He walked away from a job at Cisco to create a portal for India’s senior citizens

Sitting in what he describes as his startup’s “small experience center” in Bangalore, surrounded by gadgets he says can “pimp out” a senior citizen’s home, Vladi Ruppo chuckles. “Expectations of the living are changing. Previously, we were expected to retire for a few years, spend a few years with grandkids, get spiritual, and die,” he tells Tech in Asia.

Expectations are changing because people are living longer. In 1990, the average Indian lived into his or her late fifties. In 2013, that age jumped to the mid to late sixties, and with that leap emerged a new living situation – middle-aged individuals who were tending to both children and aging parents. These people, caring on two fronts, might also have questions about their own aging.

“I’m 52, many of my relatives are aging, and my parents are no longer here,” Vladi says. A software engineer born in St. Petersburg, he worked in Russia and Israel for 12 years. He then moved to the Bangalore area, where he worked with NDS (which later became Cisco) for the past 16 years.

His notice of the way people saw seniors, along with his personal search for meaningful work and his own life situation, fueled his founding of BeautifulYears, an online portal for people to discuss aging issues, discover caregiving services in their areas, and shop for gadgets that help the elderly with day-to-day activities.

After assembling a team to build the website, his Bangalore-based business launched last June. Two months ago, the startup opened a chain of experience stores that show what the startup can do to make senior living more accessible.

Help and support

Vladi Ruppo, founder of BeautifulYears.

BeautifulYears’ particular mix of services follows a logical progression to Vladi – they are all answers to the question “What does a family taking care of its elders need?” He believes that first, people need to talk. Then, they need to know where they can get a nurse or other caregiving services. Finally, they need products that make seniors’ lives easier.

These products can be as simple as nail clippers that come with a magnifying glass for someone with vision problems.

Talk comes first for Vladi. That’s because stigma around aging and diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s can mean that support and advice for elder care may be hard to find. BeautifulYears offers an online forum so that people can discuss their concerns with more anonymity than Facebook offers.

“People will ask questions like ‘My mother asks for 5 o’clock tea at 3 o’clock in the morning’ or ‘My father is alone but is still asking where is his wife – do I tell him the truth, or do I tell him a story?” he explains.

Customers who aren’t sure about their online purchases can see the products in action at a BeautifulYears experience store.

Senior power