Mia Abbruzzese, a longtime Bostonian and a veteran of the startup world, is very close with her mother. The two are accustomed to afternoon visits and open communication.
But there was a notable exception.
"I actually didn’t know she struggled with incontinence," Abbruzzese said. "My mom is this super-poised, elegant, Whole Foods-shopping, getting-her-hair-blown-out-every-two-weeks kind of woman."
Yet at 90, and using a cane to walk, Abbruzzese's mother was not only experiencing incontinence—she was also going through what was, in Abbruzzese's eyes, a rather degrading experience trying to handle it. She would go to the drugstore, buy Depends, then, unable to bring the unwieldy bags to her car alone, tip the cashier to carry them.
There was no privacy and little independence for "someone who lives a dignified life in every other respect," Abbruzzese said.
Abbruzzese and her wife, Alexandra Fennell, began to brainstorm. In related industries, there were already innovations that made consumer experiences both more streamlined and more dignified. Take, for example, The Honest Company, actress Jessica Alba's venture, which delivers beauty and baby products directly to consumers.
The couple thought that startup could serve as a model for a business that would target aging women like Abbruzzese's mother who experienced bladder leakage. Unlike traditional solutions like Depends and related products—which are sold at retail stores in what companies call "the aisle of death," Abbruzzese said—their startup would cater to the needs of women with style and dignity.
Enter Attn: Grace. The startup's main offering is a subscription to products including liners, pads and briefs, which retail at around $10 and up for each box. The products are also eco-friendly. The top sheet in every liner, pad and brief is derived entirely from sugarcane waste, and more than half of Attn: Grace packaging is made from the same. (By contrast, typical incontinence and period products have parts made from petroleum.)
"We knew at the outset that we wanted to build a product that was more sustainable," Fennell said. "We worked really hard to find the right partners to develop this line of products with us. We've spent a lot of time designing them."
Attn: Grace made its official debut this week with $1 million in pre-seed funding from XFactor Ventures, Precursor Ventures, 37 Angels and a number of individuals, including Diane Hessan of Salient Ventures and Gail Hoffman of Golden Seeds.
It's an unusual time to start a company. The world remains in a global pandemic. Abbruzzese and Fennell, who are Attn: Grace's co-CEOs, have themselves been juggling; the two have four kids between the ages of one and seven, and with schools and daycares closed, they've been homeschooling and parenting as they prepared to launch the startup.
"We put a lock on the door to the office," Abbruzzese joked. But they've also had a great deal of help. Abbruzzese and Fennell employ a nanny, leaving them with more time to handle last-minute logistics. They also have the confidence of their investors, who seem to be buoyed by the women's prior experience. Abbruzzese founded and ran a kids’ shoe brand called Morgan & Milo for roughly 16 years before it was acquired last fall. And while Fennell doesn't come from the startup world, she's a seasoned professional, having worked as a partner in a local law firm before stepping away in 2018.
Attn: Grace has tapped into Boston's life sciences ecosystem as well. The startup counts two medical advisors who both work in the gynecological space at Harvard and Brigham and Women's Hospital.
"The Boston community is really supportive," Fennell said.
Abbruzzese and Fennell also have another advantage: personal experience.
"We're obviously much younger than Mia's mother was [when she started experiencing bladder leakage], but thinking about our own experiences in our 40s and 50s, you start to feel a shift in how brands are talking to you—if they're talking to you at all," Fennell said. "For a certain number of years, you're everyone's brand darling. When you hit a certain point, that disappears."
With Attn: Grace, that won't be the case. The startup caters directly to older women, which Abbruzzese points out is an ever-growing population. The number of Americans ages 65 and older will more than double over the next 40 years, reaching 80 million in 2040. Attn: Grace's target demographic is not as niche as one might think.
"These women aren’t dying. They’re active. They're out traveling and running marathons. They just need stuff," Abbruzzese said. "We want to be a discreet solution for them that is delivered in a more modern, curated way—the way they’re used to shopping in every other aspect of their life."
Or, as she succinctly put it: "Who better to understand the needs of women than two women?"
Correction: An earlier version of this article mistakenly identified one of Attn: Grace's medical advisors as affiliated with Harvard and the other with Brigham and Women's Hospital. Both advisors are affiliated with both institutions. We regret the error.
