Show Notes
Matthew Edgerton is using personal life experiences and work background to help an aging population find their tribe and grow older with gusto. In this conversation with Gail Zugerman, he shares how he interviewed all types of people, from the aging in independent living to their caregivers and family members, to create his business model called Cogensus. Matthew sheds light on the lack of stimulation among older people and how he strives to determine the best way to get them engaged in life. He also explains how Cogensus uses AI in creating family memoirs that will give people a purpose and something to add to their legacy.
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Finding Your Tribe In The Digital Age With Matthew Edgerton
Our guest is an enterprising man from California who has been shaped by life experiences to leave the world a better place by helping people as they grow older. His name is Matthew Edgerton, and he's launching a company in 2025 called Cogensus, which he has created through his background of being a thought leader in the areas of artificial intelligence, innovation strategy, and product development.
Prior to his latest endeavor, Cogensus, Matthew led the global strategy and GTM for the communication and media division of Accenture, Microsoft's cloud-first practice. Matthew has so much to tell us about how he got to where he is, so I'd like to welcome him to the show. Welcome, Matthew.
Gail, thanks for having me.
How Matthew’s Experiences Shaped Cogensus
You told me you're shaped by your personal experiences. Let's start there. Can you tell our readers how this played into you starting your own company called Cogensus? Great name, by the way.
Thank you. The personal experience I referenced was the particular passing of my grandfather. When I was a little guy, I spent a lot of time with my granddad. He watched me a lot from the ages of 1 to 11, when he passed away. My grandpa, I learned later in life, was a pretty exemplary guy. He went through a lot of interesting life experiences. Growing up with him in the context of being his grandchild, I was not exposed to any of that because there are a lot of adult topics you just can't talk to a child about.
I understand totally.
When I was in my late twenties, I one day stumbled upon his online obituary, and it referenced a couple of things that I didn't know. I went on a research journey of my own to learn more about my grandpa. I learned that he joined World War II at seventeen. He fought and served and got a Purple Heart and a Silver Star. He came back and tried to commit suicide and then survived. A lot of intense life experiences. It's a shame that we don't have more clarity and depth on what happened there.
That colored my experience. In the age of AI, I thought that a lot of people are going to be getting older. It'll be a real shame if their combined histories pass away without being saved in some form or fashion. That was one of the personal experiences that caused me to move in this direction. This is somewhat professional, but in 2022, I helped the United Nations. I wrote some climate standards for them. You can find it under the ITU group. Effectively, they have these things called SDGs, which are Sustainable Development Goals. There's a big focus on both preserving the histories of the world.
That could be all kinds of different communities, including indigenous folks, all the way up to helping the world as it ages. That was where I first got exposed to this broader problem about, I’ll call it the aging world that we live in. We are going to be entering a time where we have a lot more people over the age of 60 than under it. That causes a whole bunch of both societal as well as localized changes that need to occur. By taking that into account and trying to be a positive person and leave a positive impact, and then my own personal experiences. That is what shaped Cogensus effectively.
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