Every Story Deserves to Be Told
Abrevity was born from a personal mission: to help families discover and preserve the precious stories of their loved ones before time runs out. We're building a community of story enablers, dedicated to connecting generations through the power of shared memories.
Our Founder's Journey
The Moment Everything Changed
In February 2025, my mother and I drove to visit my 92-year-old grandmother with a simple goal: to record her life story before it was too late. We loaded up some questions we'd prepared, uncertain whether she could still remember the details of her past.
When we started asking about her youth, something remarkable happened.
Stories poured out as if they had happened yesterday. We heard about her childhood during the war—how she survived only because she was sent to live on a farm in the countryside, severely underfed but alive. We learned about challenges we'd never imagined: losing her husband at just 42 years old, rebuilding her life multiple times, facing setbacks that would have broken many people.
But we also discovered her resilience. The lessons she learned from her youth—to keep going, to have faith—that led to a family of now more than 25 descendants.
We expected to sit for maybe 30 minutes. We talked for over three hours. She was even disappointed when we had to leave. For us, driving home that evening, we were overwhelmed with gratitude. Not just for the stories we'd captured, but for the connection we'd experienced. For truly understanding, for the first time, how her journey shaped our family and who we've become.
The Real Discovery
Over the course of half a year, we conducted five more conversations like these. One session included my young children. Another featured an old neighbor sharing memories. We recorded over 14 hours of footage using nothing more sophisticated than an iPhone.
As I worked to transform these recordings into her biography, I discovered something profound: The journey was as valuable as the destination.
Yes, the book we created is a beautiful heritage piece. Her story—of survival, resilience, and building a legacy against all odds—deserves to be preserved and shared with future generations.
But the true gift? The experience of taking this journey together with my mother. Hearing family stories that deepened our understanding of ourselves. Brightening my grandmother's days, especially after the passing of my grandfather the previous year. Those moments of connection created memories that will last forever.
That's when I found my direction.
What Drives Us
Connection Comes First
The most valuable outcome isn't the book you hold at the end—it's the conversations you have along the way. We design our process to maximize the quality of these connections, especially with elderly loved ones whose stories and wisdom deserve to be heard.
Every Story Matters
You don't need a dramatic life or famous achievements to deserve a biography. The seemingly ordinary details of daily life decades ago become fascinating insights for future generations. How people lived, what they believed, what they overcame—these stories shape family identity.
Preserve Living Presence
Unlike traditional text-only biographies, our Living Biography technology integrates video and audio throughout the printed book. Future generations don't just read about great-grandmother—they watch her tell stories, see her expressions, hear her voice. The book becomes a portal to her living presence.
Make It Achievable
Most biography projects fail because they're overwhelming. We break the process into manageable steps, provide guidance throughout, and handle the complex technical work. You focus on conversations; we handle the rest.
Where We Are and Where We're Going
Building Foundations
We're at the beginning of this journey, and we're intentionally transparent about that.
Right now, Abrevity is a small, mission-driven operation. I'm working directly on each biography project, continuously refining our processes based on what we learn. Every family we work with teaches us something new about how to make this experience better.
We're not trying to scale rapidly. We're trying to get this right.
Our Roadmap
Short-term (2025)
- Refine the biography creation process through direct work with families
- Build a community of satisfied customers who share their experiences
- Expand our conversation guides to cover more diverse life experiences
Medium-term (2026-2027)
- Hire additional story coordinators and editors
- Expand language support beyond Dutch and English
- Launch in adjacent European markets (Belgium, Germany)
Long-term Vision
- Create a global network of story enablers helping families everywhere
- Expand to different types of biographical projects
- Develop tools that make story preservation accessible to even more people
Technology Serves the Human Connection
We leverage advanced AI and language models extensively in our process. But here's our fundamental principle: Technology is infrastructure, not the product.
Frequently Asked Questions
An Invitation to Join Our Mission
Every story deserves to be told. Every voice deserves to be heard. Every family deserves a legacy that lasts. That's why we built Abrevity. That's what we're working toward. And we'd be honored to help you preserve what matters most.
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We staan open voor verhaalcoördinatoren, redacteuren en creatieve partners. Laat van je horen.