We had the privelage to spend some time talking to Abbie Havern about the Tempo Smart Calendar App

1. What was your main objective or motivation for creating the Tempo Smart Calendar mobile app? 

In the early days of my career, I was in engineering and product management, so my first BD role at Skyfire (the mobile browser that's now part of Opera), was a real eye opener about networking and back to back meetings. I think until you work in a BD or sales role, you really don't know what it's like to live by your calendar. This role gave me a huge appreciation for effective time management and efficient networking, and made me wish I had an app to help me manage my day better and prepare me for the next meeting. I also discovered many common tasks that I encountered throughout the day were incredible time sinks and hassles that I knew could be automated and just plain smarter – like letting people know when I'm running late, or dialing into conference calls without the passcode hassle. 

We created Tempo Smart Calendar to anticipate what you need and streamline taking action in the fewest taps. The calendar provided the best framework because it’s an expression of our intentions. We're evolving to add more and more assistant-like features to Tempo that go beyond calendar shortcuts that prepare you for what’s immediately next, and delving deeper into helping professionals prepare for their week and stay on top of their professional network. 

2. If you could describe the Tempo Smart Calendar app in ONE word, what would it be and why? 

"Insightful." We believe that the key to helping professionals get the most out of their day and maximize mobile productivity is to add insightful contextual content and actions right in the calendar. In fact, we’ve added an artificial intelligence layer to the calendar, including the data we connect to our calendars like email, contacts and social media. 

Tempo applies artificial intelligence to big data culled from various connected sources, in order to gain insight into what's most important to a user – and then surfaces that information and actions right in the calendar. 

3. What is the coolest or most innovative feature of Tempo Smart Calendar? 

Our new feature actually named Insights is getting lots of positive feedback. People love it because it helps them put their best foot forward whether they are meeting someone for the first time, or reconnecting after a spell. You can see where you left off with recent emails and meetings, discover mutual contacts, check out their Facebook posts, LinkedIn details, tweets, AngelList, Meetup groups, and more. 

This feature is baked right into Tempo's Profile cards (that are automatically created and maintained for everyone in your network), and is like having an assistant scan your email, calendar and the internet for the most important information around the person you're meeting with. 

4. Could you share a challenging factor of the development or marketing process? 

I think there is an inherent challenge anytime you create an app that replaces one that’s native to the phone. You need to make it 10x better. You need to build something that is so compelling they want to switch and replace their default calendar and habits. 

Also, in our case, we look at the calendar as data representing intentions. It’s more than “when” – it’s also the who, what, where and how. We’re putting an AI layer on all of that. 

5. Any unexpected surprises post-release of the Tempo Smart Calendar app? 

Our biggest surprise was the incredible demand for Tempo at launch. In fact, after the mailbox app, we were the second app ever to implement a waiting list. I think it was a reflection of people’s desire for a better mobile calendar experience that saves them time and eliminates hassles. 

6. Are there any plans to release an Android app as well? 

Definitely. We’ll be on Android this year. 

7. What is your favorite mobile app to date and which have inspired you? 

Here are a few of my personal favorite apps: 

SpotSetter – Lets you search for places nearby where friends have eaten.  I use it with Yelp and Foursquare to discover new places to eat! 

Sosh and Now – Great apps to see what’s happening in your neighborhood. 

Bond – Lets me send hand-written thank you notes to people – I love it! 

AllTheCooks – Best recipe app out there, and now integrated with Google Glass – hands-free cooking! 

8. What features do you hope to roll out to the Tempo Smart Calendar app in the future? 

We’ll continue to flex our layer of artificial intelligence to save busy professional time and hassles.  In the next several releases, you’ll see more features like our people insights that bring silo’d data into the calendar as well as features that help you prepare beyond what’s immediately next – like features that help you prepare for the coming week, or follow up on the past week. Expect us to continue to do more innovative things with big data and artificial intelligence.