Building WheniLeave.com has never been about wanting to become an Internet “unicorn” or becoming the next sexy startup that everyone loves. Our mission has been very simple:
To give people the power to create and safeguard their own legacies, and live life meaningfully
We are incredibly lucky to have wonderful advocates of WiL:
Some of our amazing champions have been kind enough to tell the world:
Fellow entrepreneur & travel planning app founder Jennifer Hong shared this beautiful post:
Business Analytics & Data Scientist Yunee Ham shared why she admires WiL: 
Data Scientist & Co-founder of Stratus Data Charles Pensig writes about how the purpose of WiL hits home and gives amazing advice for anyone who has similar situations:
My mother was diagnosed with stage four cancer at the beginning of 2019. She’s lived at least 1.5 years at the time of this writing. Here are some of the most important practical lessons I’ve learned from the experience.
Recommendations for the Sick and their Caretakers
1. You have to project manage your own health program. The American healthcare system is a monolith and a labyrinth. Even if you have the resources to afford and wherewithal to access world class treatment, it’s entirely on you to figure out what to do next and who needs to do it. You can’t rely on any person in a hospital to do the work for you — they’re too busy.
2. If you have cancer, go to MD Anderson in Houston, Texas immediately. The difference between #10 and #1 in the US is the difference between the pros and the minor leagues, from an organizational and administrative standpoint. The doctor’s everywhere I’ve been are world class and heroes. Some are more distracted than others due to the organizational burden thrust on them by weak administrations (though some can also be disorganized 😉 )
3. Get the family member’s finances straight immediately. If you don’t, their assets go to Probate and I’ve been unanimously told they’re a f****** b**** and take a long time to deal with through the courts. This means naming yourself jointly as a beneficiary on bank accounts, retirement accounts, investment accounts, and real estate. Name backup beneficiaries just in case something happens to you. You’re even able to name spouses and kids that don’t yet exist. Put a Will together asap. Rocketlawyer.com is fine — just get the job done.
4. Advanced directives. Make sure someone has Medical Power of Attorney to make decisions for the person if they become too sick to make them themselves. You don’t want the people you love in a semi-comatose purgatory at the hospital, God forbid, they enter that state.
5. Collect your loved one’s stories. Here’s the slickest and easiest way to do that: https://www.storyworth.com/friend/charles65. It sends email prompts to your loved ones to write their stories and turns them into a book at the end of the year.
6. Collect “eulogies” to give to your loved one before they pass. Too often when a person dies, their survivors’ biggest regrets go along the lines of, “I wish I’d told them how much they meant to me.” For us, this was a video collage of my mom’s closest family and friends telling the story of their first or favorite memory of her. Thank you Brandon Na and Nancy Huang for helping put the whole thing together. My mom doesn’t cry but she almost did when she saw this video for her birthday.
7. Talk to people who have gone through a similar situation. The peace and reassurance that came with those conversations were second to none for me.Recommendations for the Perfectly Healthy
1. Plan for your own death by making your will. I’m 35 years old and have *personally* known 6 people under the age of 35 who have passed to diseases, car accidents, and sporting accidents — a couple as early as 16 and 18 years old. All you have to do is assign your physical and digital assets to people you trust. RocketLawyer.com makes this easy and costs < $100. If you want something more thorough, ask around for an “estate lawyer.” Pricing on this is $2–5k. Digital assets are tougher — get a paid 1Password or LastPass account and give a couple of people your “emergency kit” so they can take control of your emails, files, and social media accounts when you pass.
2. Consider planning for the messages you want to leave for your loved ones who survive you. A friend and father of two is kicking up a service to help people with this very goal: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/whenileave-com-safeguard-life-s-treasured-moments#/.
We’ve had many others including our entrepreneurial friends & or lifetime friend Paul or our content specialist Angela and developer . Our advisor Heather constantly shares her support like this. The love has been nonstop. We are more than fortunate.
Top 10 Reasons Why WheniLeave.com (aka “WiL”) Deserves your Support:
- We have one of the most incredible teams of “good peoples” who are constantly working towards building products for you; we aim to please even more than the amazing entrepreneur Tony Hsieh
- We will NEVER give up in delivering these for you. Our founder Brandon Na has vowed to deliver these on your behalf. He will travel and walk to the ends of the earth to make sure these messages are delivered.
- The company was founded on the principals of simply helping people. Our mission will not waver. It will continue to focus on creating value and not taking it away.
- We are creative and have some of the most amazing products in our roadmap. If you get to join or be on the inside of our “innovation” labs, you will be amazed. The concept itself has been constantly touted as unique, but very few know this was conceived even before the first moments that our founder took it seriously in 2001. Few know that Brandon also conceived of a company called “RMS” which was basically LinkedIn and Facebook back in the late 1990s. You can ask one of the founding advisors about meeting in New York about this. Brandon is also working on one of the most revolutionary digital marketing tools that will transform the entire industry.
- Our organization is built on taking care of the “team.” We do our best to not use the antiquated term “employees.” WiL LLC’s foundation is built on making sure our team are as passionate and excited to build whatever it takes to fulfill the mission. We are creating an environment that helps our “team” come to work excited or work from their locations throughout the world with more motivation than ever.
- We aim to shift the paradigm. With your support, we will help the world realize you can embrace the concept of death and live life even more fully. The revelations that very few people see or feel like Randy Pausch, Paul Kalanithi or Seneca shouldn’t be limited to just them. Brandon realized it in December of 2019, but now he wants it to be in the minds of everyone moving forward. As BJ Miller said, “…we can learn to live well — not in spite of death, but because of it.“
- We will do everything we can to make our products and services as affordable as possible. While we’ll need funds to keep the organization going and ideally able to spread ubiquitously, we “WiL” do everything we can to make sure this is an easy expense (if it ever becomes one).
- WiL is not just about leaving your last messages. We started with this, but our plans to help you communicate better, to feel solace when needed and to truly live the life you wanted is what we are about — and what we hope to deliver to you.
- We will connect you with like minded people who want to make the most of life. Being a part of WiL means being a part of a revolution.
- There is no doubt in our team’s mind that WheniLeave.com “WiL” succeed. Given our “belief,” you won’t need to fear. You won’t need to worry. You can trust that we WiL make your lives with much less worry because you’ve built your WheniLeave and can focus on life.
Our Value Proposition to you:
- We nurture gratitude in the human-to-human encounters that knit the fabric of a life.
- We help people of all ages feel at peace with mortality so they can focus deeply on life.
- We bring the solace of resolution for every stage of living.