Three USC Students Are Building an AgeTech Startup — Between Classes, Build Sprints, and Homework

From balancing classes and build sprints to navigating skepticism and slow-moving healthcare systems, three University of Southern California students are proving that innovation in AgeTech doesn’t have to wait until after graduation.

University of Southern California students and Nara co-founders, Philip Hannon, Rodin Shokravi, and Grishma Shukla, with AgeTech Journal’s Jane Nam discussing their journey to streamline care operations and address core inefficiencies in assisted living and home care.

🚀 A Startup Born From Personal Experience

Nara’s story began with something deeply personal. “We were part of an accelerator at USC and we were kind of doing, like, customer discovery in different industries,” says Philip Hannon, one of the co-founders. “We landed on, like, assisted living home care, just because my grandparents have gone through both assisted living and home care. I've also had grandparents that have just lived independently in their homes. So I was very interested in that space, especially because, like, my one specific grandma has been in and out of, like, multiple different types of facilities, and there just seems to be a lot of problems and, you know, she's paying, you know, upwards of 10 to 15 grand a month for these assisted living communities, and the care is really not up to par.”

The fact that they were building this startup out of USC — home to what’s often regarded as the #1 gerontology school in the nation — also shaped their path. The proximity to cutting-edge aging research and a strong network of aging-focused professionals gave them both inspiration and access to critical resources.

What started as a simple idea to help caregivers record interactions quickly evolved into something much larger. “It was a nice-to-have, but it wasn’t necessarily a pain point for these companies and it wasn’t an easy product to sell,” Philip says. “So we pivoted.”

🛠️ Building Tools for a Broken System

Now, Nara is focused on solving two key operational challenges for senior care providers: documentation and data synchronization.

“If you're either in assisted living or you're in home care and you're doing a care consultation with a care recipient, you can record that conversation on Nara,” Philip explains. “Immediately after that consultation, you can click stop recording and then the care plan is built out. Our value prop is that we have an AI agent that then takes that information from the care plan and then adds it to the care management software, rather than someone having to take manual notes and then type them into the system.”

They’re also working with Momentum Senior Living on backend automation. “We’re using AI agents to basically kind of streamline operations in the back end, making sure that all the data that they have on their accounting software and their care management software, and their CRM are in sync and up to date,” Philip says. “It saves a lot of manual backend work, and we think that's really important, because, again, like, people are getting charged $10,000 for care and assisted living and like, we don't think it has to be that way.”

🎓 The Challenge — and Advantage — of Being Student Founders

Being full-time students brings both opportunities and obstacles.

“People are honestly just more willing to meet when you see college students in AgeTech — that's not something you see often,” Grishma notes.

But it also leads to skepticism: “People will look at us and be like, ‘Oh, it's just a bunch of college students in the healthcare space. Like, what do they know?’”

Managing both a startup and their coursework is a constant balancing act. “We have build sprints scheduled for us. As a team, we'll meet for a couple hours, like chunks at a time, a couple times throughout the week,” Philip says. “We’re part of a course that meets every week as well, and we have to have deliverables for that class. But there's just, like, life gets in the way. Like, you know, Grishma's at home with her family right now, Rodin had a ton of homework last week that he couldn't get to unless we finished stuff for Nara. There's a lot going on. Life gets in the way, for sure.”

🤝 Why They Chose Each Other

Their team chemistry is a major part of what keeps them moving forward. “I think I have like a very good eye for spotting problems and just kind of discovering problems within industries and also just like seeing opportunities,” says Philip. “I'm more of a business development mind. And I help with design and dev as well, but mainly business development and growth.”

The rest of the team complements that skill set with technical expertise. “Rodin and I are more on the more technical side,” Grishma explains.

“But it was definitely also like a social and personality fit. For us it just kind of all worked out. And then we all also have personal connections to elder care and home care. So I think we had the technical skills, we had the business skills, we had the personality match, and we had the same passion for the same space.”

🧠 Lessons From the Front Lines of AgeTech

Through this journey, the team has learned some of the most important lessons about building in AgeTech. Chief among them: focus. “As a founder, you can't go solving everything all at the same time,” Grishma reflects. “It's very important to choose one problem and stick to it and focus on that one problem. And then from there, that's where you can branch out. We started with the big vision and we tried to do everything. But that's obviously not going to work. I think it's better to invest in less quantity and focus on the quality of your product.”

Philip echoes that lesson.

“People want to build out something really universal — a solution that does everything and solves all of the problems,” he says. “You really have to focus on the fundamental issues.”

They’ve also learned that deep domain knowledge is non-negotiable. “In the first few weeks, in the first two months, we did hundreds of customer discovery calls,” Rodin explains. “It wasn't just assisted living managers. That included other AgeTech founders, caregivers, and elderly people. That allowed us… to have a holistic understanding of the industry.”

📈 Looking Ahead

Their work with Nara is still just beginning — but their journey is already proof that the future of aging isn’t only being shaped in boardrooms and research labs. It’s being built in classrooms, dorm rooms, and late-night build sprints by young founders who believe older adults deserve better. Their story is a reminder that the next generation isn’t just watching the aging challenge unfold — they’re stepping up to solve it.