Jordan Bench

It's that time of year again. Christmas break is here, and like clockwork, I've got that familiar itch to chase a new idea. If you've been following, you know this is my thing. Last year, it was the newsletter business (which you can read about in previous posts). This year's different though. This idea didn't just pop up out of nowhere. It's been brewing through some tough personal experiences.

How This Started

2023 has been a challenging year. I've had to step back from side projects to focus on my parents' health and a new church leadership role. Siftbooks, my latest venture, hasn't gained traction despite years of part-time work. As we hit our end-of-year deadline for growth milestones, it's clear we need to pivot or pull the plug.

But here's where things get interesting. A few months ago, my family began discussing my dad's funeral. He's been battling cancer for five years, and as he entered home hospice, we've had to face some hard realities. These conversations opened my eyes to something I'd never really thought about before: the complex process of planning and memorializing a loved one's life.

The Light Bulb Moment

During this time, I've been processing everything through writing. Getting up at 5 AM, putting thoughts to paper – it's been my therapy. And that's when it hit me. There is an intersection between my software background, my renewed love of writing, and a personal experience with funeral planning.

The vision: modernize funeral homes with AI. It will improve the customer experience, save time, and boost revenue. The initial focus? Streamlining the obituary-writing process.

Why This Makes Sense

Here's how it works: Instead of families struggling to write an obituary from scratch, we simplify everything down to a phone conversation. They don't need to research obituary formats or worry about tone. They won't stress about writing something presentable for a funeral. We handle all of that. Through a guided phone call, we ask the right questions to capture their loved one's story. All they need to do is share their memories and thoughts through conversation – something that feels natural, especially during such an emotional time.

The technical side is where it gets interesting. I've worked enough with speech-to-text and AI writing to know we can transform these conversations into meaningful obituaries. We'd start simple. I'd handle the calls myself. I'd use a template of questions to ensure we capture everything an obituary needs. Families get a polished first draft they can review and modify. In the long term, we could scale this with AI voice agents. They would handle the calls, making it accessible to thousands of funeral homes.

The key is removing the writing burden entirely. No family should have to worry about "How do I write this?" or "Am I doing this right?" when they're grieving. They just talk, we listen, and we handle the rest.

The Numbers That Got My Attention

Here's what really got me thinking about the potential:

There are about 23,000 funeral homes in the US
Each home handles around 120 services per year
The average funeral costs $8,000
Even with just 1% market penetration (230 funeral homes), we could generate $8.25M annually (230 homes × 120 services × $299)
At 10% penetration? We're talking about a multi-hundred-million-dollar opportunity.

Why Now?

The timing feels right. Funeral homes rely on old systems. They serve both tech-savvy and tech-illiterate customers. They're making 10-15% margins on standard services but 40% on additional products. Our service makes life easier and adds value for families. This creates a win-win.

The Path Forward

I'm thinking about this in two phases:

Start lean: Take calls myself, use AI to generate drafts, and prove the concept.
Scale with technology: Build out AI voice systems. Try this test AI Agent I made in 30 minutes by calling +1 (866) 479-9480

I see this growing beyond just obituaries. There's potential for handling other tasks, optimizing marketing, and more. But I want to stay focused on solving one problem really well first.

What I Need to Validate

Before diving in, I need to:

Talk directly with funeral homes to validate these assumptions.
Test if they'd be willing to pay for this service
Perfect the interview-to-obituary process

This is where I'm considering the team to tackle this with. You can move fast alone, but if I want to go far, I need the right people with me. My ex-teammates have skills that could help my project, if they're interested.

What's Next

Over Christmas break, I'm planning to start cold outreach to funeral homes. I want to understand their day-to-day challenges and see if this solution resonates. My goal is to line up some initial conversations and hopefully make our first sale in January.

I'm sharing this now while it's fresh. I want to organize my thoughts, get Abbey's input, and see if who wants to team up on this. I believe we can build something meaningful here – something that helps people during one of life's hardest moments while building a sustainable, scalable business.

What do you think? Am I on to something here?