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Investor and advisor to early stage and growth businesses in the health and wellness space, with a passion around transforming the quality of living for Older Adults.
Marketing and Strategy Leader committed to helping businesses grow through smarter Branding, Strategy, Customer Acquisition and Product Development/Commercialization.
Hanh: [00:02:31] how the idea of prime time was conceived. Can you give us the background about?that?
Abby: [00:02:37] Great. I’m so happy to be here. Thank you for opening up the, the floor too.
Abby: [00:02:43] As a prime-time partners, isn’t an investment fund focused on new product services and experiences for older adults. And the fund was really formed between myself and my partner, Alan Patricof. I come from it from as a founder and an operator, and he comes at the space as an investor. He [00:03:00] at age 85, that has been a very successful investor in both.
Hanh: [00:03:48] Why do you think companies focusing on products and services for older people.
Hanh:[00:03:52] have been historically being under deserved in venture capital money?
Hanh:[00:03:57] So let’s say a less informed investor might think this [00:04:00] space has been historically ignored. So what makes you want to defy this trend?
Abby: [00:04:05] So I think there’s two sides to it. I think that investors have been very interested in this demographic shift and I’ve been looking for businesses, but their issue has been really more around the supply that there haven’t been enough entrepreneurs developing new businesses in the space.
Hanh: [00:05:44] So what made you decide to focus on initial seed and early stage investments rather than something that’s more established companies?
Abby: [00:05:51] It’s a great question. I think there’s probably two reasons. One is I think that’s where we see the biggest opportunity for, for growth in terms of there [00:06:00] are a lot of new entrance into the space and they need the support, not just the financial support and capital, but also the type of experience. That Allen and myself bring to the table around helping with distribution and marketing and brand and elements around product.
Abby: [00:06:15] So I think part of it is that we see that there’s an opportunity to really build out a whole new category here. And then I think the second thing is also based on my background as a founder myself, it’s where I like to spend my time. And I think there’s a part of it as this is our first fund, but we view ourselves as building an investment platform.
Hanh: [00:06:41] So how do you think the macro trends in the world today? Like the rate at which our population is aging in medical technology, how do you think that will help prime time partners succeed?
Abby: [00:06:53] I think that the macro trends have been something that it’s not new. The world health organization publishes report on [00:07:00] population growth every decade. So this is not a surprised the world, but I think what’s different is that the economic stress.
Abby:[00:07:51] So I think that is something that is certainly helpful to, to our ability to build a portfolio of companies that ultimately have customers [00:08:00] and acquirers. I think the second thing about the macro. Uh, kind of environment is that we, everyone, this issue affectseverybody.
[00:08:23] Half of people born today will live to be a hundred, actually a hundred force the number. So what of redesigning? What are we doing to accommodate the fact that our lifespan has gone from what was only 20 years ago in our mid-sixties to now late seventies. And again, we’ll be pushing a hundred in just a couple of decades. [00:08:41] So I think that is a very, the longevity issue is a very big, not just a trend. It’s a big reality. That, that there will be a whole crop of product services and experiences to really fill that gap.Hanh: [00:15:08] As far as aging, the aging journey and longevity. Do you have any personal thoughts on that?
Abby: [00:15:15] Not to get philosophical, but there there’s a book called being mortal by Tolanda, which talks about fundamentally, particularly Americans, inability to talk about death. And discomfort with death. And I think as I look at this space, historically, the private sector involvement has all been around.
Hanh: [00:17:56] Do you have any other thoughts that you want to share?
Abby: [00:18:00] I think really the thoughts more, you know, that when we talk about seniors or older adults, it always feels like such a monolithic or uniform term.
Abby: [00:18:31] And my narratives is we’re picking our path at this point in our careers. We’re hoping to build businesses that unlock potential for older adults. And I just would encourage anyone who has a business idea or wants to get more involved to email us at hello at primetime partners. And we’ll see if there’s a way that you can get involved.
Hanh: [00:18:52] Thank you so much for your time and sharing your mission and best of luck to you.
Abby: [00:18:57] Thank you. Great to meet you.
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