Why This Ex-Googler Wants Us To Focus on Mindful Productivity

For people who want to achieve more without sacrificing their mental health

Anne-Laure Le Cunff is the founder of Ness Labs — an award-winning product studio focused on mindful productivity; “building neuroscience-based tools to support makers who care.” [I’m a huge fan of its blog where Anne-Laure shares lots of useful articles.]

She is also editor of Maker Mag — a magazine for indie makers and solo entrepreneurs, Scout at Backed VC, author of Make and Shine and, if that wasn’t enough, Anne-Laure is studying for an MSc in Neuroscience.

Prior to starting Ness Labs, Anne-Laure worked on the digital health team at Google HQ before setting up her first startup — Lysa — a smart health assistant.

In this interview, we discuss how she got interested in neuroscience, what excites her at the intersection of tech and science, some of her daily habits and advice she’d give her younger self.

Newnham: What was your childhood like and how did it shape you?

Le Cunff: I have a very big family. I’m half French, half Algerian, and last time we counted there are over a hundred people on the Algerian side of my family, all descended from my grandma. This made me very comfortable with…