Jonathan Schwartz's startup announces a third partnership, part of an effort to promote his company, gain insight into patient needs, and of course attract subscribers.
Jonathan Schwartz
CareZone, a startup for organizing and sharing personal information, announced a promotion that grants free access to those with a family member with epilepsy.
Chief Executive Jonathan Schwartz, who previously led Sun Microsystems, said a partnership with the Epilepsy Foundation will match what CareZone has done with groups dealing with autism and Parkinson's disease.
(For a look at the executive and his views on Oracle, Apple, Amazon, and Intel, check CNET's accompanying Q&A with Schwartz.)
Schwartz hopes CareZone will catch on as a way to let people privately share information such as instructions for babysitters, emergency lists of online banking passwords for family members, medication schedules, and treatment records from doctors and pharmacies. It'll cost $5 per month or $48 per year per person being monitored, but for now the service is free during an introductory period and for cases where a person has a particular affliction.
Schwartz clearly enjoys the idea of a startup that helps people. What he's concerned about, he says, is "how do I help you connect with your loved ones, your siblings, your spouse, and get organized and stay connected with the stuff that matters." But he's got a business to run, too, and sees giving free services to particular communities as an investment for the company, several of whose 12 employees work out of Schwartz's San Francisco house.
Says Schwartz:
What we've been doing with the autism community and the Parkinson's community and the epilepsy community is listening. We created a relationship with Autism Speaks. They're an organization that truly understands. They have a million likes on Facebook. Other than Justin Bieber I don't know anybody who has a million likes on Facebook. When they promoted CareZone to their audience, all the sudden we started getting parents who had children somewhere on the autism spectrum. We got feedback we didn't know that could be helpful for a parent with an autistic child.
Parkinson's has another great example. Parkinson's patients tend to take the same medicine over a very long period of time and step up doses. So we can do a better job tracking their dosage. These are things we didn't know until we create relationships with these guys. It's an opportunity for us: No. 1, they help us reach their audience, and No. 2, we get a lot of learning and a lot of adoption out of it. And by the way, parents who have a child on the autistic spectrum often have a child who is not on the autistic spectrum and often have parents who need to be taken care of.
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CareZone announces freebie for epilepsy care cases