Announcing Mindy's Alpha: Your own, email-first, Chief of Staff
Benoit Berthoux
Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the onslaught of daily, mundane tasks or constant decision-making? Gen AI might help, but what if you didn’t want to become a “prompt engineer”? What if you wanted to go far beyond the confines of a chat window? What if making AI work for you was as simple as sending an email to your favorite co-worker, to a trusted friend or to your significant other?
Today we are excited to announce Mindy™ (pronouns are he/him, she/her, they/them, you decide), a unique take on productivity where we turn email, the most trusted Internet tool, into a launch-pad to make AI work for you.
Mindy team
Generative AI needs to work for everyone
We are a team of seasoned tech founders and executives who helped build world-class consumer and enterprise businesses, at PayPal, YouTube, Accenture (to name a few). When ChatGPT hit our screens at the end of 2022, the excitement was palpable: For the first time in a while, we saw the potential of a game-changing technology with obvious positive impact on everyone.
Then we saw our less tech-savvy friends and family members try these tools, get excited and rapidly leave them on a shelf. We also witnessed suspicion about the real value of AI and its ultimate aims. Sometimes we saw total rejection of AI, based on the fear of being replaced or spied on.
It is not uncommon for a profound new technology to elicit hype and fear. Remember the days when mobile phones would give us all cancer? In the case of generative AI, there is an amazing opportunity to create a better life for many and a significant risk that people will be left behind.
This is why we created Mindy: to fight for the underdog, to put the power of AI in the hands of students, professionals, parents, small businesses, to ensure that they are not left on the side of the road and help them achieve their dreams and their full potential.
A personal Chief of Staff - Not another AI assistant
While common in government or large enterprises, the role of Chief of Staff is less known to the broader public. A Chief of Staff generally works behind the scenes to solve problems, coordinate tasks, and distill insights so that their leader can focus on the outcome. From resolving complex logistical issues to helping with deep search and analysis, they create an intimate and trusted relationship, over time, by engaging in dialogue, delivering results, and learning about their leader’s context and preferences.
We want Mindy to become everybody’s personal Chief of Staff, at home and at work. To make this vision a reality, we are building a product that is simple, powerful, and trustworthy.
It is not uncommon for a profound new technology to elicit hype and fear. Remember the days when mobile phones would give us all cancer? In the case of generative AI, there is an amazing opportunity to create a better life for many and a significant risk that people will be left behind.
This is why we created Mindy: to fight for the underdog, to put the power of AI in the hands of students, professionals, parents, small businesses, to ensure that they are not left on the side of the road and help them achieve their dreams and their full potential.
Simple
Just send an email as you would to a friend or a colleague. No install required, no need to download yet another plugin, no need to become a prompt engineer.
Powerful
Get stuff done. Mindy works with you and gets better at it over time.
Trustworthy
Only share data that you are comfortable sharing. Mindy earns your trust.
Our ultimate goal is to free everyday people from mundane or cumbersome tasks, from preparing the next family vacation to coordinating complex projects at work.
Email Mindy at m@mindy.com and get stuff done
If, like 4.4 billion other people around the world, you have an email account, congratulations, you can use Mindy now! All you have to do is send your question or request to m@mindy.com, no install or log-in required.
We want Mindy to become everybody’s personal Chief of Staff, at home and at work. To make this vision a reality, we are building a product that is simple, powerful, and trustworthy.
Here are a few tasks that Mindy can perform for you today:
Deep search
From finding the best high school for your teenager to complex technical questions about a publicly traded company’s financial performance, Mindy works for you by scanning the web, specialized data sources and producing insights.
Summarize
You need a summary of a complex Supreme Court case or maybe just want to catch-up on heavy email exchanges after coming back from this well-deserved PTO, it’s easy: forward the link, article, or email thread to Mindy.
Write
You don’t need to leave your existing productivity tools, just have Mindy draft an email or social media post for you.
Calendar
Cc your friends or colleagues and email Mindy to schedule your next get-together.
Search and schedule
With one email, have Mindy find a great place for lunch tomorrow close to SFO airport ($$ to $$$) and send you and your friends a calendar invite for 12pm to 1pm pacific time, including restaurant details.
Or have Mindy send you calendar placeholders and a short description for the best theater plays in Chicago in December.
It’s time to give people their time back. At Mindy, we believe in a future where AI works for everyone. Simple, powerful, trustworthy.
