Founders Everywhere: Jo Schneier
Founders Everywhere: Jo Schneier
Jo Schneier is the founder and CEO of Trusty.care, a platform designed to improve the health and financial outcomes of older adults.
Welcome to Founders Everywhere, where we highlight the incredible people behind the companies we’ve backed at Everywhere Ventures, a global pre-seed fund supported by a community of 500 founders and operators.
The fastest growing segment of the United States population is older adults. They also face some of the highest out-of-pocket healthcare expenses. Founder and CEO, Jo Schneier, created Trusty.care to reduce those costs and assist older adults in making better life decisions. He was motivated to start the company after his brother was in a serious car accident and didn’t have health insurance. Jo helped him get Medicaid retroactively and, fortunately, his brother is okay now and working for the company. Trusty.care is the silver-lining of this tragic event and helps others navigate the often cumbersome process of signing up for Medicare, Medicaid, and Medigap. Jo worked in the elder tech industry, so he had in-depth knowledge of what older adults experience and knew it’s where he could make the most impact on the market.
Trusty.care has raised $7.3M across four rounds of funding and Jo is an experienced entrepreneur, having built and sold two other companies previously. He’s a leader in digital health and education and is a mentor at Cornell, NYU, Columbia, Wharton, and Techstars. He’s also a trans man who is actively involved in the LGBTQ community. He’s a human rights advocate and is committed to leaving the world a better place.
What’s Trusy.care’s mission?
Our mission is that no older adult should go bankrupt because of out-of-pocket healthcare costs. We believe the best way to do that is to empower the millions of advisors, brokers, and providers with tools to help guide older adults in making key decisions during retirement.
What were some of your greatest challenges founding Trusty.care?
One of my biggest challenges as an underrepresented founder - being trans - was that I had to raise capital for the first time post-transition. I had raised capital from different sources before, but it was a challenge to find my footing in the beginning and to figure out how to make that happen. And, obviously, hiring is one of the biggest challenges for start-ups.
What are your goals for the future?
Our 5-year goal is to have 300,000 professionals in our system reaching at least 10M consumers. We have a pathway to get there and we want to end the year with no less than 30,000 active brokers in the system.
What are you passionate about outside of Trusty.care?
I have 3 kids so obviously I’m really passionate about being the best parent I can be, and being there for them. Besides that, I sit on the board of many non-profits that work with LGBTQ populations. One of them is a trans youth mentoring program and another one is for LGBTQ seniors. When people move into nursing homes, many go back in the closet, so I’m really passionate about finding ways for LGBTQ seniors to age with dignity.
Do you have any hobbies?
I’ve done powerlifting for a long time. I had a serious back injury last year, but we built a home gym so I can start getting back into it. I also do a lot of gardening, especially growing vegetables. I must be doing something right because my neighbors keep taking them!