Why we build Orchestra

Modern work is changing fast.

And the tech industry is at the forefront of this change.

Over the past decade, we've witnessed a major shift in how people collaborate. As the Internet became a vital part of our professional lives, we moved from on-site environments—where face-to-face meetings, whiteboards, and kanban stickers were the norm—to remote setups, where new collaborative tools have been developed to keep distributed teams aligned.

We now live in a world where many companies have either adopted hybrid work models or operate fully remotely. Despite ongoing debates about the future of work settings, remote approach seems to remain the dominant one. Companies like Linear, Zapier, and GitLab have found that distributed teams allow for greater agility and efficiency, so they have been fully remote from the start.

As huge fans of remote work ourselves, we've noticed a lasting gap: most collaboration and productivity tools were designed by and for on-site teams, not those who work remotely. We sensed the need for something better.

That's why we started Orchestra.

A collaboration gap is no joke

After 30 interviews and over 100 demos and onboardings, we detected that remote teams face this issue quite often, putting two vital aspects of remote operations at risk:

(1) Communication

While at the office, it's simple–discussions happen in person, and issues are resolved on the spot. In remote environments, communication takes on a different form. Distributed teams rely on messaging apps all the time. But instead of serving as primary tools for communication and shaping collaboration culture within the team, these apps are creating a distraction and promoting an unproductive approach instead.

(2) Task management

Managing tasks and workflows through tools has become a challenge today. , especially for those who work rely on these tools 24/7. The main issue is that the task tracker a team chooses often feels more lifeless than helpful: data and statuses become outdated, deadlines are missed, and team members rarely check or update them regularly. Work has become a burden, but it shouldn't be that way. You should control the tool, not vice versa.

As a result, teams deal with

• Spam and chaos. Work messengers are constantly overwhelmed and flooded with messages that aren't relevant to you.
• Data loss. Important information can easily get lost due to the high volume of messages—especially when collaborating across different time zones.
• Repetitive tasks. Messengers disrupt team communication when they aren't integrated with task management features. A functional workflow depends on seamless connectivity; without it, teams are forced to switch between multiple tools, leading to repetitive tasks, confusion, and frustration.
• Distracted communication. Without a dedicated place for topic-based communication, team members end up using task-tracker comments, which add complexity and inefficiency to their workflows.

We developed a bundled solution to make workflows as they were meant to be—streamlined

• Messaging-first. Communication is the heartbeat of collaboration, and messaging apps are the go-to tools for many teams. So, the primary work interface should be centered around communication. 
• Topic-based communication. Any messages and discussions should be based on certain tasks and work people do. Communication should be directed to the intended recipients, minimizing distractions for other teammates.
• One place for all your work. The tasks and goals a team is working on should be tightly connected to team communication and data. Such an approach helps prevent context switching and data loss while providing quick access to the entire history of tasks and decisions made.

These are the core principles Orchestra embodies.

We believe modern teams deserve versatile tools that provide a more intuitive work experience—free from the limitations of outdated collaboration and productivity platforms.