Philip

How a distraction problem turned into Focus Valley

For months, I was spending most of my days at my laptop trying to build startups. The problem was that my phone was always next to me. Whenever I got bored or stuck, I'd pick it up "for a minute" and start scrolling Instagram or other social media. Suddenly, 20 or 30 minutes were gone. I didn't need another Pomodoro timer. I needed something that could actually bring my attention back to my laptop. That became the core idea behind Focus Valley: a focus timer that can detect when I'm no longer actively using my computer. I started with a simple demo and an MVP. Then I gave it a visual identity inspired by Adventure Time and started adding features like streaks, gamification, and a global leaderboard. Eventually, it grew beyond the original idea. I built web, Mac, and Linux versions and launched a waitlist before releasing it. What started as a problem I had while building startups became a product I could actually share with other people who struggle with the same thing.