Bennett Fisher's inspiration for his startup came from an unusual place — a CEO coach.
When Fisher, a fresh MIT Sloan graduate, founded his first startup in 2009, his investors advised he get a CEO coach to sharpen his managerial skills.
"He [The coach] was a five-time serial CEO," Fisher said. "His mentorship helped with the 'lonely at the top' stuff, in acting like a sounding board."
The coaching worked. Fisher sold his startup, Retroficiency, to a mid-size IT firm in Spokane, Washington. But as a chief strategy and innovation officer at the new company, he found himself at sea again and struggled with team management in a different scenario.
"I went to a top business school, and I still did not how to manage a team well," Fisher said.
In that challenge, Fisher and his cofounders saw an opportunity for their next startup: Pulsify.
Based in Boston and founded in 2018, Pulsify launched Wednesday with the aim of helping managers manage teams better. As the coronavirus pandemic has forced a sizable portion of the labor force to go remote, the opportunity is prime to test tools geared to suit the work-from-home lifestyle.
"We definitely had that freak-out moment [when the pandemic broke]," Fisher said. "But I realized the world became a better place for us. People are figuring out how to manage remote teams, so we are excited about that."
In terms of interface, Pulsify works like a refined communication tool for managers. Fisher said that his experience with the CEO coach influenced the design and development on Pulsify.
"It's sort of taking the CEO coaching process and modularizing it," Fisher said.
In it, managers can set goals for teams, give realtime feedback and assess and improve employee engagement. The software, Fisher said, provides useful insights that assist managers do their job better. For instance, Pulsify sets reminders for managers to check in with employees at regular intervals to address concerns and air grievances.
Without disclosing any names, Fisher said that the company is working with a set of beta customers before its public launch. Pulsify is banking on the $1.1 million it raised in seed funding from HubSpot CTO Dharmesh Shah and the founders' personal network.
