When did you last feel excited about email? If you’re older, maybe back in 2004 when Gmail’s beta invites were launched. Younger folks might say never. Many startups attempted to revolutionize email, yet the most successful ones only added new features to the basic inbox.
Now, a new venture by ex-Pinterest designers and engineers is reimagining the inbox from scratch, and you might find this one thrilling.
Extra, created by BuildForever, removes subject lines, folders, and tags, opting for an inbox centered around your life with an actionable overview in its “Today” tab which updates in real-time with vital information.
The rest of your inbox is automatically sorted into categories that become tabs, reflecting your life as determined by your existing emails. This could mean separate tabs for family, travel, finances, newsletters, and more. This results in a personalized experience where you can stay on top of your emails.
The concept originated from co-founder and CEO Naveen Gavini’s personal struggle with a chaotic inbox. “I was a diligent inbox zero person at work but faced chaos in my personal email, leading to missed messages and ghosted friends,” he explains. He believes the issue lies in the email’s structure, where important messages get buried over time.
Extra aims to address this with a fresh interface and AI intelligence, though it’s not marketed as an AI app. Gavini notes that while AI is a hot topic in Silicon Valley, many users don’t know where to start with it. “Many claim to offer an AI personal assistant, yet people only need basic problems solved.”
Extra could not exist without its AI tech that learns and organizes your inbox. The app even includes an AI assistant for tasks like finding emails, unsubscribing, and voice replies.
With Extra, you start on the “Today” view, where your important emails appear. Tasks can be managed like a to-do list, and Extra predicts your next steps, such as opening files or clicking links. Below are “Good to Know” items, like order confirmations and news headlines from newsletters.
The “Daily Cleanup” lets you address low-priority emails, offering options to unsubscribe or delete unwanted emails for storage savings. For now, Extra works with Gmail only but this might expand.
Subscribers can explore favorite newsletter headlines on a “News” tab, presented attractively like Apple News. An “Events” tab suggests activities and allows calendar integration for seamless planning. The “Shop” tab curates shopping-related emails into a storefront with enticing visuals and promotions.
Gavini says, “By giving users control, they decide what they want to receive, enjoying it in the best format.”
Extra’s app adjusts to your unique lifestyle with personalized tabs. Beta testers have unsubscribed from over two million emails and transformed four million into “Today” summaries. The app is available on iOS and the web for waitlisted users.
TechCrunch describes Extra as a well-designed app that makes checking your inbox delightful. Users enjoy unsubscribing from clutter, managing to-dos, and discovering new products and events. There’s room for improvement, but feedback is minor.
BuildForever, co-founded by Steven Ramkumar and Albert Pereta, both ex-Pinterest employees, aims to bring design inspiration to consumer apps, beginning with email. They hope to extend to other apps like messaging and calendars.
The company secured $9.5 million in seed funding from Abstract, A* (Kevin Hartz), Felicis, and Elad Gil, with angel investors such as Pinterest co-founders Ben Silbermann and Evan Sharp, Gmail creator Paul Bucheit, and many others.
Extra is free and will remain so, with monetization planned for later. It’s available on the web and iOS.