“Sitting is the New Smoking” and DFW company Varidesk is helping you quit
An average American will spend 10 hours a day sitting, whether it’s at a desk, in a car, on a bus, or in front of the TV. Add that with 8 hours of sleep and you’ve got an entire population spending nearly 75% of the day not moving. Sitting has been linked to increased back pain and health concerns like obesity, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. To get Americans moving again, Jason McCann and Dan Flaherty came up with a unique standing desk solution for the office: Varidesk.
The idea came to them in 2012 when Varidesk chairman Flaherty was diagnosed with sciatic nerve pain. A physical therapist suggested using a standing desk at work and Flaherty experimented with different standing desk options. Varidesk CEO McCann recalled, “He would literally put a brown box on top of his desk and felt a lot better.” But the range of standing desk choices were limited and so the two innovated their own alternatives. McCann said, “I remember Dan sitting there describing the product: ‘Can it come out of a box and sit on top of my desk and not have to be bolted down? Can it just pop up in a second?’”
And with that, Varidesk was born. The company has since created a series of different standing desks to fit a variety of needs in the workplace. With a patented spring lifting mechanism, each Varidesk is easy to lift and alter to find the right ergonomic fit. The company’s product line ranges from fully adjustable desks to smaller desktops that can convert existing desks into standing ones. You can also find solutions for tight cubicle spaces and laptops. At present, Varidesk has 50 new products and 200 more in the works.
Coupled with an efficient shipping process, Varidesk has become a huge success and is making the office workspace healthier. In 2017, McCann and Flaherty were awarded EY Entrepreneur of the Year for the Southwest Region. The company made its millionth sale this month and can proudly claim that over 95% of the Fortune 500 are their clients. Their latest high-profile client is the Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks.
Did you know Varidesk’s experiments and prototyping are considered research and development, and are therefore eligible for the R&D Tax Credit? If you are conducting similar experiments, you could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and receive up to 14% on your expenses. To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today.
Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE credits as well as CPE credits for CPA’s. For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.
