We’ve all been there. Way too many tabs open on your browser, hundreds of unread emails and Slack messages are coming in faster than you can read them.
With so many online tools and alerts, focusing on the task at hand is a struggle.
Brad Norris has long had an interest in building a business that helped people become, and stay, more productive in this vast, digital landscape.
“People are struggling to keep up with their work when its distributed among dozens of different tools,” he said.
After building out a platform that curates and organizes users’ existing emails, chats, documents, links and applications into one place, Norris launched the closed beta of Boulder-based Dialed this summer.
The key component of Dialed is the singular location of all of these crucial tools, called Focusboards, which are organized by client or project. Norris said that Dialed doesn’t add another tool to your list, rather it aims to make your tools work more efficiently.
“Unlike traditional approaches that involve new flavors of existing tools that compete to become a centralized hub and only make the problem worse, Dialed focuses on embracing a user's existing tools and unifies them by a user's work context,” he said.
To create a Focusboard, users can input keywords and other filters that will create a distinct workspace for the project or client they are working with.
“This unified workspace allows you to set up roles so you only see those relevant items for that project,” Norris said. “You can get focused fast, stay focused longer and, ultimately, be able to get into a deeper mode to problem solve and get creative.”
As the initial closed beta launches, Dialed is focusing first on agency and freelance workers to test the validity of its product. With a multitude of projects and clients to juggle, Norris said these initial test subjects are ideal fits for Dialed’s solution.
“The agency and freelancer world has a constant flow of projects and people and everyone is bringing their own tools to the party,” he said. “It’s just almost impossible for them to keep up and stay sane.”
Currently, Dialed can integrate any web-based application onto its platform and continues to build further to allow for additional tools.
Once the closed beta is complete, Dialed will move to an open beta, with eyes on raising outside capital for a public launch toward the end of this year.
“We want to have your tools work for you, versus you working for your tools,” Norris said.
