Why I built Pausr
The short version of how I went from launching companies to building a break timer.
Alex Ren · 2 min read
Hi,
I have been working remotely for five years. Since Covid, like a lot of people. Five years launching companies from the same desk: some worked, some did not. That is the game.
What I did not see coming was the bill.
The one project I let fail, all those years, was me.
Nobody prepares you for that part. Go remote and there is no colleague swinging by with a coffee, no commute to cut the day in two. Just you, the screen, and hours that pile up with nothing to stop them.
Whole days without standing up for anything but a refill. Eyes burning by 6 pm. Focus gone by mid-afternoon, which I made up for by working later. I thought I was holding a pace. I was wearing myself out.
So I looked for a tool. Not one asking me to meditate for twenty minutes between two calls. One that would do a single thing: get me away from the screen at the right moment, without me having to think about it.
It did not exist. Wellness apps talked to me like a patient, productivity apps pushed me to do more, and none of them said the plain thing research has repeated for years: people who take real breaks get more done.
So I built it. For myself, first. A quiet companion on my Mac that tells me to look up, to stand, to walk, and that catches me on the sites where I burn time when what I need is rest.
It is not a meditation app and not a wellness gadget. It is a work tool, built on one idea:
Your attention is your most valuable resource, and it does not recharge in front of a screen.
If your days happen on a screen, Pausr is for you. Not to work less. To work well for years, instead of sprints.
P.S. If you would rather not spend five years learning this the way I did, the trial runs seven days. That is usually enough to feel the difference.
Founder of Pausr
Paris, July 2026
