The Leaderboard
Our ultra-fast Daily: Three takes on new products. Yesterday’s top ten launches. That’s it.
Elon's big launch day 🚀
It’s time to unleash Crew Dragon. Later today if weather permits, a test mission known as Demo-2 will send NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station.
The plan is to blast off at 4:33 PM EDT today and dock at the ISS at 11:40 AM EDT tomorrow.
Crew Dragon is a crewed spacecraft that was made to fly astronauts on round trips to space, and it’s launched into orbit by SpaceX’s reusable two-stage Falcon 9 rocket. If the Demo-2 test is deemed a success, they plan to certify the spacecraft as operational and launch a three-man, one-woman crew this fall.
Now seems like the perfect time to try and land Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket yourself, from the comfort of your browser. Not so easy to do, right?
This occasion marks a new era in spaceflight, where our dreams of being a space tourist aside Elon could hypothetically be realized. NASA expects the Commercial Crew Program will one day launch private citizens as well as professional astronauts, allowing private sector development both on the ground and in space.
A remote escape room conveniently called Moonshot has us living our destiny today. It’s a space-themed challenge that you can join over video conference with your colleagues to get into the launch spirit.
And one more Elon-themed product to check out: If Elon were your dad, what would your name be? Find out here.
Crew Dragon, assemble! You can watch Nasa’s livestream here. 🐉
The plan is to blast off at 4:33 PM EDT today and dock at the ISS at 11:40 AM EDT tomorrow.
Crew Dragon is a crewed spacecraft that was made to fly astronauts on round trips to space, and it’s launched into orbit by SpaceX’s reusable two-stage Falcon 9 rocket. If the Demo-2 test is deemed a success, they plan to certify the spacecraft as operational and launch a three-man, one-woman crew this fall.
Now seems like the perfect time to try and land Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket yourself, from the comfort of your browser. Not so easy to do, right?
This occasion marks a new era in spaceflight, where our dreams of being a space tourist aside Elon could hypothetically be realized. NASA expects the Commercial Crew Program will one day launch private citizens as well as professional astronauts, allowing private sector development both on the ground and in space.
A remote escape room conveniently called Moonshot has us living our destiny today. It’s a space-themed challenge that you can join over video conference with your colleagues to get into the launch spirit.
And one more Elon-themed product to check out: If Elon were your dad, what would your name be? Find out here.
Crew Dragon, assemble! You can watch Nasa’s livestream here. 🐉
$100M for celebrity "education"
Don’t educate, entertain. That’s the ethos that won MasterClass another $100 million in Series E funding last week. This new raise puts the company at an $800 million valuation, and they reportedly will be upping production to one new class a week.
MasterClass has excelled at partnering up with hard to reach celebrities and niche experts, with classes from Natalie Portman to Serena Williams.
Just two years ago Masterclass launched for iOS, and now they have their sights set on VR.
“Imagine if you could take Steph Curry’s class in AR, and see where to position your feet. Or a class in VR with Jerry Seinfeld, and learn how to read the audience in the room,” says CEO David Rogier in an interview with TechCrunch.
It seems celebrity-led content is doing especially well during the pandemic. It’s been a perfect storm for Cameo, as celebrities have been cooped up in the house and their fans are in dire need of entertainment. They’ve seen talent sign-ups increase since 160% since the beginning of March, with an 83% increase in bookings according to an interview in Fast Company.
Makes you think how you can apply this secret sauce to startups. Although having the same access to talent is tricky without the budget, we’ve already seen companies applying a mix of industry influence and online learning in unique ways.
Take Wrong Project that launched yesterday. They are curating content from known industry creators into bite-sized think pieces. Online learning and ecommerce are becoming even more integrated too, so why not pair up with an influencer to launch a course on top of your Shopify store or use Knowable to create an audio course.
We hope you still read PH when you’re famous. 👋
MasterClass has excelled at partnering up with hard to reach celebrities and niche experts, with classes from Natalie Portman to Serena Williams.
Just two years ago Masterclass launched for iOS, and now they have their sights set on VR.
“Imagine if you could take Steph Curry’s class in AR, and see where to position your feet. Or a class in VR with Jerry Seinfeld, and learn how to read the audience in the room,” says CEO David Rogier in an interview with TechCrunch.
It seems celebrity-led content is doing especially well during the pandemic. It’s been a perfect storm for Cameo, as celebrities have been cooped up in the house and their fans are in dire need of entertainment. They’ve seen talent sign-ups increase since 160% since the beginning of March, with an 83% increase in bookings according to an interview in Fast Company.
Makes you think how you can apply this secret sauce to startups. Although having the same access to talent is tricky without the budget, we’ve already seen companies applying a mix of industry influence and online learning in unique ways.
Take Wrong Project that launched yesterday. They are curating content from known industry creators into bite-sized think pieces. Online learning and ecommerce are becoming even more integrated too, so why not pair up with an influencer to launch a course on top of your Shopify store or use Knowable to create an audio course.
We hope you still read PH when you’re famous. 👋
Side project ceremony 🥂
Life finds a way. And so do weddings, as it turns out. 👰
During the pandemic many weddings have been put on hold indefinitely. We’ve also seen some sweet stories of couples reimagining their dream day to fit our current reality.
There’s now a community for virtual weddings planning to get you ready to celebrate your big day online.
“I got engaged last year and started planning our wedding. Unfortunately, along with thousands of others, we had to cancel our wedding due to CoVid-19. The sinking feeling of wasted time, money & energy crept in,” says the maker Micah Cohen.
If you’re planning an online ceremony, it’s a toolkit for everything you need to make it happen. Laws around virtual weddings have been changing too. In New York State, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order to make video marriages legally binding, and several other states have since followed suit. Since many couples have faced financial hardship during the crisis, it’s got them wondering if an online wedding could actually be the answer.
Virtual weddings aren’t the only way to mark the occasion either. We spotted a couple celebrating their special day in a very PH way.
“Today was my original wedding date. Like many other brides, our wedding was affected due to COVID-19. We turned our original wedding date into our business launch date!” - says the maker, Erica Halpern.
With their expertise in dentistry, they launched Bride Brite, an at home alternative to teeth whitening treatments at the dental office. They locked down top product of the day yesterday on PH. 👏
Launch day or wedding day, we’d like to make a toast to couples taking matters into their own hands to make happy memories. 🥂
During the pandemic many weddings have been put on hold indefinitely. We’ve also seen some sweet stories of couples reimagining their dream day to fit our current reality.
There’s now a community for virtual weddings planning to get you ready to celebrate your big day online.
“I got engaged last year and started planning our wedding. Unfortunately, along with thousands of others, we had to cancel our wedding due to CoVid-19. The sinking feeling of wasted time, money & energy crept in,” says the maker Micah Cohen.
If you’re planning an online ceremony, it’s a toolkit for everything you need to make it happen. Laws around virtual weddings have been changing too. In New York State, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order to make video marriages legally binding, and several other states have since followed suit. Since many couples have faced financial hardship during the crisis, it’s got them wondering if an online wedding could actually be the answer.
Virtual weddings aren’t the only way to mark the occasion either. We spotted a couple celebrating their special day in a very PH way.
“Today was my original wedding date. Like many other brides, our wedding was affected due to COVID-19. We turned our original wedding date into our business launch date!” - says the maker, Erica Halpern.
With their expertise in dentistry, they launched Bride Brite, an at home alternative to teeth whitening treatments at the dental office. They locked down top product of the day yesterday on PH. 👏
Launch day or wedding day, we’d like to make a toast to couples taking matters into their own hands to make happy memories. 🥂
Mozilla's call to arms 🔧
Today’s Daily Digest was crafted by Product Hunt and sponsored by our friends at Mozilla.
Tech has the power to change the world for the better, and Mozilla has created a call to arms to join forces with makers who want to build a better world.
“We love initiatives that shift the balance of power from centralized forces back towards individuals, citizens and communities.” says Mark Mayo at Mozilla. “Over the years and from our work building platforms like Firefox, Javascript, Rust, and WebAssembly we have been developing a vision for a next internet that is imbued with these values and deployed across tomorrow's devices, networks, algorithms, and cloud platforms.”
A noble cause, and timely considering our collective reflection during the pandemic. This week they launched a series of summer incubator programs for entrepreneurs and startups across the tech spectrum.
Here are some of the projects they've incubated at Mozilla’s Spring Lab so far:
• Neutral is a browser extension that shows the environmental impact of your purchases
• Ameelio connects incarcerated inmates with their loved ones for free through a letter delivery service
• Remote Students is an online community that helps students find their next job or mentor
If you are in the beginning stages of building a product or a potential startup idea, MVP Lab could be the right place to do it. Mozilla has committed to funding accepted projects with a $16k, equity-free grant over the course of an 8-week project period.
Startup Studio is the place to land if you are committed to doubling down on your ideas and building a startup. This one is designed for makers that have some initial traction on their products, or that have a solid team paired with an engaging concept. This is a longer program for founders that are committed to shipping meaningful products and startups while being supported with mentorship and $75k of funding.
Lastly, if you weren’t accepted into the MVP program but still want to explore ideas, you can join Mozilla’s Open Lab. The best projects have a shot at four $10K prizes.
Consider the call to apply open, the deadline is June 5th. 💪
Tech has the power to change the world for the better, and Mozilla has created a call to arms to join forces with makers who want to build a better world.
“We love initiatives that shift the balance of power from centralized forces back towards individuals, citizens and communities.” says Mark Mayo at Mozilla. “Over the years and from our work building platforms like Firefox, Javascript, Rust, and WebAssembly we have been developing a vision for a next internet that is imbued with these values and deployed across tomorrow's devices, networks, algorithms, and cloud platforms.”
A noble cause, and timely considering our collective reflection during the pandemic. This week they launched a series of summer incubator programs for entrepreneurs and startups across the tech spectrum.
Here are some of the projects they've incubated at Mozilla’s Spring Lab so far:
• Neutral is a browser extension that shows the environmental impact of your purchases
• Ameelio connects incarcerated inmates with their loved ones for free through a letter delivery service
• Remote Students is an online community that helps students find their next job or mentor
If you are in the beginning stages of building a product or a potential startup idea, MVP Lab could be the right place to do it. Mozilla has committed to funding accepted projects with a $16k, equity-free grant over the course of an 8-week project period.
Startup Studio is the place to land if you are committed to doubling down on your ideas and building a startup. This one is designed for makers that have some initial traction on their products, or that have a solid team paired with an engaging concept. This is a longer program for founders that are committed to shipping meaningful products and startups while being supported with mentorship and $75k of funding.
Lastly, if you weren’t accepted into the MVP program but still want to explore ideas, you can join Mozilla’s Open Lab. The best projects have a shot at four $10K prizes.
Consider the call to apply open, the deadline is June 5th. 💪
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. 👀
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. 👀
Zuck vs. Bezos
Facebook just announced their big play to own ecommerce yesterday. 🛍
Businesses can now turn Facebook and Instagram pages into online shops. They also joined forces with Shopify, who recently released their Shop app, to allow merchants to leverage their shipping, inventory and fulfillment features. The aim is to help new shop owners and small businesses to leverage their existing audiences to compete with Amazon.
This comprehensive shopping rollout will no doubt have big algorithm implications on Instagram and Facebook. Early reports are showing how a “shopping” tab might interact with the “activity” tab on Instagram to increase the focus on commerce for businesses and their followers. Soon you'll see Shops appear in stories and promoted ads.
Facebook Shops will eventually be integrated with WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram DMs, so you can browse store catalogs and make purchases through chats. The influencer marketing industry is set to benefit too as live streaming and shopping will be pairing up.
Shops started rolling out on Facebook yesterday in the United States and they are set to come to Instagram this summer.
They aren’t the only game in town either. We’ve seen a surge of indie e-commerce makers stepping up to help store owners:
• Elliot creates simple product landing pages with one-tap checkout
• Storr is for mobile commerce, so you can set up a store from your phone
With this launch by Facebook, commerce and community are finally starting to play nicely together. We’re hoping this gives small businesses a much needed edge.
Businesses can now turn Facebook and Instagram pages into online shops. They also joined forces with Shopify, who recently released their Shop app, to allow merchants to leverage their shipping, inventory and fulfillment features. The aim is to help new shop owners and small businesses to leverage their existing audiences to compete with Amazon.
This comprehensive shopping rollout will no doubt have big algorithm implications on Instagram and Facebook. Early reports are showing how a “shopping” tab might interact with the “activity” tab on Instagram to increase the focus on commerce for businesses and their followers. Soon you'll see Shops appear in stories and promoted ads.
Facebook Shops will eventually be integrated with WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram DMs, so you can browse store catalogs and make purchases through chats. The influencer marketing industry is set to benefit too as live streaming and shopping will be pairing up.
Shops started rolling out on Facebook yesterday in the United States and they are set to come to Instagram this summer.
They aren’t the only game in town either. We’ve seen a surge of indie e-commerce makers stepping up to help store owners:
• Elliot creates simple product landing pages with one-tap checkout
• Storr is for mobile commerce, so you can set up a store from your phone
With this launch by Facebook, commerce and community are finally starting to play nicely together. We’re hoping this gives small businesses a much needed edge.
Spotify's experimental co-listening app 🎧
Spotify is finally getting social.
Last week Spotify launched a global co-listening experiment with the aim to connect people through music. When you use Listening Together you get paired up with someone across the world to listen to the same song in sync, and you can travel around digitally to see what people in other countries are listening to. Spotify also recently launched group sessions so you can share DJ duties with your friends at a safe social distance.
Speaking of experiments, this summer things may look a little different in the music festival scene, but we’re always in the mood to try something new. There’s an impressive lineup of virtual music festivals and artist live streams coming our way this month. Join a Houseparty or use Messenger Rooms with your friends to watch the streams together. Don’t forget to don your festival outfit or set a theme with your friends to add some extra entertainment value, we know you’re dying to bust out that bucket hat. 😉
For a more laid-back music discovery experience you can take turns playing and discovering new tracks with friends or co-workers. AuxParty, the spiritual successor to turntable.fm, was designed with remote teams in mind and is compatible with Spotify and SoundCloud.
And for those who love to make music, you can co-create electronic music with Ocean beta. The aim is to lift barriers to entry for making EDM so you can explore sounds and create with a global community all in your browser.
Music is a powerful tool for bringing people together, and we’re looking forward to celebrating summer in a new way this year.
Last week Spotify launched a global co-listening experiment with the aim to connect people through music. When you use Listening Together you get paired up with someone across the world to listen to the same song in sync, and you can travel around digitally to see what people in other countries are listening to. Spotify also recently launched group sessions so you can share DJ duties with your friends at a safe social distance.
Speaking of experiments, this summer things may look a little different in the music festival scene, but we’re always in the mood to try something new. There’s an impressive lineup of virtual music festivals and artist live streams coming our way this month. Join a Houseparty or use Messenger Rooms with your friends to watch the streams together. Don’t forget to don your festival outfit or set a theme with your friends to add some extra entertainment value, we know you’re dying to bust out that bucket hat. 😉
For a more laid-back music discovery experience you can take turns playing and discovering new tracks with friends or co-workers. AuxParty, the spiritual successor to turntable.fm, was designed with remote teams in mind and is compatible with Spotify and SoundCloud.
And for those who love to make music, you can co-create electronic music with Ocean beta. The aim is to lift barriers to entry for making EDM so you can explore sounds and create with a global community all in your browser.
Music is a powerful tool for bringing people together, and we’re looking forward to celebrating summer in a new way this year.
Facebook's $400 million acquisition 😮
Sounds like Facebook loves GIFs almost as much as we do. On Friday, Axios reported that Facebook has agreed to buy Giphy for around $400 million, although the terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
According to Axios’ sources close to the situation, they are expected to keep their own branding and mainly be integrated into Instagram where it’s search and sticker functions are already built-in. Sounds like Giphy will be built into Facebook’s other apps too through existing and additional integrations.
Let’s take a stroll down memory lane with Giphy. It was founded in February 2013 by Alex Chung and Jace Cooke, apparently they were chatting over breakfast and came up with the idea.
By August 2013, Giphy evolved from being a search engine to a production tool. It started to allow users to post, embed and share GIFs on Facebook and soon after, they integrated with Twitter.
In 2015, Giphy acquired Nutmeg, a GIF messaging service, taking series steps towards mobile domination.
In 2016 they crossed the 100 million user mark, serving over 1 billion GIFs a day. That number doubled a year later. They also launched GIF Maker and Giphy Capture to allow anyone to turn videos or anything on their screen into GIFs.
In 2017, they even started getting into AR with Giphy World. More recently, Giphy started pursuing ad monetization concepts before ultimately getting scooped up by Facebook.
It'll be interesting to see if Giphy changes Instagram the same way Bitmoji changed Snapchat. 🤔
According to Axios’ sources close to the situation, they are expected to keep their own branding and mainly be integrated into Instagram where it’s search and sticker functions are already built-in. Sounds like Giphy will be built into Facebook’s other apps too through existing and additional integrations.
Let’s take a stroll down memory lane with Giphy. It was founded in February 2013 by Alex Chung and Jace Cooke, apparently they were chatting over breakfast and came up with the idea.
By August 2013, Giphy evolved from being a search engine to a production tool. It started to allow users to post, embed and share GIFs on Facebook and soon after, they integrated with Twitter.
In 2015, Giphy acquired Nutmeg, a GIF messaging service, taking series steps towards mobile domination.
In 2016 they crossed the 100 million user mark, serving over 1 billion GIFs a day. That number doubled a year later. They also launched GIF Maker and Giphy Capture to allow anyone to turn videos or anything on their screen into GIFs.
In 2017, they even started getting into AR with Giphy World. More recently, Giphy started pursuing ad monetization concepts before ultimately getting scooped up by Facebook.
It'll be interesting to see if Giphy changes Instagram the same way Bitmoji changed Snapchat. 🤔
Pasta as a Service 🍝
The world is a better place when you randomly send pasta to your unsuspecting friends. ✨
PastaDrop is shipping an ‘innovative new noodle’ each week, and the idea is to send pasta to your family, friends, neighbors, or anyone as long as you have their address and they have a passion for pasta.
It’s more of a social experiment than a true food delivery service, and you never know quite what you’re going to get in the noodle department. PastaDrop was created by Matt Rutledge who also founded Woot, the popular daily deals site from the 2000’s.
“We want to build a weird little online pasta-giving community,” say the founders. “We are facilitating lasting connections one PastaDrop at a time.”
Speaking of special deliveries, you can now effectively avoid the post-office all together and send snail mail from home. Send mail from your device or your computer by uploading your docs and typing out the address, and it will be remotely printed and sent via USPS for you.
And since you’re already in the online ordering mode, get something for your favorite co-worker too. You can ship a WFH care package to yourself or a teammate. The packages have lots of goodies like candy and snacks, a gift card and a logic game book.
Last thing on the shipping n’ shopping list, it’s time to treat yourself to an inventive beverage to go with those noodles. Are you more of a Ginger Yuzu person, or an adaptogenic coffee person? 🍹☕️
OK, our shopping cart is now officially full, and so are we. 🛒
PastaDrop is shipping an ‘innovative new noodle’ each week, and the idea is to send pasta to your family, friends, neighbors, or anyone as long as you have their address and they have a passion for pasta.
It’s more of a social experiment than a true food delivery service, and you never know quite what you’re going to get in the noodle department. PastaDrop was created by Matt Rutledge who also founded Woot, the popular daily deals site from the 2000’s.
“We want to build a weird little online pasta-giving community,” say the founders. “We are facilitating lasting connections one PastaDrop at a time.”
Speaking of special deliveries, you can now effectively avoid the post-office all together and send snail mail from home. Send mail from your device or your computer by uploading your docs and typing out the address, and it will be remotely printed and sent via USPS for you.
And since you’re already in the online ordering mode, get something for your favorite co-worker too. You can ship a WFH care package to yourself or a teammate. The packages have lots of goodies like candy and snacks, a gift card and a logic game book.
Last thing on the shipping n’ shopping list, it’s time to treat yourself to an inventive beverage to go with those noodles. Are you more of a Ginger Yuzu person, or an adaptogenic coffee person? 🍹☕️
OK, our shopping cart is now officially full, and so are we. 🛒
The Zoom of VR
This week Twitter informed their team they can work from home ‘forever’. And they're not the only company considering going full distributed.
Companies like Spatial have been preparing for this movement for years. Yesterday they launched a 3D video platform that feels a bit like a Zoom meeting just morphed into VR. You can hop on Spatial from a VR or AR headset, or with your computer or phone. You may be secretly wearing sweatpants, but your avatar doesn’t have to be. Just take a 2D selfie and create a lifelike avatar to send to work in your place. 🙌
“We've been really surprised by all the various use cases, probably in light of COVID-19 and en masse WFH. Initially we had demand from 40% of the Fortune 1000 including Manufacturing (Mattel), Healthcare (Pfizer), Finance (BNP Paribas), Automotive (Ford) and others,” says the maker Anand. “But now everyone is WFH we've had doctors to telemedicine visits to patients, a professor at the University of Arizona teaching a Afro-Futurism course, Weill Cornell planning COVID response, digital agencies collaborating and even just people doing virtual happy hours,” Anand says.
One of the biggest challenges with remote work is organic team collaboration. Here are some other remote tools that focus on upping camaraderie and creativity:
• Tandem is like a virtual hub for remote teams, with messaging and video chat baked in to a collaboration platform with integrations to Notion, Github and Trello
• Screen feels a bit like a multi-player video game mixed with a white-boarding session, you can visually create and brainstorm with your team in parallel screens
Back to the radial shift to WFH, we’ve already seen a lot of talk of people and HQ’s moving out of cities like SF. Google, Zillow and Facebook also recently announced their teams can work remotely until at least the end of the year. Lucky for us on the Product Hunt team, we haven't had to change our work environment. We started as a distributed company and now we're spanning across 9 countries.
We’ll be watching to see what products come from this movement next. 🤔
Companies like Spatial have been preparing for this movement for years. Yesterday they launched a 3D video platform that feels a bit like a Zoom meeting just morphed into VR. You can hop on Spatial from a VR or AR headset, or with your computer or phone. You may be secretly wearing sweatpants, but your avatar doesn’t have to be. Just take a 2D selfie and create a lifelike avatar to send to work in your place. 🙌
“We've been really surprised by all the various use cases, probably in light of COVID-19 and en masse WFH. Initially we had demand from 40% of the Fortune 1000 including Manufacturing (Mattel), Healthcare (Pfizer), Finance (BNP Paribas), Automotive (Ford) and others,” says the maker Anand. “But now everyone is WFH we've had doctors to telemedicine visits to patients, a professor at the University of Arizona teaching a Afro-Futurism course, Weill Cornell planning COVID response, digital agencies collaborating and even just people doing virtual happy hours,” Anand says.
One of the biggest challenges with remote work is organic team collaboration. Here are some other remote tools that focus on upping camaraderie and creativity:
• Tandem is like a virtual hub for remote teams, with messaging and video chat baked in to a collaboration platform with integrations to Notion, Github and Trello
• Screen feels a bit like a multi-player video game mixed with a white-boarding session, you can visually create and brainstorm with your team in parallel screens
Back to the radial shift to WFH, we’ve already seen a lot of talk of people and HQ’s moving out of cities like SF. Google, Zillow and Facebook also recently announced their teams can work remotely until at least the end of the year. Lucky for us on the Product Hunt team, we haven't had to change our work environment. We started as a distributed company and now we're spanning across 9 countries.
We’ll be watching to see what products come from this movement next. 🤔
