Worklife leads seed round in Goat-2-Meeting. Why we're investing and why we're expanding to Bears.

Worklife was founded in September 2019 with the goal of building and backing tools to make work more creative, flexible, and human.

At the forefront of our narrative is the idea that the future of work will be the end of traditional corporate jobs. We believe the future belongs to freelancers and remote workers, self-made and self-taught founders, and that anyone can start a technology company without writing a single line of code.

As the pandemic accelerated our narrative in ways we never could have imagined, we saw tools for remote teams like Deel, Hopin, and other companies that were founded before the pandemic, break out as critical tools for companies to continue to operate in a time filled with uncertainty.

"We saw live shows like SNL hosted on Zoom, people joining companies without ever visiting the office or meeting their boss in person, and we attended birthday parties, weddings, and major life events on platforms designed for office teleconferencing.

There was no separation between work and life... it was pure chaos for working parents trying to balance Zoom calls, home schooling, and managing a packed house with everyone working and learning from home.

Tech workers were incredibly fortunate. We need to keep in mind, the pandemic was a total nightmare for touring artists, restaurant owners, hair stylists, and professionals who need to meet with clients or serve the general public," said Worklife founder Bri Kimmel in a recent interview.

However, one company that emerged during the pandemic as an all-in-one solution for fighting creative burnout and work-related fatigue, improving company culture and overall belonging, entertaining bored kids at home, and creating new jobs outside of urban tech hubs like Silicon Valley was Goat-2-Meeting.

Goat-2-Meeting is a virtual platform for booking farm animals to attend your next meeting or virtual conference.

‍Why we're investing in Goat-2-Meeting

We want overworked professionals to put an end to pointless meetings and believe companies should encourage a life outside of work to support local farms and play a more active role in climate change.

Goat2Meeting created a new form of entertainment where 100% of meeting attendees said they were happier in a meeting with a goat than meetings with no goat. It's productivity tool, mental health service, entertainment platform... It's a little big of everything.

BearlyMeeting is building on the wildly successful Goat2Meeting, but we're removing you from the meeting entirely. The bears are wild local bears and able to present in the meeting on your behalf. Freeing you up to go on a hike, cook lunch, or take a nap.

As companies look to carbon offsetting programs and new ways to have a positive impact on the environment, we believe humans should focus on job creation for animals who have been impacted directly by deforestation, wildfires, and droughts caused by humans. We will initially launch with influential bears like Smokey the Bear who has been actively fighting forest fires since 1950.

"We're excited to partner with Goat2Meeting on this next phrase of growth. We've brought in Jian Yang, creator of the AI app "Not Hotdog," to build the underlying technology to ensure BearlyMeeting bears are in fact real local bears," says Kimmel.

Goat-2-Meetings milestones during the pandemic

Goat-2-Meeting has had an incredible run over the last 2 years, with over 8,600 virtual events with over 350,000 people on every continent. We believe the growth will not only continue, but accelerate. We're seeing the number of 200+ person bookings increase with offices re-opening as people are unhappy and do not want to return to a traditional office setting.

"With large tech companies re-opening their offices, we see even more inbound interest from bored employees inside of a corporate office. Most offices have white walls and look more like a prison than a place to be creative. My colleagues and I dial in from a farm. We represent a life outside of work that's simply not possible for employees stuck inside of an office park," said one of the most frequently booked llamas.

Goat-2-Meeting was one of the most highly regarded technological innovations during the pandemic and has been featured in Fast Company, New York Post, NPR, CNN.

How Goat-2-Meeting makes money

Goat2Meeting has three revenue streams:

• booking a goat to attend a meeting for you
• book an audience of goats, sheeps, pigs, cows to join your virtual event
• book a virtual tour of the farm for your next team event or virtual offsite

Expanding offering to bears with BearlyMeeting presents an even more meaningful revenue growth and creates more jobs for bears worldwide.

The goal of BearlyMeeting is simple: We want overworked professionals to put an end to pointless meetings. We want companies to encourage a life outside of work to support local farms and play a more active role in climate change.

Goat2Meeting created a new form of entertainment where 100% of meeting attendees said they were happier in a meeting with a goat than meetings with no goat.

With the expansion to BearlyMeeting, we'll provide overworked professionals with a partner in crime who can build your next Powerpoint deck, present in your next meeting, and tackle the hardest parts of your work day for you.

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How you can help

Here are three ways to get support BearlyMeeting's mission at your company.

1. Create a company culture that encourages life outside of work. ‍

Plant a garden, go for a hike, book a camping trip with your family, take a nap while a bear does your job for you.

2. Give employees an allowance to support small businesses

Remote work has cut office spend including corporate catering.

Encourage your employees to shop local and provide a stipend for supporting small businesses, especially local farms such as the Sweet Farm.

With Goat-2-Meeting, you can book an audience of goats, sheep, pigs, cows, and llamas to attend your internal company events or virtual conferences. With BearlyMeeting, you can book a professional bear for $100 per meeting to present on your behalf.

3. Make climate change a priority

Companies like Salesforce have achieved net zero across its value chain and 100% renewable energy.

As companies look to carbon offsetting programs and new ways to have a positive impact on the environment, we believe humans should focus on job creation for animals directly affected by deforestation, wildfires, and droughts caused by humans.

Goat2Meeting is the first of its kind to partner directly with rescue animals and wildlife directly impacted.