Back in 2012, I co-founded a market research platform called Sumo Insight.
Smartphones, mobile video and fast 4G connectivity were creating a new opportunity: the ability to research people in real time, as they went about their day.
We could capture video, images, audio and quantitative insight in the moment, rather than relying on memories that had already been filtered or post-rationalised.
The opportunity felt enormous. But there was one problem. I could understand the customer problem, shape the proposition and write the product requirements. I could not build the software.
I could define the product, but the build sat at a distance from the people carrying the commercial risk.
AI allowed product thinking, judgement and commercial experience to reach the build directly.
We needed a development team to turn the idea into a product. They were excellent, but there was always a disconnect between the people banking their future on the result and the people being paid to deliver the build.
That disconnect may ultimately have been the difference between success and failure.
In 2016, we called it a day.
Ten years later, I found myself with another product idea.
This time, the conditions were different.
The problem that started FlowQuota
FlowQuota did not begin as a grand startup idea.
It began with a project I had allowed to drift.
The longer I left it, the harder it became to restart. It needed proper focus, but I kept failing to create the space it required.
I was busy. I was productive. But important work was still losing out to urgent work.
So I bought a Pomodoro timer.
That helped me create a boundary, but I knew almost immediately that time-boxing was only part of the answer.
A timer could count focused minutes. It could not explain why some work moved quickly while other work stalled, expanded or disappeared into the week.
It could not tell me when my focus was strongest.
It could not show me whether I was giving my best hours to the right work.
The timer was only the signal. What I wanted was the insight behind it.
So I started building FlowQuota.
From time tracking to focus intelligence
As I built, I began to notice that different kinds of work needed different conditions.
Operational work often improved when I gave it less time. A tighter window forced clarity and stopped relatively simple tasks from occupying an entire afternoon.
Strategic work needed the opposite. It required longer, protected blocks with fewer interruptions and less operational noise.
Planning, research, building and delivery also worked better when I separated them, rather than bundling everything into one large and intimidating task.
That changed how I worked.
I stopped fighting for time quite so much because I could see where my weaknesses were.
I became more deliberate about matching the right work to the right window.
I left fewer things until the last minute, completed outcomes faster and felt more in control of my week.
That is when FlowQuota became more than a timer.
It became a way to understand how my best work actually happens.
The ideas behind the product
As the product developed, I started researching the thinking behind the 5 AM Club, Parkinson’s Law, the four-day working week, deep work, Pomodoro and time blocking.
They approach productivity from different directions, but they share one core idea:
High-value work rarely happens by accident. It happens when you design for it.
The lesson is not to copy somebody else’s routine.
It is to understand your own.
Because you cannot improve what you never observe.
That principle became the foundation of FlowQuota.
What changed between 2012 and 2026
The difference this time was AI.
Not because AI replaced judgement, product thinking or commercial experience.
Because it allowed those skills to reach the product directly.
I had not spent ten years becoming a software engineer. But I could now take an idea, define the product, shape the user experience, test it and control the build myself.
For the first time, the distance between the idea in my head and the product in front of me had almost disappeared.
AI gave me control of the build.
But FlowQuota was born from a different ambition: gaining greater control of time.
AI is also baked into the product’s value. FlowQuota uses the behavioural signals created by focused work to help users understand patterns and make better decisions about the week ahead.
The timer is the sensor. The real product is insight.
Why I am launching FlowQuota
This week, I launched FlowQuota beyond the small group of friends and colleagues who have helped me shape it.
FlowQuota is for people who want to know:
- when they focus best;
- which session lengths work for them;
- where their work tends to drift;
- and which tasks expand simply because they are allowed to.
It is for people who are busy, ambitious and capable, but whose most important work still struggles to find enough space.
FlowQuota is not about filling every hour.
It is about building a better relationship with your best ones.
Take the 14-day challenge
I am inviting you to use FlowQuota free for 14 days and learn how your best work actually happens.
Track focused work. Observe the patterns. See where your time strengthens, stalls or disappears.
Fourteen days will not transform your life. But it may reveal something you can change.
Awareness is the catalyst.
Start your free 14-day FlowQuota trialFAQ
What is FlowQuota?
FlowQuota is a focus intelligence tool that helps people track focused work, understand their productivity patterns and make better decisions about when and how to use their best working hours.
How is FlowQuota different from a Pomodoro timer?
A Pomodoro timer helps you create a focused working boundary. FlowQuota goes further by turning focused work sessions into behavioural signals that help reveal when focus is strongest, which work types need more protection and where time tends to drift.
How does AI support FlowQuota?
AI supports FlowQuota by helping turn focused work data into clearer insight. The aim is not to automate productivity advice, but to help users understand patterns in their own work and make better decisions about the week ahead.
Who is FlowQuota for?
FlowQuota is for busy, ambitious people whose important work often loses out to urgent work. It is especially useful for marketers, founders, consultants, operators, analysts, students and knowledge workers who want to understand how their best work actually happens.