OTTAWA, Jul. 25, 2022 – Nook Technologies, Inc., creators of the calendar and meeting scheduling app Nook Calendar, today announced that Marc Gingras, former head of Gatineau-based Foko Retail, has officially joined the organization as CEO.
Gingras, a veteran of the Canadian tech community, previously founded scheduling and calendar tool Tungle.me, which was acquired by BlackBerry in 2011. After a brief stint as Sr. Director of Handheld Applications at RIM, Gingras was appointed CEO of Foko Retail in 2014. The company was acquired by U.S. firm WorkForce Software for an undisclosed sum in 2021.
“Time is our most valuable resource,” said Gingras. “I’m beyond excited to be joining Nook and expand the mission I set out to accomplish over 15 years ago with Tungle.me and create products that save people time and foster deep thought in the workplace.”
Since launching in 2021, Nook has nearly tripled its headcount with new roles in R&D and marketing. Their current flagship app—Nook Calendar—was recently awarded Product of the Day on Product Hunt, a global community for startups, investors, and creators that showcases and helps scale the best new products in tech.
“As more people adapt to hybrid working arrangements, it’s becoming clear that most time management and scheduling tools don’t meet today’s needs,” said Chadwick Carlson, co-founder of Nook. “Our all-in-one calendar, location booking, and meeting scheduling solution has rapidly grown its userbase because people are fed up with using multiple tools to manage their days. But when it comes to saving time, that’s only one part of the equation.”
On the heels of its recent accolades, the Nook team plans to pivot into the personal productivity space with an intelligent notetaking app that aims to help users capture, store, and resurface important information when they need it.
“When Stepan Pachikov created Evernote, his goal was to overcome the limitations of human memory by creating a product that acted as an external brain,” said Gingras. “Twenty years later, we’re inundated with more information than ever before and using more and more apps every day. Archiving and finding information is no longer the problem. Our goal is to create a product that cuts through the noise and provides clarity and context without searching for it.”
Users can sign up at getnook.app to join a private beta ahead of an official launch this fall.
About Nook Technologies, Inc.
Nook provides busy professionals with more clarity at work by helping them capture, contextualize, and intelligently resurface their notes, action items, and events when they need them.
Sign up for the latest iteration of Nook at getnook.app.
Media Contact:
Matthew Ritchie
matt@getnook.app
Whether you’re a sales superstar, in-demand consultant, busy recruiter, or someone who simply needs to schedule a lot of meetings, one thing’s for sure—you’ve probably booked a lot of them over the past two years.
Hybrid work has forced the majority of our meetings online, and while we appreciate being able to wear sweatpants during normal work hours, the time-consuming ballet that is sharing your availability, finding a time to meet, and adding it to your calendar isn’t quite as enjoyable.
Speaking with everyone from solopreneurs to seasoned professionals, it seems like a lot of people find meeting scheduling software either costly, impersonal, or just plain boring. And Calendly and other alternatives don’t always cut it.
We hear you.
Everyone is different, and so is how they work. Making good first impressions is important, and you shouldn’t have to pay a premium for them or basic customizations and integrations with your meeting booking system.
Nook Calendar’s meeting proposal feature is already used by tons of high-performing teams for selecting and proposing meeting times outside of their organization.
Now, we’re making things even easier by letting you build personal pages with shareable calendar-booking links, right in Nook Calendar. Add them to your LinkedIn profile, email signature, website, or messages when finding a time to meet.
We think it’s the best meeting scheduling software out there, and we’re excited for you to give it a try, so let’s get started.
Here’s How to Set Up a Personal Booking Page in Nook Calendar
First off, if you’re new to Nook Calendar—hello! (If you’re already a Nook user, you can skip ahead.)
You’re going to start by syncing your calendar—either from Google Calendar or Microsoft Outlook—and entering your work email address.
Once you approve any necessary permissions, you’ll set up your People Bar. Search for any connections and add the people you interact with the most when scheduling meetings.
From there, you can add any additional calendars you want to see (add your personal one, if you like, to further prevent any overlaps when scheduling meetings), integrate with Zoom (so you can launch calls straight from your calendar), and choose your preferred display setting—select Match OS, Light Mode, or Dark Mode.
Launch Nook Calendar, and you’re ready to set up your online meeting scheduler.
Now, the fun begins
You’re going to start by claiming your unique URL for sharing your meeting availability page.
Your first name appears by default, but really, it can be anything. We recommend using your full name (e.g., /john-smith).
(You can always change your URL in the future, as long as it’s still available.)
From there, you want to complete your profile.
Your profile pic is automatically pulled in from your Microsoft or GCal account.
But you can add your name, job title, welcome message, and links to social media profiles or professional website, so guests know a bit more about you when booking a meeting.
Then, you can start setting your weekly availability.
Nook Calendar defaults to traditional time blocks—9–12 a.m. and 1–5 p.m. These are the hours someone can book a meeting from your personal page. Adjust them based on your availability.
Your timezone is automatically set to your local time, but you can change it if you primarily work with people in a different timezone and it’s better to visualize that when setting your availability.
Choose which calendar you want to accept meetings in—it can only be booked in one, but Nook Calendar will automatically reference your availability in other calendars you’ve synced to prevent double-bookings when someone schedules a meeting.
Now, it’s time to set up some paramaters.
You can set up your preferred meeting duration in either 15, 30, 45-minute or one-hour increments (or a custom time).
You can also add buffer time to give yourself a break between meetings, or set a lead time of up to 24 hours, so no one can book any last-minute meetings.
And you’re all set! You can preview what the page will look like, then share it with contacts or add it to your LinkedIn profile (we suggest adding it as a secondary URL), email signature, and anywhere else you do business.
Once someone books time in your calendar, you’ll receive an email and get a notification in the Pulse.
If you ever need to make any changes, you can access your personal meeting page in the bottom of the Magic Panel and make any adjustments—either to your weekly availability or personal information.
You can also remove your availability by simply creating events in Nook Calendar and marking them as Busy to block off time and prevent any bookings.
Nook Calendar’s new personal pages for sharing meeting availability are available on Web, iOS, and Android.
If you have any questions or thoughts, we’d love to hear them. Hit us up in our Slack Community or contact us through Support.
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