Meet The Retiree Club
Hi from Christine and Teo, the co-founders of The Retiree Club, a members-only club for connection and purpose during retirement. We’re writing to share how the Retiree Club came to be.
In 2022 we started building ConnectUs, a startup designed to solve bad management. With our tool managers and employees could better connect the personal and the professional during performance conversations & facilitate world-class employee experience. After raising some investment (and watching 2015’s box office hit, The Intern) we decided to expand our team with retired executives. They brought immense knowledge, excitement for what we were doing, and ample life experience.
As we grew our business with this team, we asked them, “Why spend your time working with us on a startup?” To which they all responded, “Retirement wasn’t what I had hoped it would be.” They felt unengaged and lonely. For decades they had built careers and identities largely based on their home or work, only to experience the whiplash that comes with transitioning out of a career. They missed the “water cooler chats” or having a place where their insights were needed. Immediately, we became hooked on the question — How can we change the narrative and make retirement what people hoped for?
In typical founder fashion, we dove into this problem. We spent the next few months trying new concepts every other week ranging from technology classes at retirement communities all the way to direct-to-home concierge services for older adults. Eventually, we decided to host our own meet-ups for retirees, where we’d connect them with high-quality events and see what we learn about the retirement experience during that time. The popularity of these events skyrocketed. Without any marketing spend or even having built a platform, our subscriber base grew to over 1,000 retirees within three months across 14 cities.
We’ve learned a ton from servicing so many retirees with an appealing and diverse set of activities. Firstly, adventure and community matter. People love trying new things, meeting others who share similar interests or traits, and building long-lasting relationships with those they meet. Additionally, people love dedicating themselves to their passions, whether it’s volunteering at a local organization or learning as much as possible on a certain subject. However, our society hasn’t created a pathway for retirees to pursue any of the above. This is where The Retiree Club comes in.
At The Retiree Club we’ve put together a platform where retirees can find high-quality local events, online learning resources, and curated volunteer/job opportunities, whether at home or traveling. Even more importantly than a platform, we are a community. A community who believes retirement has the potential to be the most connected and purposeful time in one’s life, and we won’t stop until we make this vision a reality for everyone.
If you’re interested in learning more about The Retiree Club for yourself or someone you care about, you can find us at www.theretireeclub.com. We look forward to hearing from you and sharing what comes next.
