Before You Build in Senior Care, Figure Out Who Pays

America is getting older. Tens of millions of people are caring for parents, grandparents and other family members. The problems are everywhere, and many of them are painful, expensive and still poorly served by technology. That does not mean every care-related startup is a good business, however. Tatyana Zlotsky, CEO of A Place for Mom, joins me to talk about what founders need to understand before building for older adults and the people who care for them. We discuss why "seniors" aren't a single customer segment, how to conduct customer research in a market you don't know, and why founders need to distinguish between the person using a product, the person making the decision and the person actually paying for it.  Tatyana also explains why private-pay and insurance-backed businesses require fundamentally different approaches, and shares the story of a founder who spent more than a year changing course after discovering he'd chosen the wrong customer. We also dig into AI. Tatyana explains why starting with what the technology can do is backwards, why proprietary customer data can create a meaningful advantage, and why founders should ask whether they're really building something that general-purpose AI can't already provide. This is a conversation about finding real problems, understanding who you're solving them for, and building businesses around customer needs instead of technology trends. RUNTIME 38:51   EPISODE BREAKDOWN (2:21) Tatyana Zlotsky’s path to A Place for Mom (4:46) Why senior care remains an underbuilt market (9:20) The real problems caregivers need solved (12:36) Why “seniors” aren’t a single customer segment (16:31) How to do customer research in the care market (20:35) Why “AI for X” isn’t a business strategy (24:02) Private pay vs. insurance: deciding who pays (26:50) What happens when founders choose the wrong business model (28:59) The senior-care product Tatyana wishes someone would build (33:24) What makes a care startup worth taking seriously (36:19) Why families shouldn’t wait for a care crisis LINKS Tatyana Zlotsky A Place For Mom Oura Fitbit Are you building something that’s hard to explain? That’s often a sign you’re working on something interesting, but it raises the risk that you’re missing out on fundraising, sales, hiring, and media opportunities. I help early-stage founders sharpen the narrative: what matters, why now, who needs to care, and why they’re the right team to make it happen. If you’re preparing for a raise, launch, important customer meeting, panel, or hiring push, I can help you pressure-test the story before the stakes get higher. Visit the Fund/Build/Scale website to learn more, or email [email protected] 👉🏾 Learn more SUBSCRIBE 📥 Get the Fund/Build/Scale newsletter on Beehiiv: https://fundbuildscale.beehiiv.com/   📺 Watch Fund/Build/Scale on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFFH4cs2B1BKatPGs8SFRJw   📸 Follow Fund/Build/Scale on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fundbuildscale/