SAN FRANCISCO — Software startup Cohort on Wednesday announced the public launch of Sidestep, a proximity-based mobile application designed to eliminate what it calls the "transactional friction" of passing acquaintances on the street or in office hallways.
The app, which recently secured $18.5 million in Series A funding led by Apex Venture Partners, uses ultra-wideband Bluetooth technology to detect other users within a 20-foot radius. Once an acquaintance is identified, Sidestep’s proprietary algorithm instantly negotiates and assigns a coordinated passing protocol to both parties, delivering real-time instructions via haptic feedback.
"For thousands of years, human beings have approached the act of walking past someone they sort-of know with zero data infrastructure," said Julian Vance, co-founder and CEO of Cohort. "You get the double-step dance, the premature wave, or the agonizing three-second window where you aren't sure whether to look at your phone or make eye contact. Sidestep digitizes that transition, rendering the hallway pass 100% frictionless."
Under the standard Sidestep protocol, passing users receive synchronized, vibration-guided prompts. For example, as two coworkers approach each other, one user’s phone might vibrate once to signal a "Level 2 Chin-Raise" (indicating warm but brief recognition), while the other’s device registers a double-tap, instructing them to perform a "Slight Left-Shoulder Yield" accompanied by a downward gaze. The entire interaction is completed in under 1.8 seconds without either party having to formulate an organic social decision.
The company’s proprietary "Gaze-Yield" algorithm calculates the appropriate response based on several data points, including organizational hierarchy, the time elapsed since the users' last calendar meeting, and mutual Slack activity.
"Before Sidestep, I was spending up to four minutes a week navigating the physical hallway between my desk and the breakroom," said Clara Finch, a senior UX designer at a financial tech firm in San Jose who participated in the beta test. "Now, my phone tells me exactly when to look down at my watch and when to offer a tight, closed-mouth smile. I don’t have to think about it, and more importantly, neither do they."
For users seeking more advanced social steering, Sidestep offers a premium subscription tier for $4.99 a month. The upgrade includes "Deep Focus Mode," which automatically broadcasts a virtual busy-signal to nearby users, authorizing the subscriber to stare directly ahead with an expression of intense intellectual preoccupation. Another feature, "Simulated Epiphany," instructs the user to suddenly stop, snap their fingers, and turn 180 degrees in the opposite direction to avoid an oncoming manager.
Despite criticisms from some workplace psychologists who argue that unscripted, awkward human contact is vital to social cohesion, Vance remains confident in the market appetite for automated politeness.
"We aren't removing humanity from the workplace," Vance said. "We are simply upgrading it to a more stable, predictable API."