Five young men celebrates the dead with cloud technology

Life and death.

We cannot help it, but we will be thinking about it at a certain point of our lives. Whilst we might try to avoid overthinking about life and death, we all know that they are inevitable, especially with death.

We might think about what legacy we leave behind, how my friends and love ones deal with my passing, how I will be remembered, what’s going to be the inscription on my tombstone, or even just the simple question: will anyone remember me?

Technology, the cloud and the dead

So I came across this startup at the RISE conference in Hong Kong this year called Cloud Memorials, and had a little chat with five young men who decided to deal with these heavy questions with a relatively smart and simple idea: they build a space online for you to commemorate your lost ones.

The founders, Joan, Anjo, Harold, Mark and Iain, just like all of us, have experienced the pain of losing a friend who died too young too early. At her passing, they could not find a better way to get people together and share their memories or feelings about their late friend except perhaps a few Facebook posts.

One has to ask, how can a friend you cherish so much be remembered in such a reductive way online? Surely, there is a more dignified platform to celebrate the live of the dead.

Cloud Memorials

The five of them launched Cloud Memorials, a platform for friends and loved ones to commemorate those dear to them. Just like a guest book, each person can go to a cloud memorials dedicated to someone they hold dear, and they share their memories with everyone who signs on to this service.

By contributing to each cloud memorial, all the submissions from friends and family will become the collective memory of the dead, so that they will never be forgotten.

After a soft launch in their home town in the Philippines, they partnered with various funeral houses, talking to families and friends at funerals and wakes. Daunting to many to constantly be in places that is only about death, the five young men believed that this startup is the right thing to do.

Startups should not only be about being disruptive, innovative and profitable, but they should, as they pointed out, “further humanity and serve a bigger purpose”.

Cloud Memorials, in my opinion, is one that aligns with such thoughts.

Not only it serves those who want to plan ahead of their death, in order to make sure that they are remembered, but it also serves those who survived. By coming together online, sharing stories of those who passed is, in my opinion, the best way to overcome someone’s death.

With this startup, we can all come together once again, cherish the memories and celebrate the dead, with something more permanent and dignified way than just a one-off Facebook post/photo, and this is why we’re giving Cloud Memorials The Typewriter’s Seal of Approval.

To know more about this startup (or should you want to start planning your affairs after your eventual passing), check out there website here.

The Typewriter crew will be attending the RISE Conference in Hong Kong, looking for startups with a great story, an inspiring mission and a brilliant idea.

Originally published at The Typewriter.