Macgill Davis of Rize.io

The widespread adoption of Large Language Models (LLMs) represents perhaps the most significant productivity breakthrough since the personal computer. 80% of US employees using AI report increased productivity. Yet for all the promise of AI-driven productivity gains, most knowledge workers still face a fundamental measurement problem. While we live in the age of widespread data availability for everything —from steps and heart rate to sleep cycles and even the number of times we check our phones; the most precious resource of all remains frustratingly unmeasured: time itself.

Enter Macgill Davis, a self-described "quantified-self” enthusiast who couldn't believe such a fundamental gap existed. "We were looking for…essentially a ‘Whoop for work’," Macgill explains, “and we just couldn't believe that it didn't exist.” This personal frustration became the genesis of Rize, which Macgill calls "the world's most automated and intelligent time tracker." 

INTRODUCING: RIZE.IO, THE WORLD’S MOST AUTOMATED & INTELLIGENT TIME TRACKER

Rize operates as an automated time tracker that monitors users as they use their devices, collecting data on apps used and websites visited. The platform leverages advances in time-series databases and AI to store massive datasets while maintaining fast query speeds. Recent AI integration allows Rize to automatically tag time to specific tasks, projects, and clients, transforming raw activity data into meaningful productivity metrics that help users understand not just what they're doing, but how effectively they're working. The platform also offers additional features to support users in improving productivity including: task management, goal setting and management, and customized alerts when users engage in a ‘distracting’ activity to keep them focused at the task at-hand. At the end of the day, a personalized report can be generated on the user's productivity and recommendations for improvement. 

THE HUMAN BEHIND THE PRODUCT

Co-founder of Rize.io, Macgill Davis's path to entrepreneurship started young.  As a kid, he shares he had a “pretty aggressive” lemonade business, converting the typically stationary lemonade stand into a door-to-door service. As Macgill puts it he “took the product to the people.” Macgill reflects that he “always liked to build,” experimenting with woodworking and metal work in high school. To him building a company was similar. His next venture was launched while studying Computer Science at Tufts University. When a friend had a concept for an outdoor guide booking platform and needed someone technical to be the CTO, Macgill stepped up to the plate. The rest is history. As he puts it, he “fell in love with it. I’ve been founding companies since then.” 

Macgill would go on to join the startup Peer, acquired by Twitter and then launch his next venture, Humbledot, a communication tool. As he describes, “we raised a few million and built out the team, and we ran that for about three years.” After winding down the company in early 2020, Macgill and his co-founder went on to build Rize. 

THE PLAYBOOK: LESSONS LEARNED FROM BUILDING RIZE.IO

Macgill’s founder journey scaling the Rize platform offers several lessons for builders from launch timing to how to build a product that truly resonates.

Technology as a Tailwind to Unlock Market Opportunities

A common question posed by investors to emerging company founders is ‘why now’? Investors want to understand why the timing is right for a particular solution, particularly if the identified pain point has been persistent for a while. Shifting consumer behaviors and technological advancements are compelling reasons to justify company launch timing. 

In Rize’s case, the platform’s real breakthrough lies in how it leverages LLM technology to track time spent on an ultra-granular level (down to 15 second intervals). Prior to this "the ability to [track tasks] in an automated way just didn't exist," Macgill explains, then "there were libraries that came out that allowed tracking of the active window on Mac and Windows. That's what we built on." Additionally, improvements in time series databases enabled storage and querying of massive datasets, while AI and LLMs opened new possibilities for intelligent task categorization.

Building an ‘Experience’, Not Just a Platform

What makes Rize unique isn't just its sophisticated technology—it's the relentless focus on the user experience and ease of use applied to solving a real identified pain point. While other productivity tools chase features, Rize chases user delight. In a world abundant with cheap sophisticated technology, it will be the companies with a deep understanding of their customers that orchestrate a winning user experience that will succeed.

The team started by identifying their target customer: "the athletes of work," Macgill explains, "just the way Whoop built for [the] athletes of health or fitness.” The team then turned to focusing on the experience and how they wanted to make users feel. “When you use Whoop, it gamifies fitness and makes you want to live healthier. With Rize we want people to feel something similar," Macgill comments. They aimed to create a "sense of accomplishment at the end of the day, where you can look back and you can see all the work you've done." It's productivity tracking reimagined as empowerment rather than surveillance. For ongoing product design, the team maintained close user relationships through Discord communities and feature request boards, treating user feedback as a core product development input. As they expanded into B2B with their Teams product, they began conducting more formal user interviews to understand complex organizational use cases.

Sustainable company Building: Slow and Steady Can Win the Race

Today, it is a tough venture capital fundraising environment, particularly for consumer companies. In Q1 2025, only 10.4% of venture capital financing went to the consumer goods & services sector - down 3% compared to Q1 2024. For some, bootstrapping might be driven by necessity. For Rize, Macgill and his co-founder deliberately chose a path for Rize focused on sustainability and building on their own terms rather than chasing venture-scale growth metrics. "We wanted to build a sustainable company on our own terms and our own timeline," Macgill explains. "I think with VC money, when you take it initially, there's a ticking clock, like you're on the treadmill [and] you have to grow extremely fast."  They've since raised a small strategic pre-seed round while maintaining profitability, but are focused on using capital strategically rather than dependently.

The payoff extended beyond maintaining equity. It enabled what Macgill calls "optionality"—the freedom to run as a profitable company and pursue venture scale on their own terms. More importantly, this approach enabled sustainable founder well-being. "It's taught me a lot about sustainability," Macgill reflects. "I found that balance of having a life and building a company, rather than just building a company."

THE FUTURE OF HUMAN PRODUCTIVITY 

Macgill’s journey with Rize illuminates broader implications for the intersection of technology and human productivity. As AI and automation capabilities continue advancing, the most successful products won't be those that replace human judgment, but those that augment and enhance human potential.

As we stand at the intersection of advancing AI capabilities and growing awareness of burnout and work-life balance, products like Rize point toward a more humane future of productivity. The question isn't whether technology will reshape how we work—it's whether we'll design that future with human flourishing at its center.