[HN Gopher] Launch HN: Worksphere (YC W21) - Manage flexible in-...
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Launch HN: Worksphere (YC W21) - Manage flexible in-office or
remote workspaces
Hey HN, Aakhil, Theresa & Mark here at Worksphere
(https://worksphere.com). Our software helps companies manage a
safe workplace where employees can work flexibly in-office or
remote. Worksphere automates desk reservations, safe entry, and
gives companies office usage data to right-size their workplaces.
We previously worked together at Lish, a corporate catering
marketplace startup catering (pun intended) to tech companies. Last
March our revenue went off a cliff. No people in office = no lunch
orders. We love our clients and our team, so we got to work on
solving a new problem for our primary users - HR, Office, and
Facilities Managers. At the start of the pandemic, our users were
struggling with how to return to their offices safely. New problems
like enforcing social distancing, screening for COVID-19 symptoms,
and contact tracing could not be solved at scale with existing
tools. New coronavirus workplace regulations have cropped up, which
are a pain and come with big financial risk if companies don't
comply (we're looking at you CA businesses dealing with SB 1159 &
AB 685 - learn more at
https://www.worksphere.com/blog/covid-19/guide-to-ab-685-and...).
As the pandemic has continued (and continued, and continued)
businesses are facing a new challenge. 75% of office employees
report that they want a hybrid in-office and remote schedule. No
one misses their 5-day-a-week commute. At the same time,
collaboration and culture are hard to foster on Zoom and Slack
alone. Employees still want access to an office when needed, but
don't want to come to work in an empty space. Businesses want the
upsides of flexibility, but don't want to pay for empty or only
occasionally used desks -- office space costs $10-12k per employee
annually in major US cities. We believe that a hybrid workweek is a
better workweek, and that an active approach is needed to make it a
win-win for employees and businesses. Our features help businesses
reopen safely and realize the full potential of a flexible
workplace. We automate the wellness surveys, contact tracing, and
capacity limits needed to enforce internal safety guidelines and
regional regulations. This alleviates a ton of manual work for
Office and HR managers. Employees can create in-office schedules
and see who else is in the office to increase collaboration. We
track office utilization data so companies can make smart decisions
about their office space and lease. Worksphere is $6 per active
employee/month, and our clients only pay for employees that come to
the office. If you're one of the 3 of 4 people who wants to work
flexibly post-pandemic, or if you manage a workplace, we'd love to
hear from you. How frequently do you think you'll need office
space? What problems are you facing in this changing work
environment? We'll reply in the comments or you can email us at
info@worksphere.com. Thanks so much for your feedback!
Author : theresaklaassen
Score : 42 points
Date : 2021-02-17 16:06 UTC (4 hours ago)
| ignoramous wrote:
| Congratulations on the launch!
|
| > _If you're one of the 3 of 4 people who wants to work flexibly
| post-pandemic, or if you manage a workplace, we'd love to hear
| from you._
|
| One of those is Andy Jassy, CEO-elect at Amazon, who is on-record
| that Amazon is likely to switch to a hybrid model where folks
| would may be reserve desks when they intend to be in-office but
| mostly work remotely otherwise.
|
| Absolutely a huge market.
|
| > _Worksphere is $6 per active employee /month, and our clients
| only pay for employees that come to the office._
|
| Curious: What merited, if I may, the current model? Did you also
| happen to consider charging for something like total office-desks
| in management (that scales nicely and makes for a predictable
| cost accounting)?
|
| Thanks.
|
| [0] https://youtu.be/izbg7CpoSqg?t=2079
| aakhil wrote:
| Thanks for sharing the Andy Jassy video. In most companies with
| office workers, the hybrid model as a better way of working is
| becoming the mainstream view. We hope we can help simplify the
| experience.
|
| The per active employee pricing model was driven by the level
| of uncertainty from companies on how many employees will use
| the office on a regular basis. For some of our clients who have
| opened their offices only 10-20% of their employees are using
| it. Customers would prefer not to pay for all their desks when
| only a small fraction are actually being used.
|
| Good points on the cost accounting and predictability of costs.
| We haven't gotten pushback on that so far. But we'll keep an
| eye out.
| gundisclosed wrote:
| Hello, Interesting idea and decent execution, congratulations on
| the launch (A slack bot would also be an interesting add on). But
| to be honest, I am flabbergasted by pricing model. My current
| assumption is that it is mainly just a scheduling software, so
| does it provide the same value as Gmail enterprise ( considering
| nearly same pricing ) ?
| aakhil wrote:
| Great idea on the slack bot. Would you prefer using a slack bot
| instead of an app for scheduling?
|
| We only charge for active employees who are scheduled in office
| (excludes remote employees). Customers have responded
| positively to this pricing model so far. But we are still
| learning.
| gundisclosed wrote:
| Yes certainly! A slack bot would certainly help in ease of
| use among team members.
| molsongolden wrote:
| Different use cases. If Worksphere has researched the
| regulations and guidance around returning to in-office work
| then this could be a great value.
|
| Half of the value might be "if you use this solution then you
| are compliant" with the other half coming from the actual
| tooling to orchestrate "you can work in office today but _you_
| can 't because _you_ came in yesterday and other people need to
| have meetings ".
|
| I'm not familiar with competitors in the space but my gut
| reaction to the pricing is that most companies will see $6/mo
| of value from streamlining an employee's return to the office.
| DevX101 wrote:
| Congrats OP, you've got your first "I could build this trivial
| project myself" comment. If history is any guide here, you'll
| have a $200M valuation in a few months.
| dang wrote:
| I appreciate your wish to counter shallow dismissals, but
| please don't take HN threads snarkward, even when another
| comment feels annoying. It only makes things worse.
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
| gundisclosed wrote:
| It is certainly not "I can build this in X days with Y no-
| code". I can see the utility and would be happy to pay. But I
| certainly don't understand the pricing model.
| gundisclosed wrote:
| Or maybe a better question might be, how does one arrive at the
| pricing model for a product like this ?
| aakhil wrote:
| We looked at traditional workplace management software
| products like iOffice and SpaceIQ. They tend to be a lot more
| expensive. We also looked at adjacent services like
| scheduling software for hourly workers and meeting room
| booking software. So far we feel good about this pricing. But
| we're still early and may adapt based on customer feedback.
| gundisclosed wrote:
| Ok, but SpaceIQ also provides IOT integrations, way finder
| and some other features. But I understood the direction.
| Thank you for the comments and best of luck !
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