Built by a dad who was tired of being the phone police
FocusWing wasn't created in a boardroom. It was born from late-night arguments, failed screen time rules, and a 15-year-old who taught me what teens actually need.
Hi, I'm Greg. Father of three, a pretty good winemaker, and an amateur kickboxer.
For two years, my oldest daughter Jacqueline's homework routine was a battlefield. What should've taken 45 minutes stretched into three-hour sagas of "five more minutes" on her phone, broken promises, and escalating arguments that left both of us exhausted and resentful.
I tried everything. Screen Time limits? She'd find loopholes. App blockers? She'd beg for "just one more unlock" until we were screaming at each other. Take the phone away? Now I can't reach her after school. Every solution made me the bad guy and made her more creative at lying.
The breaking point came when I caught her using her little brother's iPad at 1 AM to finish an assignment she'd supposedly been "working on" all night. She wasn't lazy. She was trapped in a distraction loop she couldn't escape, and I was the prison guard she resented.
I started building a simple timer that would pause when she left it. No blocking, no reporting—just a tool that made fake focus impossible. Jacqueline was skeptical ("Great, another dad app"), but she tried it. The first week, she discovered she was actually focused for only 18 minutes out of a 3-hour "study session."
That number shocked her. She wasn't lazy—she was distracted. For the first time, she had data about herself, not judgment from me.
Then Jacqueline took over
"Dad, this is actually helpful, but it's ugly and you used the word 'synergy.'" Jacqueline started pitching improvements from a teen's perspective. She made it clear: any app that feels like surveillance is dead on arrival.
She pushed for complete teen control over sharing. She insisted parents should never see apps, messages, or browsing. She helped design the interface so it felt like her tool, not mine. I was building a solution to her problem—she was teaching me what the problem actually was.
Now Jacqueline's not just my daughter—she's our teen advisor. She tests every feature, rips apart every new design, and makes sure FocusWing stays true to its core promise: help teens focus without making them feel controlled.
"My friends won't use an app their parents forced on them. But they'll use one that makes them feel in control. That's what makes FocusWing different."
Why we do this
The fight isn't between parents and teens. It's between teens and distraction.
We're not here to give parents control. We're here to give teens awareness. When a teen sees their own focus data, they don't need a parent to police them—they police themselves. That's the only habit that actually sticks.
Empower, don't control
Tools work better than rules. Especially when teens choose to use them.
Privacy is non-negotiable
Trust can't exist without privacy. We built both into the technology.
Data over drama
Numbers don't lie. Real focus time is the best measurement.
Our team (it's small but obsessed)
Greg
Founder & CEO
A dad who spent 2 years fighting with his daughter over homework. Now building with a mission.
Jacqueline
Teen Advisor
15-year-old focus warrior. First user, harshest critic. Makes sure we never forget what teens actually want.
You?
Building with us
We're growing. If you care about teen mental health and focus, we'd love to talk.
Built for families like yours
Because we lived the problem. And we solved it without breaking trust.