Kat Reed's EstateGrid Helps You Do the Most Important Job You Never Wanted

Photo credit: Kat Reed

EstateGrid started when founder Kat Reed’s mother died. Kat searched for resources to help her know what needed to be done and how do it. She found nothing and figured it out as she went. She took that learning and wrote a book to guide others through the process, then spent years talking to and helping survivors. During the COVID pandemic, she pulled together a team and launched EstateGrid to help millions of survivors facing the same challenges.

Can you tell our readers about your background?

Professionally, I help people bring order to their chaos. I spent my career vacillating between two poles: helping businesses achieve consistent results by showing them how to articulate training, process documentation, and messaging; and helping individuals navigate the myriad practical details of getting past the death of someone in their lives. Both sets of activities involve extraordinary attention to detail, procedure analysis, writing, editing, and follow-up, and the skills I’ve picked up working with businesses all contribute to the success I’ve had helping individuals in a classic virtuous cycle.

What inspired you to start your business?

In 2007 my mom died at the age of sixty-six from cancer. After she died, I stayed with my dad to help him with the post-death logistics. Most of the information I found online focused on grief,  funeral planning, and estate planning. These were not areas where I needed help. I needed help figuring out how to change or close certain household and credit card accounts; find and secure life insurance and Social Security benefits; figure out where her personal belongings should go; determine when and whom I needed to notify of her death, and countless related questions.

Not only that - and as important - I also needed to know how to help my predominantly deaf father live alone safely in the family home without my mom’s presence. I needed to help him figure out how he was going to wake up in the morning when he needed an alarm (which sonic boom alarm clock was best for him?). How was he going to hear the doorbell or knocks on the door (which visual doorbell was best for him in his house?). This support would help my dad have some semblance of relief since my mom served as his ears until her death. What I needed was help sorting out post-death logistics for the primary survivor, my dad, not grief support for me or anyone else.

Nothing like this existed, so I decided that once I had figured it out for myself, I would share what I learned by creating something to help others. I did a ton of research and learned a lot of arcane knowledge that most people only need to know once, and I pulled it all together in a self-help workbook titled Begin Here: helping survivors manage.

Over the years the book helped a lot of people. But a physical book in today’s world simply lacks the reach needed in our digital world – and is always out of date. COVID poured fuel on the fire by forcing hundreds of thousands of survivors to face death and its aftermath long before they thought they would, and to do so while quarantining or being locked down or at least not traveling easily. I wrote the book to help survivors who found it at a critical juncture in their lives: after a death.

Now, my cofounders and I are building EstateGrid to go a step farther and help every survivor on the journey. This convergence of events was really the start of the business, EstateGrid.

Where is your business based?

We are a modern distributed enterprise. One founder lives in Virginia, another in Mexico, and I live in California. We are an online business which is core to our strategy to help survivors. Brick and mortar banks are closing at the highest rates we have ever seen (according to AARP, a net 2,284 bank branches closed in 2020 nationwide). Before we know it, people will no longer be able to manage post-death logistics in person. COVID catapulted the method of how we all do business, much of it will be impossible to do in person. Being distributed puts us where the future is, all business done online.

How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?

The first step was living the problem until I knew more about it than anyone else. While helping my dad, writing the book, and working with hundreds of survivors, I experienced and saw firsthand what was needed, and developed strong well-supported views on what needed to be built. When the time came, the next step was finding the right team. I had acute knowledge of the survivor perspective, but I didn’t know how to build a business, much less a corporation that I wanted to change the world. I needed to find cofounders who knew how to build a business and how to build a product.

The first one was easy; a friend from high school has helped start and scale numerous companies, and I tapped him immediately. It took longer to find the right technical builder with experience in consumer-facing web platforms, all the needed back-end operations, and not only the ability to build starting with a single developer, but to architect the solution for rapid scaling. We found him a few months later, and got our MVP out the door in January 2022. Now that we have all that in place, the next step is raising money to expand the team so we can continue refining and implementing our plans to help survivors in ways that no other company ever has before.

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?

Frankly, we haven’t spent much time on this yet. Survivors find us through word-of-mouth and that was enough as we were getting ready to launch. Now that we have the initial site up and running and are starting to build relationships with partners, we will be raising awareness rapidly.

A key component of that strategy is finding people at the time of need through search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM). We have brought on a talented team for that, and as we raise funds, we’ll be investing heavily in outreach across multiple channels even as we continue to build the platform.

What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?

The biggest challenge I faced was to take the first step with resolve. I’ve never been afraid of rejection or of marching to the beat of my own drummer or otherwise risking the label misfit. As my grandma used to say, “Everybody’s different.” I was different. Fortunately, I wasn’t held back by imposter syndrome like so many of us are. I simply didn’t crystallize all of my ideas into actionable steps for a long time. And I kind of thought if I waited long enough someone would else would address this obviously huge market and this overwhelming common need. But no one stepped up. And those who got sort of close kept missing the mark. So finally I decided it was up to me.

I had these misconceptions that starting a business was something for frat boys with MBAs to do, and that my clearheaded awareness of what I lacked meant I couldn’t succeed. A little part of me also feared getting drawn in to a world full of people I frankly don’t like – investors and operators who don’t share values I treasure like diversity and inclusiveness and giving before taking. Of course, all those concerns were bullshit. I had the main ingredients that couldn’t come from anyone else. And I could find people whose skills complement mine, and whose experiences round out the other needed ingredients, and I could screen them for values and behaviors before letting them onto the team. I alone possessed the special sauce for this business. Once I had that realization, I just kept taking small steps every day until they snowballed into bigger milestones.

For those of us not born into money and connections, my journey has been a thin thread of the Madam C.J. Walker quote: There is no royal flower-strewn path to success. And if there is, I have not found it, for if I have accomplished anything in life it is because I have been willing to work hard.

How do you stay focused?

Fortunately, focus is not an issue for me. One of my strengths is discipline (when it comes to work) and what is difficult is not being focused on the business. My entire attention and all my efforts and actions are based on making EstateGrid a success.

How do you differentiate your business from the competition?
Throughout the years since I wrote the book, a few competitors have come and gone and I have noticed that one or two of them used or are using words that appear to have been lifted verbatim from my book. I’m not worried about them. There is a significant difference between pretending and actual experience.

There are companies focused on grief or on planning. Those are very legitimate problems, and I’m glad they are solving them for people. But survivors who come to us have other resources for grief, and planning is no longer an option because they are in clean-up-mode after a death has occurred. Our competitive advantage is that we focus on the real need, and here’s why.

We cannot fix grief, in fact no one can. I have an article on our site that talks about this. When I was looking to help my dad after my mom died, I didn’t want help with grief, I wanted help knowing what to do, what was most important, how much time tasks would take, etc. in the limited time I had with my dad.

Planning is great in theory, but statistics show far more people do not plan than do plan. EstateGrid focuses on the world as it is, not how it should be. I have heard people say, “Oh, my mom has all that covered, she has a will, instructions, everything! I am set when she dies.” I say, “That’s great, you are fortunate.” What I don’t say - but think to myself is - “Really, she left you instructions on what medications Fido needs every four hours? She told you she hid money in her closet under the floorboard? I am sure she told you about the gun she completely forgot she inherited from her dad that she shoved in a shoe box and never thought about again in twenty years – loaded with ammunition. She told you she left the key to the safe deposit box in the freezer and forgot to change in her instructions before she died? And she told you that one of her life insurance policies names a sister as a beneficiary who is no longer alive?”

Significant tasks after a death are unplannable and they are not known until experienced. EstateGrid focuses on the world as it is - not as it should be - and on helping survivors navigate that world with practical guidance, not platitudes.

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
We’re just now transitioning to actively market the business. To date, a small loyal following has emerged organically because we offer something they couldn’t find anywhere else. Of course we’re committed to becoming the dominant player in a still undefined space, and will be using the time-tested marketing techniques already performing for digital platforms in fintech and legaltech: SEO, SEM, upstream connections, content marketing, and eventually a series of carefully curated partnerships.

Right now, I read blogs, books, and social media and comment judiciously when appropriate, I’ve subscribed to HARO, and welcome any inquiries from press or potential partners. As we shift from bootstrapping to more aggressive outreach, I expect you’ll see a continual evolution of how we market as we figure out what works best at each stage.

What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
If you are a woman, do ten times more research than you think you need to. Look at pitch decks and figure out what questions people will ask you, even if you don’t want to raise money. Challenge every assumption, no matter how confident you are in it. Bring on cofounders or teammates who respect you but who will challenge you at every turn because they share your vision to put the business first. And expect everything to take longer, cost more, and be more difficult than you thought it would be.

When it comes to the survivor, there are very few questions that people have asked me that I have not considered and dug into to find out more and have a response. Be the most knowledgeable person in the room about your area of expertise (but don’t be a smarty-pants), and listen more than you talk.

What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?
There are too many to name. Arwa Mahdawi, The Guardian journalist and author of Strong Female Lead is someone who everyone should know about, and everyone should read her book regardless of gender. Her TED talk on workplace diversity from 2016 could have been written yesterday. I read everything she writes. She is hilarious and always makes me optimistic about the future of women in business, mostly because she lightens the topic with her humor, and I need that.  

I am a huge fan of Sarah Lacy (A Uterus is a Feature, Not a Bug book and LinkedIn newsletter). Her insight always teaches me about someone or something new to investigate and follow and learn more.

Ann Lai is someone I cannot do justice with my own words that I can say or write. The epitome of making lemonade from lemons. We all need to be like Ann Lai, and the women in Arwa’s book. I aspire to make the change in the world these women have and continue to do.

I read everything that Adam Grant (Give and Take, Originals, Think Again) and Jacob Morgan (The Future Leader, The Future of Work) write in blogs and books because they care about shedding light and embracing the reality of today’s business world (and most importantly, the future) that doesn’t look exactly like them (white men). I am also a big fan of Rand Fishkin (Lost and Founder) for these same reasons. The stat that always blows my mind is that white men are 31% of the US population and look at what they control and own. It’s staggering.

Every day I check Twitter, LinkedIn, Insta, FB, and follow many female and BIPOC leaders and VCs. They, and so many others, are leading the discussion on how the world is changing and how we can make it better through female leadership.

What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?
I am a tool lover because tools make things easy. It’s why I wrote the book. Right now my primary tools are books. One of my former bosses taught me so much. He was a CEO of a financial services company for high-net-worth individuals and family businesses in Southern California. He spent most of his time reading.

Who is your business role model? Why?
My cofounder who knows how to build a business. I am so fortunate because we have known each other since high school and he has taught me so much about building something big from something small. Every day I learn something from him that will make me a better person, leader, and businessperson. He is also a husband and dad of four (three daughters and one non-binary person), and he champions women like I do. That was part of why I chose him to come on this journey with me.

A few executives in my past corporate life stand out as having made both good impressions that lasted of how to lead; as well as toxic behaviors that remind me of how not to lead.

How do you balance work and life?
This has never been a struggle for me. I think it may be a little less difficult since I am childfree by choice. I cannot imagine having kids, working, and COVID on top of it, especially as a woman, even more so as an entrepreneur. I have always put my sanity and personal happiness ahead of work, and I always will. It is not only possible as an entrepreneur, but also imperative to keep our mental health our primary interest. The whole airplane oxygen mask metaphor stuck with me the first time I heard it decades ago.

What’s your favorite way to decompress?
Every day I walk with my husband, it was one good thing to come from the pandemic and working remotely (I have worked remotely for decades). I listen to podcasts (currently highly recommend Shadow Spies with Sophie Parkin and Danielle Neary about amazing women in history far too few know about) and audio books, watch streaming movies and documentaries, do mini-staycations, and get to the beach when I can.

What do you have planned for the next six months?
Relentlessly building. Fundraising, hiring, iterating, and bringing the early product to critical mass with enough momentum to begin a very substantial expansion later this year.

How can our readers connect with you?

kat@estategrid.co or visit EstateGrid.co