Numerous startups have attempted to modernize how we arrange meetings and calls over the last ten years, though many haven't succeeded. However, the scheduling landscape appears to be experiencing a revival, with established players such as Google and Outlook becoming increasingly sophisticated and newer companies like Calendly demonstrating substantial growth.

Undock, a startup supported by Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, is aiming to participate in this evolving market.

The company recently secured $1.6 million in seed funding from investors including Lightship Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Lerer Hippeau, Alumni Ventures Group, Active Capital, Arlan Hamilton of Backstage Capital, Sarah Imbach of PayPal/LinkedIn, and a number of other individual investors.

Currently, Undock operates as a Chrome extension that enables users to easily view shared availability within a group, even if not all participants utilize Undock, directly from their email interface. Nash Ahmed, Founder and CEO, refrained from detailing the specific technology behind this functionality. However, it appears that users without Undock can temporarily connect their calendar to a meeting request to automatically identify mutually convenient times. Alternatively, they can view proposed times from other group members and indicate their availability.

This represents only the initial phase of Undock’s development. The company intends to introduce a comprehensive calendar application in the first quarter of 2021, featuring collaborative event editing and integrated video conferencing capabilities.

Ahmed emphasizes that Undock’s key distinguishing characteristics are its focus on collective availability – rather than individual schedules – and its integration within the email environment.

While scheduling will remain free within Undock, the complete calendar application (upon its public release) will offer various subscription levels starting at $10 per user each month. Undock will also implement a data retention model similar to Slack, with pricing adjusted accordingly.

“A significant hurdle is undoubtedly user education,” Ahmed explained, noting that some initial users were initially puzzled by the product’s straightforwardness. “We described it as functioning like autocomplete. And early adopters would begin composing an email and then inquire about next steps, or whether they needed to return to Undock or the Chrome extension. We had to clarify that they could simply continue typing.”

The Undock team, which is led by Black and female founders, consists of 18 individuals; 28% of the team identifies as female, 22% as Black, and 11% as LGBTQ, with even greater diversity represented within the leadership structure.