Here at Localogy Insider, we’ve written extensively about how startups are transforming the world of remote and hybrid work using AI and other emerging technologies. We’ve even given this space a new label – remote tech.
Much of the discussion has focused on new companies that are trying to reinvent online meetings – the staple unit of output for remote and hybrid workplaces.
And according to those who are emerging as the thought leaders on remote tech (including Howard Lerman, David Shim, Vinny Lingham, and others), online meetings are broken and in desperate need of repair.
Online meetings are just too long, or so goes this narrative. Not to mention inefficient, unproductive, and even soul-crushing. Anyone who measures their days in hours spent on Zoom meetings feels this intuitively.
And in a world where most companies are either hybrid, fully remote, or fighting bitterly to get their employees back into the office, one company has emerged as a hero in the battle to change online meeting culture. And that company is Shopify.
A New Tech Stack
While companies like Roam, Read AI, and Waitroom are leading the way by building a new tech stack for hybrid and remote work, Shopify has been a leader among employers in reigning in online meeting culture.
Shopify kicked off the new year, for example, by eliminating all previously scheduled recurring meetings involving three or more people.
And this week, Shopify released a new tool within the company (which has about 10,000 employees) that calculates how much an individual meeting is costing the company.
The tool is apparently now embedded in Shopify employees’ calendars. It figures out the cost of the meeting based, as you would imagine, on the level of those attending and the number attending. Plus, of course, the length of the meeting.
According to reporting from Axios, which cites a Shopify spokesperson, “the average Shopify meeting, consisting of three people and lasting 30 minutes, costs somewhere between $700-$1,600 USD. Taking three meetings off each person’s weekly calendar would reduce company costs by 15%.”
Ep. 26 Looks at the Future of Work with Roam Founder Howard Lerman
Remote Tech Leaders Weigh In
The remote tech community couldn’t resist weighing in amid the buzz this week surrounding Shopify’s meeting cost calculator.
Read’s David Shim used the buzz to tout his company’s new Chrome extension, which takes what Shopify has done a step further. Shim said the following in a LinkedIn post.
“Understanding cost is just part of the equation. You wouldn’t invite someone to dinner without understanding if that time works for them, but that is just what we do today with scheduling. Read AI’s Chrome Extension not only measures cost, but predicts the level of engagement based on each participant.”
And Roam’s Lerman also chimed in, also on LinkedIn, to note how Shopify’s move shines a light on what he sees as the wastefulness of our meeting culture.
“We live in an overscheduled era. Things that used to take 2 people 5 minutes right now are being scheduled for 60-minute meetings next week with 8 people,” Lerman wrote.
“Meetings slow companies and people down and burn them out. Imagine how productive things would be if we only had meetings on-demand.”
Read is Shim’s startup that uses AI to extract more value from meetings by analyzing meetings for signals of engagement, as well as extracting key takeaways, follow-up items, and so on. We believe this kind of AI analysis will soon become table stakes for any online meeting software.
Ep. 20 Shares L23 Voices from Soci, Circumference Group & Waitroom
And so does Waitroom Founder (and serial entrepreneur) Vinny Lingham, who said as much on stage at Localogy’s L23 conference in April.
“I think in the future you’re going to have these intelligent agents sitting in pretty much every virtual meeting that happens in the company,” Lingham said in an on-stage interview at L23. His company Waitroom, similar to Read AI, has introduced AI tools for extracting insights from online meetings.
