Clubhouse for the workplace

Clubhouse is the new hotness right now in the tech.

After mere weeks since launch, the social media app has drawn a $100M valuation and a surge of people requesting to join the invite-only community. Currently dominated by venture capitalists and the tech elite, the app is a breeding ground for social entrepreneurship. Early users are tweeting about their addiction to the app, often pushing 30+ hours a week in the club.

Watercooler is like a Clubhouse for your office, a social hub for office banter. We’re starting to see an interesting trend of apps aimed at recreating the social moments we crave at work while we work from home. Not so surprising when you consider that the connections we form with our colleagues can be the most meaningful part of our jobs.

“Our mission is to make WFH fun and strengthen friendships within teams. Don't expect any productivity features; think voice changers, games and other fun things you can do with coworkers,” say the makers.

Once you download the app, you can join the waitlist and the first invites are going out next week. Unlike Clubhouse, Watercooler is private to your company and you don’t have to work at Facebook to get an invite. Watercooler is an evolution of Beam, launched a few years ago by a shared founder, with a new focus of connecting remote teams more spontaneously.

Another player in this space is Yac, where you can drop voice notes for your colleagues and work buddies that feel a bit more cozy than Slack. Creating tight knit voice-only groups helps you feel more comfortable to share a bit more freely, like you might in person.

Walkie built a walkie-talkie like experience for remote teams that just launched this week. You can use it to voice chat back and forth casually throughout the day while you work, or create a walkie group with your closest colleagues. You can set Walkie to do not disturb when you are heads down so it doesn’t disrupt your flow.

We expect to see a ton more Clubhouse-inspired products emerge in the coming weeks. 👀

Try Watercooler