Gather’s been through a lot of change lately. We launched Gather 2.0, our biggest update ever. We experimented with AI, but decided to double down on our core virtual office platform. And we have a new CEO: Sam Smith! 

Sam has been with Gather for almost four years now, often behind the scenes as our Head of Data and Business Analytics. Now that he’s leading the town, we wanted to formally introduce him to the Gather community and share his vision for the next year (and beyond!). 

Hi Sam! To kick things off, what brought you to Gather four years ago? 

I read about Gather in mid-2022 and thought the concept was amazing. I had been working remotely for quite a while, and even as someone who believed firmly in the merits of remote work, I definitely felt disconnected and isolated at times. 

The first time I visited the Gather office, I fell in love with the product. The spontaneous conversations, decorations, personalization, and fun bells and whistles were exactly what I felt were missing from remote work. 

I originally joined Gather as our Data Scientist, and the opportunity to work with such a unique and interesting dataset was definitely a big factor. Plus, the amazing and talented team at Gather made it a dream job for me!

Let’s see your Gather desk. Tell us about your decor.

I’ve had my double monitors and big chart on my desk ever since I joined Gather. Even in my new role, I’m always looking at the data! I keep an iced coffee on my desk. A running joke on the team is my weird coffee preferences: I love iced coffee but can’t drink it hot. You’ll also notice the Denver Nuggets profile photo above my avatar as the NBA Playoff stretch heats up!

I also have the best desk location in the office, right next to our gong, so I can be first to celebrate big wins for the team. Whether it’s a new feature shipping, a big deal closing, or just capping off a long week, the gong gets plenty of use in our office!

Now that you’re the CEO, what can you tell us about your vision for Gather? 

Gather’s mission has always been about bringing people together. We’re building for distributed teams that see the value in creating culture, connection, and delight in their remote work experience; the teams that want remote work to feel human, not transactional. 

This mission is what brought me to the company four years ago, and while the outlook on the future of work is changing every day, I firmly believe that the human component of collaboration isn’t going anywhere. If anything, it’s only getting more and more important. 

Why do you think Gather is important for remote teams?

67% of remote workers say they feel less connected to their colleagues, and nearly 40% report feeling lonely at work. Most of the tools built for remote work put productivity first: meetings, screen sharing, task management, etc. 

Instead, Gather is focusing on the human side: hallway conversations, inside jokes, a sense of belonging. We’re determined to help remote teams build delightful, connected workspaces. 

Whether that sense of delight shows up in a spontaneous interaction, a fun new desk decoration, or even an emptier calendar thanks to more natural collaboration, there’s something in Gather for everybody. 

What's a piece of customer feedback that's really stuck with you?  

As we’ve announced our focus back on the virtual office, the number of times I've seen “fun” features come up as top requests has been particularly exciting. While our productivity suite and collaboration features are still quite important, Gather is at its best when it brings remote teams a sense of delight throughout their workday. 

Gather’s biggest fans are looking for more fun and excitement, like more ways to customize their office, specific decorations, and of course, pets! Being able to re-prioritize these delightful features on our roadmap has been really fun and satisfying.

What’s a problem you’re most excited for Gather to solve this year? 

We know there are still features in Gather 1.0 (the classic version) that are still missing from 2.0. Restoring that experience is our immediate priority. We want to make sure 2.0 has everything our 1.0 users need to confidently move over, including a mobile app, performance improvements, SSO, and the return of the aforementioned “delightful” features like pets. 

We’re making steps in the right direction. Within the last month, we reintroduced interactive objects like games and whiteboards, seasonal decorations, and dancing to Gather 2.0. You can expect a lot more of these improvements throughout the year! 

Sam getting ready for a virtual meeting at Gather HQ in front of an interactive whiteboard.

Give us a hint: What feature are you personally most excited about on Gather’s roadmap? 

Great question, and it changes every time I talk with our product and design team! We have a ton of exciting updates planned for 2.0 this year, including improvements on existing 1.0 features and new ideas. 

Pets are the easy answer here. As a dog dad myself, it’s a personal favorite. Regarding new features, however, without giving away too much, we have major plans for new object functionality that are unlike anything we’ve ever had.

A preview of pets in Gather 2.0! Stay tuned.

We’re also planning to introduce new ways for members to interact in your space, like sharing notes on paper airplanes or playing catch. These are just a few ideas, but the common theme is fun and excitement. Bringing these “delight” features back onto our roadmap, alongside essential updates like improved performance and a new mobile app, remains a top priority.

What’s been your favorite moment in Gather HQ? 

So many to choose from, but one of my first “magic moments” working in Gather was getting notes on my desk from different team members after my first week at the company. It really felt like an experience that you couldn’t replicate with other remote work tools.

Getting the Spotify integration into Gather was also a major moment for me. Being able to connect with people over the music they’re listening to just adds another vector for spontaneous interaction!

We heard a rumor that you end every meeting with a joke. Give us one of your favorites!

Absolutely. I actually started playing in a band recently, we call ourselves 1023MB because we haven’t quite gotten a gig yet 😁

We couldn’t be more excited for this next chapter at Gather. We’re dedicated to bringing the energy and spontaneity of a shared space to distributed teams and, ultimately, helping them have fun. 

Thank you for being part of this journey with us and gathering in your virtual offices. We can’t wait to share more!