Launched this week
Cushion
combines posts, messaging, + check‑ins for better teamwork
98 followers
combines posts, messaging, + check‑ins for better teamwork
98 followers
Cushion is the async messaging app for small, distributed teams. Work smarter, stay focused, and get more done.
Cushion
Told
The async-first approach makes sense for distributed teams, but the real challenge is always getting people to actually change their communication habits — that first week of adoption is brutal. Curious how you're handling onboarding for teams migrating off Slack, because the muscle memory problem is real and most tools underestimate it. We ran into this at a previous product and started using Told to surface in-app prompts at the moments where users would otherwise default back to old behavior, which moved activation numbers meaningfully. Are check-ins structured or freeform, and does Cushion nudge teams to use them consistently or is it purely pull-based? That distinction matters a lot for whether async discipline actually sticks.
Been stuck stitching Slack threads and a standup bot before, and the handoff is always where things disappear. Cushion putting posts, inbox, and check-ins in one loop feels much cleaner for small teams, especially if blocked work from a weekly check-in can surface straight into the inbox.
Cushion
@piroune_balachandran absolutely dead on!
Interesting concept. I like the idea of making collaboration calmer and more structured. The combination of posts, check-ins, and AI summaries sounds like a thoughtful workflow. How does Cushion help users quickly find the most important updates when there are many active discussions?
Love the concept of combining posts, messaging, and check-ins into one place. As someone who's built a real-time messaging system from scratch (TCP-based, for a social app), I know how hard it is to get the balance right between "instant" and "async" communication. The async-first approach for small teams makes a lot of sense — not everything needs to be a real-time ping. How do you handle the transition when a thread gets urgent and needs immediate attention?
Hi Rob, congrats on the launch! I'm really interested in async communication and gone through many different communication tools for my team of 5. The best we've experience we've had in this regard is Campsite before it got acquired from Notion.
Just signed up for Cushion, and after a very pleasant and simple first time set up, I'm curious to know - what are you doing different to campsite or any other async tools?
The async angle is interesting — most teams I've seen try async end up just recreating Slack with slower response times. What's the actual mechanism that stops it from devolving into that? Curious how you handle the moments where something genuinely needs a fast answer.