Pass It Down selected to pitch at Aging 2.0’s “Global Start-up Search” in Austin
By Tom Ballard, Chief Alliance Officer, PYA
Chris Cummings of Pass It Down has been selected to participate in Aging 2.0’s “Global Start-up Search” pitch competition scheduled for this Friday in Austin.
The Chattanooga start-up, profiled in this April article on teknovation.biz, is one of six invitees to the Austin event with the opportunity for the winner to join an elite group pitching at Aging 2.0’s “OPTIMIZE” conference later this year.
“We feel this is a great opportunity for Pass It Down to develop relationships in the senior care industry and secure pilots and partnerships,” Cummings said of the company that he founded to help family members capture, retain and share their most meaningful stories. The platform allows memories to be documented through videos, photographs, audio recordings, and writing.
While Pass It Down is not focused just on an older population, that is certainly a target group. The start-up was inspired by Cummings’ experience as he dealt with his mother’s debilitating illness that eventually affected both her short-term and long-term memory as well as her ability to communicate. He told us he wanted to know much more about her life.
The Texas event is part of a three-month global effort by Aging 2.0 focused on accelerating innovation that improves the lives of older adults. Thirty-nine events like the one in Austin – 22 in the U.S. and 17 in foreign cities in 13 countries – have or will be held by the end of June.
Aging2.0 has a sister organization – Generator Ventures – that provides capital and access to leading long-term care organizations and distribution channels, so that is also something that is attractive to Cummings.
“If we win the pitch event, we have the opportunity to potentially attend the final showcase in San Francisco in October,” Cummings noted.
Aging 2.0 explains that each of the winners of the 39 local events will be featured on the organization’s website where the general public will have the opportunity to vote for their favorites. In addition, a panel of judges will be recruited to evaluate the same online profiles.
Online voting and expert judging will occur between July 18 and August 19. After all the votes are tabulated for each semi-finalist, an unstated number of start-ups will be invited to the “OPTIMIZE” conference scheduled for October 12-14 in San Francisco. In determining those invited, Aging 2.0 says equal weight will be given to the online voting by individuals and the rankings of the judges.
