Problem: Connecting with co-workers in a disconnected, remote, COVID world is difficult. In person, paradoxically, this can even be more difficult: there almost never seems to be an excuse to reach out to someone and get to know them. While “the watercooler” is often a solution (and even has been replicated online), it does not foster conversation for all individuals: only those who are naturally social.
Solution: In order to develop a method of increasing comradery or fraternity in the workplace through a scalable mechanism, this business would develop platforms, services, and methods of connecting employees to one another during the remote economy or the general work from home scenario.
Many businesses have created platforms in order to do this, namely:
Coffee Pals. This startup creates a Coffee Meeting Bot For MS Teams that “connects people in a company. It randomly matches two people to meet over a coffee (virtually).” The business adds a variety of additional features including those that make it ideal for team bonding over perpetual timeframes.
Donut, a Slack bot that allows individuals to “Connect serendipitously for virtual coffee, peer learning, DEI discussions, and more” on a Virtual Water Cooler.
Icebreaker, which can “gather your peeps, spark new connections, and have fun together — no matter where you are.” They have a digital platform to create an event for your community and develop interactive ice breakers.
Covalent a platform that is “taking your favorite in-person icebreakers and turning them into interactive, online games that can be used alongside your Zoom calls.” These interactive icebreakers for remote teams are
… and these 19 Alternatives to Donut described on Product Hunt
These startups are also serious contenders in the business world. Donut, for instance, on October 29, 2020 “recently launched its new Watercooler product today while also announcing that it has raised $12 million in total funding, led by Accel and with participation from Bloomberg Beta, FirstMark, Slack Fund and various angel investors.”
This business would iterate on Donuts with even more intra- and perhaps even inter-company connecting as a service. In particular, it would become the best organizers of virtual or in-person on-sites to become the go-to purveyor and organizer of remarkable experiences for a group of individuals. Perhaps as a reminder of this, the company motto could be to go beyond the water cooler to become “the well.”
Broadly, this market of human resources management and satisfaction is actually quite large. As reported by Grandview Research
The global human resource management market size was valued at USD 16.01 billion in 2019 and is expected to exhibit at a CAGR of 11.7% from 2020 to 2027. Advancements in IT coupled with the introduction of predictive analytics in HR processes is expected to boost the growth. The evolution of various human resource management (HRM) solutions has enabled professionals to perform traditional HR activities in a reduced time span and with subsequently increased focus on attracting the right pool of candidates. It is helping retain human capital, aligning organizational strategies with individual goals, and managing human resources in a manner that results in organizational growth.
Monetization: Selling this service to organizations and HR businesses.
Contributed by: Michael Bervell (Billion Dollar Startup Ideas)