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Twitter: @age_rate
LinkedIn: AgeRate
TRANSCRIPT : (this episode was recorded back in February 2022)
00:00
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
Hello listeners out there. If you’re like myself, someone who’s passionate about health and fitness, and believe it’s more of a habit than just a lifestyle, you will definitely relate to this episode. Also, if you’re looking to make that change to improve your overall health, you may also find this episode worth a listen. Today’s guest is Cole Kirschner, the CEO of AgeRate, a longevity tech company whose vision is to empower the world with the ability to extend human health span.
They’ve developed an at home blood test for health and longevity insights, as well as a mobile app that delivers personalized health coaching. Tune in to this episode to learn more, and how you can apply to be part of the beta testing.
You’re listening to The Bacon Bits ‘n’ Bytes Podcast and I’m your host, Karen Swyszcz. . This is the podcast where a bit of business and a bite of technology come together. Every month I interview entrepreneurs, investors, startup founders and people in tech to learn about what drives them and what makes them tick.
01:14
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
Hello, and welcome to another episode of The Bacon Bits ‘n’ Bytes Podcast. And I’m your host Karen Swyszcz. this is the podcast where a bit of business and a byte of technology come together. And I’m super excited today to have on the show with me Cole Kirschner. Cole Kirschner is the CEO and co founder of AgeRate. AgeRate is a direct to consumer longevity company that aims to unlock the secret to living a longer and healthier life. By redefining age rate. Founded in 2018, AgeRate has spent the last three years creating and developing a novel at home blood test and mobile app that allows users to discover how well they’re aging, and what actions they can take to improve. The company has leveraged the expertise of world leading researchers develop a custom epigenetic analysis and proprietary algorithms to reveal a user’s biological age, and up to 20 additional health and longevity insights. Wow, and welcome to the show.
02:07
Cole Kirschner (Guest)
Thank you so much, Karen. It’s it’s a pleasure to be here.
02:10
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
Yeah, I’m super excited today to chat with you. Because, as you know, and I’m hopefully that might have the listeners out know, out there know how passionate I am about health and fitness. So I’m really excited to have this conversation with you. So first off, I’d like to start with how it began.
02:27
Cole Kirschner (Guest)
Yeah, that’s a great question. So similar to you. I’ve always been passionate about health, fitness and longevity. And when I was leaving high school and deciding what I was going to do for college university, I landed on McMaster University that a really good program there that combined business management courses with biotechnology. So through my undergrad at McMaster, I was able to connect with my great buddy and co founder, Nathan Cox, who was in the same program, we’re really bonded over a passion for fitness, nutrition, longevity, entrepreneurship, reading books, like Tim Ferriss, all that sort of stuff. And together, we have this amazing professor, Dr. Guillaume Paré who’s wrote the genome facility at McMaster University and also held held the Canada Research Chair as well.
And under Dr. Paré , we set out to do a capstone project for our final year project. During that capstone, after looking at a few different things that we could potentially do, and really trying to see what sort of business fit we can find with the product that we’re going to develop. We chatted with Dr. Paré and really landed on doing a cost effective test for measuring biological age. And the reason why biological age is such an important metric is because it’s really an all encompassing metric for your overall health. And at the end of the day, you can’t manage what you can’t measure. And really biological age testing up until that point was done in a research setting. Because it was pretty expensive. And there really weren’t that many direct consumer companies offering and this was back in 2018.
So when we set out to develop this test, we just set out to make a cost effective test that can be used by consumers, to empower them with the information they need to make smarter lifestyle choices to slow down the aging process.
04:28
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
Yeah, that’s really interesting, because before AgeRate, I had never heard of this type of test and the only tests I know they’re, they’re not the same thing. But for some reason, the only test I can think of that came to mind was what are they called, like 23andme and Ancestry like those types of tests to determine your your ethnicities. So it’s really cool that you’re able to take this test and get some really interesting insights on how you can improve your lifestyle for the long term. Oh, go ahead.
05:00
Cole Kirschner (Guest)
Yeah, no, I was I was about to say, I mean, yeah, those tests are amazing. They have a great use case, I think with the difference between our test and traditional genetic test is that we’re looking at epi genetics. And I don’t want to get too much into the science, but think of genetic tests as kind of showing you your body’s blueprint. And epigenetics is kind of like how that blueprint is actually read. So epigenetics is showing how genes are actually being expressed. And the great thing about an epigenetic test like ours is that the results can change due to lifestyle, environmental factors. So you can make a lifestyle change and take a follow up test and measure progress towards slowing down aging, as opposed to a test like a 23andme test and measuring your genes which, which never really changed. So it’s really not that actionable compared to this sort of technology. But yeah, it’s really cool to see this space emerge over the past few years, there’s a lot of new players coming out of the market that are offering these fantastic home health tests.
06:03
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
Yeah, and you mentioned that like how you can take a follow up test based on the initial recommendations, like how soon after, should you take a follow up test?
06:13
Cole Kirschner (Guest)
Yeah, that’s a great question. So right now what we’re recommending for people is about an annual test. So sort of thing where it’s similar to like an annual checkup and you’re at the doctor’s office, we are running studies, right now to better understand whether or not we can shorten shorten that testing window down to a three month window. So it could be a quarterly test. But because the technology is so new, there really haven’t been that many longitudinal studies to to show what works and what doesn’t, and what period of time to actually slow down the aging process. But it’s an exciting time for sure for the full field, because it’s really just starting to emerge in terms of getting a better understanding in terms of how we can truly slow down the aging process.
06:59
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
And it’ll be really interesting, once it, you know, it gets to that point where you can take it on a quarterly basis. And then just imagine knowing people like putting a reminder in their phone to say like, oh, yeah, it’s like, take my Age RAte test, to see the results. And then being evil, excuse me able to, like track that data over time. And see the progress is like, okay, my age was this initially, and now it’s this and now it’s getting better, and getting better. And like, oh, wow, I’m like, you know, have the Age Rate of like, 16. And I’m, like, you know, 40 type things? Yeah, I know. Exactly. So that’s an extreme case. But yeah, it’d be really cool to like, see the changes over time. So I’m curious to know, like, has anybody like on the team, like taken the test and what their results were, and especially like yours? Like, have you taken the test? And were you surprised about like the results and recommendations given?
07:44
Cole Kirschner (Guest)
Yeah, so I have taken the test. Okay, the whole team has taken the test. The results weren’t that favorable, I would say shocking, for sure. I mean, I’ve, I used to be in really, really good shape. And then throughout my journey, running AgeRate I don’t want you to get an excuse, but just stress and your priorities kind of shift away from from fitness, even though that’s what we’re trying to build and deliver to our consumers and just heavily focused on the business. So yeah, like, my fitness has declined a little bit. And I think the stress kind of added to it, but my chronological age or what it’s what it’s my age based on, like the day I was born is 27. My biological age is three years older. So yeah, I’m actually 29 biologically and we have Nathan, the founder of speaking about earlier. He’s also as an accelerated age, age rate. Even a little bit higher than mine, we call him grandpa. That’s kind of a nickname for him, because you gotta have fun with it. Right. But yeah, I mean, like, the great thing about the test, again, is that there’s always room for improvement, right? And really don’t want our users to feel discouraged when they when they get a quote unquote, poor test result back if you’re aging faster than than they expected. Like to say comfort and knowing and confidence and improving so no matter what the test results are, there’s there’s a path forward.
09:15
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
Yeah. And I think also like subconsciously, making the decision to take the test is like a huge step on its own.
09:22
Cole Kirschner (Guest)
Oh, for sure. It’s it’s a massive step in the right direction. Because it’s really, it really could be like the starting point for a lot of people’s journey towards optimal health and longevity. Because aging is really not something that we we think about that that often. Or maybe it’s something we might just repress and we don’t want to think about it right. And what we’re trying to do at Age rate is as you mentioned, beginning to redefine aging and kind of eliminate that stigma. I feel like a lot of people don’t like to think about how old they’re getting because it feels like it’s something that’s out of their control and something that it’s you. It’s something that’s out of your control at the end of the day and really trying to change that almost to a paradigm shift.
And the way we think about aging is something that’s inevitable. It’s inevitable that we get old and we get into poor health, and change that way of thinking to Oh, like, I can actually slow down aging, and I can have my best, my best years are yet to come.
10:18
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
Yeah, yeah, I totally agree with you. And yeah, just kind of reiterating your point, you know, it’s something we can’t avoid, we all eventually reach that. And yeah, I’m being able to, like kind of shift that mindset as to like not seeing aging as a bad thing to like, age gracefully in. Yeah, you can actually be in better health, I’m just using myself as an example. Like, I found actually, like, in my mid 20s, like I had, like, really good metabolism. So I actually did eat, I’m not gonna lie and a lot of McDonald’s and Michelinas. But I think it’s maybe it’s something to like, as you get older, you become more conscious of your health and realize you can’t be you can’t do those things like for the long term is not sustainable, and actually find that, as I’m getting older, like in my 30s, that I’m in a lot better health, like I’m eating, being more conscious of like the food I eat, and then as well, also being a fitness instructor and really trying to incorporate fitness as part of my life. So yeah, I think it’s also to, like, you know, having those like results, like the data that shows you and also like the recommendations, the encouragement as well, as you know, like, just shifting that mindset. And I think it’s, again, really great that, you know, the company like yours is out there to help promote that. So I also wanted to touch base on I know, there’s a mobile app involved, and it has some lifestyle coaching. Do you mind going into more detail about that?
11:42
Cole Kirschner (Guest)
Yeah, yeah, for sure. So they can start with with how the test works, and then get into the app. So this is the testing kit. So the way it works is simple. You go on our website, we have a beta ongoing right now. So people are ordering kits, they’re sent right to their house, they simply prick their finger, provide a blood sample and send it off to our lab, once it’s under lab undergoes our lab analysis or custom process, where we look at 1000s of these epigenetic sites and feed them into our algorithms to reveal your true biological age, and a variety of other health and longevity insights. So we can also provide you with chronic inflammation levels, metabolic health, immune health, we even get an estimate in terms of how the quality of your diet is impacting your health and longevity. And we provide all those great results to you through a mobile app. So you can log in to access your test results. And within the app, there’s also a section that we call the longevity coach. And what the longevity coach does is it provides you with three daily lifestyle challenges that are based off of your test results. And these challenges are the categories of fitness, nutrition, wellbeing and recovery. And what we tried to do is we essentially matched peer reviewed studies and different lifestyle recommendations that are that are shown to be associated with the test results. And we provide it to you that way. So one day, you might be recommended to make sure to get your 10,000 steps or the next day like the get your full eight hours asleep kind of reminders like that, and daily challenges that our users can try out.
13:23
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
So I’m curious to know, what has been the response so far from your beta users?
13:26
Cole Kirschner (Guest)
Yeah, so so far, we’ve had about 200 beta users join and use the app. And we’ve had the pleasure of chatting with with a lot of them. And I think really the main finding, or the main surprising thing that we found is that no matter what someone’s test results are, they’re very motivated, and they’re not happy with with their test results, no matter what they are, to be honest. So set, like if someone’s if someone’s biological age is a lot higher than their actual age, then yeah, that makes sense for them to, to want to improve that. But the opposite is also true, where people might have a biological age, that’s six or seven years lower than their actual age, and they want to get it even lower than it already is.
So it’s almost like a game. And I think another thing too, is that I think there’s a real like social aspects to this sort of test that we’re finding that a lot of our users are sharing their their results with their friends and family. And they want them to get tested to compare and see like, Who’s aging better, better than the other. And I think that was a really surprising thing for us too. Because when it comes to the health testing, like it’s usually like, consider like very like personal information. It’s not something you’ve actually like you’re at a doctor’s office and share your cholesterol levels with someone.
14:47
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
Or ask my like, friend, hey, what’s your cholesterol?
14:50
Cole Kirschner (Guest)
Yeah, but what’s your biological age? That’s a different thing. Right. So I think it’s a great conversation starter and yeah, we’re working on a few things in the app to help leverage that, that in terms of like being able to connect people with others and, and share the results and compare our progress.
15:10
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
Yeah, that’s really funny that, um, people are competitive. But it’s also like, great, that’s, you know, there’s a social aspects of the feel like they can, you know, motivate each other and you know, like, get healthier together. And if you don’t mind me asking like, Would you be able to give like a direct general idea of like, the type of people who are using the test?
15:33
Cole Kirschner (Guest)
Yeah, for our ranges, pretty much like from anybody and everybody. Yeah, so like the age range for the beta, it’s, it’s a wide range. So we have as young as 20 years old to as old as, like 70 plus. There’s different reasons why I think like age, it’s, it means something different to a variety of people.
But there’s really a few different user personas that we identified through really customer discovery and chatting with our beta users. So first, we have what we call optimizers. So these are folks that are looking to achieve peak performance, health and longevity, and really optimize themselves and get as young as humanly possible, than we also have preventers. So these are folks that are taking a preventative or proactive approach to their health and longevity. So they may have recently hit a milestone like turning 40 or 50 years old, or maybe they have an older relative that’s starting to experience some form of age related decline. These are events that happen to us where we begin to reflect on our own health and longevity and are motivated to take proactive action. And lastly, we have folks that are currently experiencing some form of health or age related decline, and they’re looking to use our tests to potentially get some answers and some more support when it comes to the lifestyle recommendations.
16:56
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
So I’m curious to know actually, like, because you’re living that, like founder life startup life, and you know, it’s been a few years since I interviewed your your co founder and CTO, Kevin, what are some recent obstacles that age rate has encountered and how did you work through them?
17:13
Cole Kirschner (Guest)
Yeah, I mean, yeah, it’s a totally different world than it than it was a few a few years ago, for sure. Yeah, so I think when you interviewed Kevin, it was back in maybe 2019, I believe. Yeah.
17:27
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
Actually like the first season, I launched. He was one of my guinea pigs.
17:32
Cole Kirschner (Guest)
Yeah, I love Kevin. Yeah. So what’s changed since then well, like back then we didn’t have a prod product on the market, or even beta testing at the time with a mobile app. Initially, we were setting initially we were developing a web portal instead of a mobile app. This is web portals back then, were something that were commonly used for providing test results to users. But what we found through customer discovery is that it’s it’s almost like like a PDF, having it delivered through a web portal, there’s not much engagement, there’s not much support when it comes to the now what factor and that was important for us when it came to the test. We didn’t want to just provide someone with hey, here’s your biological age, here’s your other test results. It’s something similar, you can get to the doctor’s office where you go there, and you can just get test results in a PDF.
But the benefit of getting tested is getting the support afterwards in terms of how to actually improve and that’s something that that the mobile app facilitates so we can have a direct engagement with our users and provide them with these daily recommendations.
18:47
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
And since the pandemic has began, like I’m sure you’ve noticed, there’s been different trends and like attitudes towards health and you know, having to just kind of accommodate your workouts since the gyms have been closed on and off and like in Ontario, where we are, they’re back open again. Yeah, and people have been doing like virtual workouts taking up activities that you know, don’t require like the need of a lot of equipment or they can easily do outside such as running and cycling. I’m just curious to know and like in your opinion, have you seen Are you do you feel there’ll be an increase or concern even more about their health because of the pandemic and what it has like done to people’s health and and even people who like have had it and recovered from it, you know, they still like are experiencing issues so I’m just wondering if the if you feel like there’s kind of like a more like I don’t know urgent need for people to be like okay, I need to try and be as like as as healthy as I can as healthy as a as possible just given like the current state of the world.
19:49
Cole Kirschner (Guest)
Yeah, for sure. I think that without a doubt health is more top of mind now now more than ever, and in my opinion. People obviously want to make sure they have a healthy immune system. They reduce any, like risk factors in terms of like being able to maintain a healthy BMI. I think a lot of people are taking a proactive approach to their health to make sure that they’re as healthy as possible. And I think that in terms of the the pandemic and everything that’s going on, it’s like a huge shift, like across the board for sure. I think it would be really interesting if there were data sets, pre pandemic and post pandemic to run the biological age test on and see if people are aging at a faster rate now with everything that’s going on. And if they are what’s, what’s the reason for that? Like, you can speculate a few. I mean, mental health is a huge concern now where people are isolated working from home all the time that mental health does have an impact on aging. And epigenetics. Obviously, people that have had it, pre and post that that would be interesting. There’s quite a few things there to unpack. But I think it’d be really interesting to kind of take a look at that and see what the impact this whole thing has had. On our health and longevity, for sure.
21:17
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
Yeah, that’s great. Thank you so much for sharing your insights on that. So regarding I can’t even say this word anymore. I guess. At the end of the day, end of the week, ready longevity? What are your predictions for the future of longevity tech, and again, it’s really interesting, because I didn’t even know this is like an emerging like field within tech. So yeah, I’d love to hear your like thoughts about it. And like, yeah, the trends and if, you know, like, what other companies are out there that are part of the longevity tech space?
21:47
Cole Kirschner (Guest)
Yeah, there’s, it’s, it’s a new and emerging space. It’s, it’s pretty exciting. I mean, when we used to think about longevity was used to be like anti-aging, I guess was like kind of a term for its cosmetics. I think a lot of that stuff has not given the industry the best. Like it’s almost like a stigma, right in terms of like, like engaging but and we’re also not focusing on trying to live forever either. I think like longevity, my opinion is about living a longer and healthier life. And I think there’s a lot of really exciting companies that are doing some great work to achieve that mission. I mean, Altos is a company that recently raised like $3 billion. Jeff Bezos helped help start it. They’re developing therapeutics for longevity. There’s a few companies out there that are starting to develop therapeutics, like drugs to the target agent. And I think that’s really exciting. I think that tests like ours and consumer facing products are really exciting to giving people a way to measure the impact that maybe some of these supplements or other therapeutics have on the aging process. Yeah, so I would say there’s, it’s really just starting to emerge right now, it’d be really interesting to see what it’s gonna look like, but even within the next year.
23:15
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
And continuing on the conversation. I know that there are like certain communities around the world who, you know, have lived, like, much longer lives for certain reasons. And I’m just curious to know if like, age rate has done research on this or is planning on doing research? Like, I’m not very familiar with the communities, but the one that does come to mind is like the people who live in Okinawa, Japan?
23:38
Cole Kirschner (Guest)
Yeah, yeah, for sure. I think they termed those regions of Blue Zones. Okay. Yeah. Like I’ve not I know, there’s a component to do with with diet when it when it comes to we haven’t done any research into it. Like the Mediterranean diet, I believe is followed in those sorts of regions of the world. There’s actually an initiative, I think it’s called Blue Zones, where they’re trying to kind of replicate the the environment and lifestyle and in these places where people live much longer life and bring them to market like modern urban areas, like like cities. I think that’s a really cool initiative, for sure. But it would definitely be interesting to get their age rate tested and get a better understanding in terms of why they might be why they are aging a lot slower than than the rest of the world. I’m sure lifestyle has a huge component there.
24:26
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
Yeah, yeah, I agree. 100%. All right. So let’s kind of get more into like entrepreneurship related question. So back in 2019, AgeRate was at The Forge, the incubator at McMaster and however more recently, you guys went through the Next AI accelerator in Montreal. So I was wondering if you’d be able to like speak about like each of those experience and how it’s helped the company?
24:51
Cole Kirschner (Guest)
Yeah, yeah, for sure. We’ve been through a few different programs, the Forge based at McMaster that was really the first home we were a part of have tremendous experience really a launching pad for us. So when, as I mentioned beginning, this started as a capstone project, and we really wanted to bring it into the hands of the everyday consumer to empower them with this information. And we pitched that a competition that was run by the forge. And we won the competition. And really after that it was enough validation that we needed to kind of take take the leap and incorporate the company. And yeah, the Forge has been given us tremendous support. Without without a doubt, I’m actually in Hamilton right now. I’m at The Forge right right now believe it or not. Still have access to the office space and everything. So yeah, they’ve been great. All the mentors there and support. And next day, I too, that was a great program, it was unique, because it was all virtual, because we attended within the last year. Lots of really good educational sessions. It’s almost like getting like an MBA from so what I’ve been told, and the sessions, there is a lot of really useful content. And again, great mentors through the program. So yeah, I think like the, these accelerators and incubators, they’re they’re very valuable, valuable, I would say for for anyone that’s looking to start a company in the tech space.
26:15
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
Okay, great. That’s good to know. And I also know that AgeRate has gone through several rounds of funding. Do you mind sharing, like, what it was like going through the process like dealing with investors? Did you find it like very time consuming? Stressful? A bit of both?
26:31
Cole Kirschner (Guest)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, for sure. I think that like most of us would agree that have done fundraising, it’s, it’s a lot of pitching for sure. So kind of first start off with with your deck, and then you have to get a whole bunch of other documents ready to go and kind of perfecting your pitch. And then I think like during that process, before you even go out and fundraising during the deck, it really gives you a good opportunity to reflect on your business and really think through all the different questions that investors might have. And it’s helpful for you to kind of help improve your own business kind of doing these sorts of pitches. Yeah. And then throughout the fundraising process, it’s a lot of pitches q&a. Yeah, some questions you get asked in almost every meeting, some of them are curveballs. But yeah, you have fun. It’s always great to kind of connect with and meet new people. And yeah, I would say it’s stressful for sure. But it’s also I enjoyed it.
27:26
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
Okay, cool. And also your position as the CEO, like, did you ever think you would be a CEO of a longevity tech company?
27:37
Cole Kirschner (Guest)
No, I No, I wouldn’t say I wouldn’t say I did. Yeah, I’ve always been interested in business development, like sales. And as I mentioned, at the beginning, longevity fitness. So I knew I wanted to be in this space in some sort of role in this capacity. But I never imagined the company were would be where it’s at today. And the journey has been incredible.
28:02
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
Yeah, because I’m sure you guys are really proud of them how much you’ve achieved in such a short amount of time. So I’m curious to know, like, what are some characteristics and skills in your opinion, are necessary to become a good CEO? Like I think maybe sometimes a lot of the times the title is glamourized, like, Oh, I’m the CEO, and I run the company.
28:21
Cole Kirschner (Guest)
Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I don’t, I don’t really feel , like a CEO. Even though that is my title. I just kind of feel like I’m a guy wearing multiple hats and doing a little bit of everything. Like one day, I’m a marketer the other day, I’m kind of a cheerleader for the company. I mean, right. Yeah. So maybe that that would be like one characteristic or quality for for a good CEO, at least at a startup is to is to be flexible, and have a firm understanding of every aspect of your business because that just helps with communication. With with different team members, you might for us, we have guys working on heavy duty science stuff and bioinformatics. And then we also have guys developing a mobile app, or we have people that are doing marketing stuff. So having a really good idea of what everyone’s working on is useful because it provides you a way to kind of help support and connect any dots that they need may need connecting so yeah, I would say like that’s that my opinion is important. Also being able to focus at the same time and really prioritize what you need to get done.
29:29
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
Awesome. And you know, we’ve talked a little bit about like stress and then how sometimes it can impact like your health and your fitness. I’m just curious to know like, Do you have any like certain strategies or advice for people you know, if they have like issues like managing stress while they are you running a company, or how you personally like manage your stress that you have found to be very helpful?
29:56
Cole Kirschner (Guest)
It’s a great question. For me. It’s, it’s important to always maintain belief in what you’re doing and know, always remember the mission and that what you’re doing the work will pay off and truly love what you’re doing as well. I think that a lot of the times like like burnout and stress can happen where you when you lose faith in what you’re doing and belief in the value can provide to the world. So always kind of reverting back to having an understanding that what you’re building, it’s kind of provide a huge benefit to society. And I think like maintaining the sort of optimistic spirit and belief it’s, it’s important for me personally, when it comes to managing stressful situations, it’s, it’s helpful when times are tough to kind of reflect on what went well in the past and like what’s yet to come? That’s kind of gotten me through some some tough some tough spots.
30:52
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
Yeah, that’s really great advice. I think sometimes we might be like, prone to just like only focusing on the negative, like, regardless of how big or small it is, but just the fact that it’s negative. But yeah, that’s a great reminder to like focus on the positive. So thank you for that. My next question for you is who’s an entrepreneur that you admire and why?
31:12
Cole Kirschner (Guest)
It’s a great question. There’s a few of them out there for sure. Yeah, I might be like a curveball. But I admire Dana White, the founder of of the UFC. Yeah, he bought that company from like, like, he bought it for a few million dollars. And then he went to like a few billion dollars within a very short period of time. They were on like the verge of bankruptcy multiple times. And yeah, I really, really admire like the the journey that he’s kind of taken. So yeah, I would say, Dana White.
31:45
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
Cool. Yeah I definitely was not expecting that. I guess, like, based on what you mentioned, in the beginning, I was just assuming like Tim Ferriss.
31:53
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
But yeah, like, that’s really cool. Yeah. Okay. And let’s get on to like the closing questions. And I think maybe you might have answered this already, like during our conversation, but just kind of wanted to circle back to it. Looking back on your journey. With age eight so far. Was there anything in particular that surprised you along the way?
32:11
Cole Kirschner (Guest)
Yeah, that’s a great question. I think that yeah, I think like the honestly, the whole journey has kind of been been surprising in some ways, where I never expected to, to meet all these different amazing people be part of all these amazing different programs. The product that we have today, I would have never imagined that it would be as great as it is. And yeah, so like, it’s it’s been surprising in terms of how far we’ve come and definitely excited for for the future really only getting started.
32:43
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
And speaking of the future, would you be able to share what’s in store for AgeRate? I think last I when I looked on the website, or is when I chatted with Kevin, there was some like talks about like, developing a marketplace.
32:56
Cole Kirschner (Guest)
Yeah, yeah. So that’s a that’s definitely on the roadmap for us is to be able to feature other products within the actual app that users can try out that may help them with with the aging process. So supplements, or maybe it’s discounts and other health and wellness apps and services. So that’s something that we’re looking to develop it with it within the app, we’ve gotten a lot of feedback from our users, that’s something you’d be interested in. Also, having more wearable integrations within the app, that’s something that we’re looking to build out so people can see how their step count relates to how well they’re aging or their sleep and whatnot. So yeah, there’s there’s a few exciting things coming on the horizon for sure.
33:38
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
Awesome. I may have to have you back on the show in a couple of years to see what new things have transpired since then.
33:45
Cole Kirschner (Guest)
Yeah, no doubt, no doubt.
33:47
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
Cool. All right. So if people wanted to get in touch with you or learn more about AgeRate, where can they find you?
33:53
Cole Kirschner (Guest)
Yeah, yeah, for sure. So our website is age-rate.com. If you’re interested in joining the beta, you can go on the website and there’s an application form there and we can we can contact you. And yeah, well, I think our social media handles its age rate. So all one word.
34:15
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
Okay. Awesome. Thank you so much for joining me on this conversation today.
Cole Kirschner (Guest)
Thank you so much, Karen.
Karen Swyszcz (Host)
Thanks, everyone for tuning in. And stay tuned for more episodes. Ciao for now. Bye.
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