TimeBridge Previews the First Personal Scheduling Assistant to Help Busy Professionals Manage Time

Outlook-integrated scheduling technology debuted at Web 2.0 Conference's Launch Pad

November 7, 2006 | SAN FRANCISCO, CA — TimeBridge today previewed the first Personal Scheduling Assistant, a new technology that gives busy professionals a faster, more efficient way to schedule meetings and manage their time. TimeBridge's solution was unveiled today at O'Reilly Media's prestigious Web 2.0 Conference's Launch Pad event along with twelve other hot new technology ventures. TimeBridge was founded in May 2005 by veteran Silicon Valley entrepreneur Yori Nelken and funded with $6 million by blue-chip venture capital firms Mayfield Fund and Norwest Venture Partners.

Today's processes for scheduling business meetings are broken, inefficient and unreliable. Busy professionals spend too much time emailing and calling back and forth to coordinate schedules and find meeting times, causing a drain on productivity. Busy professionals report that it can take them as much time to schedule a meeting as the length of the meeting itself. Moreover, administrative support has dwindled for most busy professionals over the years, but technology has not filled the gap. TimeBridge has been working behind the scenes for more than a year to build an ideal solution to streamline scheduling for meeting organizers while supporting the complex, social process of getting busy people together.

TimeBridge's Personal Scheduling Assistant allows users to quickly determine the best time to meet. TimeBridge's one-step scheduling is tightly integrated with Microsoft Outlook so users can easily incorporate the company's services into their everyday lives. At the same time, TimeBridge has connected Outlook productivity tools to its collaborative web services letting organizers invite anyone with a web browser. The new service works across time zones, calendaring systems and companies. To facilitate collaboration, TimeBridge automatically provisions an online shared meeting space with each invitation to make it easier for users to organize and exchange meeting materials.

"Busy people are wasting time scheduling time because there is much more to it than matching calendars," said Yori Nelken, founder and CEO of TimeBridge. "We have created a solution that makes the messy process of scheduling a meeting as easy as sending a single email. Our commitment to integrate our service into busy people's workdays led us to build a bridge between their familiar desktop applications and next generation web services. Being chosen as one of a small handful of companies to present at the Web 2.0 Conference's Launch Pad emphasizes the importance of bridging that gap to solve real, everyday problems."

"The point that most scheduling tools miss," said Esther Dyson, author of the Release 0.9 blog for ZDNet/CNET Networks, "is that scheduling is not a simple matter of data sharing. It's a complex negotiation. TimeBridge lets you manage that negotiation across different user environments and among multiple individuals."

TimeBridge is currently in its final stages of development and will be available in public-beta in early 2007. To join the private beta program, visit www.timebridge.com.

About TimeBridge

TimeBridge has created the first Personal Scheduling Assistant to give busy professionals a faster, more efficient way to schedule their time. TimeBridge's one-step scheduling is the most efficient way to schedule meetings with large groups or individuals across time zones, calendaring systems and companies. TimeBridge allows users to easily schedule meetings, share their availability with others, and connect directly with calendars including Outlook and Google Calendar. While online calendars help users track their time, TimeBridge facilitates the social, and often complex process of getting busy people together—in person, on the phone or online. TimeBridge is backed by blue-chip venture capital firms Mayfield Fund and Norwest Venture Partners. For more information, go to www.timebridge.com.