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7 Productivity Tools That Could Help You Be Happier at Work

Stress less by checking out these tools that can help you be more productive—and a little happier.

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M13

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By
Rob Olson
Rob Olson
By M13 Team
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November 12, 2021
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2 min

As demands on the workforce increase, the future of work also demands streamlined solutions that make our lives easier—and perhaps even a little happier. From collaborating in spreadsheets to managing your personal finances, these digital tools can also help free up your time and energy to focus on what truly matters.

Whether you’re a solopreneur, small business owner, or startup founder, here are seven productivity tools and time-saving services from M13 portfolio companies to consider adding to your tech toolkit:

visor banner v1

Visor: Staying in sync with spreadsheets

Forget copy and paste. Described as “the most connected spreadsheet,” Visor prioritizes real-time collaboration without sacrificing flexibility or security.

What we love: Every update made in Visor syncs with your other data tools and sources. Finally—no more wasting time by updating spreadsheets in multiple places or worrying about maintaining a source of truth.

Read more about Visor’s $5 million seed round

OP.Sign banner v1

OP.Sign: Embracing e-signatures when you’re on the go

OP.sign is a hub for digital agreements and mobile-first e-signatures. Using just your phone, you can scan, sign, and share documents (PDFs, Word docs, etc.) using your stored digital signature.

What we love: With OP.Sign, there’s no longer a need to print, sign, and scan—and it also means you can stop running back to a desktop to sign those important forms that you can’t read on your phone. More than 300,000 users in 200 countries are already using this software for digital agreements. Ideal for small businesses, the product was developed by cybersecurity experts and innovators who created the world’s first antivirus software for mobile devices, so you know your data stays safe.

Try it out

Lou banner v1

Lou: Onboarding users without needing to know how to code

You’re ready to boost engagement for your web users, but how? Lou streamlines self-service software by automating and personalizing onboarding and training.

What we love: Lou makes it easy for companies to upgrade their lengthy help centers with interactive user tutorials. From product tours to announcements and helpful hints, there’s very little technical work needed to implement Lou—a video walks you through the code-free process, and there are ample ways to customize the templates.

Get started

Northstar banner v1

Northstar: Redefining and democratizing financial wellness

What if employers could help employees make smarter money decisions by providing more transparency about their compensation and benefits packages? Northstar is a B2B2C solution that’s all about helping more people take control over their long-term financial planning. After all, personal finances really start in the workplace.

What we love: Northstar offers both automated tools and financial advisors who can help employees understand their total compensation in one centralized place. But while Northstar clients like Zoom, Snap Inc., and ServiceTitan embraced financial wellness as a benefit well before the “Great Resignation” began, not every company has—just over half of U.S. employers now offer workplace financial wellness programs (compared to under 25% in 2015).

Read more about why M13 led Northstar's $7.3 million Series A

rho banner v1

Rho: Building a better commercial bank

Rho offers a better commercial banking model for small and mid-size businesses, providing an integrated banking solution for accounts payable (A/P), budgeting, data automation, and accountability—basically everything that a chief financial officer and your finance department will appreciate.

What we love: Rho strives for more seamless integration between operations and finance by combining core front-end banking and credit products with proprietary back-end products, including A/P, expense management, and remittance.

Read more about why M13 led Rho’s $15 million Series A

interviewing.io banner v1

interviewing.io: Modernizing the recruiting process for engineers

Consider this: There are currently about 1 million unfilled software engineer positions, the job market for software engineers is expected to grow by 22% over the next decade—and just one engineering recruiting search can take more than 220 hours over three months. Enter interviewing.io, a marketplace that helps job-seeking engineers improve their technical interviewing skills and get hired faster.

What we love: For recruiting and hiring managers, interviewing.io helps identify candidates who are already looking for new jobs (because they’re in the system and practicing technical interviews)—this can reduce recruiting time by as much as 80%. The platform also takes resumes and other subjective measures out of the equation, opting instead to focus on the job’s most relevant skills and qualifications for software engineers.

Read more about why M13 led interviewing.io's $10 million Series A

Pinata banner v1

PINATA: Increasing efficiency in the field

From emerging brands to global enterprises, companies rely on frontline execution to bring their strategy to market. Large, distributed workforces power everyday operations like merchandising, field sales and marketing, last-mile logistics, and much more. But all too often, busy work and bottlenecks on the ground disconnect the field from the bigger picture.

Enter PINATA, a workforce optimization platform where scalable task management meets actionable business intelligence. Already in use by companies like Campari, Gallo, PepsiCo, and Unilever, PINATA’s flexible and easy-to-use platform delivers efficiency, alignment, and precision to help get work done well. Leadership sets standards and goals, workforce managers build schedules and assignments, and frontline workers execute well-defined tasks and complete standardized reports. In turn, data flows up from the field to unlock real-time ROI improvement.

What we love: As companies reevaluate frontline activity post-COVID, many are rethinking how they’ve historically executed in the field. That means shifting from W2 to 1099 workforces, leveraging third-party staffing, and finding ways to accomplish more with leaner teams and reduced below-the-line spending. PINATA is uniquely designed to support work that increasingly crosses organizational lines, creating end-to-end “taskflows” that are structured, collaborative, and data-driven.

Explore PINATA

With the Great Resignation underway, it’s clear that how we define productivity and happiness is also shifting. And inevitably, the future of work (and the tech that comes out of it) will need to keep changing and innovating alongside it.

As demands on the workforce increase, the future of work also demands streamlined solutions that make our lives easier—and perhaps even a little happier. From collaborating in spreadsheets to managing your personal finances, these digital tools can also help free up your time and energy to focus on what truly matters.

Whether you’re a solopreneur, small business owner, or startup founder, here are seven productivity tools and time-saving services from M13 portfolio companies to consider adding to your tech toolkit:

visor banner v1

Visor: Staying in sync with spreadsheets

Forget copy and paste. Described as “the most connected spreadsheet,” Visor prioritizes real-time collaboration without sacrificing flexibility or security.

What we love: Every update made in Visor syncs with your other data tools and sources. Finally—no more wasting time by updating spreadsheets in multiple places or worrying about maintaining a source of truth.

Read more about Visor’s $5 million seed round

OP.Sign banner v1

OP.Sign: Embracing e-signatures when you’re on the go

OP.sign is a hub for digital agreements and mobile-first e-signatures. Using just your phone, you can scan, sign, and share documents (PDFs, Word docs, etc.) using your stored digital signature.

What we love: With OP.Sign, there’s no longer a need to print, sign, and scan—and it also means you can stop running back to a desktop to sign those important forms that you can’t read on your phone. More than 300,000 users in 200 countries are already using this software for digital agreements. Ideal for small businesses, the product was developed by cybersecurity experts and innovators who created the world’s first antivirus software for mobile devices, so you know your data stays safe.

Try it out

Lou banner v1

Lou: Onboarding users without needing to know how to code

You’re ready to boost engagement for your web users, but how? Lou streamlines self-service software by automating and personalizing onboarding and training.

What we love: Lou makes it easy for companies to upgrade their lengthy help centers with interactive user tutorials. From product tours to announcements and helpful hints, there’s very little technical work needed to implement Lou—a video walks you through the code-free process, and there are ample ways to customize the templates.

Get started

Northstar banner v1

Northstar: Redefining and democratizing financial wellness

What if employers could help employees make smarter money decisions by providing more transparency about their compensation and benefits packages? Northstar is a B2B2C solution that’s all about helping more people take control over their long-term financial planning. After all, personal finances really start in the workplace.

What we love: Northstar offers both automated tools and financial advisors who can help employees understand their total compensation in one centralized place. But while Northstar clients like Zoom, Snap Inc., and ServiceTitan embraced financial wellness as a benefit well before the “Great Resignation” began, not every company has—just over half of U.S. employers now offer workplace financial wellness programs (compared to under 25% in 2015).

Read more about why M13 led Northstar's $7.3 million Series A

rho banner v1

Rho: Building a better commercial bank

Rho offers a better commercial banking model for small and mid-size businesses, providing an integrated banking solution for accounts payable (A/P), budgeting, data automation, and accountability—basically everything that a chief financial officer and your finance department will appreciate.

What we love: Rho strives for more seamless integration between operations and finance by combining core front-end banking and credit products with proprietary back-end products, including A/P, expense management, and remittance.

Read more about why M13 led Rho’s $15 million Series A

interviewing.io banner v1

interviewing.io: Modernizing the recruiting process for engineers

Consider this: There are currently about 1 million unfilled software engineer positions, the job market for software engineers is expected to grow by 22% over the next decade—and just one engineering recruiting search can take more than 220 hours over three months. Enter interviewing.io, a marketplace that helps job-seeking engineers improve their technical interviewing skills and get hired faster.

What we love: For recruiting and hiring managers, interviewing.io helps identify candidates who are already looking for new jobs (because they’re in the system and practicing technical interviews)—this can reduce recruiting time by as much as 80%. The platform also takes resumes and other subjective measures out of the equation, opting instead to focus on the job’s most relevant skills and qualifications for software engineers.

Read more about why M13 led interviewing.io's $10 million Series A

Pinata banner v1

PINATA: Increasing efficiency in the field

From emerging brands to global enterprises, companies rely on frontline execution to bring their strategy to market. Large, distributed workforces power everyday operations like merchandising, field sales and marketing, last-mile logistics, and much more. But all too often, busy work and bottlenecks on the ground disconnect the field from the bigger picture.

Enter PINATA, a workforce optimization platform where scalable task management meets actionable business intelligence. Already in use by companies like Campari, Gallo, PepsiCo, and Unilever, PINATA’s flexible and easy-to-use platform delivers efficiency, alignment, and precision to help get work done well. Leadership sets standards and goals, workforce managers build schedules and assignments, and frontline workers execute well-defined tasks and complete standardized reports. In turn, data flows up from the field to unlock real-time ROI improvement.

What we love: As companies reevaluate frontline activity post-COVID, many are rethinking how they’ve historically executed in the field. That means shifting from W2 to 1099 workforces, leveraging third-party staffing, and finding ways to accomplish more with leaner teams and reduced below-the-line spending. PINATA is uniquely designed to support work that increasingly crosses organizational lines, creating end-to-end “taskflows” that are structured, collaborative, and data-driven.

Explore PINATA

With the Great Resignation underway, it’s clear that how we define productivity and happiness is also shifting. And inevitably, the future of work (and the tech that comes out of it) will need to keep changing and innovating alongside it.

Read more

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The views expressed here are those of the individual M13 personnel quoted and are not the views of M13 Holdings Company, LLC (“M13”) or its affiliates. This content is for general informational purposes only and does not and is not intended to constitute legal, business, investment, tax or other advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters and should not act or refrain from acting on the basis of this content. This content is not directed to any investors or potential investors, is not an offer or solicitation and may not be used or relied upon in connection with any offer or solicitation with respect to any current or future M13 investment partnership. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Unless otherwise noted, this content is intended to be current only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in funds managed by M13, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by M13 is available at m13.co/portfolio.