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Lantern — Your guide to navigating life before and after a death.
Dealing with death is hard. Lantern is your step-by-step guide on how to navigate your life before and after a death. Create a pre-plan or navigate the logistics after a death. Our users say it best: “Pre-planning is so low angst with your website.” - Lizzy
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Maker
@alex_papageorge Thank you! That would be amazing. We love meeting anyone in the space!
@liz_eddy1 Awesome! Her name's Mary Ann. Have an email I can share with her to reach out?
The focus of this would be what happens after I die, right? From my feeling, you would then use this once and maybe from time to time for updating something, but why would someone use this continuously?
@felix_dgg that’s a great question, and the answer is that we focus on both sides of the process! 88% of our users are actually folks who are pre-planning. A pre-plan includes the things that people typically think about like a will and funeral wishes, but also things that they might not think about like account closures, benefits overviews, and legacy documentation (we’ve got some really cool things in the works for this piece in particular). There’s a good amount of work to be done here, so it can take multiple sessions just to tackle the initial planning. Additionally, as you mentioned, these are all things that need to be updated on a regular basis as life changes, which is what keeps our users engaging with the product. Their information is stored for as long as they’ve got an account with us and once a death occurs, all of the work they’ve done to prepare is turned into a step-by-step, guided roadmap for the people they’ve left behind.
Maker
@felix_dgg There are a few use cases for our current users (1) your own or family members pre-plans (which need at minimum annual updating), (2) arrangements after someone passes away (which is very much like planning a wedding in terms of level of logistics), (3) supporting someone who is grieving. So, if you can imagine we are like a cross between Zola and Turbo Tax in terms of usage. New products are coming to increase the life cycle in all three categories- legal documentation, creating your own documentary of your life, sympathy gift giving and so on.
@alyssaruderman thanks for the elaborate answer! Sounds good! but what I do not understand yet, you say 88% of the users are "pre-planning". I would have thought that those are 100%. What are the other 12% doing? Maybe I still did not understand fully what you do.
@liz_eddy1 Ok, maybe I underestimate all the things that one has to take care of ... Do you think that this is something many people underestimate?
Maker
@felix_dgg Absolutely. I was that person. When it comes to logistics after a death the majority of us are wholly unprepared for the months and sometimes years of logistics that follow. Our goal is to alleviate that burden so people can focus on their grief and loved ones during these times.
This is so needed - thank you for building. End of life is such a difficult time and I'm glad there are now more tools to help. 🙏
Maker
Hi Hunters!
I'm Liz, Co-Founder and CEO of Lantern (www.lantern.co). First, thank you to @alexisohanian for hunting Lantern!
Why do we know how hard the end-of-life and death process can be? We've been there. And, we were totally unprepared.
Lantern began in the fall of 2018 with one sentence: “I think we need to do something about death.”
Some background: I lost my dad when I was 9. So, when my grandmother (my dad’s mom) died in the winter of 2018, I was tasked with all of the planning that ensued. I walked into the nursing home where my grandmother lived and was confronted with two police officers, a nurse, my grandmother’s body, and a question of “what do you want to do next?” Needless to say, the experience was overwhelming, complicated, and pretty much entirely unguided.
I started asking questions about why a better option didn’t exist and turned to @alyssaruderman, my go-to person for cracking a difficult challenge (and now Co-Founder and COO of Lantern!). Together we started answering that question with “it should and we should build it.”
Today, we provide step-by-step guidance for navigating life before and after a death. Whether you're just preparing or recently experienced a death, you'll find all the tools, resources and services you need.
This week, we launched Lantern Premium. With Lantern Premium, you can work your way through relevant tasks, store important information, and track and share your progress for just $27.
Lantern can be used personally or as an employee benefit.
We know every person should have an end of life plan but so many of us don't. Lantern makes it simple and all in a beautiful user experience. Want to check out Lantern? Sign up today and use code HUNT2020 for 15% off Lantern Premium.
Send any questions our way!
Liz
I am glad to hear that planning for death is a growing topic. Its very mature to admit what's coming and make rational decisions that should help the loved ones before the time is due. Great job!
When I first met @alyssaruderman & @lizeddy3 during our search for this year's cohort of Grand Central Tech, it was clear they were the right team to tackle the unmet needs of caregivers, family members facing the death of a loved one and individuals considering their own end-of-life plans. I was that person for my mother and would have benefitted greatly from a solution like Lantern had it existed in 2016. So happy that Lantern exists now for all the daughters (and sons, siblings, grandchildren, etc.) for whom navigating death can feel less lonely, and more empowered 🙏❤️
Maker
@twitstina thank you! we are so grateful to you and Grand Central Tech. Missing you all!
Lantern.co is a comprehensive resource for my parents (and me!) to plan ahead. There is so much unknown, it's scary. Thankful to Lantern, this resource is such a blessing! #proudinvestor
Good idea, serving a universal-yet-somehow-niche-seeming need. I envy all the fun bits of cultural variation you'll get to learn about growing this! Case in point - I could send this to my parents (colonized Anglosphere) and actually have a serious conversation, though probably not until after a few drinks. If I sent it to my (Sinosphere) in-laws, I couldn't begin to guess how long it would be before they acknowledged my presence in the same room again...
Maker
@murchadh Absolutely, these conversations can be incredibly challenging. We have a few articles on the topic. This is a good one to start with: https://lantern.co/articles/talk... Thank you for this kind note!
I've been really impressed with how thoughtful Lantern has been with product updates and enhancements to date. Can't wait to try premium!
I love this product – elegant, easy to use, and welcoming. Thanks, team Lantern, for making this difficult topic way less intimidating to navigate!!!
I am so thankful that Liz and Alyssa are tackling this problem and space that is so opaque and challenging to navigate for so many individuals and families. I knew they were the right people to build a solution that can support people emotionally and technically during the planning process and after the loss of a loved one. Congrats on your 1 year birthday and new launch Lantern!
@kelly_keaveney_graziadei thank you so much, Kelly! We're so lucky to have you on Team Lantern.
Death can honestly be terrifying and overwhelming to think about (not only from a logistics and planning perspective, but also from a “OMG we’re all going to die. What happens after we die?!?! I miss the people that I know who have died.” perspective. I’m sweating just thinking about it!) I love that Lantern is a calm, cool, collected authority on all things death - your one stop shop to start figuring out the details in a non-scary way. Thank you for such a beautifully designed product!
I've loved this product so far- I started this when trying to figure out the many many answers to "what haven't we thought of yet?" after my dad died this summer. That experience highlighted how helpful a Lantern plan would be for my own family after I die. I'm working on my own profile and it's been surprisingly fun to make my funeral playlist and I'm making it my goal to make my daughter giggle when she reads my last wishes. Not to mention, getting documents together to be prepared for when the unthinkable happens relieves a bit of the anxiety within my grief process (and, you know, global pandemic.) I've avoided this type of planning before because it felt too heavy to look at the possibilities directly. It's still heavy, sure, but Lantern has made these loaded tasks feel just light enough to carry.
Maker
@brooke_lemasters Thank you for this beautiful and thoughtful comment. We are so grateful to be able to help you.
Super cool product! Love the design and ease of use. End of life planning is something I've never even thought about, but am starting to realize how complicated it all is, and how useful a tool like Lantern is. Thanks for making this
This product is incredible, not sure how it wasn't around before but I'm glad it's here now! Keep up the good work!
This is a topic which is neglected all to often. Thank you Lantern for filling this void in a meaningful way!!
I love it. The idea of death is obviously daunting but it's a reality. As an avid planner with anxiety, Lantern makes me feel so much better. I can plan ahead and have the tools just in case something does come up with someone close to me. The entire interface is calming and nothing about it is morose. It's a brilliant idea.
Such a great idea and product. Even though no one wants to think about it, we still need to prepare for death.
I am a transplant hepatologist (a liver doctor) and am very glad that this product/company exists. As a doctor this is my least favorite discussion to have with my patients, but it is so important. I have recommended this product to several social workers at my hospital as well, because it’s approachable and user friendly. On a personal note, I have also recommended it to friends who have reached out to me when they were struggling with how to discuss end of life issues with other friends (we are in our 30s). I find Lantern’s approach to be both sensitive and practical. I would absolutely recommend.
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