Complementary Sandwich-Fillings

Our connection was formed in as close to a speed-dating situation as we’ve experienced. tendercare’s co-founder pinged The Key’s cofounder on LinkedIn, and they chatted late on a Monday evening. He said they’d been working their way through the grapevine of recommended firms and The Key had come up a number of times. Both founders are experienced communicators and marketers, so they knew what they needed to bring tendercare, an AI-powered smart care platform designed to help families confidently manage the complexities of eldercare, the brand recognition required for its next chapter of growth and fundraising

We signed a contract the next day, and were off to the races to be ready for National Caregiver’s Day two weeks later. The goal of the partnership was to generate consumer media attention, elevate brand visibility, and drive customer engagement that would accelerate user and partner acquisition as the team raced to complete its next round of fundraising. Thanks to its compelling founder story and a product tailored for the fast-growing ‘sandwich generation’ – those stuck in the middle caring for both children and their aging parents - we had the ingredients for a rich story.

A Sprint out of the Gate

With the goal of clearly describing and differentiating tendercare in an increasingly crowded space, we needed to quantify the size of the problem and then introduce the platform’s role in supporting the millions of families entrenched in the caregiving process.

It was a real partnership, because the founding team was already expert in the media world, but needed a brain trust, outside objectivity, more availability and broader reach to help weave everything together. With relatively soft ‘news,’ and the primary goal of consumer acquisition (vs. business stories), we together set a target of 3 media placements by the end of our four month project. The first came almost immediately, with a Jon Fortt interview for National Caregiver’s Day (marking the end of the second week of working together).  

Sharp Strategy and Applied Empathy

We focused our storytelling strategy on two core narratives: the founder’s personal journey into caregiving and the platform’s value in addressing a growing national need (in a changing regulatory environment).

We tailored our outreach to emphasize Shauna’s lived experience in platforms that’d attract her peers - both in the caregiving space (as advisors and advocates, in government, in media and other founders or prospective partners) and as caregivers: mostly women in their 30s through 50s.

With core messaging developed early (and an enormous archive of research compiled by the tendercare team), we were able to quickly tailor to resonate across business, consumer, tech, and health & wellness audiences. We pitched product news, fundraising news, founder profiles and news commentary in parallel - to traditional and new media (especially podcasts, a format busy caregivers are most likely to consume.

As a true partner, we pulled backgrounders and briefings for meetings at Capitol Hill and media events hosted by tendercare’s investors. We even hosted a filming session for a documentary and influencer program. You’ll see our beautifully appointed office in the background of some coverage and as the setting for an influencer partnership with Chris Punsalan across Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

A Delicious Outcome

The Key secured 10 features across a range of high-impact outlets that spoke to multiple target audiences. These included consumer-facing outlets HuffPost and Mashable, and top business publications Business Insider and Axios Pro. In addition, we secured six strategic podcast interviews, which allowed for a more in-depth discussion of the founder’s story and caregiving insights, reaching specific audiences within the caregiving, tech, and health & wellness communities. There are a number of conversations still in the works, with top tier business publications, pending Shauna’s return from maternity leave. Collectively, this coverage hit our three core narratives (founder's origin story, policy, and tech) and more than tripled the projected KPI of three high-quality placements by the end of May 2025. We look forward to re-engaging!

Coverage Secured:

• Business Insider (42,776,706 UVM) - I left my director job at Meta after becoming my dad's caregiver. Here's how I'm helping people like me.
• Axios Pro  (17,894,268 UVM) - Scoop: Tendercare raising Series A funds
• HuffPost (14,208,456 UVM) - There's 1 Thing No One Seems To Be Talking About Regarding Gene Hackman's Death
• Mashable (12,316,417 UVM) - Former Meta executive turned app founder Shauna Sweeney on the power of moms

Podcast Interviews:

• Fortt Knox 1:1 - Shauna Sweeney, Tendercare CEO: A Fortt Knox Conversation
• Age Better Podcast (4.3K - 6.4K monthly listeners) - The Caregiving Crisis: How AI Is Changing the Game | Shauna Sweeney, Founder of Tendercare
• Empowered Patient Podcast (2.4K monthly listeners) - Digital Tools for Caregivers and Patients to Navigate Challenges of Aging with Shauna Sweeney, tendercare
• Longevity & Lifestyle Podcast (3.1 K-5.1 K monthly listeners)- Reducing Caregiver Burnout: How Tendercare and AI Support Families Through Aging Challenges | Shauna Sweeney
• Aging Well Podcast (1.4K monthly listeners) - TO AIR IN JULY 2025
• Meeting You Where You're At (1K monthly listeners) - TO AIR

New Media Storytelling:

• YouTube: “Sweeney’s Rock”: A Documentary About Caregiving & Tech - 5.2k views
  
  • By ChrisPunsalanTV (1.84M subscribers)

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