Meet the Co-Founders of Good Life Sorted, Constantine and Verity: “we have delivered over 200,000 hours of help to elderly across the south of England”
Meet Constantine Karampatsos and Verity Batchelder
1. Describe your startup in two sentences?
At Good Life Sorted we’re addressing the ageing population crisis by establishing a new, reliable supply pool of individuals willing to assist elderly and vulnerable people to live independently in their own homes. Through our purpose-built platform, we introduce elderly people and their families to fully-vetted, hand-picked local ‘Helpers’. Our Helpers provide a range of home help services for a fee, such as cleaning and laundry, meal preparation, shopping, companionship and more, with the exception of personal care services.
2. What gave you the inspiration?
Constantine came up with the idea of Good Life Sorted taking inspiration from his grandma Zoe, who stayed active and independent in the comfort of her own home until she reached 96 years old. All that grandma needed was a hand with the daily chores and someone to enjoy a cup of tea with. Mary, a caring and reliable neighbour, visited grandma a few times a week for a few hours to make sure that she kept safe and that she had the support she needed to live independently.
With a wealth of experience as one of Europe's foremost marketplace experts, and having spent years working with various online marketplaces, Constantine made the decision to channel his expertise into something more meaningful - something that would leave a lasting legacy.
3. How did you meet?
VB: We both worked at Amazon and met through our network there. We reconnected when Constantine was seeking a cofounder to bring his vision to life and I was also looking to launch something new and use my experience to address a big problem in society.
4. What has been your greatest success to date? And your greatest challenge?
Since our launch in 2019, we have delivered over 200,000 hours of help to elderly and vulnerable people across the south of England. We're immensely proud of the positive impact we've had on the lives of thousands of individuals - whether they be customers, their families, or our hardworking helpers. It's been incredibly rewarding to see the way our services have helped to alleviate loneliness, improve wellbeing, and increase social interactions for those in our community who need it most.
We have created a brand new role and purpose for people who are looking to make a meaningful difference in the world. With over 40,000 applications for the helper role, we have been able to be incredibly selective and have only invited around 3% of applicants to become Good Life Sorted Helpers. This has allowed us to choose the most motivated, empathetic, reliable and committed people to join our team and provide invaluable support to elderly individuals in their local communities.
However, perhaps our most significant achievement is that we have created a completely new business model from scratch - one that we are committed to continuing to build and grow. Our ambition is to make the Good Life Sorted Helper role as well-known as being an Uber driver or an AirBnB host, and we are thrilled to be well on our way to achieving that goal.
5. What kind of impact is your business having and how do you measure it?
Social impact is the reason we exist and we’re proud of the positive impact we have on the lives of both our customers and helpers. We are particularly focused on reducing loneliness and social isolation, as well as improving wellbeing.
We measure our impact through regular feedback surveys which tell us that visits from a Good Life Sorted Helper have made a significant impact on the wellbeing of our customers, with 94% reporting improvement since starting their visits. Our services have also increased social interactions for 58% of our customers, who have reported increased connections with others in their community, besides their Helper. Additionally, our Net Promoter score of 83 is considered world-class, reflecting the high level of satisfaction our customers have with our services.
In addition, we asked both helpers and customers for qualitative feedback, for example:
“I’m really enjoying my visits with my customer and he’s enjoying the company too. It’s so nice to know that he feels my visits increase his independence and enhance his pride, rather than take them away.” (Imogen T, Helper)
“Rebecca has helped enormously fill a void, occasioned by loss of old and longstanding friends. She is fine company with a good sense of humour, kind, caring, intelligent and diligent. Moreover she understands my eccentricity!” (David D, Customer)
6. How has Covid affected your business?
When the Covid pandemic first hit, our growth was inevitably slowed down due to the fact that many of our customers and helpers were shielding. While this was a challenging time, we saw it as an opportunity to focus on other areas of our business. We took advantage of this time to work on developing our technology platform, carrying out extensive market research, and refining our brand positioning. By putting in the work during the first lockdown, we were able to emerge stronger and better equipped to handle the challenges ahead.
In the longer term, we have actually benefited from the pandemic in some unexpected ways. One positive outcome is that there has been a marked increase in awareness of the challenges that elderly people face, which has helped to boost interest in our services. Additionally, many people who volunteered to help out in their local communities during the pandemic discovered a newfound sense of purpose and enjoyment in doing so, leading them to consider a career change and becoming paid helpers. As a result, we are now seeing an influx of highly motivated individuals joining our team, and we are excited about the future possibilities that lie ahead.
7. When you were little what did you want to be when you grew up?
VB: In my early twenties I was a professional ballerina, until I took my dad’s advice and got a ‘proper job’.
8. If you weren’t doing this, what would be your plan B?
CK: Tackling a different big social issue. But of course, there's always time to do that next…
9. Who is your role model?
CK: I observe positive traits that I like in my friends and try to adopt them. For example, I admire my friend Solomon who is very straight-forward and doesn't shy away from what would be considered a silly question. Watching him in action has inspired me to adopt a similar mindset and approach to life.
10. What is your happy track?
VB: Constantine spent a lot of time carefully selecting the track that our customers listen to while 'on hold'. I vetoed "Rule Britannia" and we finally agreed on "What a Wonderful World". It's been a great hit with our customers and quite often we hear them singing along as we answer their call!
11. What is your motto?
Our mission is to make the home of every older person a happy place to be, one person at a time.
12. What are you most looking forward to in 2023?
We have exciting growth plans. We will expand geographically across more of the UK, such as East Anglia, the West Country and the Midlands, and increase the range of services we offer enabling us to make a real impact on the lives of people up and down the country.