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We see it sometimes — makers are working on their project and run into roadblocks because the tools or tech they require are lacking. They stray course to build a solution. Occasionally, that side project turns out to be a winning idea.

That's how ClickUp started. Founder Zeb Evans was feeling unfulfilled while working on a company that sold Instagram and YouTube followers when he pivoted to work on ClickUp, a project management tool his team created that's now challenging the likes of Asana and Monday.com.

After bootstrapping its first few years, the four-year-old startup just closed a $400M fundraising round, bringing it to a $4B valuation. ClickUp said it’s the single-largest Series C in the workplace productivity market. Evans told Forbes he doesn’t plan to raise any more money — with customers from Webflow to IBM and the new funds, Evans has his eyes set on an IPO.

"Side project" can be a broad term. Not every one has to end with an exit (i.e. an acquisition or public offering). Some makers prefer to try out ideas that are profitable, but they don't feel pressure to scale. Others build purely for fun.

Here are 7 more self-identified side projects that launched this year. They run the gamut, but we didn't want you to miss them.

Motion One: An animation library from the creator of Framer Motion and Popmotion

Jam: An open-source Clubhouse tool

Self Test: See how good you are at receiving feedback, convincing others, staying calm, and more

Sutle: Save and organize resources into a directed learning path

Usage: System activity monitor and widgets for iOS nerds

Vibe City FM: Cruise through a regularly updated selection of chill music

Send a Mixtape: Paste in your playlist URL to generate a paper mixtape template you can pass on

Maybe you’ve been too preoccupied with crypto creeping into your apps to notice, but conscious consumerism has its own foothold in the mainstream. According to Nielsen, 73% of global consumers say they would definitely or probably change their consumption habits to reduce their impact on the environment.

There's a long way to go towards sustainable living, but with younger generations embracing activism and new products launching in this space, passive support is poised to continue shifting towards active pressure to accelerate change.

Tulipshare is a new platform that facilitates using shareholder rights to fight for social and environmental progress.

“We already launched three initial campaigns (with more to come!): changing Coca-Cola’s packaging policy to use 100% recycled materials, ensuring fair and safe working environments for Amazon warehouse workers, and allowing independent and third-party technicians to repair Apple products,” Timur Garifzyanov wrote on Product Hunt.

As Tulipshare points out on its website, the platform is not for day traders or swing traders — lasting change occurs from long-term investment. In some ways, Tulipshare is the flipside to meme stocks and coin flipping although there are sometimes positive intentions beyond those investment “strategies” as well.

Last week, we also saw the launch of Ampliphi, a new plastic footprint management platform for brands. While it’s not uncommon to see products for personal carbon footprint tracking or carbon offsetting in business, Ampliphi takes sustainability a step further. Businesses can import their data to surface insights and Ampliphi provides a tailored plan for plastic reduction and a vetted marketplace with packaging alternatives and “circular economy integrations.”

Cluey is the latest to launch in this space. The platform enables conscious consumers to see the impact of their purchases and follow trending news or conversations happening around those brands. A Chrome extension gives insights into brands while actively shopping online. Cluey takes your purchase decision a step further by providing a feature that lets you send your feedback to the brand right in the tool. This makes it easier for consumers to collectively demand change.

Let’s talk about tech — in real life!

ICYMI, events are back, baby. We kicked off our first IRL meetup in post-pandemic times last month in New York City and had a blast.

We’re going to be real with you — socializing took some practice after that long of catnap. But there’s no judgment here. Only product-loving people eager to talk about what’s new out there — from Web3 to D2C; mobile games to board games; chatbots to dancing bots.

Come and talk about the future with us again.

Next stop: San Francisco. Tuesday, November 9. 6:30 pm PT. That’s right, in two weeks!!

Ashley Higgins will be there and Josh Buckley, too. We’ll all nibble, drink, be vaccinated, demo fun tech, feel awkward at least once, laugh, be grateful to be alive, and learn about an amazing product we didn’t know existed before we got there. Save your spot and RSVP here!

Thanks to our sponsor, Intercom! The Intercom Early Stage Program helps early-stage startups grow. Eligible startups get advanced Intercom features and Early Stage Academy at a 95% discount.

Not in San Francisco? Have FOMO, you should not. Come virtually or host a meetup, you should.

💻 Yes! Join virtually and meet with other amazing people? Hop in to Topia on November 9th at 6:30 pm PT.

😸 Additionally, unofficial meetups have always been essential to this global community. You don’t have to be an expert or an extrovert. If you can safely host a gathering, we’re here to help — just let us know you’re here for it.

So ditch the sweatpants (ok, keep the hoodie if you want!), RSVP and meet us on the other side of the keyboard.

How’d you sleep? In America, one-third of adults don’t get enough sleep, according to the CDC. You’re in exhausted company (including with this writer) if sleep eluded you yet again.

Here's a solution you haven’t tried yet — a Digital Sleeping Pill.

Chris Aimone and the makers at Interaxon have launched their newest headband, Muse S Gen 2. It's designed to help you fall asleep and guide you back to sleep if you wake up.

If you’re not familiar with Muse products: Interaxon has been making its brain-sensing headbands since 2012. They use EEG (Electroencephalography), technology that’s used to help diagnose conditions like epilepsy and dementia. Brainwaves send the wearable real-time feedback on your brain activity, heart rate, breathing, and body movements. This information combines with guided meditation and practice to help you with sleep, stress, and focus.

Unlike previous models, the next generation of Muse was created to provide immediate relief, and it uses what Muse calls a Digital Sleeping Pill to do it (emphasis on “digital”; no actual pills involved.)

“Digital Sleeping Pills are a new type of intelligent sleep experience that uses natural changes in your brain activity to modulate your sleep experience and cue your brain for sleep,” Aimone explained.

Muse S works when you pair your headband (a soft plush-one) with your mobile device and your own (hopefully comfortable) headphones. If you wake in the night, Muse pairs the information it’s gathered from your brainwaves to serve up content for guiding you back to sleep.

The content is similar to what you can find on other calm-inducing apps: sleep stories, ambient soundscapes, and guided meditation. All of it is available to first-generation users, too.

If you’re going to splurge on sleep, you might put EightSleep up for consideration too. The makers of The Pod smart mattress launched SleepOS earlier this year. The app uses machine-learning algorithms to automatically adjust the mattress temperature using your profile preferences and then learns based on your feedback.

Otherwise, drop your questions or feedback for the Muse co-founder on the launch page. 👇

You aren’t the only one sick of forms. Autofill and password managers help but forms are so rampant online that they’re still a major pain point for everyone.

We wrote about one-click payments along with Bolt and Fast and even explored using robotic process automation in eCommerce earlier this year, but makers are making headway on form-skipping beyond your shopping cart.

Last week, a new platform for discovering and managing B2B content launched called The Juice. The tool curates and recommends content for marketing and sales professionals and enables users to search and filter by content type (eBooks, reports, podcasts, etc.)

The Juice also gives users the opportunity to speed past gated content, meaning they no longer have to fill out a lead generation form every time want to read an eBook. With a click, they can choose whether or not they want to share their data with the brand, and skip straight ahead to the article or file.

In August, we also saw the launch of Netherlands-based Chiff, a new tool for logging into any website using your phone’s biometric authentication tools. If a user is logging into a website on their desktop, a browser extension can send a notification to their phone, where they can use fingerprint or Face ID to securely log in.

Then there’s Transcend Content Manager. Cookie consent forms may not require much keyboard action but they still often result in a consumer experience nightmare.

Transcend uses a browser-level firewall to convert all tracking info into local, quarantined tracking events. Since data doesn’t leave the users’ devices until they’ve provided consent, Transcend enables makers to ask for consent in a less obtrusive way. They can ask visitors for consent later on in the user journey or embed consent into their existing UI.

Users will still have to click to allow or disallow their data-share somewhere, but that’s one less form to jump through.

“Nothing like this has ever been done before and the outcome is uncertain,” wrote Sam Altman and Alex Blania, explaining a new startup they cofounded called Worldcoin. Lots of founders could say something similar about their own startups, but the premise behind Worldcoin is definitely a bold one.

The idea, in short: Give every person on earth free cryptocurrency, with fair & equal distribution.

That idea and the launch of Worldcoin elicited scoffs across the internet yesterday, including within our own community. To be fair, Altman clearly understands the scope of the mission. Let's unpack it.

Universal basic income
UBI is an ancient concept, but it's gained renewed interest in the last decade. Modern politicians like Andrew Yang have stirred up a lot of support for the concept to no avail, and now some tech leaders (not just Altman) have taken it upon themselves to try. Enter Worldcoin.

Proof of Person
Worldcoin has been conducting field tests where they take a five-pound orb device into the field, and use it to distribute cryptocurrency. The Orb works by taking a picture of someone’s iris, creating/saving a hashcode, and verifying each entry as unique. Users then gain access to a wallet in the app and a cryptocurrency called Worldcoin. The iris images are encrypted, original data is deleted, and there’s no big database of biometric data, Blania explains.

Why the Orb? The trick to universal basic income by way of crypto is to distribute it fairly, which is frankly difficult in a world full of bots and scammers. “The only solution for that problem, we found, was to build an orb,” Altman told CNBC. He calls the model “proof of person.”

So far over 100,000 users have collected Worldcoin across 12 countries — 700 per week.

Power in distribution
We write about innovative blockchain applications all the time, from coins that generate funds for cities to decentralized social networks. However, today only 3% of the global population uses crypto. Small networks are not just a barrier to UBI, but to crypto startups getting their ideas off the ground.

In this case, the makers of Worldcoin have chosen to build on Ethereum because of its developer network. Like other startups, they’re hoping to attract developers who can build atop their system to execute innovative applications of the coin. Unlike other startups, Worldcoin takes a pretty bottoms-up approach to building that network by acquiring users with literal feet on the ground.

Equalization
Worldcoin offers a unique, albeit arduous, approach to equalization, not only for crypto (which has been criticized for marking the rich richer) but for income globally.

What do you think about the approach — Unrealistic? Creepy? The future?

The competition between Apple and Google is giving us whiplash this week.

Yesterday Google launched Google for Creators, a new website that recommends guides, tutorials, and product information for creators based on their goals, niches, and experience level. It’s another product on the increasingly heavy toolbelt for creators.

That followed Google’s drop of the Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro earlier this week. The phone ships with Android 12. We talked about the new OS back in May which includes Material You — Android’s new design system and the biggest design change in its history. The OS also publically launched for Pixels 3 and up and will be made more broadly available to Samsung Galaxy phones et al. later this year.

Other than Material You, notable features of the new Pixels are Google’s Tensor chip, the camera, housing, and the price.

Tensor is Google’s first in-house processor, with a custom TPU (Tensor Processing Unit) for AI built right into the chip. The chip was created to allow for more AI processing without sacrificing battery power (Google promises 24-48 hours of battery life). It’s Google’s first foray into SoC (System on a Chip) design.

If you hated the notch on the MacBook Pro, maybe you’ll like the full protruding bar that spans the back width of the phone. Or you'll hate that too, but maybe you’ll think the camera updates are worth it. The new bar holds a new sensor which outputs 12.5-megapixel images and enables it to capture 150 percent more light than the previous model. There’s also a 4x telephoto camera on the Pro and updates to the front-facing cameras. A more fun update is new editing features like a “magic eraser” tool.

The phone’s price tags at $599 and $899 are one of the biggest conversation topics, as this marks Google’s entry into competing with more premium smartphones like iPhone 13 and Samsung Galaxy S21.

Over all this big tech hype?

Hey, you’ve options! If you’re the type to take the road less taken, don’t miss these launches:

Nokia 6310 - The iconic Nokia brick shape is back and reimagined
Fairphone 4 - If ethical buying and sustainability are your utmost priorities

Today's Daily Digest was crafted by us and sponsored by our friends at Flatfile.

Bells ring, gongs bang, high fives all around. Sales and marketing teams celebrate after signing a massive new customer. Then comes onboarding, and implementation teams... they might be less thrilled.

One of the first things they have the pleasure of doing is getting the customers’ data imported into new systems, and it’s often an ugly, painful process for everyone. Messy Excel files need cleaning, weird import scripts have to be coded in Python, all while sensitive data is emailed back and forth.

Flatfile first launched two years ago, innovating the way companies onboard customers by automatically structuring and validating their data. Single-founder startups to enterprise companies became early adopters.

Flatfile’s growth helped underpin its $35M Series A raise (see cofounder Eric Crane’s lessons on fundraising), and now it’s leveraged its funding to launch the latest product: Embeds, which offer a 1-click import experience built for securely validating and exchanging customer data.

The platform prioritizes intuitive features to drive customers to value, faster. In practice, that looks like:

• No more emailing sensitive Excel data back and forth (been there)
• No more saving a CSV for the 4th time and re-uploading (done that)
• No fumbling with FTP uploads (should I really trust this certificate?)
• A platform ready to transform sensitive data (HIPAA compliance out the box)
• Workspaces for collaborating with customers when fixing invalid data

Startups with a few customers importing spreadsheets to companies with major data migration projects (i.e. millions of rows of data moving between legacy systems) can provide an experience that instills confidence, and makes even the most non-technical customer feel like a data onboarding expert.

"This is a monstrous product. I can see flatfile.io becoming a $20bn+ company with a groundswell of developers and enterprises adopting it as the defacto standard. Bravo," wrote one commenter on the launch page.

If you're done with fighting with Excel and spreadsheets, take a peek at Flatfile’s newest Embeds launch. 👇

Apple had another day of drops yesterday from its Unleashed event. Let's get right into the new hardware.

First off, Apple presented two more M1 chips, an M1 Pro and M1 Max. That's fast since it released the M1 just last year. The Pro model CPU is up to 70% faster, with a GPU up to 2x faster, and 32GB of unified memory while the Max has unified memory up to 64GB.

Apple made a new home for the chips in a new MacBook Pro, or what some are already dubbing “Notch Book Pro.” The newly-designed MacBook Pros increase screen size at the cost of a “notch” where the camera lives, not unlike the latest iPhones. Apple also brought back an HDMI port, a headphone jack, an SD card slot, and a MagSafe charger along with three Thunderbolt ports. The MagSafe charger can charge up to 50% in 30 minutes.

The new standard Apple Airpods look like the AirPod Pros, without the interchangeable tips. They’ve got spatial audio support and are sweat and water-resistant.

Those that love color may like that the HomePod mini speaker is now available in yellow, orange, and blue. Or maybe you’ll be bummed there's no purple option.

Before you head for the checkout, check out these new tools from the community that can make you an Apple superuser.

Unplug Alarm: This app sounds an alarm if your Mac is unplugged while you’re away
APEnabler: Add an Airplay button to custom online video players
Pareto Security: A checklist app that helps with basic security hygiene on your Mac
Ditto: Save open tabs, documents, and apps to a workspace; switch with a menubar click
Sensei Monitor: Monitor and optimize your Mac’s performance via widgets from the menubar
Almighty: 50+ superuser Mac tweaks and utilities like keeping Mac awake or converting to plain text
AirBuddy2: See the status of your AirPods right when you open the case + connect with a click
PairPlay Audio Adventures: Split AirPods with a friend for an “immersive audio AR experience”
Alfred 4.5: The Alfred productivity Mac app launched Universal Actions for performing actions on any text, URLs, or files using a hotkey from anywhere within Alfred or your Mac

We’ve written a lot about Edtech's pandemic-spurred growth, but many of us don't just learn skills through courses or apps, but on a daily basis. Knowledge and content produced by experts online helps makes us better at our jobs.

Further has started drawing attention from the community today with its new app, which filters the web for learning new skills and gives badges for progress.

Further users pick skills of interest (e.g. UX design or public speaking), get a daily curated feed of reads, and can earn badges and certificates for content list completion. According to its makers, the AI-backed algorithm in Further can highly personalize your feed in order to help you enhance your daily information learning.

"I love the idea! I can finally show others that what I learn online actually matters and is calculable.” - Mert Akın

"As a developer, I’m loving this. Already started using it! 😄" Kağan Korkmaz

"Time saver app, really help for scatterbrain people like me that go online to learn and end up somewhere unexpected." - Maryann Superlano

With over 1.8 billion websites on the internet most of us rely on curation to help us find the information most meaningful to us. We see these types of products launch regularly — here are a few more from the last six months that offer curated resources for your work.

Good Landing Page - Curation of 300+ best landing pages for design inspiration
Analytics Pack - A curated director of the best startup metrics
LetterHunt - 10,000+ active, curated newsletters to promote your product
Pattern Collect - Curated gallery of patterns by awesome designers

Yes — Product Hunt and this newsletter are curation tools too! We use the community’s contributions to guide which product launches make it to the top of our homepage and into your inbox every single day. So don't forget to contribute with an upvote or comment when you see something you like or have questions about.