A team of former Pinterest designers and engineers has launched Extra, a new email platform designed to eliminate the chaos of the traditional inbox. Developed by the startup BuildForever, the service replaces standard subject lines and folders with an AI-driven, life-organized interface.
Moving Beyond the Traditional Inbox
Extra centers its user experience on a “Today” tab, which aggregates critical information in real-time. By moving away from static lists, the app categorizes content into actionable items, allowing users to manage tasks, travel plans, finances, and newsletters through a personalized, intuitive dashboard.
Naveen Gavini, CEO of BuildForever and former Chief Product Officer at Pinterest, developed the app to solve the “inbox anxiety” he experienced after years of managing high-volume professional communications. “After 12 hours of email, I didn’t have the energy. The problem is structural; important messages simply fall into oblivion,” says Gavini.
AI-Powered Without the “AI Hype”
While Extra utilizes sophisticated AI to parse and organize data, the team avoids marketing it as an “AI app.” Instead, they focus on solving specific user frustrations. Behind the scenes, the technology learns user patterns to assist with unsubscribing, voice-enabled replies, and email retrieval.
The interface includes several unique tabs:
- News: Displays headlines and snippets in a visual format, similar to news aggregators.
- Events: Pulls appointments from emails and suggests additions to your calendar.
- Shop: Transforms promotional emails into a curated, visual storefront, bypassing the clutter of traditional “Promotions” tabs.
Performance and Availability
Extra is currently compatible with Gmail. Its “Daily Cleanup” feature has already helped beta testers unsubscribe from over 2 million emails annually. The design philosophy aims to bring the “delight and joy” associated with Pinterest to the typically tedious task of email management.
The company, which recently secured $9.5 million in seed funding, is backed by high-profile investors including Pinterest co-founders Ben Silbermann and Evan Sharp, as well as the creators behind Superhuman and OpenAI applications. Extra is now available on the web and for iOS users via a waitlist system.
