This is a copy of an email that was sent to some of Pausify community members in April 2026.
"Hey!
Ksenia and Barbara here 😊
If you’re receiving this, you’ve been part of Pausify – as a member, a regular, or joined our sessions before. In this email, we wanted to share a bit more open update with you.
As you might know, we started Pausify about a year ago – with no idea what to expect from it. Recently, we took a step back and looked at where it stands today.
From the outside, things look very positive. Sessions are full, people keep discovering it and become fans of it. We love the energy in the room – and it’s clear that something about this concept works. At the same time, we must admit that the full picture is more complicated.
Where do things actually stand?
To be very open: it's complicated, and we might have to close Pausify in the coming months. Not because of the concept – it works and we're convinced it has a lot of potential, – but the model behind it. Pausify is built on a simple idea:
- people get access to high-quality spaces, through an affordable, flexible membership.
But for this to work, a lot of people need to be part of it. And this is where things get difficult. Even though Pausify has been growing over the past year, we haven’t yet reached the point where it's stable enough to reliably cover all costs.
What are our costs actually?
Some costs are obvious:
- rent for the location
- drinks, supplies
- running the events
But there's another cost that's less visible but more critical at this stage: bringing new people in – aka marketing.
The loop we are in
Over the past months, a pattern emerged:
- every month, some people leave (they move, schedules & priorities shift)
- at the same time, new people join
But because our marketing budget is very limited, we're mostly able to replace those who leave – but not grow very far beyond that. So month after month, the same thing happens, leaving us in a loop: the concept resonates, new people discover & love it – but it doesn’t manage to grow enough to actually become stable.
On top of that, Pausify hasn't reached a point where it can support us financially, so we haven’t been paying ourselves. So even though we love building it, love the community – it’s not something we can continue long-term without change.
What happens next?
We are not closing Pausify now. We obviously love it too much to give up so easily. 🙂 But of course, we won't be able to continue running it indefinitely without change. So we decided to give it more time (around 6 months or so) – and at the same time, to be open with the community about where things stand. After that, we'll take another honest look.
If you’re reading this and thinking…
“If Pausify disappeared, I would actually miss it” – then there are ways you can help.
- Help more people discover it
This is the most important one. Marketing is our current challenge – and good old word-of-mouth, both offline and online, still works best.
A few notes here: people won’t come because they saw it once. They only come after seeing it many, many times – over weeks or even months. This is true for paid advertising, and it's true for hearing it from friends.
Another behind-the-scenes reality: even though our ~27K Insta followers sound impressive, it doesn’t mean these people actually see our updates. In practice, Instagram first shows a post to a limited group, looks how much attention it gets – then more or less decides: “okay, not interesting!” – and stops showing it (not even to our own followers). That’s why all these stupid likes, comments & reposts are so important.
(..And yes, we’d also happily spend less time thinking about algorithms & read Dostoevsky instead 😇 – but the reality is that if one doesn’t come across something new many times these days, it simply doesn’t exist.)
If you’d like to support Pausify with this kind of online engagement — but don’t want to actively check social media — we've set up a small channel where we'll share our posts & updates. Feel free to join.
- If you can - keep your membership.
We certainly understand that it's not always possible. But if you can, keeping it (or going for a small monthly donation) – even when you come less often – helps. If you cancel Netflix while you’re on vacation, it’ll still be there. Small, young businesses & projects like Pausify without external funding are directly affected by these decisions – they often determine whether they'll survive their early years & reach stability.
Another related behind-the-scenes note: how full a session is on a particular day is not actually the most important metric. Some days are full at Pausify, some days are more quiet.. – both are fine. What really matters is whether there's a reliable group of people behind it, who feel part of it & give it stability.
- Support more directly
If you feel strongly about Pausify, you can contribute financially. No amount is too small or too big – it can cover snacks for one event, or help cover a full month of rent – all makes a difference. If you prefer to avoid platform fees, you can send it directly:
PayPal: info@pausify.org
Bank: IBAN: DE75100110012620521073 (Kseniia Vlasenko)
Reference Note: “Support, Ksenia & Barbara”
Another simple way is to get gift cards for friends or colleagues and bring them along.
And finally,
Thank you to everyone who has already supported Pausify in so many ways – by contributing directly, sharing it, showing curiosity, bringing friends, or simply being part of it. (And some of you even pushed us to write this message ). There's no way Pausify would've made it this far without you.
We’re really curious to see what happens next.
Ksenia & Barbara