zeno.ai

Zeno.ai is an executive intelligence platform that connects to your Slack, Gmail, Calendar, Notion, Asana, GitHub, and more to act like a Chief of Staff — without the headcount.

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🎯 Inspiration

Hey, I'm Sashwath. I just graduated from university, and like most 22-year-olds with a dream, I wanted to build my own startup.

But I quickly learned something they don’t tell you in the podcasts or startup books:
Having a big idea is the easy part — executing it is where the chaos begins.

I knew what I wanted to build. But figuring out how to actually ship it? That was overwhelming.

Most days, I wasn’t building.
I was context-switching —
Jumping from Slack to Gmail to Asana to GitHub.
Replying to emails. Sitting in back-to-back calls. Following up on tasks I didn’t remember assigning.

I’d spend hours "working" but at the end of the day, I couldn’t recall what I had actually built.
It felt like I was managing chaos, not making progress.

There were moments when I wondered if I just wasn’t good at this. But the truth is, most early-stage founders and busy professionals are drowning in the same digital mess.

So I asked myself a simple question:

“What if I had a Chief of Staff — an intelligent one — who could keep track of everything, give me clarity, and let me focus?”

That question became an idea.
The idea became a product.
And the product became Zeno.ai —

Your calm in the chaos.

Zeno exists to help founders and operators like me reclaim focus, fight brain fog, and actually get back to building — not babysitting tools.

🧠 What It Does

Zeno.ai is an AI-powered Chief of Staff that connects to all your core tools and turns scattered business data into real-time, actionable intelligence.

Core Features:

  • 🔗 Unified integrations via OAuth 2.0 (Slack, Gmail, Notion, etc.)
  • 🧠 Local LLM (Ollama) to process everything securely
  • 💬 Chat interface for summaries, answers, and insights
  • 📊 Executive dashboards to monitor your work reality
  • 🚨 Smart alerts & daily intelligence briefs

Zeno helps busy founders and professionals cut through noise and focus on what really matters.

🔧 How We Built It

We integrated the core six tools that make up 90% of an executive's daily workflow:

  • ✅ Slack – Communication
  • ✅ Notion – Strategy, docs, OKRs
  • ✅ Microsoft 365 – Outlook, Office tools
  • ✅ Google Calendar + Gmail – Scheduling & inbox
  • ✅ Asana – Project/task management
  • ✅ GitHub – Dev work tracking

Built on Bolt + local LLMs (via Ollama) to prioritize speed, privacy, and ownership of data.

🚧 Challenges We Ran Into

  • Complex integrations with multiple APIs, OAuth, and sync logic
  • Cross-tool context extraction that made sense beyond surface-level summaries
  • Balancing AI performance (local vs. cloud) for real-time UX
  • Avoiding feature creep while building a clear MVP
  • Designing for execs, who expect instant, relevant output
  • Earning trust, especially when handling sensitive data

🏆 Accomplishments We're Proud Of

  • Nailed secure, fast integrations with six major tools
  • Designed a local-first AI engine that’s truly private
  • Created a calm, frictionless UX that feels like a real assistant
  • Built something that actually helps, not distracts

📚 What We Learnt

  • The problem is real — mental overload and chaos kill productivity
  • Focus > Features — a lean MVP that solves one pain point well beats bloated tools
  • AI works best when scoped — clarity, not complexity, wins
  • Integrations ≠ value — true value lies in insights, not connections
  • Trust is everything — local-first AI became a major differentiator
  • UX > Tech — if it’s not instantly useful, it’s useless

🚀 What’s Next for Zeno.ai

  • 📊 Smarter Executive Summaries
    Prioritized, dynamic briefings that cut through the noise.

  • 🧠 Agent-Based Intelligence
    Specialized sub-agents for nudging, planning, tracking, and reporting.

  • 📅 Time Defense Mode
    Protect your calendar with AI-managed scheduling.

  • 📈 KPI & Strategy Tracking
    Track goals and OKRs across Notion, Sheets, and more — without dashboards.

  • 🔒 AI You Can Trust
    Doubling down on privacy with 100% local processing and zero data storage.

  • 🤝 Founder OS Features
    Build-in tools for investor updates, weekly reviews, and deal tracking.

Zeno.ai isn’t just an app — it’s your second brain for everything that matters.

📣 Why It Belongs in the Startup Challenge

I truly believe Zeno.ai deserves to be featured in the Startup Challenge.

Why?

Because it's not just another AI productivity app — it's a focused, founder-first solution to a real, widely experienced problem:
mental clutter, scattered workstreams, and decision fatigue.

Built around real pain points I personally faced as a first-time founder, Zeno.ai represents:

  • 🔥 A unique execution of the AI Chief of Staff model, with a privacy-first, local LLM architecture (via Ollama)
  • 🛠️ Seamless integration with the core 6 tools executives rely on daily
  • 🧠 AI that brings actual clarity, not just chat responses
  • 🚀 A lean, working MVP built for speed, trust, and founder utility

I believe this project captures the spirit of what the Startup Challenge is all about:
solving real problems with bold, smart, and technically sound solutions.

🆔 Supabase Org Slug: dogghkvvkprrqebxlzoz

Built With

  • bolt.new
  • llama
  • netlify
  • supabase
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