This startup wants to woo you with a workspace that includes cleansing juices and reminders to meditate

2016-05-11T21:26:00Z

There's a new coworking space in San Francisco that wants to give professionals a more luxurious way to be productive.

Founded by brothers Brian and Randy Stowell, who used to work on Google's robotics division, Mod bills itself as a "brilliant new way to work on the go," and plans to set itself apart from other options — like $16 billion behemoth WeWork — by offering a full concierge service and focusing on wellness (if you spend the day there Mod staff will serve you cleansing juices and prompt you to meditate).

Step inside:

As of now, Mod has only two spaces: one in Phoenix, Arizona and one in San Francisco's hip Mission District.

But the goal is to open mobile offices all around the world.

The Stowell brothers have very different backgrounds. Brian has worked in law and real estate, and he got the idea to start Mod because he had had so many bad experiences trying to get stuff done in cafes and hotels around the country. Randy worked at Google for several years after it bought his robotics company Bot & Dolly, which created the robot cameras that made actors in 'Gravity' look like they were floating in space.

As Google's robotics division lost its leader and struggled to find focus, Randy's team started working with Google's retail arm, but Brian eventually recruited his brother last fall to come work on Mod.

Now, together, they're trying to create a company at the intersection of coworking and hospitality to help professionals "unlock their highest level of productivity."

Although the Stowells say they get compared to WeWork, the uber-hot startup that rents offices and desks in more than 20 cities around the world, they want to be more like an amped-up version of a nice cafe than a permanent office space for clients.

It's betting that the future of work is even more mobile than it is now and that professionals will increasingly want familiar hubs where they can work all around the world.

Mod rents out its desk spaces per hour, day, or month, for $9, $45, and $400 respectively. For contrast, a WeWork desk starts at $220 a month.

"WeWork is just a whole different experience," Randy says. "We are serving a whole different need."

The key is Mod's concierge system, which operates through an in-house app called Merci that lets visitors check in and out, order snacks, and request help mailing a package or scanning documents.

Want a cleansing juice and some energy balls? Just type your request into the app. Mod has a dietitian on staff to help come up with healthy snacks for all-day grazing, like this ginger-honey-tumeric juice and its signature energy balls.

Mod has its staff members decked out in Apple Watches that will ping them whenever someone has a request. The concierge staff is also supposed to suggest that people working take breaks to meditate, go for a walk around the block, or fix their posture.

Mod is trying to appeal to mobile workers who care about wellness.

"Everyone just chipped in their own value system and we put together this constellation where wellness in the workplace is a shining star," Brian says.

"We're building what we each crave and need."

That includes open spaces with a lot of natural lightening and real plants scattered everywhere.

Mod is working with designers on custom furnishings and is using its San Francisco space as a sort of "research and development lab" for what might work worldwide.

But while different aspects of the layout are fluid...

There are some 'special touches' that Mod plans to bring everywhere, like presenting hot towels with citrus to anyone who books a conference room.

Those rooms can also be rented out individually by the hour. When Mod set up a pop-up space last year, the Stowells say that employees from Lyft and Apple booked meetings in its rooms.

"We want to provide a 'corporate clubhouse' feel," Randy says. Mod is "designed to impress" so people feel comfortable booking important engagements there.

It also provides other goods that it thinks an on-the-go professional might need. The day we visited, Mod had just sold its first pair of headphones.

Instead of taking over whole buildings like WeWork does, Mod wants to put its spaces on the ground floors of big office buildings, where there might otherwise be a normal coffee shop or retail store.

But, unlike a normal cafe, it will only sell foods meant to help boost energy or keep workers healthy.

It also plans to use its app to help big brands create 'pop-up' Mod experiences.

"Imagine being able to get a full-service professional experience anywhere."

To catapult Mod towards its dreams, Randy and Brian say that they're trying to raise a "big" Series A round of funding. "We're poised for rapid expansion and now we need a lot of capital," Randy says.

This startup wants to woo you with a workspace that includes cleansing juices and reminders to meditate

As of now, Mod has only two spaces: one in Phoenix, Arizona and one in San Francisco's hip Mission District.

But the goal is to open mobile offices all around the world.

Now, together, they're trying to create a company at the intersection of coworking and hospitality to help professionals "unlock their highest level of productivity."

Although the Stowells say they get compared to WeWork, the uber-hot startup that rents offices and desks in more than 20 cities around the world, they want to be more like an amped-up version of a nice cafe than a permanent office space for clients.

Mod rents out its desk spaces per hour, day, or month, for $9, $45, and $400 respectively. For contrast, a WeWork desk starts at $220 a month.

The key is Mod's concierge system, which operates through an in-house app called Merci that lets visitors check in and out, order snacks, and request help mailing a package or scanning documents.

Want a cleansing juice and some energy balls? Just type your request into the app. Mod has a dietitian on staff to help come up with healthy snacks for all-day grazing, like this ginger-honey-tumeric juice and its signature energy balls.

Mod has its staff members decked out in Apple Watches that will ping them whenever someone has a request. The concierge staff is also supposed to suggest that people working take breaks to meditate, go for a walk around the block, or fix their posture.

Mod is trying to appeal to mobile workers who care about wellness.

"Everyone just chipped in their own value system and we put together this constellation where wellness in the workplace is a shining star," Brian says.

"We're building what we each crave and need."

Mod is working with designers on custom furnishings and is using its San Francisco space as a sort of "research and development lab" for what might work worldwide.

But while different aspects of the layout are fluid...

There are some 'special touches' that Mod plans to bring everywhere, like presenting hot towels with citrus to anyone who books a conference room.

Those rooms can also be rented out individually by the hour. When Mod set up a pop-up space last year, the Stowells say that employees from Lyft and Apple booked meetings in its rooms.

"We want to provide a 'corporate clubhouse' feel," Randy says. Mod is "designed to impress" so people feel comfortable booking important engagements there.

It also provides other goods that it thinks an on-the-go professional might need. The day we visited, Mod had just sold its first pair of headphones.

Instead of taking over whole buildings like WeWork does, Mod wants to put its spaces on the ground floors of big office buildings, where there might otherwise be a normal coffee shop or retail store.

But, unlike a normal cafe, it will only sell foods meant to help boost energy or keep workers healthy.

It also plans to use its app to help big brands create 'pop-up' Mod experiences.

"Imagine being able to get a full-service professional experience anywhere."

To catapult Mod towards its dreams, Randy and Brian say that they're trying to raise a "big" Series A round of funding. "We're poised for rapid expansion and now we need a lot of capital," Randy says.

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