About the Company

Freeflow is a San Francisco-based software company, offering a virtual office for remote teams. Their platform allows teams to communicate in a spontaneous and organic manner, simulating the feel of being in a physical office. By cutting down on lengthy meetings and increasing casual daily interactions, Freeflow supports remote companies striving for the energy of an in-person workplace while benefiting from a distributed workforce.

Their target customers are fast-scaling, global companies that need to onboard remote workers quickly while ensuring strong team integration. Launched in February 2021, Freeflow grew to an 8-person team and secured funding, demonstrating early traction among their customers.

Idea Behind Company

Mikhiel and Nick worked at Okta, where they witnessed the rise of remote work, especially after 2019. They observed that remote employees often felt disconnected, struggled with onboarding, and didn’t stay long in the company. This realization led them to focus on improving remote communication to recreate the benefits of in-person collaboration.

The pandemic further cemented their belief that remote work was the future. They saw an opportunity to address these issues, particularly around how existing tools failed to foster spontaneous and natural communication between remote colleagues, pushing them to develop Freeflow.

Creating the Company

Before quitting their jobs, Mikhiel and Nick spent nights and weekends validating their idea, conducting over 100 interviews with potential users. They approached product development by first identifying the communication problems faced by remote workers and then validating these insights through discussions with industry professionals. They didn’t start coding until they were confident in their solution’s viability, a process that involved numerous iterations and feedback loops.

To design their tool, Nick learned Figma and created mockups to gather feedback. After refining the concept, they signed contracts with five customers and shifted their focus to hiring and fundraising.

Launching the Business

With a validated idea, the co-founders faced the challenge of building a minimum viable product (MVP) without technical skills. After recruiting a founding engineer via Twitter, they quickly developed an MVP and began pitching to investors. Fundraising was intense but successful, with 85 meetings leading to $1.7M in seed funding.

They used their network extensively to raise funds and hire early team members. This included engineers and designers who helped build the product while Mikhiel managed sales. The goal was to achieve product-market fit before scaling, ensuring that their product solved a critical problem for remote teams.

Earnings

As of July 2022, Freeflow generates $5K in monthly revenue. The company is focused on achieving product-market fit and ensuring that their sales process becomes repeatable and predictable. Their recent fundraising allows them to scale quickly once product-market fit is confirmed. The co-founders are optimistic about their future, expecting to grow significantly as more companies embrace remote work and seek solutions to improve team communication.