We interrupt your normal Wednesday ARTIcles story to offer you greetings from Boston, Massachusetts. The Artifcts co-founders flew to Boston yesterday to take part in a multi-day launch of the MassChallenge Early-Stage Accelerator program, one of the world’s top accelerator programs. What’s that? Read on!

As a self-funded, patented startup poised to become a household name—because, let’s face it, who doesn’t have stuff or stories—the team at Artifcts wants to ensure that we’re delivering to you not just the best product to capture the stories, history, and value of all you collect, accumulate, and inherit in life, but that we do so always with an eye toward the best in tech, the best in how we operate (lean!), and more.

MassChallenge is a global network for innovators working to solve massive challenges. MassChallenge connects startups, experts, corporations, and communities to grow and transform businesses and does not take any equity from companies who participate. According to Mass Challenge, the early-stage accelerator has facilitated a remarkable $9B+ in funding for its cohorts.

Of the 1,300+ companies to apply, Artifcts was selected along with approximately 120 others to work together over the next 3 months with industry mentors and partners to challenge how we operate, means to improve, and of course how to grow. While you won’t see any immediate change at Artifcts as we work through the program, we hope that we’ll come out stronger than ever and with new ideas for how to better connect with you and help you to enjoy all that Artifcts offers.

In the meantime, please, continue to Artifct. Share Artifcts with friends and family. We may not have the marketing budget of a goliath corporation, but we have amazing community members who want to see Artifcts succeed. We’re so grateful. And, if you have ideas of what you’d like to see next at Artifcts, or even suggestions for what we could do to make your experience better, let us know! We love and take feedback from our ARTI community to heart.

Wish us luck as we roll up our sleeves and dive into the MassChallenge world!

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Curious about what else we've been up to?

Explore some of Artifcts' other "As featured in" and awards through the years.

© 2024 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Artifcts' growing resonance with and persistent innovation supporting genealogists, family historians, and those who simply love a good story, has helped it retain its status as one of the best genealogy technology tools of 2024, according to Family Tree Magazine.

Last year marked Artifcts' premiere in the annual "best of" list from Family Tree Magazine. The Artifcts team was delighted and surprised by the honor, in nearly equal measure.

"In our minds, genealogists were beyond our reach at Artifcts because their research is organized around people and ancestorial lines. At Artifcts, we organize around the object first and foremost," said Artifcts Co-Founder Ellen Goodwin. The reality is, by Artifcts moving the world to take a new view on 'stuff' and the importance of retaining the stories, history, and value behind the objects we collect and inherit, Artifcts resonates with people of all ages and walks of life.

Artifcts delivered a variety of new features over the last year that genealogists and historians have celebrated.

Artifcts timelines was the first. The ability to now snap your Artifcts collection into a timeline view powers you to see gaps, identify trends, and even make note of these with "time period notes" directly on your timeline. And unlike a photo gallery, a very familiar feature of most genealogy platforms, each image in your timeline is clickable, revealing more photos and videos, supporting documentation, and, of course, the story connecting the dots.

Another new feature resonating with genealogists, many of whom are what we refer to as the family keepers, is the Artifcts QR code stickers. "People need the easy button. Scan, complete the Artifct, and place the sticker on your photo sleeve, archival box, or item. Your Artifcting progress is now visible and the stories even more accessible," said Artifcts Co-Founder Heather Nickerson.

Family Tree Magazine's 101 Best Genealogy Websites are organized into roughly a dozen categories, including Best "Big" Genealogy Websites, Best Genealogy News Websites and Blogs, and Best Genealogy Tech Tools (including Artifcts!). And this year 19 sites newly made the list. We wish a warm congratulations to all awardees!

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© 2024 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Artifcts® is proud to announce that its co-founder Heather Nickerson has been named 2024 NAPO Washington DC Metro Chapter (NAPO-WDC) Business Partner of the Year. The nominating committee noted, "Heather offers her expertise during [NAPO-WDC] discussions and generously shares her Artifcts experiences to support our efforts with our clients."

“I am humbled and excited that our local NAPO chapter recognizes the value we bring to the organizing industry,” Heather stated. “We know Artifcts and organizing go better together, and we love working with our NAPO-WDC professional members to help them help their clients.”

From decluttering to organizing to making sense of life’s ‘stuff,’ Artifcts is designed to pair beautifully with the organizing industry, from solopreneurs to nationwide franchises. Artifcts Advisory Board Member Matt Paxton added in response to the news, “I tell clients all the time that Artifcts is THE perfect tool to help them keep the memories and let go of the ‘stuff.’”

Start Artifcting today. Create your free membership here ->

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© 2024 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

As a newcomer to the annual "best of" list from Family Tree, premiering in the category of "genealogy tech tools," the publisher said Artifcts is "worthy of royal recognition" among the “crown jewels” of online family history. We'll take it! 

For those of you who may also be new to the world of genealogy, this honor is a surprise for the recipients. Family Tree's team undertakes its own, super-secret research before launching the news.

"These are the delightful surprises that mean so much to a startup. We are very deeply honored by this recognition," said co-founder and CEO Heather Nickerson. "We want to ensure it's as easy and fun as possible to take a look a fresh look at all the 'stuff,' from family heirlooms to genealogy gems, and capture the family histories and moments in a way that will engage the whole family across generations."

"What she said! We congratulate all of the honorees and look forward to getting to know more of them. Please go and explore them all. There's something for everyone," said co-founder and CSO Ellen Goodwin.

Family Tree's 101 Best Genealogy websites are organized into the following categories. Dive in!

• • Best "Big" Genealogy Websites
  • Best Family Tree and Sharing Websites
  • Best US and Canadian Genealogy Websites
  • Best Genealogy News Websites and Blogs
  • Best Genealogy Tech Tools (including Artifcts!)
  • Best Genetic Genealogy Websites
  • Best Cemetery Websites
  • Best African American Genealogy Websites
  • Best Geography and Historical Map Websites
  • Best Military Records Websites
  • Best Historical Newspaper Websites
  • Best Genealogy Websites for Asia and the Pacific
  • Best European Genealogy Websites
  • Best UK and Irish Websites

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© 2023 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

In the post-COVID pandemic era, we all tend to look at what it means to be and stay connected from a whole new lens. Today we're proud to announce that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) has recognized Artifcts with an award for "helping promote social engagement to improve individual's health and sense of well-being."

"We are honored by this recognition from HHSC and delighted to see other friends from the AgeTech space among the award recipients. We're grateful, too, to learn of other award recipients who we have not yet crossed paths with. Time to cross paths!" said Austin-based co-founder of Artifcts Ellen Goodwin. 

The {Name}Tech space that intersects with the desires and needs of the oldest among us is expanding at an astonishing clip. News coverage, accelerators, and even investors covering AgeTech and LongeviTech are becoming much more common. And what's still more interesting are the crossovers of those areas into InsurTech, FinTech, and PropTech, to name a few. Hubs of innovation are being spurred and supported from AARP AgeTech Collaborative (based in DC), Fintech for Longevity (based in Israel), Aging 2.0 (globally), AgeTech Atlanta, and more. Harmonizing it all are the entrepreneurs and their collective interest in building something better than what we're facing now as seniors, as caregivers, and even the youngest among us.

"While we did not launch Artifcts when we did because of the pandemic, it certainly shifted how we launched Artifcts. It sharpened our focus and our realism - we knew that to build a product that would truly change our relationships with stuff and the joys, value, and burden stuff can carry with it, we had to do it with people of all age in mind, but especially the oldest among us. Time is never our friend. How do we make it easier to connect and share with peers and across generations, while keeping privacy at the forefront? That's at the heart of Artifcts." said Artifcts co-founder Heather Nickerson.

And should you be tempted to dismiss the power of connection, don't do it. As highlighted by Dr. Vivek Murthy, US Surgeon General, in his advisory report issued earlier this month, loneliness and isolation put us at greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death. Dr. Murthy calls on everyone to tackle this epidemic of loneliness and isolation: "Start now, in our own lives, strengthening our connections and relationships."

Look for Artifcts to continue efforts to expand its footprint in Texas communities as well as other local ecosystems, including through its participation in the MeHI Healthy Aging Challenge.

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© 2023 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.