While a student at the University of Oregon, our founder was first introduced to the aggravation of not being able to find a seat or outlet in the library. He figured that this was a problem students face at school, but people in the real world probably didn't have to deal with these issues. As our founder started his first venture, Orchid Health, he bounced from home to coffee shops to libraries to shared office spaces as he worked remotely for thousands of hours. Unfortunately, the problems with remote studying/working only reared their head more and more as he experienced a shortage of quiet environments, a chronic lack of parking, poor value, horrible seating quality, and more.

The tipping point was in 2017 when he was working at what he thought was the best coffee shop in Portland - it had many comfy seats and desk seats, great coffee, it was quiet, and the WIFI was good! Weirdly, after two hours, the WIFI cut out so he asked about it, only to find that an additional $3 purchase was required every two hours in order to continue using the internet. Something snapped, and in that moment, Remote.ly was born.