Meet Espa, a fresh take on AI assistants

"When the software engineer and entrepreneur Deon Nicholas was CEO of Forethought, a customer service automation platform, he had an executive assistant to manage the minutiae of his workday. Not surprisingly, he appreciated the help. "That was something that I found was critical, something that actually helped me as a leader," he explains."

""Having an AI executive assistant is actually the kind of thing that can bridge that gap for people to see what's possible in agentic AI, and possibly impact billions and billions of people," he says, listing "journalists, realtors, creators, artists, and athletes" among the possible users for such a product."

"Their startup's offering, also called Espa, launched last week, starting at $25 a month or $240 a year, with a free one-week trial. Now, there's nothing radical about the notion of using AI to automate everyday tasks and calling the results an "assistant." Countless other products have done that, from Siri to OpenClaw."

"The first thing that surprised me about this app is that it isn't an app. Once I'd connected Espa to Gmail and Google Calendar and answered a few questions about how I planned to use it, all of my"

Deon Nicholas previously relied on an executive assistant to manage scheduling details, triage email, and reduce daily chaos. He saw excitement around AI agents and considered using AI to provide similar support to people without executive-suite resources. He founded Espa Labs to build an AI executive assistant product called Espa, later acquired by Zendesk through Forethought. Espa targets users such as journalists, realtors, creators, artists, and athletes. The service launched with pricing starting at $25 per month or $240 per year, plus a one-week free trial. The experience emphasizes practical usefulness and a helper-like feel, with integration into Gmail and Google Calendar after answering setup questions.

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