Very intriguing, and very interesting. The need is definitely on point. My 2 cents - AI assistants on helping navigate mundane or routine stuff for the elderly (normal times or at medical care) is great, however, what we also see is that parents have a basic digital support system through their children or young next to kin (ofcourse there would be an unfortunate sample size too). Instead, where I feel the digital support is completely clueless or lacking control is where the elderly is out of sight, for example, not book appointment but go, travel, sit, meet, return back home (physical invisible piece outside digital), not book lab tests but field technician coordination with home phone or address, attend, give samples, technician leaving, elderly post sample care (physical invisible piece outside digital), etc. This is where probably a physical + digital concierge service would complete the loop. Digital enablement in agetech is great, but real MVP lies in enabling their physical movements. Having said that - great and detailed thought out and pen down. Would love to learn/know more to follow this space.
AGE-WELL also works with startups and could be a great resource—I used to volunteer there and really love the work they’re doing to advance research in this space.
From my research, I haven’t seen much Canadian VC investment in AgeTech companies, or perhaps there just aren’t many yet. However, I believe this will be a growing industry with an aging population. I’d be interested to hear if this aligns with what you’re seeing at Highline Beta.
Hey Ben, great post! Very interesting yet tough problem space.
Would be curious to know what type of validation data looks convincing to you coming out of a landing page smoke test. What kinds of metrics to you zoom in on and do you have a general rule of thumb or threshold (e.g. 5% ad CTR, 10% email sign-up rate etc)? Thanks! Moses
Hey Moses - thanks for stopping by. Quantitative data is tough at the earliest stages, so I'm mostly looking for directional signals. If I'm testing a few ads and/or landing pages, I can use comparative data versus specific benchmarks.
So it may be less about hitting an X% CTR and more about comparing A and B.
Conversion tends to vary depending on what you're doing, and B2B or B2C.
CTRs are usually pretty low -- 2% is good. Higher is really good. Again, this is for a very basic, scrappy test. We know people may go and Google search an ad (and find very little) which discourages them.
Conversion on landing page -- 10%+ is solid. But again, we're looking for directional data versus hitting specific benchmarks at this point or getting statistically significant information.
Very intriguing, and very interesting. The need is definitely on point. My 2 cents - AI assistants on helping navigate mundane or routine stuff for the elderly (normal times or at medical care) is great, however, what we also see is that parents have a basic digital support system through their children or young next to kin (ofcourse there would be an unfortunate sample size too). Instead, where I feel the digital support is completely clueless or lacking control is where the elderly is out of sight, for example, not book appointment but go, travel, sit, meet, return back home (physical invisible piece outside digital), not book lab tests but field technician coordination with home phone or address, attend, give samples, technician leaving, elderly post sample care (physical invisible piece outside digital), etc. This is where probably a physical + digital concierge service would complete the loop. Digital enablement in agetech is great, but real MVP lies in enabling their physical movements. Having said that - great and detailed thought out and pen down. Would love to learn/know more to follow this space.
Thanks for your perspective, I appreciate it.
Thanks for sharing your insights Ben! I’m also really interested in the AgeTech space and have been looking for ways to get involved and build.
I’m not sure if you’ve come across this website, but it maps out AgeTech companies in 2025: https://thegerontechnologist.com/
AGE-WELL also works with startups and could be a great resource—I used to volunteer there and really love the work they’re doing to advance research in this space.
From my research, I haven’t seen much Canadian VC investment in AgeTech companies, or perhaps there just aren’t many yet. However, I believe this will be a growing industry with an aging population. I’d be interested to hear if this aligns with what you’re seeing at Highline Beta.
I'm familiar with the site. They have great content + resources.
In Canada there's https://agetechcapital.com/ and a couple angels that I know are committed to the space, but not much.
It is a growing industry, but it's a tough one to crack.
Thanks! I haven’t come across that website. Will check it out
Hey Ben, great post! Very interesting yet tough problem space.
Would be curious to know what type of validation data looks convincing to you coming out of a landing page smoke test. What kinds of metrics to you zoom in on and do you have a general rule of thumb or threshold (e.g. 5% ad CTR, 10% email sign-up rate etc)? Thanks! Moses
Hey Moses - thanks for stopping by. Quantitative data is tough at the earliest stages, so I'm mostly looking for directional signals. If I'm testing a few ads and/or landing pages, I can use comparative data versus specific benchmarks.
So it may be less about hitting an X% CTR and more about comparing A and B.
Conversion tends to vary depending on what you're doing, and B2B or B2C.
CTRs are usually pretty low -- 2% is good. Higher is really good. Again, this is for a very basic, scrappy test. We know people may go and Google search an ad (and find very little) which discourages them.
Conversion on landing page -- 10%+ is solid. But again, we're looking for directional data versus hitting specific benchmarks at this point or getting statistically significant information.
Thanks Ben!