Focusmate — Virtual coworking for getting anything done

Hello, dear PH and Focusmate community! Taylor from Focusmate here. So much has changed in the 4 years since our first launch. Unfortunately, being focused and productive while working alone still remains a huge challenge for millions of people. The reality is that human beings are just not wired to perform without structure, accountability, and connection. That’s probably why our first launch was so successful — despite our product’s bare-bones state at the time. It turns out that working with an accountability partner, over a video call, is an incredibly powerful way to ensure we show up, set intentions for our time, and follow through. And while the essence of Focusmate is unchanged, we’ve been working hard to create an experience that is both more reliable as well as more adaptive to your individual needs and preferences. And so, today, we’re back here trying something new — a conversation with the PH and Focusmate communities, for you to share your thoughts on our recent enhancements, and those we’re planning in the months ahead. Our most recent releases include: - Favorites 1.0 — save your favorite coworking partners - 25- and 75-min sessions — go shorter or longer depending on your task and mood - Snooze — elect not to work with certain partners, for any reason and any duration - Background blur + virtual backgrounds — for privacy or fun - Picture-in-picture — see your partner in a small floating window while you work - Yearly billing — by popular demand - Favorites 2.1: Combined Availability — see all your favorite partners’ availability in one place Our upcoming releases include: - Favorites 2.2: Preferential Matching — automatically match with favorites when they’re available in your chosen slot - Rematching 2.0 — don’t lose your session even if your partner cancels at the last second - Last Minute Booking — find a match even if you book last minute by being added to the re-match queue - Matching Preferences 2.0 — control who you match with; select preferences such as active work, desk work, mics on/off, and more - Referral program — get Focusmate for free when you refer a new customer - And many more improvements to the user interface and experience that will make Focusmate even easier and more pleasant to use Our whole team will be engaged and responding to comments here for the next 24 hours. We’d love to hear your voice, and we’re not afraid of criticism. With gratitude, Taylor & Team Focusmate P.S. New to Focusmate? We’d love to offer you a free month of Plus — just use code PH2023 when you upgrade. (Valid until April 6, 2023.)

Focusmate is one of the best productivity tools I've found. It is built around pre-commitment pacts — a psychological device that helps you get started and follow through on just about any task. Focusmate is an effective and accessible tool anyone can use — so much so that I mention it in my book, Indistractable, and invested in the company. I'm a huge believer in the team as well and thrilled with the evolution of this product in the four years since they last launched here. Looking forward to seeing what you all think!

Have heard great things about this! I've been using Centered.app for a while and like it quite a bit, but it doesn't have the same aspect of people really being there, so i can see how this would be quite different! Need to give it a try

One question I have is about minimizing the ecological or carbon footprint of the service. There are a few different studies showing the carbon footprint of streaming video, and I worry that if more people stream video while they work on FocusMate, it will exacerbate the issue. What are you doing to address this aspect or reduce the amount of data required to run FocusMate? For example, would you ever consider doing a "low-fi" eco option? I find that I often make the video small on my computer so I can see my work... so we don't need a ton of detail in the video itself. Other than this concern, I'm a happy FocusMate customer and get a lot of value in pair-working with people!

Hey guys! 1) cool app, I used it 3 times 2) I want to use it more, but 80-something bucks seem too much for me, when I'm still testing the platform out 3) Can I somehow grab a month free without committing to a paid year? I want to understand how I could use this app in the longer run, than 3 sessions. Thanks in advance :)))))

I love focusmate! I would say my biggest frustration or area of improvement is that on a 25 minute session, sometimes the person is just under 2 minutes late and then there is sometimes too much chit chat. I understand that these can be seen as the features and not the bug since you get the human element at the end of the day. And yes I’m happy to see rematching 2.0 because sometimes i sign up for a session close to the start time and it just can’t match me with anyone. I imagine this might get fixed in 2.0. Keep it up!

Congrats @taylor_jacobson, and the entire Focusmate team! It's been awesome to see all the releases -- particularly excited to see Favorites! It's changed my entire experience of using Focusmate. Well done!

Loveee Focusmate! Great tool and even better people behind it. It makes pre-commitment so simple and very effective. Wish y'all the best of luck! 🚀

Been a Focusmate member for over 4 years! It is the best spend I have each month to help me achieve my goals. I've used the service to help keep me on track while doing boring tasks such as invoicing; to exciting projects daily. I even use it to get my day started with reading and meditation. Hats off to Taylor and the team for bringing it to market! I love it so much I buy gift cards to introduce others to it. A++++ Love it!

Focusmate is a game-changer for someone like me who struggles with focusing at work. I've found it especially helpful for those nagging tasks that I don't want to do, but know I need to do. I'll schedule a session dedicated to it and often find it was far easier than anticipated. Still, I got it done thanks to Focusmate. I'm loving the 75 minute sessions and have met a few friendly faces that I work with frequently. I recommend it to anyone who works remotely, but it can be great for those who work in an office as well.

Hi Focusmate Team! I really love what you’ve built and that you’re interested in what the community wants to say ❤️ loving all the ideas above but want to add something to the preferential favorites matching: Would it be also possible to actively switch that on or off? I really love my favorite focusmates but sometimes I also enjoy meeting new people very much and having a variety in my coworking partners. That’s also what my adhd brain needs to not get bored 🙈 would be great if you could take that into consideration :)

The recent releases have been game-changers, and I'm looking forward to the upcoming releases. Keep up the great work, Focusmate team!

I'm relatively new to Focusmate but it's honestly been transformative to my work and my productivity. I do have a few suggestions: 1. Allow users to make their pronouns visible publiclly in a way that is meaningful. I shouldn't have to open a partner's profile to see their info before a meeting starts. Some people get around this by adding their pronouns instead of their last name. This is exactly what I would like to see. 2. Allow matching/exclusion of partners based on what type of session they want to have (e.g. chat only, mic on/off, screen share). Again people get around this by adding this info to their name field but it's not ideal. 3. The ability to trigger a rematch for a scheduled session without having to cancel and rebook (often just matching with the same person again). I don't always want to snooze the person -- I've never met them. but maybe I'm just not in the mindset to have a session with a particular type of person or maybe they already indicate they only do chat and that's not what I want at that moment. Again. LOVE the service. I recommend it to everyone I talk to these days.

After attending 800+ sessions on focusmate, I can definitely say this is hands-down one of most life-changing purchases I've ever made- if not the most. From a lonely unemployed new grad in 2020 to now, in 2023 working as Product Designer whilst still using focusmate for work- and other hobbies, focusmate is always on my side helping me be as productive as ever. The people I've met, the time I've spent, surely are instrumental to my happiness and success. It's the perfect product for self-starters who could do a lot with an accountability partner(s). Watching your journey and success as a team warms my heart, and I'm grateful for your effort! Looking forward to your next features! p.s. if you're ever expanding your design team I'd love to be considered :p Cheers, Yassin

Love love LOVE Focusmate! I've been using it for 18 weeks and am averaging 26.4 sessions per week. Wooo! Feature idea/request #3: Give users the ability to book a session with a specific user *when that other user doesn't already have a session scheduled.* And doing so could trigger a tentative calendar invite to the invited partner, which they could accept or decline. For example, one of my favorites is named Matt; if he and I are in a session right now and agree "hey, this was great; wanna work together the same time tomorrow?", within Focusmate's current build, I would have to book a session first, then give Matt the green light to go in and book that session. But it would be super useful if I could just go ahead and book a session for both of us, even if the session is tentative by default for Matt.

I’m grateful for Focusmate. I don’t think I’ve ever had a consistent stretch of productivity this long in my entire life. So grateful! One question: Where can I find out how to blur?

I have now logged more than 5,000 sessions on Focusmate, and it's absolutely helped my business grow. It's helped me work with more joyful productivity :) The upcoming features list are well prioritized!

I'll second most of the commenters. I've been using it since... what, beta? It's made a significant impact on my productivity. I've written three manuscripts with it as my focus tool. The changes and improvements have been more than worth the subscription price for this service. Keep rocking on!

I love Focusmate, ever since my (very late) ADHD diagnosis it has been a game changer. I would like to have a quick switch, like a drop-down menu, to choose every time whether I can talk or not during the session, without having to change my name. Is it at all feasible?

1. A very minor annoyance that should be a super easy fix (perhaps just an < href > tag?) There should be a way to find your partner's profile page from within a session. Right now you have to open the homepage in a new tab and click on the calendar event. Intuitively to me, this would be done by clicking on their name or profile picture in the top left corner while in a session. Obviously open in a new tab since you don't want to leave the session. 2. Also I'd love to see a better way to message partners outside of sessions, while still ensuring privacy/safety for everyone involved. I know you can message someone from the edit session window, but its a bit clunky and getting responses in an email feels weird. Perhaps if you both add each other as favorites you allow direct messaging? But I realize that's a lot of work 3. Is it just me or can I no longer go back to previous weeks and see when I had sessions/with who? This was nice to help me monitor how consistent I was with my FM habits :)