SAN FRANCISCO– LARVOL, leading provider of data and intelligence solutions for the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, today announced an ambitious business experiment. Founder and CEO Bruno Larvol is now running the business exclusively from virtual and augmented reality for a complete calendar year. This effort is in partnership with VR/AR collaboration platform Spatial and VR rendering and animation firm M2 Studio.
On August 15, 2021, Larvol strapped on his VR headset and committed to spend the next year of his work life inside. As the self-proclaimed “CEO of the Metaverse,” he will take no internal video meetings or conference calls, and will replace email and phone with “avatar to avatar” conversations. His team of 180+ will simply have to join him in the metaverse, a blanket term for the digital world emerging in virtual and augmented reality.
“The future of business is in the metaverse,” Larvol says. “And we want to explore every angle of its use for workplace collaboration and for the future of cancer research and drug development.”
Larvol will use a variety of devices, including the Oculus Quest 2 and HoloLens, to travel among virtual environments in the Spatial platform, some custom built by the team at M2 Studio, who specialize in creating extraordinary VR spaces.
LARVOL became Spatial’s largest corporate user earlier this year when they announced the company’s commitment to going “VR-first.” As a remote company since 2004, LARVOL was well-positioned to experiment with this innovation in remote work. It turned out to be a great fit for their company culture, with a team of digital nomads spread across the globe. Fast forward to today, and LARVOL team members are each equipped with a VR headset so they can meet, collaborate, and even socialize as avatars.
An evangelist for both new technology and remote work, Larvol believes this extreme experiment is necessary to truly understand the wild west that is the metaverse and to take the company’s use of the technology to the next level.
“If you’re going to take a rocket to Mars, you first have to spend a year in the desert preparing for the voyage,” Larvol says. “We are the first business colony on the metaverse, and we have to think like pioneers on a rocket ship to the future. We need to spend a year fully invested in the atmosphere of the metaverse, and I believe that starts with me.”
Larvol also hopes to shine a spotlight on the possibilities virtual reality offers for companies in all industries willing to explore. At LARVOL, that includes the visualization of cancer data and the potential to convene top opinion leaders in oncology in VR.
“Doing business in virtual reality is not for the faint of heart,” he admits. “It’s a little like logging on to the internet in 1996, but the payoff is worth it. Having our office in the metaverse through Spatial gave us the proximity that we didn’t know we were missing, and helps us connect and collaborate, even pushing the boundaries of how we navigate the world of technology with our customers.”
Bruno will be sharing his yearlong experience on social media and through regular events, held in partnership with Spatial and M2 Studio. He hopes other business leaders will take the leap to explore the metaverse along with him, starting now.
