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Jan Elizabeth Savolainen lived with crippling anxiety and panic disorder for over 50 years before a contractor fraud in Italy changed the direction of her life. In 2021, she and her husband Chris bought a little stone house outside Ostuni, Puglia, and hired a contractor who came highly recommended. He disappeared, and it turned out he was a con man who had fled the United States a decade earlier with the FBI on his trail. The fraud cost the couple significant money and left them in debt that took years to work off.

Rather than walk away, Jan started thinking about everything she wished someone had told her before the purchase, and began building the resource she couldn't find. With no technical background, no developer team, and no formal plan, she taught herself to build software using AI, primarily Claude, as a genuine development and creative partner. She founded PrimaNuova Group in 2025, at 67.

The company now spans DolceRight (two books and a growing app suite for buying, renovating, and living in property in Italy), TrustGuard IQ (a scam-risk assessment app), CalRight (a tool in development for financially precarious Californians), and the Senior AI Navigator™ program, which trains seniors to guide other seniors through AI. Jan also leads The Reinvention Room, a Facebook community for people building something new after 60, and writes regularly on Substack. Her book, BY ACCIDENT, is forthcoming.

Jan is 68 and lives between Grass Valley, California, and Puglia, Italy.

PrimaNuova Group, in two sentences.

PrimaNuova Group builds structured decision-support tools and a movement for people reinventing life after 60, spanning DolceRight, TrustGuard IQ, CalRight, and the Senior AI Navigator™ certification program. Founded in 2025 by Jan Elizabeth Savolainen, a self-taught, AI-partnered solo founder, the company operates on one principle: understand before you commit.