While AI may not be capable of replacing Google search yet, it could be useful in more specific situations, like handling the tedious work that comes with performing everyday tasks like scheduling meetings. That's the vision of Skej, a new startup that offers an AI assistant that integrates into email and finds the best time for everyone to meet.
Unlike other scheduling solutions like Calendly, with Skej you don't need to look up someone's free time to find a time to meet – in fact, if someone sends you a Calendly link, Skej will scan the link to find a time when you're both free and add the meeting to your calendar.
“I've never met anyone who liked scheduling meetings,” says Paul Canetti, co-founder and CEO of Skej.
The New York-based serial entrepreneur, who previously founded and sold no-code app development platform MAZ Systems, was also behind another meetings startup called Bounce House, where people paid a fee to book bulk time with professionals like yoga or piano teachers.
The Skej team, CTO Aninda Mondal, CEO Paul Canetti and COO Justin CanettiImages courtesy of Skej
The same founding team from previous efforts and others returned to work on Skej, including Canetti, his brother Justin, CTO Aninda Mondal, and fourth co-founder Simon Baumer, who died of cancer three months after founding Skej last August. (The team has a memorial page for Simon on the Skej website, which says he created “the core of what the product is today.”)
Paul explained that Calendly was useful and built a “great business” for him, but he didn't like exposing all his free time. He only felt truly satisfied with schedule management when he had a human assistant like EA. Unlike technology platforms, humans can easily understand the context before and after a meeting, and even if you have a busy schedule, you can know whether to shuffle your calendar to accommodate important people. This led to the idea of creating an AI assistant that could do the same thing.
Image credit: Skej
To use Skej, you don't need to download an app or visit a website; just add an email address to your conversation. In the future, Skej will also add phone numbers, which you can add to text chats as well. The service is currently available for all email platforms, including Gmail, Outlook, and more. It also integrates with other programs like Zoom and Google Calendar, with support for Outlook Calendar coming in the coming weeks.
To use Skej, simply add an email to the conversation and ask in a reply to find a time to meet. For example, when TechCrunch was scheduling an interview with Paul, Paul replied, “Skej, can you suggest some times this week that might be available?” The AI assistant responded with an email with options and a link that would automatically connect to its calendar to find a time. I replied with my preferences, and Skej replied that a meeting was set up and added it to my calendar.
This system works because the Skej user (in this case, Paul) has granted access to his calendar – Skej simply sends calendar invites on his behalf.
However, by clicking the included link, Skej could have automatically booked the meeting without any interaction. This latter option is perfect for internal teams where many people need to get together to find a time slot that works for everyone in the group.
Internally, Skej leverages a variety of LLM models, including a model that interprets email language and breaks it down into data that is ingested into Skej's own system.
Image credit: Skej
“We call it the brain internally, and Skej's brain is like a scheduling engine, it's like a marketplace for matching times,” Paul says. “So different people in different time zones can be there with different considerations, different conflicts, different preferences,” he continues. “And it tries to negotiate to find a match. Then it spits out a match or a proposed time, or data, and the LLM helps it craft a message that sounds natural when it sends it back,” Paul points out.
Skej also allows users to categorize different contacts and associate them with different calendars, such as work and personal calendars. In the future, Paul believes Skej will also enable this kind of categorization through natural language. For now, there is a more traditional dashboard that can be used to set up the setup and integrations.
Image credit: Skej
But one thing Skej doesn't plan on doing is building an app.
“Funnily enough, that's a question we get asked a lot from VCs: 'Well, eventually you're going to build an app, right?'” Paul says. But Skej is built to be “totally agnostic to the tools you already use and love, and to fit into the workflows you already have,” Paul explains.
“We're not forcing it on any particular app or anything specific,” he added.
Skej's pre-seed investors include Betaworks, Mozilla Ventures, Stem AI, Spice Capital, Deftly.vc and Differential Ventures. Paul said the round was raised just under $1 million. Skej's remotely distributed team includes three co-founders and two full-time engineers.
The service is currently in public beta, with over 1,000 users. Skej is free for now while the team gathers feedback, with paid plans to be added at a later date.