Disruption by Design

by Keith Crawford & David Odusanya | Aug 16, 2020

Innovation is in our DNA. Design is our passion. And disruption is our mission.

You may wonder how designers got into the funeral business, but it is really quite simple. We were motivated to create Solace by Design Thinking, a philosophy that brings empathy and human-centered design to solve problems, smoothing out the pain points for customers.

We founded Solace because we thought there was an alternative to the traditional, gloomy, beige funeral home. With hundreds of families served and the most 5-star reviews of any Portland cremation service, we have proven our model.

In just over a year, we’ve served hundreds of families in two states and are planning to grow. Though as a culture, we don’t like to talk about it, death is something that everyone will eventually have to face and cope with. That’s why we think the power of the crowd can help us take a good idea and transform it into the new norm. We’re proud to be working with SeedInvest to take us to the next level.

Learn how to invest in our mission to disrupt the funeral industry.

A broken system
When we began our research, we discovered what CNET reports here, that “funerals are expensive, broken and exploitive.” And, as consumer advocates note, the big companies are the least transparent about their prices. We believe there is a better way.

Our future of disruption
At Solace, we have been both navigating the “new normal” and looking ahead. We see a future where families never have to go into a funeral home to be pressured into spending more money or fill out confusing and cumbersome paperwork. And while the pandemic has driven the funeral industry to transform, we were well ahead of the curve, designed from the start as a digital company.

But to truly disrupt the industry, we need to grow.

We think it is about time the funeral industry entered the 21st century. If you do too, join us in our mission to design the death care experience families deserve.

Photo by Jeff Dey