Start-up uses big data to ‘build the perfect meeting’

In an automated business world, setting meetings is one of the last tasks that is still done manually. In many cases, the parties almost need a meeting to work out a time for a meeting.

In an era of big data and algorithms that know better what people need better than they do themselves, there’s no need for this time-wasting negotiation process, according to Niv Kagan, CEO of Meeter, a Jerusalem-based start-up that seeks to integrate advanced 21st century technology into what has until now been a 20th century task.

Meeter’s technology is also a breakthrough in what has until now been one of the “untouchable” areas of tech – the development of an open identity server that can incorporate users from a wide range of platforms and devices. There are many identity servers out there – Microsoft’s, WhatsApp’s, and Facebook’s, just to name a few – but all of them operate only within their own universe, requiring people to sign up as members in order to use the platform. Using its technology, Meeter enables anyone to become a part of its network, and use its app to schedule meetings.

“If you think about it, what we have today is just an electronic version of the old Day Timer planners, where you filled out your calendar manually after speaking with someone on the phone to set a meeting,” said Kagan. “Today you can send an invitation to someone and have it added automatically to their calendar, but there are many different calendars, and not all systems are compatible with each other. Our system works on all calendars, and makes sure to schedule meetings only when each party is likely to accept them.”

Meeter does that by analyzing your schedule and figuring out when you are available and when you are not.

“For example, it automatically excludes nights, unless you schedule a lot of meetings then, because most people don’t conduct business at night.” Ditto a midday jaunt in the gym; if Meeter sees that you never schedule meetings between noon and 1 p.m., it will not send that time period out as a meeting suggestion.

The system does the same thing for the other party (who does not have to be a Meeter user, as long they grant permission for the app to examine their schedule). The system also includes a range of additional options such as statistical analysis of meetings and appointments, collaboration with social networks, and more.

“We’re not mind readers, but with data analysis you can tell a lot about users’ behavior,” said Kagan.

While Meeter is an app for meetings, the technology goes far deeper than just checking convenient times for get-togethers.

“The big challenge is to set up a system that can identify the 10,000 people we now have using it, on different operating systems and platforms, using different devices, and differentiate between their business and personal calendars – and be able to scale it up for use by tens of millions of people on tens of millions of devices.”

In essence, Meeter’s innovation is to expand the concept of a usually closed identity server and its companion applications to catalog any user on any platform. It’s as if Kagan and his partner, CTO Tamir Shertzer, developed an open-source alternative to Microsoft’s identity server, the technology that powers MS Outlook, the premier email and scheduling system in use today.

“Outlook works great for Outlook users, but if you’re not in the system, you can’t use it,” said Kagan. “The same goes for WhatsApp – there they use phone numbers as the basis of identification and allow chats that way.”

By developing its own name server, Meeter can include any application that requires identification of individual users, allowing them to communicate in whatever manner the app is designed for. “Our algorithms have to be a lot more sophisticated, however, because we have to account for a lot more protocols – based on generally incompatible platforms and devices – to allow that communication,” Kagan added.

The company, which is in advanced development stages, operates out of the offices of VLX Ventures, located in the High-tech Village at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, while its marketing layout is situated in Silicon Valley. Last month Meeter raised $900,000 in its first funding round.

“We believe strongly in Meeter,” says Ori Choshen, CEO of VLX Ventures. “These are talented, experienced and serious entrepreneurs, and the system they are developing is another milestone in making our daily lives easier and more comfortable thanks to the mobile revolution.”