Background
In the United States, it's becoming more and more evident that seniors lack support. When you look at suicide statistics, older adults (65+)
complete suicide at a rate potentially 66 times higher than younger populations (
Conwell, Thompson 2008).
Among the risk factors for elderly suicide include
social circumstances. This means that seniors who have friends and family they can confide in commit suicide at a much lower rate. To protect our seniors, we need to bolster the community around them.
When interviewing seniors and caregivers, we found that seniors value having strong community ties.
- “I would be glad to mentor a younger person […] like cooking, I love to cook” - senior interviewe
- “I can tell that she wants to talk to more people that aren’t just us” - caregiver interviewee
Business Concept
SkillNest is a platform where seniors pay to host casual workshops, and students sign up to glean wisdom while earning volunteering hours. For example, a senior who lives away and doesn't communicate very often with their grandchildren might host a gardening workshop, hoping to bridge the generation gap and sharing their skills with the younger generations. A high school student might be looking for volunteer opportunities to fulfill an academic requirement or enrich their extracurricular activities for college applications. Our platform will connect these two groups of populations and facilitate the building of meaningful relationships in local communities.
SkillNest places us between students and the elderly, offering them a way to connect more easily with each other.
While the elderly gain companionship and support from younger people, student are able to learn new skills and gain volunteer experience for educational institutions.
Web Probes
After conducting a web probe, we found that users of all ages were more interested in signing up for SkillNest when its presentation and messaging felt more professional and service-oriented.
This inspired our branding, concept direction, and the “look and feel” of SkillNest. On the right is the final landing page we created for our product.
Goal: appeal to older generations
Adjectives: educational, professional, informative
Palette: blues, reminiscent of Facebook and companies
Winning probe metrics:
- 74 visitors
- 102 views
- 6 conversions (8.11% conversion rate)
- 5/6 conversions were users aged 21-25
- 1/6 conversion was 76 years old
Concierge MVP
To continue honing in on our business concept and mission, we recruited a few “earlyvangelists” to test out early prototypes.
We verified that there is value in our business concept:
- High schoolers/college students would be motivated by the opportunity to get volunteer hours, through a fun experience.
- Seniors would enjoy the opportunity to connect on our platform.
Comments on intergenerational connections:
- There is a lot to learn, yoga, cooking, music and anything culture/tradition.
- Could also include advice, stories, seminars, parenting classes, as seniors enjoy sharing their experiences and connecting with others.
Final Website
View 1: Sign Up
- Needs will differ depending on if the individual is a student or a senior
- Prototype Link
View 2: Youth (Mentee)
- Students are able to filter workshops, sign up for workshops, chat with their senior mentor, and generate a certificate of volunteering hours
- Prototype Link
View 3: Senior (Mentor)
- Seniors can choose a membership plan (free trial included), set up workshops and preferences, and engage with other senior mentors online
- Prototype Link
Budget
We estimated costs, retention rates, and quit rates to form a budget and growth model.
See the
spreadsheet for a detailed breakdown.
%20(100%20x%20100%20px)%20(208%20x%20100%20px).svg)
