The short version
- Founder: Adi Ben Elyahu – marketer, designer, solo founder.
- Diagnosis: not formally diagnosed with ADHD. The lived experience is real either way.
- Why FOCO exists: the loneliness of trying to work while mentally stuck.
- Core insight: the problem was never time management. It was momentum.
- What FOCO is, in one line: a companion for the hardest moment of work – the moment right before you begin.
FOCO wasn’t born from a startup idea
It was born from long nights sitting alone in front of an open laptop.
I’m a founder. I have ideas. Big goals. A vision for things I genuinely want to build.
But there was one moment that kept repeating itself over and over again.
The moment that wouldn’t go away
I would sit in front of a task I knew I needed to do – and still couldn’t start.
Not because I was lazy. Not because I didn’t care.
My brain would just freeze under the weight of it. The task felt too big. Too unclear. Too overwhelming.
And when you work alone, there’s nobody there to break it down for you. No manager saying, “Start with this.” No teammate sitting next to you helping you organize the chaos in your head.
The part nobody talks about
That’s the part people don’t really talk about.
The loneliness of trying to work while feeling mentally stuck.
You sit there opening tabs, closing tabs, switching between ideas, thinking about ten different things at once – and somehow ending the day exhausted without actually moving forward.
What I tried before FOCO
I tried everything. To-do lists. Productivity apps. Timers. Systems. Methods.
But most productivity tools are built for people who already know how to begin.
My problem was never time management. It was momentum.
The tool I built for myself
So I started building a tiny tool for myself – something that could take a big overwhelming task and break it into one small, clear step I could actually start.
No pressure. No guilt. No feeling like I was failing again.
That little tool eventually became FOCO.
Not another productivity app. A companion for the hardest moment of work: the moment right before you begin.
Why I haven’t pursued an ADHD diagnosis
I get asked this. My honest answer: a diagnosis would not have changed what I needed to build. The experience was real with or without the label.
The clinical research on task initiation deficit and executive function impairment maps perfectly to what I lived. Whether my brain technically meets the diagnostic threshold for ADHD doesn’t change the fact that the tool I needed didn’t exist. So I built it.
Many of the people FOCO serves are in the same position. Diagnosed, undiagnosed-but-suspecting, late-diagnosed at 35 or 45 or 55, or simply too tired of fighting their own brain to care about a label. FOCO is for all of them.
What FOCO is now
An app on iOS and Android that breaks any stuck task into five tiny first steps. Voice capture for when typing feels like too much. Focus timers calibrated for variable attention. A mascot companion that stays present – not a chatbot, just a friend in the room.
A website with free tools – focus timers, brain dump, body doubling – and a content library built for ADHD adults figuring themselves out.
Everything we make is designed for one moment: the moment you know what to do and cannot start.
Why FOCO is independent
FOCO is bootstrapped. No VC investors, no corporate parent. The decisions that shape the product come from someone who uses it daily and has skin in whether it actually works.
That matters because most productivity apps optimize for engagement metrics that hurt ADHD users – streaks designed to punish, notifications designed to addict, dark patterns to inflate retention. FOCO does not do those things. The business depends on you finding the product useful, not on you feeling guilty when you miss a day.
Get in touch
I read every email. If FOCO helped you, if it failed you, if you have a story to share, or if you want to write for the FOCO content library – reach out here.
FAQ
Are you a licensed clinician?
No. I’m a marketer and product designer with lived experience of the problem FOCO solves. Clinical claims in FOCO content are sourced from peer-reviewed research and named ADHD specialists. See our editorial policy.
Why “Adi Ben Elyahu” and not a company name?
Because FOCO is small and personal. The founder behind it is the same person writing the content, designing the product, and reading the support emails. That feels honest, so we keep it visible.
Have you considered getting an ADHD assessment?
Yes. The honest answer is that the diagnosis would change my self-understanding but not the work that needed to happen. I may still pursue one. I’ll be transparent about it if I do.
What did you do before FOCO?
Marketing and product design work. The shift from doing my own work to building a tool that helps with my own work was gradual – FOCO emerged from a personal scratchpad, not a business plan.
How do I reach the founder directly?
Email support@tryfoco.com. For now, that goes straight to me. As FOCO grows, that may change, but the commitment to read every message stays.