🏡 The Senior Living Space Is Ripe for Disruption

Happy Trends Tuesday!

Today we’ve got:

1 trend alert
1 piece of operator wisdom
1 startup you should know about

Let's get to it.

🚨 TREND ALERT

As their parents age, entrepreneurs (and investors) are coming to a stark realization: Pleasant assisted-living options appear to be nonexistent.

At the same time, demand is hitting new highs.

Here are a couple ideas to ease the transition from independence to assisted living:

Interim support solutions: At-home assistance often means hiring a full-time aide, but there’s an opportunity to offer part-time help. Think services like meal prep, grocery shopping, or medication tracking for 55+ communities.
Better assisted-living options: Transitioning from a home to a 450-square-foot apartment can be tough. You could do the obvious and offer bigger, better apartments, but don’t dismiss senior co-living. It’s on the rise.

⚡️ MARKETING PLANNING TEMPLATE

Every budding business needs a roadmap. It’s just how it is.

The good news is we’ve got a spiffy template that’s ready for edification. Use this strategy sheet to outline your mission statement, target market, outreach channels, and more.

🧠 OPERATOR WISDOM

Trendster Kirstyn Shaw started her online cookie business in 2020 and is now considering opening a brick-and-mortar bakery.

Naturally, she asked the Trends community for advice. Here’s what they had to say:

Don’t underestimate your bargaining power. Leases are negotiable in the current retail environment:
- Ask for Tenant Improvement (TI) funds to cover build-outs
- Always have an out: A one-year lease with the right to renew, a penalty of a few months’ rent, or a six-month notice period.
- Consider a “floating” rental, where you negotiate a lower base rent and pay additional installments on top of it — depending on your sales.
Location, location, location! It’s a cliche for a reason. One Trendster put it well: “If the site doesn’t work for your business, good deal terms are irrelevant.”
Build realistic forecasts. Note the small details and unexpected costs:
- Traffic counts
- Parking access
- NNN expenses
- Visibility from the street
- Demographics in the immediate area
- Whether customers will mainly be walking, driving, or both

🔥 STARTUP YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT

You know that entrepreneur making food more sustainable? He’s a real fungi. (Sorry — had to get that out of the way.)

Anyways, back to fungus. Agtech startup Hedgehog is building robotic mushroom farms to grow food more efficiently.

At scale, Hedgehog’s robotic farms would reduce labor needs, increase crop yields, and slash prices. And ’shrooms pack in a lot of perks:

They’re protein-rich and nutritious, making them a strong meat alternative
They can be grown sustainably using very little water and power

Plus, the mushrooms themselves can be put to work to naturally recycle food waste.

Read the full story on The Hustle blog.

Got 15 seconds? Please share your feedback by hitting the smileys below. Tell us what you liked and how we can make Trends better.

Invest 5 minutes into The Hustle, you'll get a great return.

Get our daily newsletter counterpart, for all the latest in business and tech.

JOIN FREE

25 First Street, 2nd Floor, Cambridge, MA 02141 | USA | 888.482.7768

Never want to hear from us again? Break our hearts and unsubscribe.

Key phrases

Pleasant assistedliving options Interim support solutions Better assistedliving options current retail environment sixmonth notice period Traffic countsParking access strong meat alternativeThey daily newsletter counterpart MARKETING PLANNING TEMPLATE Trendster Kirstyn Shaw lower base rent good deal terms robotic mushroom farms The Hustle Blog online cookie business Agtech startup Hedgehog

Older messages

🪑 The kids furniture goldmine

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

PLUS: Productize your service business, and a startup you should know about Happy Trends Tuesday! Today we've got: 1 trend alert 1 piece of operator wisdom 1 innovator you should know about

🤦 Whoops, we forgot your newsletter guide

Tuesday, April 4, 2023

Here's the right link March Madness got the best of us. The Newsletter Guide link we sent you this morning wasn't the right one. Instead of the playbook for building a million-dollar newsletter

📰 Opportunities to build a million-dollar newsletter

Tuesday, April 4, 2023

PLUS: How newsletter grow, and a startup you should know about Happy Trends Tuesday! Today we've got: 1 trend alert 1 piece of operator wisdom 1 startup you should know about Let's get to it. 🚨

💰 Why retiring boomers means opportunity for you

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

PLUS: How to buy a business, and a startup you should know about Happy Trends Tuesday! Today we've got: 1 trend alert 1 piece of operator wisdom 1 startup you should know about Before getting into

🍄 The shroom boom is a huge opportunity

Tuesday, March 21, 2023

PLUS: Getting your first 1k YouTube subs, and a startup you should know about Happy Trends Tuesday! Today we've got: 1 trend alert 1 piece of operator wisdom 1 startup you should know about

Navigate the new era of email marketing with ease, what’s new in Litmus, and more