Founder Spotlight: Michael Rosenbaum (Arena)

This week, I had the privilege of interviewing Michael Rosenbaum at Arena. Arena is the end-to-end AI platform that solves workforce challenges including improving retention, shortening time to hire, identifying flight risks, and optimizing compensation. They started out working with hospitals, but have expanded to help senior living operators manage their notoriously challenging labor market. On a personal note, I’m beyond thrilled to feature Michael, as we met via a very thoughtful introduction from my favorite college Econ professor!

— Sarah Richard

P.S. - If you’re an AgeTech founder, investor, or operator based in the NYC area, please consider joining us at October’s AgeTech NYC Living Lab Demo Day, kindly hosted by The Apsley by Sunrise Senior Living. 

Could you share a bit about your background?

Michael Rosenbaum: "I started as an academic teaching economics and law at Harvard before moving into entrepreneurship. I founded Arena after recognizing that workforce challenges, particularly in senior care, could be addressed through predictive analytics. Arena spun out of my first company when I worked with hospitals to improve staff retention. Since then, we've expanded into senior living, using AI to help operators hire and retain staff more effectively."

What challenges have you encountered when adapting Arena to serve the senior living space?

Michael Rosenbaum: "The hiring process in senior living is more decentralized than in hospitals. Decisions are made at the community level by managers and executive directors, which means people have less time to engage with new technologies. As a result, we had to make Arena’s platform fast, easy to use, and actionable so operators could quickly see improvements in retention and hiring without investing too much time into learning a new system."

Why should operators actively choose AI to solve workforce challenges?

Michael Rosenbaum: "AI works. These technologies didn’t exist a decade ago, but they’re proven to be effective now. Arena not only solves retention and hiring issues but also addresses concerns around compliance and bias, making it a safe and impactful choice for operators."

How is Arena using AI to drive improvements in senior care?

Michael Rosenbaum: "We can now predict, with high accuracy, the impact of key decisions—like raising pay or promoting someone—from a staffing and operational perspective. This helps operators make more informed choices to improve retention and performance. We also help them predict outcomes if they invest in training a staff member, promote someone to a managerial position, or offer a pay increase. All these predictions allow computers to do what they do best, and humans to do what they do best, to streamline decision-making and create better care environments."

What type of senior living operators benefit most from Arena's platform?

Michael Rosenbaum: "Interestingly, smaller to mid-sized operators have been the fastest to engage. They’re closest to the hiring challenges and need quicker, tangible improvements in staff retention and time-to-hire. Smaller operators are seeing results in as little as 90 days that can be as dramatic as 30%-50% improvements in retention.  At the same time we’ve seen the average time from interest to contract shrink from 8 months to 64 days, especially as more operators realize the immediate benefits of using Arena."

How does Arena's data integration work with existing systems?

Michael Rosenbaum: "We’re fully integrated with talent acquisition systems, and we present actionable insights in a simple format. For example, we help operators understand how many hires they save through specific actions, and we tailor reporting so they can quickly grasp the impact without being overwhelmed by too much data."

What excites you most about the future of Arena?

Michael Rosenbaum: "The next big thing for Arena is expanding our ability to route people into long-term careers, not just jobs. We can identify individuals who never considered working in senior care but would thrive in these roles. We're working to operationalize this at scale over the next 6 to 12 months, expanding both the labor pool and the quality of care."

If you're a senior living operator looking to reduce turnover and fill roles faster, reach out to Michael at [email protected] or visit Arena’s website for more information. Arena guarantees improved retention and time-to-hire with minimal implementation effort.