So yeah, we’re we’re growing beyond the borders. Uh, well, we grew we outgrew the strict borders of metro Atlanta in terms of the companies we interacted with early on and then through the southeast. And then, you know, really into North America as well.

Lee Kantor: So what do you need more of? How can we help you?

Jeff Gray: Um, gosh, I just love first of all, we’re so appreciative just to, you know, have your airwaves and let people hear about us. You know, we’re really interested in meeting anyone that’s even interested in technology, that it can improve aging at any level. So it could be we welcome individuals who want to come to our meetups. They can go to our website. There’s you don’t need credentials of any kind to attend a meet up. We love to talk with investors, um, social workers, caseworkers, um, from Triple A’s, um, folks with the state Department of Aging. Again, we always welcome investors who are interested in learning more about the space and and entrepreneurs at any stage. And maybe someone out there here’s the here’s us on the show and has just an idea they can reach out to us through the website or to me on LinkedIn. We’d be happy to talk to them and give them some feedback. Uh, even at those just nascent stages when they they’ve just got that spark. Um, and I would say, you know, just the other day I met with someone who said, I don’t know what it is, but I know I want to help this community through technology. Can you give me some ideas of some, some places or some needs that you think are unfulfilled? So we’re always here to help. We are just really interested in meeting anybody who shares our interest and passion, no matter what they do.

Lee Kantor: And then folks in other markets that might want to start their own community. You’re up for those conversations as well.

Jeff Gray: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. For today, we would probably plug them into one of the super regional communities. But yeah, we’d love to hear from anybody who’s outside of of the greater Atlanta or southeastern region, um, that’s interested in supporting the growth of this really, uh, thriving and exciting ecosystem, um, called age tech.

Lee Kantor: And then the coordinates one more time is age tech Atlanta. Com age tech atlanta.com.com.

Jeff Gray: Yeah that’s us.

Lee Kantor: Well Jeff thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Jeff Gray: Oh no I appreciate you. Thanks for the opportunity to share some of what we’re doing.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Atlanta Business Radio.