Today we’d like to introduce you to Seth Besse.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My personal background is in technology and operations. I have focused on areas characterized by information asymmetry and have developed technology and processes to add transparency, ensuring everyone has the ability to make informed decisions. I have applied this approach in several different areas and see the challenges caregivers face in accessing the necessary support and services for their children as stemming from the same type of information asymmetry. On a personal note, I am dyslexic and wish that my own parents had known how to support me better as a child. I want to destigmatize disability and ensure that every child has access to what they need when they need it.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No new company is smooth, and no re-imagined way of doing something is easy and without risk. We operate in a space dominated by nonprofits, which do amazingly valuable work, but most nonprofits too often fall into two categories: hyper-local and specific or high-level. There is so much information out there; what parents need is the ability and assistance in applying that information to them and their specific children’s needs. They need to be able to make sure their private insurance, public benefits, and their IEP at school are all marching in the same direction. Pulling these together is new, and new is tough. The other major challenge we have faced is the lack of understanding of what is out there for parents and children. Many parents are simply not told about the programs that are out there, assume they don’t qualify, or, at worst, are explicitly told certain services and programs do not apply to them. This is typically not out of malice but instead a lack of training for those individuals who are supposed to help these parents. Because of this, parents who don’t know about services out there to help them and their children don’t go looking for help accessing those same services. Our growth has been due to the parents we support, bringing friends, acquaintances, and those that they see going through the same challenges to Undivided.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next, you can tell us a bit more about your business.
Undivided was born out of true necessity. When Jason Lehmbeck, our co-founder’s eldest son, Noah, started to show signs of developmental delay, he and his family were shocked by the dysfunction, misinformation, and luck involved in getting a diagnosis, let alone getting the care children with an intellectual or developmental delay need. Every parent, of which there are millions across the country, starts from scratch in learning a new world of acronyms, systems, and services that they have had no need to know and understand prior to that point of diagnosis. They are thrown into a full-time job filled with research, false starts, time spent on hold, and endless advocating for their child, in addition to caring for the everyday needs of their child. It is the equivalent of expecting a parent to successfully file their taxes by using nothing but the tax code, where if they make a mistake, the person who suffers is their child. A better way simply needed to exist, a platform where parents could learn from those who have successfully navigated the private insurance, public benefits, and school system for the benefit of their own children in the past. Today, Undivided provides an essential platform to ensure parents of neurodiverse children (those with disabilities and learning differences) know what to do for their child, how to do it, and who can help them successfully access requisite services. Undivided offers a subscription-based platform that includes a comprehensive suite of road mapping, project management, document management, and knowledge management tools. These tools are based on the collective knowledge of thousands of parents who have traversed similar challenges, and deep knowledge of industry experts. For additional support, parents can opt to partner with Undivided Navigators, experienced parents who can provide assistance during roadblocks, offer empathy, or serve as companions on this often-solitary journey.
Quite simply, our platform captures the learnings and experiences of hundreds of thousands of parents that have come before, documents those challenges, establishes best practices, and ensures that every parent can benefit from those experiences and learnings. The families that work with us receive thousands of additional services per month that they were previously unaware of. They also report feeling significantly less isolated and overwhelmed. We are committed to ensuring that every family has the ability to effectively advocate for their child and access the services they need.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success for us is building a sustainable business that can consistently support families in getting what their children need while reducing a parent’s feelings of isolation and overwhelm. Success is also reaching the scale necessary to drastically improve the care children receive and streamline access to such care. Finally, success for us is to continue providing meaningful and flexible employment for our Navigators, who are all parents themselves, having left the workforce to care for their children full time, and therefore have been uniquely trained to support the next families through ensuring access for their children.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://undivided.io/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/undividedapp/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/undividedapp
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/teamundivided/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@undividedapp
