The startup Howie, an AI-powered scheduling assistant, has publicly launched and already boasts over 1,000 paying customers. The tool, designed to eliminate the back-and-forth of traditional email scheduling, operates within users’ existing email inboxes. Howie proactively coordinates meeting times, adds events to calendars, and even flags potential scheduling conflicts.
Initially, the company, based in Seattle, secured $6 million in seed funding, led by True Ventures. Notable investors also included Jason Calacanis, Aravind Srinivas (CEO of Perplexity), and Rahul Vohra (Superhuman). The software works by allowing users to simply cc Howie on email threads, automating the entire process.
Howie caters to a diverse clientele, including startup founders, venture capitalists, journalists, and consultants. The system learns users’ preferences through customizable documents, allowing it to tailor scheduling to specific needs – for example, automatically setting pitch calls to 25 minutes and utilizing Zoom.
Behind the scenes, Howie utilizes multiple advanced language models, escalating complex cases to human reviewers to ensure accuracy and reliability. The service is offered at $25 per month for the standard plan and $95 per month for the premium version, which includes features like renaming Howie.
Founded by Austin Petersmith and Dave Newman, the team initially developed the concept in 2015, recognizing the right market opportunity now. The nine-person team includes experienced founders and alumni from Y Combinator. The company has experienced impressive growth, with monthly recurring revenue and usage increasing by an average of 50% month-over-month as of 2025.