Kais Khimji, once a partner at Sequoia Capital, has brought his startup Blockit back from the dead. This new AI-powered calendar scheduling tool makes it easy to automatically manage all of your appointments. Khimji spent the majority of his professional career as an early-stage venture investor. He’s longed to be a startup founder. His dream for Blockit started when he was still a student at Harvard almost a decade ago.
With Blockit, we hope to solve the all-too-common frustration that everyone experiences when attempting to find a mutually convenient time. Through the power of artificial intelligence, the platform is designed to deliver results that flow as effortlessly as a talented human executive assistant. Khimji first shared news of Blockit’s relaunch on Thursday. That was the exciting news that came in parallel to a pretty huge $5 million seed round led by Sequoia Capital.
“Time is the most valuable resource,” echoed Khimji, underscoring the need for effective scheduling in today’s swift-moving world. He added, “Sometimes my calendar is crazy, so I need to skip lunch, and the agent needs to know that it’s okay to skip lunch.”
What sets Blockit apart from other episodic scheduling solutions is our approach to bridging the behavioral and clinical calendar chasm. Through its AI agents, they directly negotiate meeting times through each others’ calendars. This new, simple approach eliminates the back-and-forth emails that make scheduling a nightmare. Users can customize their preferences and provide specific instructions for the AI to follow, ensuring that their scheduling needs are met precisely.
Khimji expressed his frustration with existing calendar systems: “It always felt very odd. I have a time database — my calendar. You have a time database — your calendar, and our databases just can’t talk to each other.” With Blockit as the next step, he hopes to fill this gap — making it easier than ever to coordinate calendars for anyone.
If you’re interested in trying out the platform, Blockit offers a 30-day free trial. Beyond that, the service is available to individual users on an annual subscription basis of $1,000 per user. Fewer teams can take advantage of their whole group license, which costs $5,000 annually and allows for unlimited users to access it.
Industry expert Pat Grady commented on Blockit’s potential, stating, “Blockit has a chance to become a $1Bn+ revenue business, and Kais will make sure it gets there.” This encouraging perspective points to the abundant market demand for effective scheduling solutions. It’s a tribute to Khimji’s willingness and perseverance in pursuit of making his vision a reality.