eFuneral is an online tool that funeral planners use to find, compare, and select the funeral home that best meets their needs. We help individuals and families make informed funeral decisions by providing them with free information on their local funeral homes, ranging from service prices to ratings and reviews. We also help groups such as funeral homes connect with these funeral planners.
What makes your company/product different from your competition?
Unlike a search engine or simple funeral home directory, eFuneral provides funeral planners with the comprehensive information they need on funeral homes in their neighborhood to plan a funeral service for someone they love – this includes pricing information, funeral home ratings and reviews, and photo galleries. No other website provides this level of comprehensive information. As such, eFuneral brings real transparency to a life event that most people find confusing and complicated.
What is it like to start a company in the Rust Belt?
We are very lucky to have started a business in Cleveland, where we have all the resources a new company needs to get up and running– including financing, top talent, and a culture that embraces innovation. Once you have an idea, it’s pretty easy to launch a business here, particularly because of the availability of seed funding and the wide range of organizations that aim to support startups every step of the way. In Cleveland, we’ve also had easy access to expert advice. Part of the culture of Cleveland includes helping people. So for an entrepreneur in this region, even if you are just starting out, you can call on thought leaders, CEOs, and other entrepreneurs for feedback on your ideas. Finally, the Rust Belt is also an affordable area. So with the money we’ve saved on office space, we could spend more on attracting and retaining talent and developing our product.
Tell us about your fundraising experience in the Rust Belt?
In Cleveland, entrepreneurs have access to a wide variety of early stage funding to get started. So far, eFuneral has raised several hundred thousand dollars from local investors and other funding groups supported by the State of Ohio and Cuyahoga County. That was enough for us to build our product, build a great team, launch, and continue learning and iterating.
What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned?
The greatest lesson we have learned is to keep learning. At every step of the way since launching eFuneral, our team has developed an idea, tested it out, measured its impact, and then tweaked the product. Because of our obsession with learning from our users, customers, and partners, we’ve been able to develop a product that adds more value to those groups.
What is the future for your company?
eFuneral is currently being recommended by more than 75 hospitals, hospice facilities, and nursing homes throughout the U.S., and we provide pricing information and reviews for almost 2,000 funeral homes in 11 major metropolitan markets. Our plan is to continue to grow so that we can help funeral planners across the nation make more informed funeral arrangements. Ultimately, we want to be the one place funeral planners, and those thinking about end-of-life, go for the information they need to make key decisions.
To learn more about eFuneral, visit us at eFuneral.com, or follow us on Twitter at @eFuneral.
