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An AgeTech Collaborative™ startup participant, LivNow helps aging adults navigate the relocation process from their homes into assisted living and other communities, empowering them to receive the best value and service. LivNow’s relocation specialists connect families with carefully vetted local realtors, movers and other service providers, and the company’s mobile app provides a central, shareable place to store relocation information, contacts and resources.

For this third blog post in our series honoring Women’s History Month, we spoke with Maureen Longoria and Lisa Burns, co-founders of LivNow, about their mission to help older adults and their families navigate the challenges of relocating.

You can see our other blog posts celebrating Women’s History Month here and here.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Can you tell us what LivNow is all about?

Maureen: LivNow is a relocation management company dedicated to managing the transition process for older adults who are moving into senior living communities. There’s such a huge need for this service that we’re looking to expand to serve other older adults who are making a later-in-life transition, as well as families who have lost a loved one and need to clean out and manage the sale of their home.

How would an aging adult or their family get connected with your services?

Lisa: We’re a B2B2C company, so assisted living and other communities bring us on board to support their residents as they move into those communities. If you have a loved one who’s moving into a community, that community would introduce you to our team. Then you’d be connected with one of our dedicated relocation specialists, who learns about your individual needs.

We work closely with families to provide the right resources at the right time. For example, we can suggest several certified moving companies to families who have that need. We do all the heavy lifting, so all families have to do is decide which company to use.

Maureen: We work with some other Collaborative companies for some of our services. If you have to clear out mom’s office, for example, we have a solution for digitizing all her important documents with Prisidio. If you find some keepsake and think, “Mom, you have to tell us about this!” you can document the story of that keepsake with Artifcts. So we offer a full range of services you might need for relocating.

That’s extremely convenient for people facing a time of transition.

Maureen: It’s especially helpful for urgent situations. For instance, if a loved one suddenly has to move because of a health event and you need to access equity from their house quickly, your relocation specialist can get involved and suggest options for getting a bridge loan, getting the person moved into their new community, and getting the house fixed up and on the market. They provide all those resources so you know all your options. Our job is to educate and provide you with all the information, so you can make the best decisions for your family.

What has your experience been founding a company in the tech space?

Lisa: We knew that technology would be a big piece of our solution. In order to manage the entire process, we needed to build one platform that would provide easy access to information for the families, the communities and many others, so they can all communicate and have the right information at the right time.

Maureen: This technology automates the process for us, so our relocation specialists can spend their time on the phone with clients rather than doing tasks like data entry. The technology also provides visibility. Imagine a family who needs to move a parent into a community — now imagine being able to go into our app and being able to see moving company options, quotes for moving, a comparative market analysis for the sale of the house, and more. With the app, you’re not texting each other constantly, you’re just communicating through it with all the information in one place. There’s visibility for everybody, and that’s a first in this industry.

What has surprised you the most as you’ve founded and grown LivNow?

Lisa: We have this incredible team of women who blow us away every day. They’ve had careers and families — they’re very accomplished. Every day they go above and beyond to make this a successful company, and they share with us how meaningful it is to them that they’re helping support these families. Maureen and I knew it would be a great team, but we didn’t know it would be this amazing. We’re grateful every day for what they bring to the table.

Maureen: They bring a lot of maturity and grace, and that has created a wonderful company culture. The work is a mission for everybody, and we also have a charitable giving program. So when you can build a company where you’re doing good and you can give back to the community, too — that’s just icing on the cake.

What advice do you have for other women founders?

Maureen: We focused mostly on venture capital or angel investors who liked the market that we’re in, or who understood the value of women founders and what they could bring. Some of our angel investors have been by our side the whole time. 

So my biggest piece of advice for women founders is to find investors, accelerators and other groups that want to see you thrive and that have the experience to support and mentor you. Lean into those resources and focus on building those relationships, because they will be immensely helpful. Don’t waste your time going after potential partners who don’t meet your criteria.

What’s up next for LivNow?

Maureen: We had a goal of breaking into channel partners, and we’ve started working with a company that provides support to caregivers in the workplace as part of an employee benefit program. Often those caregivers are caring for an older adult, so we’re a perfect solution for them. Another channel partner we’ve gotten into is senior referral placement agencies, which help aging adults find the best communities for them. We’re a perfect addition to their offerings.

Lisa: We’re always looking for the right partners that can support families through these journeys, whether that’s relocating or working through the loss of a loved one. At the end of the day, that’s our goal: to support families and make these transitions as seamless as possible.

Visit LivNow’s website to learn more.