What is Ting?

What do Rick Rubin, Lady Gaga, a LinkedIn DM, and meeting chaos have in common? This is Meet-Ting's origin story.

Hey there,

This update is dedicated to what Ting actually is.

If you're new around here (aka everyone), it's probably helpful to explain what we're building, why we're building it, and how we’re approaching it. That “how” will become a regular part of this series - sharing the speed bumps, lucky breaks, and lessons as we try to grow a real company.

The origin story

It’s pretty simple. I’ve worked across brand, startup, platform, and agency roles in different countries, and universally, organising meetings is a total waste of time - but getting people together is incredibly valuable.

Meetings are strange and oddly wonderful when you think about them. We give them weird names (121, stand-up, all-hands, huddle), and we all share the same culture of “Can everyone see my screen?” and “You're on mute!” The memes are elite.

But they matter. It’s where deals get done, partnerships form, ideas spark (yes, even in brainstorms), and relationships grow. The problem is: no one wants to arrange them, and the tools we’ve got are kind of broken.

One morning

After a run, I came back to a bunch of emails trying to re-arrange a meeting. It took me 30 minutes to sort it out.

I thought:
How much time are we wasting doing this?
Every day. Every week. Every month.

And more importantly, with my business hat on - what’s the cost?

For big companies, it’s just more inefficiency.
But for small businesses? It might be the meeting that closes a deal. Or lands a deadline just in time.

The signal

Now, I’m someone who lives in my head (years in social and marketing will do that), and I get a lot of ideas. Most come and go. But this one wouldn’t leave me alone.

I’d been listening to a lot of Rick Rubin at the time, and something he said nudged me: most people ignore their creative instincts - but the people who actually build stuff, they pay attention.

Of course, we’re not saving lives, and I’m definitely not Johnny Cash - but I decided to tune in.

So I sent the idea to someone I really respect to ask if they thought it could work.

The idea was simple:

Let AI handle the scheduling.
Connect your calendar.
Set your preferences.
Then CC the AI into the email thread.
It takes over from there.

I sent the message one Sunday.

Thankfully, Ollie replied. I’ll always be grateful for that. A few months later, we became co-founders, built a proof of concept, validated the use case with early users, and convinced a few incredible angels to back the idea.

Somewhere in there, we also made it to the final round of a million dollar VC pitch and didn’t get it - but that fail story’s coming in a future post for comedy value.

Building with AI (when you haven’t before)

One of the biggest personal learnings? Dealing with imposter syndrome.

There’s that Kanye West clip where he says:

“I saw Lady Gaga was creative director at Polaroid. I like some of her songs. But what does she know about cameras?”

That’s kind of how I felt about me and AI.

I’ve always been around tech - especially social tech that connects people - but this was a different beast. Still, I really believe in the 10,000-hour mastery philosophy. If you care, and you put in the time, you can learn anything. No shortcuts. But if you’re curious and you can check your ego, you’ll figure it out.

Same goes for anyone reading this who’s thinking about changing careers but feels that fear. Ignore it. It’s way easier to judge than to create. So get creating. Tune into your signal.

I went to a gallery recently where a Korean artist had been tracing the outlines of his homes onto paper, then sticking them to his walls to take with him as he moved between cities. Kind of mad - especially if you’re his neighbour.

But it made me realise: it’s only crazy until it’s not. Now his work’s in the Tate. That’s exactly how I feel about building something the way I’ve always wanted to.

So how does Ting work?

Like I said, it’s simple on the surface - but building it has been technically way more complex than we expected.

Here’s the flow:

1. You authorise via your Google account

2. You connect your calendar and email

3. You spend a couple of minutes in the portal telling the AI how and when you like meetings (e.g. Tuesdays and Thursdays only, afternoons, 30-minute slots, always virtual)

Once that’s done, the AI has what it needs. When you CC Ting into an email, it steps in and handles the scheduling. No new tools to learn - just the humble CC function we’ve all been using our entire adult lives.

Here’s what Ting can help with (right now):

• Book: “Hey Ting, book time with me and [Name] at 2pm Monday.”

• Find Time: “Hey Ting, find time with me and [Name] next week.”

• Reschedule: “Hey Ting, this no longer works - can you send more options?” (Guest or user can request this)

• Cancel: “Hey Ting, cancel the meeting.” (Same - guest or user)

That’s just the start. Much more is coming.

Product goals and what comes next

My biggest product goal is simple:
Create a delightfully simple experience that actually works.

It’s amazing how viral something can be when you try it for the first time, it works beautifully, and you tell a friend. TikTok wouldn't have exploded if the algorithm wasn’t insanely good at surfacing stuff you love. People forget that.

So that’s our focus: how do we get to “holy $hit, that worked” moments?
Not easy. Takes testing. Takes feedback. That’s where you (hopefully) come in.

Brand, community and other tings

One unexpected joy of building outside a big company? Doing things the way I’ve always wanted to.

Take our legal docs. They’re actually readable. No 20-page contracts written by lawyers for other lawyers. I don’t think many people read that stuff - but if you do, I hope it finally makes sense. I genuinely believe this will build trust.

One of our first hires was a brilliant privacy lawyer. Getting that right from the start mattered - to make sure we’re building AI responsibly, not just moving fast and breaking things (or people’s data).

We’re also building a brand we love. Playful, a bit risky, actually memorable. Most B2B SaaS brands (if you know the lingo - congrats) are more LTV, less “wait, I can’t believe they said that.” We want to be different. We want to make you smile. We want to be human.

That matters even more now that everything’s starting to feel AI-generated.

Closed beta is live

We’re in closed beta. Gmail only for now - Outlook and others soon.

Join the waitlist and we’ll slowly start inviting more people. It’s still early, so expect bugs and rough edges. But we see every issue, every bit of feedback, and we’ve got a team dedicated to chasing those “holy $hit” moments.

If you’ve got pain points with scheduling tools - or a feature idea - give us a shout. We’re listening. Most of the best ideas start with pain (I know, that sounds weird - but YC calls it a “customer with their hair on fire,” which is somehow even weirder).

Right now, we’re focused on 1:1 meetings. Multi-guest is on the way. It’s technically wild, but we’re excited. And a couple of those unreleased features? Let’s just say... they’re what got the cheques signed.

-Dan
Chief Ting