The world is going hybrid (mixing remote and office) faster than expected. Companies are using spreadsheets to see who’s at the offices and who’s not. People want to see each other, but they never know when and where to meet.
We were employees in the same French company during Covid lockdown. When going back to the office (June 2020) we struggled to see our team. We were only a team of 8 people and it was a mess to coordinate everyone because we had no visibility over each other's calendar. We were doing Slack polls for every day in the upcoming week. We couldn't make a decision because we had no data! We started talking to other companies (up to 200 interviews) and everyone was struggling with spreadsheets... We thought there was a better way and launched our MVP (a simple mobile app) in private beta in September with 5 companies.
Our mobile and web app shows you who's at the office, how many seats are available, and who's working from another location. You are invited to set your status for the current week and next week (10 days of visibility) and it's done in 10 clicks. You decide where to work from based on who’s where.
We're making it easy and flexible—you can customize the whole experience (name/emoji of status), set only half days, and specify the city you're working remotely from. Our solution is as engaging as possible so people actually input their plans.
Most companies are using Café to make decisions with data when it comes to their office (should they move out? keep it?) and save money. Some have used it to organize events (e.g. pick the days where there's the most people to do team building). Some are using it to better onboard new employees in their hybrid team.
We’re not a desk-booking tool. We're focused on engagement and hybrid employee experience. Our software isn't only about what’s happening between the 4 walls of the office, that’s why we include remote folks in the experience to enable meet-ups inside and outside the office.
You can use Café on desktop and web mobile or directly through mobile apps to declare where you'll be working from. We integrate with many tools, like Slack where your status is automatically synchronized, or with HR tools where your days off and paid leaves are synced without having to do anything. Here are quick demos to see how it works: 1-minute demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSOGPCXSIB8 and 3-minute demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSQu3e0LzzA
To sign up (https://app.at.cafe/), you only need to have a valid business email. We offer a free plan for up to 50 users. Like Slack, our Premium plan only charges based on usage (for active users), starting at $5 / user / month.
We know the Hacker News community has a lot of remote-first people and we look forward to reading all of your feedback. Many thanks!
by Andrey
Azimov