How tech can bring a human touch to dealing with death – Sam Grice, founder, Octopus Legacy

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5 • 6 Ratings

🗓️ 22 April 2024

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sam Grice, founder and CEO of Octopus Legacy, discusses how the administrative side of death can make the grieving process much harder, why we need to be able to talk about death to plan our lives properly and keeping the ethos of his business alive after it was acquired.

Grice founded the company, originally called Guardian Angel, in 2016 after facing difficulties when dealing with the sudden death of his mother. The London-based company provides digital tools for people to prepare for end of life and to support those dealing with an unexpected loss through the process. Guardian Angel was acquired by Octopus Group in 2022, prompting the rebrand to Octopus Legacy. Grice discusses dealing with an acquisition from a major corporation and his approach to keeping the startup human centric.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Unfortunately, my mother died in a car accident and I was 27 at the time.
0:10.0	So because it was about a sudden death, everything was really heightened.
0:13.0	I was experiencing severe grief, as you can imagine, but then also the paperwork, the
0:17.0	legal, the finances.
0:19.0	The phrase death tick, a lot of people, oh, that's a bit inappropriate.
0:22.6	I don't think it isn't appropriate.
0:24.6	We deal with death and dying,
0:25.6	and that's probably the most human thing we all go through.
0:32.6	The main thing for me was to ensure we kept that.
0:34.6	So kept the ESOTH of the brand
0:36.6	that we were here to support people with loss.
0:39.0	That's the fundamental thing I don't want to change.
0:45.9	From the first-time founders to the funds that backed them, innovation needs different.
0:51.4	Our episode partner, HSBC Innovation Banking, is proud to accelerate growth for
0:56.7	tech and life science businesses, creating meaningful connections and opening up a world of opportunity
1:02.4	for entrepreneurs and investors alike. Discover more at www.hbcInnovationbanking.com
1:10.2	slash EN- gb.
1:18.1	Hello and welcome to the UKTM podcast, a weekly chat with the movers and shakers of the UK tech industry and the destination for all things UK tech related. I'm your host, Jane Wakefield,
1:29.4	and this week I am joined by Sam Grice, founder of Octopus Legacy, a firm devoted to helping
1:35.4	people plan their death using online tools. Welcome, Sam. Thank you. Thanks for having me, Jane.
1:41.3	Now, people that have ideas for startups often just have a light bulb
1:45.8	moment, but in your case, it was a rather more personal and tragic reason why you set this startup up.
	...

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