All of the music available at Focus@Will is instrumental,[2][3] separated into a number of different channels, including classical, up tempo, focus spa, cinematic, and ambient.[4]
The app offers a personalized feed that take into account the skipped tracks.[5][6][4] The service also includes a timer function and a productivity tracker.[7][8]
The company showcased a white paper describing the benefits of its style of music, but it was not peer-reviewed.[9]Jack Curtis Dubowsky, a composer, described this as "flimsy pseudo-science" and compared it to Muzak, which claimed in a report in 1956 that it increased worker productivity.[9]
History
Founder and CEO Will Henshall was previously a professional musician, who then founded a company that created online collaboration tools for musicians, sold to Avid Audio in 2003.[5][10] He cofounded Focus@Will with John Vitale and Graham Lyus.[11]
The beta version of Focus@Will was released in December 2012.[6]
Beginning in April 2013 the company expanded the service to international markets.[12][13] The expanded service incorporated a timer for users to set work session intervals, and a productivity tracking function to measure efficiency and focus.[12][7]
A Focus@will mobile app and freemium service were released in May 2013.[14][15][16]
The company is backed by the Pritzker Foundation, other private investors, and Singularity University.[5][1] As of February 2013, it had raised approximately $3.5 million.[1]
