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. We took our technical backgrounds
and 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 reenter the decedent's name into all
of your systems.
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
