Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-01-27)

◼ STRATEGIES Bloomberg Businessweek January 27, 2020

39

Support Groups

② FOCUSMATE INC.

①CAVEDAY LLC

such as London’s Impact Hub GmbH (now with
more than 100 locations in 50 countries). Specialized
work clubs then emerged, like the women-only net-
working hub the Wing (now offering an array of
professionalandsocialactivitiesinseveralcities)
andHatchLab,a coworkingoutfitgearedtoward
do-goodersinPortland,Ore.Buttheseorganiza-
tionsdon’thavenearlyenoughseatsforthe 57 mil-
lionAmericanswhoarefreelancers,accordingtoa
2019 studybyUpworkandFreelancersUnion.
Nowa handfulofyoungonlinecoworkingcom-
paniesarebloomingfromtheashesofWeWork’s
failedinitialpublicoffering,aimingtotransform
remoteworkintoa groupactivity.Thepremiseis
simple:Forpeopleworkingalone,motivationand
productivitycancomefrominteractingwithoth-
ers.Focusmateandsimilarstartupsofferjustthat—
company.“Coworkingalwayspromisedthatit
wouldbeinspiringandmakeyourworkbetter,but
it turnedoutit wasjustspace,”saysJeremyRedleaf,
co-founderofCavedayLLC,a companythatruns
onlinegroupworksessions.
Thecompanieslayontheproductivitybuzzwords
thick:flow,accountability,connection,deepwork,
energymanagement,monotasking.Theyclaimthey
don’tdirectlycompeteagainstoneanother,despite
sharinga commongoaloffacilitatingusers’best
workinrealtime.Andtheirapproachesdiffer.At
Ultraworking.com,logic-mindeduserscanlogfour-
hour“workcycles”togetherandfilloutcomplicated
spreadsheetsmarkingtheirprogress.Fourhours
scaresoffmostFocusmateusers,whoaremorecom-
fortablewiththe50-minutesessions.
“Thesecompaniesareveryslick,”saysprocras-
tinationresearcherJosephFerrari,a professorof
psychologyatDePaulUniversity.Ferrarisaysgroup
coworkingprobablywouldn’tworkforthe20%of
peoplewhoarechronicprocrastinators—thosewho
avoidallmanneroftasksasa wayoflife.Butforthe
other80%,heseespromise.
“Thestrategyisn’tnew,”saysJoelAnderson,
a psychologistatUtrechtUniversity.Inthelate
18thcentury,philosopherJeremyBenthamimag-
inedthepanopticon,a circularprisonwitha guard
towerinthemiddle,soprisonerswouldperceive
themselvesasunderconstantsurveillanceandthus
behavebetter.Nowhome-officejailis a dailyreality
formostpeoplegrindingouthoursontheircouches.
Andersonrattlesoffthepsychologicalunder-
pinningsatplayintheseworkgroups:mutual
taskreinforcement;sharedfocus;incentivenotto
disrupt;positivepeerpressure.“There’splenty
ofresearchabouthowwearemuchmorelikely
to regulate our behavior when we are being
observed.” �Arianne Cohen

A “Bat” guide leads 3½-hour sessions on projects requiring deep

focus, with motivational exercises. Offered on-site in Los Angeles

and New York City (no phones allowed) and remotely.

THEPITCH

“Ourethosis improvingyour

relationshiptowork,”saysco-founder

JeremyRedleaf,35.“Cavelifeis doing

a cavein themorningandhavingyour

afternoontodootherthings.”

THEPITCH

Tocreate“themostsupportive

communityonEarth,”thecompany

says.Morethan300,000work

sessionshavebeenheldsofar.“I

justthinkwe’reata pointin evolution

wherewecanaffordtoevolvewhat

worklookslike,”saysfounderTaylor

Jacobson,34.

TARGET

AUDIENCE

●Independent

knowledge workers

● Creatives

● New moms

TARGET

AUDIENCE

● Ph.D. students,

freelancers, and remote

workers

● The anxiety-prone

CULT FOLLOWERS

TV actresses. Grace andFrankie’s JuneDianeRaphaelandSaturdayNight Live alum Casey

Wilson appeared in recentonlinecaves.

CULT FOLLOWERS

People with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. “There’s a concept called the ‘body double,’

where just having another body there helps people with ADHD focus and keep from going off on

tangents,” says Kim Kensington, a psychologist in L.A. “For people with ADHD, getting started is

painful—it’s like starting a car with a dead battery.”

PRICE

$35

PRICE

$4

INVESTMENT

Funded by 1,200 regular

users, plus a space-

sharing partnership with

Breather workspaces.

Currently meeting with

investors.

INVESTMENT

$1 million from funders

including author Nir Eyal

and VC funds Amasia

and Betaworks.

ORIGINS

Redleaf took what he calls a “cave day” to work on

a writing project in 2016. “It was really depleting to

do it alone, so I did it with collaborators and realized

that focusing as a group can be energizing,” he

says. That led to hosting weekly Sunday caves

in 2017. The first one sold out; last year, Caveday

offered 370 caves.

ORIGINS

Jacobsontooka remotegig,and his productivity

withered.Heanda friendstarted work buddy

appointmentsonSkypein 2015: “Both of us just

foundit sohelpfulandsupportive. That was the

spark—thisnotionthatyoucould get more help

thanmaybeyouthoughtyoushould be able to

get.”Focusmatestartedasa Facebook group and

hassinceattractedinvestors.

One-on-one 50-minutevideosessionswithrandomly assigned

partners, bookedondemand.Usersstatetheirgoals, then report

progress at the end.Notjustforwork:Someusersdo yoga or clean.

/month

unlimited

/month

unlimited remote

$50

$99

/month unlimited

in Los Angeles

/month unlimited

in New York