Lounge App: Reimagining the Office for Remote Work

Reimagining Remote Work: Introducing Lounge

A new company, Lounge, is focused on redefining the work experience for fully remote teams. Existing platforms like Slack, Zoom, and Teams have proven insufficient in fostering company culture and building strong relationships among employees who may never meet face-to-face – a situation that appears increasingly permanent.

Beyond Basic Profiles

Lounge differentiates itself by offering richer user profiles than standard message boards. These profiles aim to convey a more complete picture of the individual, displaying information such as their timezone, current weather, location, team affiliation, and involvement in company-wide activities – for example, step or meditation challenges.

The platform also provides tools designed to facilitate deeper connections between colleagues, including spontaneous audio chat and photo sharing capabilities.

The Genesis of Lounge

The concept for Lounge originated with co-founders Alex Kwon, serving as CEO, and Jason Jardim, the CTO. They previously collaborated at Life360. During the pandemic, they initially explored developing a family to-do list application while working remotely.

Although that initial project was ultimately abandoned, the co-founders gained valuable insights into the challenges and drawbacks inherent in remote work during this period.

The Loneliness of Remote Interaction

Kwon, who had not previously experienced remote work, found the experience isolating. He described the limitations of daily Zoom stand-ups and delayed communication via Slack.

“The experience felt incredibly lonely,” Kwon explained. “The daily Zoom calls and delayed Slack messages simply couldn’t replicate the spontaneous interactions and idea generation that occur in a physical office.”

Building Camaraderie Online

Kwon firmly believes that fostering camaraderie and cultivating company culture doesn’t necessarily require a physical office space.

“Relationships have been forged online since the inception of the internet,” he stated. “Individuals connect through online games, find partners on dating apps, and build communities online. These connections often begin and thrive in digital environments.”

From Experimentation to Innovation

The co-founders experimented with various methods to enhance connectivity, even attempting a continuous 24/7 Zoom call. However, this proved intrusive, with frequent interruptions. Always-on audio presented similar issues.

This led to the creation of a streamlined application enabling quick audio connections with a focus on respecting individual privacy.

The success of this internal tool prompted them to abandon their initial to-do list startup and concentrate their efforts on developing Lounge.

Virtual Desks and Dynamic Visualizations

Lounge now presents employees as virtual desks, organized by teams, projects, or shared interests. This provides a visual representation of who is working on what, mirroring the functionality of traditional organizational charts.

These desks offer a personalized experience, displaying the user’s timezone and current weather conditions, offering a glimpse into their daily environment.

Introducing "Rooms" for Collaboration

In addition to individual desks, Lounge introduces “Rooms” – multi-person spaces designed for diverse purposes. Unlike Slack channels focused solely on topics, Rooms can simulate various physical office environments.

These Rooms can host town hall meetings, brainstorming sessions, or serve as virtual gathering spaces, akin to a company cafeteria.

Rooms can be locked for focused work, allowing users to ignore incoming requests. Visitors can leave private messages, similar to Slack’s direct messaging feature. Open Rooms enable synchronous audio conversations, replicating the experience of approaching a colleague’s desk.

“This combines the functionality of both Zoom and Slack,” Kwon noted.

Sharing Moments and Building Connections

Lounge is also developing a photo-sharing feature, inspired by Kwon’s previous startup, Oneminute. Users can share spontaneous photos that appear on their virtual desks and throughout the application.

This feature aims to provide insights into colleagues’ lives and interests, fostering conversation and strengthening team bonds. Employees already share similar content on Slack, but Lounge offers a dedicated space for ongoing photo streams.

Open Beta and Funding

Lounge has been in private beta testing with select customers since April and has garnered hundreds of sign-ups for its waitlist. Initially targeting smaller teams of under 20 employees, Lounge is now launching an open beta, prioritizing applications for Mac, web, and iOS.

The startup has secured $1.2 million in funding from investors including Unusual Ventures, Hustle Fund, Translink, Unpopular Ventures, and various angel investors.