Rhythms Emerges from Stealth Mode to Make Successful Team Habits Easily Replicable

Rhythms: Revolutionizing Team Productivity Through AI

A new startup called Rhythms aims to enhance organizational productivity by employing AI to analyze the working patterns of top-performing teams. By seamlessly integrating with existing internal apps and platforms, Rhythms identifies a range of recurring activities—such as business reviews, retrospectives, and cross-functional meetings. Utilizing AI, the platform extracts insights from these patterns and offers actionable recommendations for teams and organizations to more effectively reach their objectives.

Founded by Vetri Vellore after the successful sale of Ally.io, the OKR software firm he established in 2018 and sold to Microsoft two years ago, Rhythms is poised to make a significant impact in the enterprise productivity sector. Before pursuing an entrepreneurial path, Vellore served as a product unit manager at Microsoft and previously launched Chronus, a platform focused on talent and career development.

While Vellore has been cautious about revealing specific details ahead of Rhythms’ official launch, he has shared that the platform allows teams to personalize and implement the cadences of both internal and external teams. “Rhythms orchestrates the set of activities that align with a particular rhythm,” Vellore explained in an email interview. “Our AI-powered system is designed to transform team dynamics, streamline workflows, and empower organizations to achieve enhanced performance.”

He also noted, “We won’t track activities specific to individuals or assess individual productivity. With our background in enterprise software, we are committed to data privacy and security, ensuring compliance from day one.”

Despite Vellore's enthusiastic claims and addressing potential privacy concerns regarding calendar data, one might question whether adopting a team’s established rhythm can genuinely enhance another team’s productivity. This concept draws inspiration from self-improvement literature, like Stephen R. Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” which has seen robust sales but lacks definitive evidence of effectiveness across differing team dynamics.

It’s important to recognize that just because successful teams have certain routines, it doesn’t mean those practices will prove beneficial for others. Teams may develop rituals that do not align with the work culture of alternative groups. Real success often requires a level of risk and adaptability—qualities that rigid routines could undermine.

In response to this skepticism, Vellore emphasized, “Our solution allows teams to customize their rhythms easily—similar to adjusting the tone of generated text in ChatGPT while maintaining the core message. As we refine our model, we’ll enhance this adaptive capability for teams.”

While Rhythms presents an intriguing concept, it may not be the comprehensive solution Vellore suggests.

Despite this, the startup has garnered significant investor interest even before onboarding its first client. Greenoaks led a $26 million seed round alongside Madrona, with contributions from Accel, Cercano, and Founders' Co-op. This support reflects confidence in Vellore's vision, stemming from his track record with Ally.io more than it does in Rhythms itself.

Vellore stated that the investment will focus on product development, expanding Rhythms’ teams in Seattle and India—where most engineering work is happening—and preparing for a platform preview for select customers in early 2024. “Our investors are fully aligned with Rhythms’ mission to transform organizational workflows,” Vellore affirmed. “By leveraging AI, Rhythms seeks to analyze the success patterns of high-performing teams and equip other groups with the necessary tools to personalize and implement these strategies.”