Our Story
When co-founder Eben Pingree learned in quick succession that both his mom and his father-in-law had Alzheimer’s, he felt desperate to ensure his three young kids built strong bonds with both of them, and that they created and captured as many good memories as possible.
But as he surveyed the landscape for tools that could help them be more deliberate in building that connection, they were entirely underwhelmed. Nothing seemed focused on the unique challenges of bridging the many-decade age gap, especially in situations where grandparents live far away and don’t have the advantage of frequent in-person bonding.
Co-founder Mike Gerbush, a college friend of Eben’s, was in the early innings of navigating this challenge himself, with two young kids and a widowed mom living on her own 3+ hours away. The mission of building a platform to strengthen intergenerational bonds within families immediately resonated. Timing-wise, the stars were aligned too, as both Mike and Eben were finishing up 5+ year stretches in senior leadership roles at companies that had recently been acquired
Our 3rd cofounder, Ashley Hocking, has moved on to lead marketing at Boston Venture Studios, but remains a close friend and Advisor to Kinsome!
the team
Mike Gerbush
Mike lives in a quiet suburb of Boston with his wife, Catie, and their two young kids, Dexter and Connolly. His mom and in-laws are both ~3 hrs away, but luckily they visit often! When Mike isn’t coding or chasing around his kids (which doesn’t leave much time), he enjoys playing sports, watching movies, and perfecting his NY-style pizza recipe.
Mike has spent his entire career as a software engineer since dropping out of his PhD with Masters in Computer Science to join a fast-growing startup. Most recently, he was the first hire and CTO at a bootstrapped Women’s Health company called Embryo Options, where he stayed through their sale to CooperSurgical ($COO).
Eben Pingree
Eben lives in downtown Boston with his wife and three kids in an apartment below his parent’s apartment (where he grew up) and above his younger brother’s family (3 more kids). His other brother lives blocks away with his wife and 4 kids. Needless to say, his family is pretty tight! Besides chasing his kids around, he’s an avid Boston sports fan, a Bruce Springsteen diehard, and he loves escaping to VT to mess around out in the woods or in his barn.
On the professional front, Eben founded his first startup while in business school, before moving into the world of product management. Afterwards he spent 8 years in senior Product roles at two successful Boston-area startups, Session M (sold to Mastercard) and EverTrue (sold to Rubicon Technology Partners).
Brianne Baker
Brianne recently moved to Boston from the West Coast to join Kinsome! When Brianne isn’t working, she’s practicing Lagree (it’s not Pilates!), enjoying pretty much any sport that occurs in or on the water, making jewelry IRL and with Midjourney, and exploring the charming neighborhoods of her new home.
As the most recent addition to the founding team, Brianne brings nearly 15 years of experience designing apps for kids and families. With a background in human-centered design, behavioral science and graphic design, she has worked almost exclusively at small companies but delivered outsized results (over 5 million downloads across the apps she was involved with!).
Joe Webster
Joe was born in Boston, grew up in Cambridge, and now resides in Dorchester, just south of the city. Outside of work, Joe is an avid pickleball player, skier, and traveler, with a particular love for exploring U.S. national parks.
Joe is passionate about startups and thrives in the fast-paced, dynamic environment of early-stage companies. He previously worked as a front-end web developer during the formative years of GrabCAD and Alignable, and beforehand as a UX Designer at Disney Studios. As a Full-Stack Software Engineer at Kinsome, he leverages this spectrum of experience to build new and engaging features across both mobile and web platforms. Joe was drawn to Kinsome by the company’s inspiring mission to develop software that strengthens and improves real-world relationships between grandparents and grandchildren.
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