We recently connected with Amy Steinhour and have shared our conversation below.

Amy, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?

I 100% wish I had started sooner.

For many years I worked as a Physician Assistant, always employed by someone else or by a larger organization. I was deeply invested in the success of the places where I worked. I poured my heart, energy, and countless hours into helping those businesses grow and succeed. Looking back, I realize I was essentially building other people’s dreams.

What I didn’t realize at the time was that I had the capability to build something of my own. I think part of me simply didn’t believe I could start a business. That mindset stayed with me for a long time.

Ironically, it took cancer kicking my ass to change that perspective.

Going through that experience forced me to reevaluate a lot of things about my life. It made me realize that I did have the ability to build something meaningful, probably more ability than I had ever given myself credit for. And it also made me realize that failure isn’t the worst thing that can happen. That shift in thinking is ultimately what led me to start my business.

If I had started earlier, I likely would have spent more years building something I truly believed in instead of contributing so much of my time and talent to someone else’s vision. That said, the experience I gained along the way was valuable and helped shape how I approach entrepreneurship today.

The beauty of where I am now is that I wake up every day working on something I genuinely care about. I’m trying to change something in the world that I know can be better. I’m no longer just applying my skills and effort to help someone else reach their dream, I’m building something that reflects my own purpose.

Amy, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m Amy Steinhour, a Physician Assistant, educator, and the founder of GiftWellSoon. My work sits at the intersection of healthcare, community, and entrepreneurship, and it’s all driven by a simple belief: we can do a much better job supporting people when life gets hard.

Working in medicine gives you a front-row seat to the most vulnerable moments in people’s lives. You see the resilience of patients and families, but you also see the gaps in the system, especially when it comes to the practical, day-to-day support people need during illness, recovery, or loss.

The idea for GiftWellSoon was born out of those experiences, and it became even more personal after caring for my Mom during her breast cancer journey and 2 years later with my own breast cancer diagnosis. During treatment, I experienced firsthand how complicated support can be. People genuinely want to help, but they often don’t know how. So they fall back on the traditional gestures like flowers, casseroles, or the well-intentioned “let me know if you need anything.” Those gestures come from a place of kindness, but they don’t always meet the real needs of someone navigating a difficult moment.

GiftWellSoon is designed to solve that problem.

We created a platform where people facing illness, recovery, caregiving, or other life disruptions can create a simple page to communicate their needs once to friends and family. Instead of guessing how to help, friends and family can contribute in ways that are truly meaningful, whether that’s meal services, childcare, transportation, household help, gift cards, or financial support. It transforms support from something awkward and uncoordinated into something intentional, organized, and impactful.

What sets GiftWellSoon apart is that it isn’t just a fundraising tool and it isn’t just a gift registry. It’s a support coordination platform built specifically for life’s hardest seasons. We focus on practical needs, dignity, and making generosity easier for everyone involved.

At the same time, we’re working to change the cultural conversation around support. So many people hesitate to ask for help because they don’t want to feel like a burden. Our mission is to reframe that entirely. Allowing others to help isn’t a weakness, it’s an opportunity for community. When people show up for one another in meaningful ways, it strengthens everyone involved.

One of the things I’m most proud of is seeing how this idea resonates with people. Almost everyone has experienced a moment where they wanted to help someone but didn’t know how, or where they needed help but didn’t know how to ask. GiftWellSoon gives people a way to bridge that gap.

At its core, our work is about building systems that make compassion easier. I believe generosity is one of the most powerful forces we have, but sometimes it needs a little structure and an action plan to truly reach its true potential.

If there’s one thing I want people to understand about me and the work we’re doing, it’s that this isn’t just a business, it’s a movement to rethink how we support each other during the moments that matter most.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

We think about our customers as two very distinct but connected groups.

The first is the individual going through the difficult moment. This might be someone facing illness, surgery, loss, or another major life disruption. Often, they are barely holding it together and the idea of organizing support or asking for help feels overwhelming.

The second is what we call the “go-to person.” This is usually the friend, family member, or loved one who immediately steps in when a crisis hits. They are organized, proactive, and determined to make sure the person they care about is supported. They are the ones coordinating meals, fielding texts, updating friends, and trying to keep everything running smoothly.

Before launching GiftWellSoon, we spent a significant amount of time talking with hundreds of people who had experienced one of these roles. Our focus was to deeply understand how people were currently solving the problem of asking for help and coordinating support. We heard about everything; from meal trains and spreadsheets to long group text chains and social media posts. People shared incredibly creative solutions they had built on their own, but there was also a common theme: the process was often chaotic, emotionally draining, and inefficient. One thing almost everyone agreed on was that endless group texts were something they hoped to avoid.

Those conversations shaped the way we built GiftWellSoon.

Even though we are a technology platform, we have never stopped talking directly with our customers. In fact, that has been one of the most important parts of how we operate. Staying connected to the real experiences of the people we serve allows us to continuously improve the platform and make sure we are actually solving the problems they face. For us, brand loyalty doesn’t come from marketing campaigns, it comes from listening. Our goal has always been to serve these individuals and their support networks in a way that truly makes their lives easier. The only way to do that well is to keep the conversation going.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

I met my cofounder, Kristen Beck, when I was eight years old. Our parents were close friends and we grew up in a very small town in Illinois. Whenever the adults got together, Kristen and I would disappear for the evening and entertain ourselves the best way two kids growing up in the 80s could; being creative, listening to cassette tapes, laughing endlessly, prank calling people, and getting into all kinds of harmless 80s mischief.

We stayed close through high school and into college, but eventually life took us in different directions as careers and families took shape.

Then at Thanksgiving in 2024, we happened to reconnect while both home visiting our families. We started catching up about life and work, and both admitted that we weren’t particularly thrilled with where we were professionally at the time. Around that same period, I was just starting to formulate the idea that would become GiftWellSoon.

A few months later, I kept having this voice in my head telling me I should reach out to Kristen and tell her about the idea. I remember being surprisingly nervous about it. I thought she might just send back a polite “what a cool idea” text and that would be the end of it.

Instead, the best possible thing happened.

She immediately wrote back and loved the idea. Kristen had been volunteering in hospice and had also lost one of her best friends to cancer, so she understood the problem we were trying to solve right away. Without hesitation, she jumped in with both feet and has never slowed down since.

Kristen is one of the most talented and creative people I have ever met, and the funny thing is she doesn’t even fully realize how gifted she is. She’s the ultimate hype girl, an incredible storyteller, and a natural community builder. Over the past year, she has also become one of my closest friends (again). Starting a business is full of uncertainty, stress, and moments where you question everything. I’m honestly not sure I would have held it all together without her constant encouragement and belief in what we’re building.

I sometimes think about our eight-year-old selves running around that small Illinois town, and I think they would be pretty proud of what we’ve created together.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.giftwellsoon.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/giftwellsoon/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/giftwellsoon
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/giftwellsoon/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@GiftWellSoon