Empathy Meets Innovation
I started Afterword after my dad died in August 2018. Never having planned a funeral before, my first instinct was to try to plan his service in the way that felt most comfortable to me – online. While I didn't grow up above a funeral home, Afterword is, in essence, a family business. My dad is the reason it exists, and the work we do is personal.
We know your work is personal, too. I’ve gained a deep appreciation for the crucial role that funeral directors play in the communities they serve. It’s because of this that we know software can never replace them. Regardless of age or generation, there will always be families who want to plan in-person. But there are also those, like me, who are more comfortable making these difficult decisions online. With this in mind, we've built the planning experience I wish I had years ago.
Before Afterword, our team worked at some of the biggest tech companies like Google, Shopify, and Workday. But we didn't just bring our technical backgrounds to funeral service – we immersed ourselves completely. We moved into a funeral home to learn as much as we could about how you serve your communities. We sat in arrangements. We listened to first calls and attended removals. We even watched embalmings. And throughout this, we observed you re-enter the decedent's name into all of your systems.
Effie's journey began in 2018 when she planned her dad's funeral and found it challenging to navigate the process online. Drawing from her background at Shopify, she set out to build the planning experience she wished she had – one that empowers families and equips funeral professionals with modern tools. Zack's interest in death began when his mentor at Google died suddenly. After founding an AI company that was acquired by Workday, this ultimately led him to bring his 15 years of leadership in enterprise software to funeral service.
Together, we've built Afterword to serve tens of thousands of families. We've been recognized for innovation in leading funeral service publications, spoken at major industry events including NFDA, ICCFA, CANA, and WilbertEDU, and even presented to the FTC as the only vendor representative. Today, we're leading the charge in applying AI to automate tasks, reduce errors, and give Directors more time to focus on what matters most.
Similar to funeral service, everything we build has the family's best
interest at heart. We know that together we can blend tradition with
innovation to meet the needs of today's funeral planners.
- Effie & Zack
