How Aaron Chasan is making the office less lonely

Summary

While working at Ernst & Young in 2020, Aaron Chasan heard HR leaders worry about maintaining social connection in a hybrid workplace, prompting him to build Thred. The tool asks employees who opt in to complete an interest assessment, then matches them with coworkers for one-on-one conversations around shared interests, applying a summer-camp insight about connecting isolated newcomers with socially connected peers. Platform data says employees who made a friend on Thred are 50 percent less likely to leave, and the service has expanded beyond workplaces to neighborhoods and school districts. Chasan runs Thred’s product roadmap, wikis, schedules, and other projects in Notion, which he describes as central to his professional and personal organization. He advises builders to surface common ground, start building rather than over-research, and maintain a personal connection to the problem.

Takeaways

1. 1

   Thred’s platform data says employees who made a friend through the service are 50 percent less likely to leave.

2. 2

   Chasan says Thred grew into a profitable business without outside funding, supported by his personal connection to the problem of belonging.

3. 3

   Notion is used for Chasan’s calendar, documents, product roadmap, internal wikis, event planning, Dungeons & Dragons characters, and board-game development.