Tech innovator Eben Pingree shares his family’s experience with Alzheimer’s and how his new app, Kinsome, can help grandkids and grandparents feel closer.
When entrepreneur Eben Pingree’s mother, 78, and father-in-law, 80, were both diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in the same week about two years ago, it shook his family to the core.
“It was certainly a shock,” Pingree said. “I think there were signs with both of them. But to have both of them confirmed right at the same time was a lot.”
Pingree’s family is unusually lucky in that he, his wife, and their three children live not just nearby, but in the same building, as his parents: They have the apartment above his parents, while his younger brother lives in the unit directly below. Yet another brother lives just four blocks away, with his children.
“It was certainly a shock. I think there were signs
with both of them. But to have both of them
confirmed right at the same time was a lot.”
“It very much is kind of a village, helping out wherever we can,” Pingree said. “My mom walks with me to school every morning to drop off my kids, and then I walk her home. Some mornings, my brother will do it. We try to all pitch in.”
But he wanted to do more.
A seasoned tech founder, Pingree started thinking about what resources or tools could make this journey easier. The outcome: Kinsome, a smartphone app designed to reduce loneliness among older adults by encouraging intergenerational connection.
The idea for Kinsome grew from speaking with older adults about loneliness and what they missed about their social lives. Many expressed that they weren’t as close with their grandkids as they’d like to be.
And while Pingree’s close-knit family isn’t as at risk of loneliness, it’s a condition that’s at virtually epidemic proportions among older adults in the U.S. In 2023, a national poll reported that about 37 percent of older U.S. adults (aged 50 to 80 years) experienced loneliness, and 34 percent reported feeling socially isolated. Loneliness can lead to all kinds of negative health outcomes, including higher risk of cardiovascular issues, weakened immune system, obesity, and dementia, to name a few.
The Kinsome platform is how Pingree along with cofounders Mike Gerbush, Ashley Hocking and Brianne Baker hope to take a bite out of that loneliness epidemic. The iPhone version debuted in September 2024, and allows kids to send audio snippets, photos, videos, and drawings to their grandparents, who receive notifications via email or text.
“If we can get grandparents talking to their grandkids every day, what impact could that have in terms of the research around loneliness?” he asked.
The app addresses an issue highlighted in the U.S. Surgeon General’s 2023 advisory on loneliness, which pointed to the risks of social isolation, including cognitive decline and health problems.
“I started a company 11 or 12 years ago that was also in the social space, but not nearly as mission-focused. I had all these kinds of visions of grandeur back then,” Pingree said. “Whereas now, however the company evolves, will be driven by what gives us the best chance at solving the problem we’re focused on. We don’t care if that means becoming a massive company. And my co-founder and I are very aligned on that.”
“If we can get grandparents talking to their
grandkids every day, what impact could that
have in terms of the research around loneliness?”
In addition to fostering connections between grandparents and grandchildren, Kinsome incorporates an AI companion named “Kinzey,” making the experience even more interactive: Kinzey provides real-time conversation starters and explanations to help make it easier for kids to engage with their grandparents. Beyond strengthening connections and sparking a bit of joy, another goal of this aspect of the app is to help preserve shared memories.
Navigating familial Alzheimer’s
Pingree’s mother and father-in-law have had dramatically different experiences with Alzheimer’s, Pingree said.
“There were some of the classic signs,” he recalled. “She started to struggle a lot more with technology, and she’s someone who was always very tech savvy,” Pingree said of his mother. “She was a photographer and she went digital very early with photography, and was just always really on top of or ahead of the technical curve. That started to fade pretty quickly.”
He noted his mother fell victim to a few online scams, which can also be an early sign of dementia.
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In fact, in a recent study, researchers found that individuals who fell victim to fraud were more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or mild cognitive impairment in the following six years.
Pingree’s father-in-law’s decline, on the other hand, has been slower and steadier.
“I noticed some things earlier, like [him] repeating questions,” he recalled. “But I haven’t seen a huge decline over the years. It’s noticeable, but not impacting him nearly as much. My father-in-law is still much more independent. He is an avid athlete, and he still drives himself to play tennis.”
Pingree’s father-in-law receives monthly infusions of Leqembi, approved by the FDA in July 2023. (Clinical trial data showed that the drug slowed down the progression of Alzheimer’s a little bit — but it can’t stop or reverse Alzheimer’s.)
Pingree’s father-in-law also made certain lifestyle changes following his diagnosis, including practicing a healthier diet and cutting out alcohol almost entirely.
In the midst of navigating an Alzheimer’s diagnosis on both sides of the family, Pingree says his kids have played a critical role.
“Every day is an adventure with them. They’re also just a beautiful distraction from all of it.”
His daughter enjoys painting and drawing after school with his mother, whom the kids refer to as “Gigi.”
“The kids are by far the best with her,” he noted. “For the most part, they’re completely unaware [of her condition] still, and she’s not on edge around them. She’s not self-conscious about if she’s forgetting things. If she’s acting a little extra loopy, they think that’s great.”
Because audio snippets are at the core of Kinsome, Pingree is exploring ways to introduce voice biomarker technology into the existing platform in the future.
“We’ve been keeping tabs on some of the technology out there that’s able to use different types of biomarkers that we’d have access to, voice biomarkers specifically,” Pingree said. Voice biomarker technology is currently being explored by researchers for its potential to detect cognitive decline, mood disorders, depression, stroke risk, and other health conditions.
Kinsome also plans to introduce a premium subscription model and offer multilingual support, aiming to make the app accessible to a broader audience and further addressing the loneliness epidemic among older generations.
As more tech products are built to deliver societal benefits at the center, such as easing loneliness, Pingree says he has seen a huge shift in the attitudes of entrepreneurs.
“Entrepreneurs are now becoming more aware of different paths that you can take to grow the company—and just hopefully getting more thoughtful about what the right path for your mission and your product are,” Pingree said. “I think we’re taking a much smarter approach this time around.”