The New Nomad

Let's PIVT: Social Wellbeing Tool for Relocated People with Lynn Greenberg | TNN61

June 20, 2022 Andrew Jernigan and Allen Koski Episode 61
The New Nomad
Let's PIVT: Social Wellbeing Tool for Relocated People with Lynn Greenberg | TNN61
Show Notes Transcript

It’s well understood that moving is a stressful event in anyone’s life. No matter how dreamy your new place is, relocation is never easy especially when you have your family with you. Just thinking of the nitty-gritty - school, banking, transportation, etc - can bring you to your wit's end. Having someone to talk to who has experienced or is experiencing the same challenges would help a lot. That’s where Pivt, an app that makes relocating easier, comes into the picture.

Lynn Greenberg, Co-Founder and CEO of Pivt, joins Allen Koski and Brett Estep (filling in for Andrew Jernigan) in another timely episode of The New Nomad podcast. With a passion for helping people thrive wherever they go and a mission of making anywhere feel like home, Lynn shares how she and the Pivt team make relocating a breeze. Relocating is never easy – but you can work to mitigate some of the negative effects moving stress can have on your health, finances, or job performance by tuning in to this week's episode of The New Nomad.

[4:33] The challenges of moving to a new home

[11:37] How to make anywhere feel like home

[16:23] Is social media a safe place for travelers?

[19:46] The human aspect of technology

[20:51] Connecting with people through similar interests

[23:18] Moving homes does affect your family



GUEST BIO:

Lynn is the Co-Founder and CEO of Pivt, the app to make you feel more at home. She is also a Senior Associate at Autonomy Ventures, where she procures deal flow, manages teams, and drives the value creation of portfolio companies. Additionally, Lynn is a Board Member and the VP of Panels for the New York Venture Community (NYVC), and a Mentor at Women in Business at Yeshiva University.

Lynn Greenberg Links:

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lynn-greenberg-3515865a
Twitter: Pivt_App
Website: https://www.pivtapp.com/


Follow Insured Nomads at:

Instagram: @insurednomads

www.insurednomads.com

Allen  

Welcome to The New Nomad podcast. We have an incredibly interesting guest today. Lynn Greenberg, who is founder, CEO and CEO entrepreneur of Pivt, a social platform for people on the move. It's something that I feel very passionate about. I heard Lynn speak recently and it really resonated with me. The other special guests we have today is Brett Estep is filling in for Andrew Jernigan. So having another guest host joining me, and I'm really happy to have Brett with me. You know, Brett, as I listened to Lynn talk about Pivt and to our listeners will learn more about this, what she has developed, kind of really resonated with me, because when I was first transferred between jobs, they basically just, here's your new work location, go find an apartment, and enjoy. And here's 10,000 bucks or 5000 bucks, or whatever it is. And then you get your move, you find an apartment, you have no network. There's nobody to reach out to, nobody can seem to answer questions that the company's like, hey, we just gave you the money. You moved your stuff down there. And then I see what Lynn has to offer about, you know, tying together and finding other people. I mean, what saved me is I actually found another person who was marooned very similarly. So you and I know we've had a lot of conversations about mental health, stress community, etc. I think that's the big, big issue, because we have so many people on the move, we even heard that something as many as 23 million Americans moved during 2021. And that doesn't count folks that that that's in the US, not the folks that move about. So what's your thoughts on this Brett? Because I know you get a lot of feedback from people that our clients that social into, you know, isolation, etc. It's just very difficult stress, depression, etc. People need to find community.


Brett  

Yeah, delighted to be with you. And I wanted to thank Andrew Jernigan for not being available so that I can participate in, you know, co hosting on The New Nomad podcast. So congrats to the continued success here, Allen, I do have a ton of thoughts as it relates to kind of the mental health aspect about it. But as I was listening to your story on, you know, getting dumped into a new city, I feel like there are three elements. And oftentimes one key element is missed, you've got the tactical, financial and human. And kind of what I picked up on in the tremendous success that Lynn Greenberg and Pivt has had is it seems to be focusing on the last item there, which is the human connection. And I think in the yesteryear relocation world where they focused on items one and two, and not three, that's where you're left kind of, you know, very confused and very lonely. Allen, as you know, I've been in the corporate benefits in international insurance space for quite some time. And many years ago, we thought this idea of loneliness was notional. But many studies have since come out and said that those that are traveling outside of their home, or passport country, are two times more likely to feel anxious and nervous, and three times more likely to feel trapped and depressed. And so knowing that what can then be done about it, and I applaud businesses and brands like Lynne that has done tremendous work, to really focus on humanizing that digital experience.


Allen  

And staying with the human connection, let's bring Lynn into the conversation. Because before we talk about Pivt, as an organization, you obviously been on a journey that led you to recognize this as an issue. And like you said, we applaud you for recognizing it, and trying to actually come up with a solution. So welcome aboard, we'd love you to share with our audience, how you recognize this, and maybe a bit of your own personal journey.


Lynn  

Yeah, well, thank you, first of all, so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here amongst two industry leaders. So really appreciate the opportunity to share my story and a little bit about what we're doing at Pivt. So Allen, as you mentioned, Pivt is personal to me. It was started out of my own experience. So I graduated from college, and about three weeks later moved to London to work for Bloomberg. I was 21 years old, didn't know anyone there and face the issue that all people do when moving to a new and unfamiliar place, which is how do you go about making your new city feel like home? And there were two main things that I struggled with. The first was how do I get information on my city from people I trusted? Where do I live? Which bank do I join? Where do I take my mom for dinner when she comes to visit? Things I didn't want to rely on a Google or TripAdvisor for. I actually had only been to London for two days when I was 12 years old, and didn't know anyone there. And so when figuring out where to live, I ended up living in Notting Hill solely based on the fact that I had seen the movie and figured if it was good enough for Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts, it had to be good enough for me. So kind of, you know, threw threw my hat in the ring that way. 


Lynn  

And then the the other piece that was really challenging is how do you recreate your network from scratch? Because its friends you need the most when you're adjusting to a new and unfamiliar place. And I consider myself a pretty outgoing person, I went to bars by myself, I went to meetups, I tried dating apps for the wrong purposes. And after speaking to my colleagues at Bloomberg, which is the international hub, and saying, how are you going about it, I quickly came to realize that it was a much bigger problem than just myself. So I had, you know, only took one business class in college, the only tech experience I really had was, you know, what I was doing at Bloomberg, but was very curious about it, and started really diving in deeper, taking classes, workshops, interviewing people, and spent some time in venture capital to learn the other side of things. And originally Pivt started as a consumer app for people moving and travelling to help acclimate in the new city. And we were live in New York and London for about six months, when we got approached by HSBC. And they said, we came across your platform, we like what you're building, it's something we're struggling with internally, with our relocated employees and business travelers. Is this something you'd be interested in building for businesses? And so we're thinking, Oh, my gosh, we just spent so much time building out this application, what are we doing, but ultimately, we went back to the drawing board. And we found that, you know, statistic that's pretty staggering, that companies on average spend about $90,000, relocating a single employee could be much more for an executive or if they're relocating with a family. And because there's no social component, helping these people acclimate about a third of them quit their job within a year, or move back home because of social reasons. So when we fact found that out, we said, Wow, this is this is a really big problem, our mission is still the same, which is, you know, how do we give people the tools so that they can take life changing opportunities in unfamiliar places without thinking twice, but it's just a different way of going about it. And so we refactored our app to fit a business model. And we're now you know, a social app designed to reduce employee turnover, and improve the social well being of relocated mobile remote employees and their families. So as you mentioned, and as their name suggests, we've we've pivoted quite a quite a bit, even since then, and especially with what what has gone on with a pandemic, where people are relocating on their own, that flexible work situations, you know, are really drastically changing and, and people are taking this opportunity to extend their vacations or, you know, really kind of level that work life balance. And so it's been a really interesting journey to date.


Allen  

You know, Lynn, it's, it's interesting, because my story is being was about New York, going to New York, yours was going to London, and you think yourself, these are two amazingly large cities, it should be so easy to make community. And what I think's really interesting about Pivt is, actually, it doesn't have to be like, Hey, I'm going to some tiny, small place, and I'm trying to find the one person who wants to share my story and travel around or whatever. Sometimes in the big cities, it's as difficult as anything. So I appreciate your story, because your story resonated exactly with me from a junior today


Lynn  

I just want to say really quickly, you know, it was super interesting. I was in London a couple of weeks ago, and was talking to an industry colleague, and she said, you know, we're the biggest relocation failure rate is two, I don't know, do you? Do you happen to know?


Allen  

the United States? Maybe when people come to the US? I'm not sure.


Brett  

So I have an insight on this because I used to look into some of that data. And what I had researched was that upwards of 60% of assignments fail because of the employees inability to integrate with a new culture. Am I anywhere close? 


Lynn  

Well, yes, but I'm saying from which city to which city is there the biggest failure rate?


Allen  

I think I knew this one, too. You don't? Yes. Save us, please.


Lynn  

It's it's New York to London, followed by London to New York. Oh, wow. And I find that so interesting, because as you were saying, Alan, it's big city, a big city, right? That's the same language and I I really think that the reason that is, is it's a couple of things. The first is New York and London are so frequently in TV and movies. And you know, people have this expectation of, oh, it's the same language, there's going to be a very similar culture. And so when you go, you move abroad, and there are some nuances, and there are some bumps in the road, it catches you way more off guard, than let's say, you're moving from New York to Tokyo, right? And you're kind of saying, Okay, well, I'm expecting my experience to be turned upside down, I'm expecting everything to be a little bit different. I'm expecting things to kind of you I'm half expecting to ying and yang. But I found that really, really fascinating when I heard that.


Allen  

Well, it's interesting is when I talked to benefit managers in corporate relocation professionals, a lot of times and by the way, this is an American audience, Lynn. They're they don't think it's very hard for people to be brought to the United States as an expatriate. And then we try to explain to them, yeah, it's, you know, our not only our healthcare system is different, and how we, regionally, how we make friends is different. And you really need to give the people the same support that you might give anybody traveling to a country, and they're like, oh, no, Americans are so open and engaging. And then studies seem to indicate that it's a little bit different than that you don't make quite the same friends. And what I love about Pivt is you made something you're the commentary on your website, and I invite everybody to go to www.pivtapp.com to check this out. But you said something that really resonated with me make anywhere feel like home? How do you do that? And share with our audience.


Lynn  

Yeah, again, that's, that's the ultimate goal. That's right, what I wish I had. And I want to preface by saying, the reason why I'm doing this where my colleagues are doing this is because we've all had life changing opportunities, and in unfamiliar places. And so we want to be able to give these tools so that they can and their families, make anywhere feel like home. And so the reason the way that we do that, you know, has has changed, but has really, you know, stuck with the premise of, can we connect you to the people and resources that you need, so that you can hit the ground running when you arrive. So essentially, you know how it works is we give you Pivt the moment you find out about your move, so you can proactively be a part of it. We give free we get free access to family members, because actually 70% of relocations fail, not because the actual employee has difficulty acclimating but because the partner spouse has trouble doing so and they're not a part of that mix. So we give them the tools right away as well. They could be on their couch, you know, prior to moving, open Pivt, you know, we serve as their first friend anywhere. And will will start to ask you a little bit about you and your journey. Where are you moving to? from? Are you with a family? What are their ages? Are you moving with a pet? Based on what we know about you will then say, okay, Lynn, because we know you're relocating with two kids under the age of five from the East Coast, here two others that are doing the same or have just moved. Do you want an introduction? Here's some information on how to move your pet. And here are two events you should check out based on what we know your interests are, you then add to your the platform. 


Lynn  

And we really have three main features. The first is a fine network feature, where we show you all of our relocated and mobile employees around the world. So you can search up top to your city ahead of time, see who's there. And then you can filter it down to find, you know, the relocated and mobile employees in London, that are from my hometown, university language, same workplace, all for the purpose of connecting with the people that you know, and should know to give you the most trusted and curated advice and make social plans. We have a community matching platform where you can connect more generally based on interests, goals, passions, create events and whatnot. We actually have the ability for companies to create their own communities where they can, you know, pin important information to the top and connect, you know, directly with the spouse and the relocated employees. And then we have a resource center, which includes everything from you know, 225 city guides around the world. We have a living assessment, kind of getting you into the mindset of, okay, what am I looking for? What should I expect here? Let's get our expectations in line. We have, you know, some expert content, you know, articles like, what are three conversations you should be having with your spouse before you move? And how do you take friendships that you make on social platforms and translate that into real world friendships? And then lastly what we what Allen you were referring to earlier, because we have wellness check in. Based on where we know you are in your relocation journey, we will ask you how you're doing. And we'll either look to connect you to other people on the platform that can be helpful at that time, or resources that can really give you get you out over the hunt. And what's interesting about that is, of course, we're really hyper focused on not sharing user data. But what we can do is we can go back to the program managers and say, Look, from a program perspective, this is where your employees are really struggling, or here's what a lot of them are asking for, you should really look to implement this. And so we're really looking to kind of, you know, elongate the success of not just the employees and their families, but also how do we improve the global mobility industry in their programs?


Brett  

So Lynn, when you were talking about not selling user data in DMS, it kind of brings to the surface some of the larger social media competitors that exist the likes of Facebook and Twitter. Have you had the question? Why Pivt versus Facebook? Are there any fundamental differences that you wanted to call out in that regard? Because us too in Insured Nomads with a community element embedded in what we do we have had to face that same question as well, and was just curious as to your thoughts?


Lynn  

Yeah, it's a it's a really good question. And, of course, we absolutely do. And the first thing I'll mention is on our advisory board, we do have Randi Zuckerberg, the former CMO of Facebook, creator Facebook Live. And I I'd like to believe that, you know, a good portion of that is because she just didn't think that Facebook could fill that void. And so when I think of Facebook, in particular, and then I'll get into generally social media platforms, um, Facebook, you know, first of all, anyone can can join, you know, there's you don't know who is posting, right. There's, there's no curation. So it's really hard to sort through, there's often spam, solicitation, even if they're in a, you know, an expat group, it could be someone that has nothing to do with expats or a real estate broker trying to sell you something. And the platform just simply isn't built for it. It's not built with that type of purpose in mind. The what Pivt does in contrast, is we're a closed, vetted community, right, so everyone is verified on our platform, everyone on the platform understands what you're going through, they're also going through it or they're an expert of Pivt. You know, the, the features are set up in a way to give you exactly what you need when you need it, and to check in at the right times. And the other thing that I'll just mention generally about social media platforms, is that when you think about how they're monetized, it's all around ad spend, right? And so they're looking to get your data and sell it, which was really based on the the motivation of, can we get as many eyeballs as platform as possible on our platform for as long as possible. And studies have shown that that leads to increased isolation and loneliness, and poor mental mental wellbeing. And that's exactly what we're trying to avoid. And so what we're able to do on Pivt by being an enterprise subscription platform, is we're not motivated by that. And so what we can do is we can give you the resources, and the people that you need when you need it, so that you can actually go out in your new city or town, make the most of wherever you are, and start really taking these communities and these people that you need meet on Pivt and taking that into the real world. So I would say that is really the biggest difference. And it makes, you know, quite a big difference in the scheme of things.


Brett  

Well, I appreciate you addressing that question and addressing it head on because I think that to find a way to humanize the digital versus the other way around is very, very important. Another follow up question, it sounds like you guys have a tremendous amount of content in, you know, the ecosystem itself. How are you then able to then present that information so that it is relatively single serving or encourages high engagement from the communities that you were able to gather?


Lynn  

So you mean, how do we personalize it or


Brett  

correct to get them to engage so that they're not, you know, lost in a social media platform for hours on end looking at content that's not terribly relevant.


Lynn  

right. So I'll just kind of compare it to, you know, there's some dating apps, right, that have friendship aspects to it. And one of the frustrating parts that I found, and I used all of them to kind of see what the the landscape is like you similar to dating apps, you have to swipe through all the people, right? And what's so frustrating is, you know, you want to connect with those people that you need right away. And so when I was in London, I was thinking to myself, Okay, well, who who watch my university lives here, and who from my hometown lives here, because when I'm thinking about where to live, those are the people that have lived in a similar area that I have, they understand, you know, kind of what I'm looking for. And what I'm used to, those are the people I want to reach out to. So instead of swiping, swiping, swiping, you know, kind of, at the looking around the internet, I'm able to right away, go to Pivt and find those people based on filters. So we try to really connect you from a personalized standpoint, right away through through those things. And similarly, through goals, interests, passions. And then you know, we're proactively, when we can like trying to connect the dots with what we see at Pivt being useful. Look, you're both relocating with two kids under the age of five. You know, you're you're struggling with, you know, moving your pet from from New York, or you have a child with special needs. And you're trying to learn some more information on you know, what it's like living in London with that, here's someone that just went through it. And, and so that's really what we're trying to do in the best manner that we can is give you point you in the right direction, again, being your first friend, right, looking out for you. And the analogy we use a lot is going to a networking event. It's always great when you have someone that's there and is you're you're not kind of doing small talk, but you have someone there saying, Okay, Lynn, you need to meet this person, and I'm going to introduce you this person, this person, this person, that's what Pivt's really trying to be.


Allen  

So I really love the fact you have an assessment function at the beginning, too. Doesn't that help the process? Also?


Lynn  

It does, it does? In a couple of different ways. First, you know, as we know, in this industry mindset is so important, right? You know, that goes back to what we were just talking about, with the failure rate in New York and London, what what can I expect? And then also, we learn a little bit more about you and how we can kind of feed content that's most relevant for you.


Allen  

So so when you're seeing a wide spectrum. Who has the most trouble? Is it typically folks who are traveling with families is mostly folks traveling by themselves? You know, it's interesting me, I've seen studies that indicate people who do best tend to be adventurous and outgoing. So I've know the positive side kind of it. But is there a group if somebody's listening this podcast, not to scare anybody? But is there a particular segment that you'd spend a little extra attention? Or is it basically it's a case by case person by person basis?


Lynn  

I think it's really a case by case person by person. And I because, obviously, when you're moving with the family, right, and we all know that there's a huge divorce rate, you know, amongst relocated employees, which we're really trying to kind of alleviate the best that we can. Obviously, when you're moving with the family, there's, there's, you're not just worrying about what the success look like for me, and how do I acclimate? But how does my family acclimate? And how do they feel like they have purpose and their new location? So that's always difficult, but then on the flip side, you know, it going having kids schools, you know, there's more opportunities to kind of meet people, right, and to kind of have that set of routine than necessarily if you're alone, and really have to kind of go to bars by yourself or, you know, figure it out head on. So I think it varies in a variety of different ways. First, really, depending on the person themselves, the cultures you mentioned before, language barriers, you know, the family, you know, how do they acclimate? How do they adjust to change? Are they excited about this? The family situation back at home, right? There's so many kind of exterior factors that that factor into the success of relocation. So I think it really depends.


Brett  

So one of the questions that I have, and I didn't have this kind of pre scripted, it just came to me as I had an opportunity to hear from you. It took me 25 years to finally get into an entrepreneurial mindset into a startup. You did it straight out of university. How and why? I applaud you for it, and congrats on all the success. But it's very impressive.


Lynn  

Thank you. Well, you know, if you asked me and I get this question a lot, after Pivt, what are you going to do? And so, first of all, not not really thinking about that, but if I had known what I know now you know, I at least would have thought twice. And I never thought that I would be an entrepreneur. You know, I took one business class in college, right? I, especially a tech platform, I was never really into technology in a particular way. But I was so curious, really about this problem. And I wanted to do something that I personally, in my experience, could really help others with. And so that's really what drove me into it piece by piece. So I, you know, I had no idea what I was getting into, I still don't really, but yeah, it's look, it's been a really great learning experience, the people I've met, the the challenges I've been able to, you know, overcome, and the ones that I know, I'm going to face down the line, you know, have been just tremendous. So as I always say, I'm grateful that I've been able to make a lot of mistakes, I see a lot of mistakes made kind of through mentorship, I do and stuff on the venture capital side of things. Because I've, I've made more mistakes than many people do in their lifetime. But that also means a lifetime of learning. So it's been, it's been a great, great experience.


Brett  

Well, as I indicated, we applaud you and I look forward to continuing to follow the story of Pivt and your continued success. One of the things that our audience, you know, really enjoys is when we have these interviews, we give you an opportunity to share an overlooked question, which is tell us and our audience, something that is either a favorite place, destination, book, or otherwise of Lynn Greenberg,


Lynn  

place. So, I will say, I'll go with book. So I read a book last, last New Year's, which was kind of perfect, because as you're trying to kind of come up with your New Year's resolutions, and it's actually with a partner of Pivt's, called Limitless Minds, which is a great company, co founded by Russell Wilson, his great partners, Trevor Moad, DJ Edison and Harry Wilson. And what they do is they take what Russell has been so successful with in bringing mindset, and, you know, neutral thinking and onto the field and bringing them into working places. And their their co founder, Trevor Molalla, wrote this book called, It Takes What It Takes. And it I've said it since to every entrepreneur I know, you know, certainly lots of athletes, and it really just changed the way that I view, you know, my, my mindset and how I go about problems, really looking at things for less dependent, okay, I can't do really anything from the past. What am I taking the emotion out of it? And really thinking, okay, what can I do in the future now, because the future is a greater predictor than the past ever will be. And so that's certainly one that has changed my mindset and frame of body.


Allen  

Fantastic. Well, we'll look into that. And, you know, we've had some suggestions and books. And I'll get to that, because anytime Russell Wilson, what a winner on the football field. And in life he is and as a fan of a team that always gets beat by him when he plays us, because he always says something magical. I'd like to I'd like to learn on that. Lynn, this has been a great conversation today, I would love for you to share with our audience where people can find more about yourself and about Pivt. And we'll make sure to the audiences will be in the show notes. And certainly, if you wanted to look it up today, while you listen to this podcast, Lynn will share with you right now.


Lynn  

Really appreciate it. So you can find me on LinkedIn, Lynn Greenberg, or, more importantly, www.pivtapp.com. And that's the tech way of, of spelling it PIVTApp.com.


Allen  

Gotcha. Great. Well, thanks for joining us today. It's been a great conversation. Brett. usually I tie this together with Andrew. And we have what did we learn today? We learned an awful lot. But also I think so much of what Lynn talked about resonated with me. And we shared both of our stories London to New York, New York to London, etc. Why don't you take away some of your last thoughts on what we learned today in our audience should take away from today's episode.


Brett  

Again, delighted to have an opportunity to sit side car with you on this podcast today. Allen and Lynn, thank you very much for your willingness to join us and talk about Pivt. I thought it was interesting that, you know, your emphasis on mental health is right in alignment with ours. And the fact that you do these regular and routine check ins I think is so profound, I think, you know, I to believe, and it's supported by data that, you know, assignments, whether it is elective or non elective before the individual or family reasons that you've noted, they fail, they fail far more often than they succeed. And the impact when I was in kind of the business to business environment was, it's not just a failure, and you've got the unsuccessful human situation in the b2b environment, it is very expensive to have those assignments fail. And so there's a real reason to focus on that. And I'm sure you're seeing it with the likes of HSBC and some of the other corporate client engagements so and then then I also love the fact that you continue to focus on kind of the human side of this stuff. I feel like so many of the apps, you know, by, you know, your commentary Facebook's own, you know, admission that they need eyeballs in their platforms longer than they do shorter. And I feel that just works against, you know, kind of humanizing the digital experience that we're all, you know, immersed in, day in, day out. So, big thanks to you, Lynn sincere congrats on the success of Pivt and I'll turn it back over to you, Allen, to wrap up. Thank


Allen  

you. Yeah, I agree completely with you. And like I said, when I heard Lynn speak the last few weeks, it was a magic because it really meant to me what I lacked. If I did not run into my friend who was in a similar situation, I might have been one of those that said, I tap out, and it changes the whole course of your life. And, but and I think that this is something that could really help people change their life for the positive, so I highly endorse it. So to those of you who are listening today's podcast, we really do want you to continue to travel safely. We want people to continue to adventure. And please, if you can just tell one person about The New Nomad podcast. That's how we grow our audience, and we share more of our learnings. Thanks for joining us today, and we look forward to hearing you next week. Cheers