Breather was started a couple years ago by Julien Smith – a business writer. He was tired of being on the road and having nowhere to go to do work in between events/meetings other than Starbucks. He decided to create “a service that offers travellers – and everybody else – a place to go in the city”.
When I read this article, I immediately thought of our class on innovation and entrepreneurship and how we talked about disruptive innovation. Breather is somewhat of a disruptor to not only Starbucks, but also other coffee shops where people go to study/take breaks/do work when they have nowhere else to go in between meetings/events/etc. It could also be a disruptor to the hotel industry as people can now book rooms by the hour that provides them with a quiet sanctuary to get away from noise instead of having to book a hotel room while they are in a city just for the day. I also think Julien Smith saw a gap in the market and took the opportunity to fill it because he assumed that there were other people in the same situation as him. It turned out to work very well for him as the company is seeing about a 30% growth per month. I think it is a great idea because the rooms can have a huge variety of different uses, they aren’t just limited to business people. Personally, when I am wanting to retreat from a city to a quiet place I will definitely look into renting a room from Breather!