Kais Khimji, a former partner at Sequoia Capital, announced the launch of his AI-powered calendar scheduling startup, Blockit, on Thursday. The company secured $5 million in seed funding led by Sequoia Capital, Khimji's former employer. Blockit aims to streamline and automate the often-tedious process of scheduling meetings using advanced AI agents.
Khimji originally conceived the idea for Blockit roughly ten years ago while a student at Harvard. He believes that recent advancements in large language models (LLMs) now make it possible for AI to handle scheduling with greater efficiency and seamlessness than previous attempts. This technology allows Blockit's AI to understand and respond to complex scheduling requests, negotiate availability, and automatically update calendars.
Pat Grady, a general partner and co-steward at Sequoia who led the investment, expressed strong confidence in Blockit's potential. "Blockit has a chance to become a $1 billion revenue business, and Kais will make sure it gets there," Grady wrote in a blog post. The investment signals a significant endorsement from Sequoia, highlighting the firm's belief in Khimji's vision and the market opportunity for AI-driven scheduling solutions.
The field of automated scheduling is not new, with companies like Calendly already holding a significant market share. However, Blockit aims to differentiate itself through its use of AI agents powered by LLMs. Khimji argues that these AI agents can overcome the limitations of earlier scheduling tools, including defunct startups like Clara Labs and x.ai. These earlier ventures struggled to provide a truly seamless and intelligent scheduling experience.
Calendly, a current category leader, primarily relies on users pre-defining their availability and sharing scheduling links. Blockit, on the other hand, aims to offer a more dynamic and responsive system, where AI agents can actively negotiate meeting times on behalf of users, taking into account individual preferences and priorities.
The launch of Blockit comes at a time when AI is rapidly transforming various aspects of business and personal productivity. The company's success will depend on its ability to deliver a significantly improved scheduling experience compared to existing solutions and to demonstrate the tangible benefits of its AI-powered approach. Blockit is currently in its early stages, and further details about its product features and availability are expected to be released in the coming months.
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