Gooday: Do you need an executive assistant powered by AI?

The cost of overcommitment is a real challenge we can all relate to. While coined more than a decade ago, "social acceleration" keeps getting faster, resulting in stretched, stacked, and overbooked calendars. People just don't have much time to organize their diaries anymore. Life happens and we try to keep up!

When daily time management issues mount up, the costs to our wallets and local businesses alike can mount up too when we forget or miss appointments.

The impact of time management mishaps can obviously vary from a last-minute reminder of a coffee meeting (and rush to make it in time), through to a missed medical appointment made months ago that was really important to our health.

Socially, missed bookings are also incredibly stressful, and for businesses (particularly small to medium businesses), the impact can be critical to their bottom line.

Between Facebook, LinkedIn, Outlook, Google calendars, WhatsApp messages, and the myriad of other services we use to keep connected, what if there was something that helped take that mental note-taking for our calendars to a new place?

Well, there may be an answer in an upcoming booking solution called Gooday, launching in the coming months. We got a chance to speak with the company's founder.

A new kind of digital AI assistant with a single purpose

Founded by Sydney-based founder Catherine Mary Said after a painfully relatable moment, an (almost) missed birthday dinner that could have impacted a friendship, Gooday is being developed as a platform built to simplify how we organize our lives.

"I forgot a friend's birthday dinner," Catherine recalls. "She'd messaged me weeks before. It wasn't her fault. I saw the text during a hectic workday and just... forgot. When she messaged me during the dinner asking where I was, I almost had a heart attack."

That mishap sparked something bigger for Catherine: the foundation of a concept designed to streamline bookings, help people stay connected, and close the loop on how you book and plan your time.

Is your booking system broken, or sub-optimal?

Gooday operates as an end-to-end booking platform that connects calendars, contacts, messages, and venues in a single environment. Whether it's drinks with friends or managing bookings for your business, this new platform will act as a single connector to make scheduling automatic.

Unlike most tools that still depend on human input across multiple apps, the idea around Gooday is that it's proactive and built to follow intention and respond in kind.

For example, when your friend texts "Let's catch up soon," Gooday can detect the sentiment, check mutual availability, find a suitable venue you both like, and handle the booking. From there, it adds the event to your calendar, sends reminders, and even nudges your friends to RSVP.

"It's like an executive assistant for your social life," Catherine says. "Except it also works for the people and places you care about."

How it will work

Behind all the tech is human motivation: "Gooday isn't just about automating tasks functionally, it's about reducing mental load, helping to alleviate digital fatigue, and helping people to focus on the purpose of their meeting or booking," Catherine says.

The platform is deliberately internal, meaning it doesn't rely on APIs from external messengers or third-party integrations. This gives Gooday full control over the experience. Calendar syncing, messaging, availability settings, and AI-powered prompts all happen within a secure, unified space.

Who it's for

For Busy Everyday People: Gooday is built to act like a digital executive assistant for your personal life, one that integrates your calendar, social messaging, and location preferences into a single intelligent platform - all free to download.

• Proactive AI: Detects intent in everyday messages (e.g., "Let's catch up") and suggests times, places, and bookings automatically.
• Shared, Synced Calendars: You can link multiple email accounts (Google, Outlook) and create shared calendars with family, friends, or colleagues.
• AI Reminders & Social Nudges: Gooday's 'Good AI' will prompt ahead of key dates (like a friend's birthday), offer to message others, or suggest group plans.
• Availability for catch-ups: Set your "social availability" (e.g., Friday nights only), so the AI knows when to book, even if your calendar looks free.
• Discovery Mode: Find trusted local venues and see which ones your friends have liked or visited, all inside the platform.

For Businesses: Gooday will be a free tool for businesses to sign up to and check out with payment or fees based on each booking.

• AI-Powered Discovery: 24/7 targeted engagement to new and existing customers, converting casual conversation into instant bookings based on relevance, preference and proximity. 
• AI-Powered Scheduling: Handles confirmations, reminders, and follow-ups, reducing no-shows and missed appointments.
• Staff, Customer & Waitlist Management: Includes backend features you'd expect from a high-end booking platform, including staff rostering, special requests, and tags.

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The hard stats on being overcomitted

The misplaced social and financial costs of missed bookings: 

• According to Gooday’s own research, small businesses, particularly in hospitality, wellness, and fitness, can lose up to 30% of annual revenue due to last-minute cancellations and no-shows.
• For small businesses, no-shows and last-minute cancellations in the US amounted to an estimated US$27 billion in lost revenue in just six months across that economy. 
• In hospitality, while the numbers are coming down according to one study, the UK restaurant industry loses around £17 billion annually due to guests not showing up. 
• For healthcare, missed appointments in Australia’s public system have been shown to cost up to AUD 3.8 million per month in the state of Queensland (and that was in 2015!).
• In one Australian district, it was estimated that 1 in 10 medical appointments were ‘no shows’

A snapshot of the daily messages and communication we have to manage:

In Microsoft' s 2025 Work Trend Index Annual Report, they breakdown the idea of an Infinite Workday. It found that 

By 6 am, many Microsoft 365 users are scanning overflowing inboxes in hopes of getting ahead. 40% of people who are online at 6 am are reviewing email for the day’s priorities.  

The average worker receives 117 emails daily. Most emails are skimmed in under 60 seconds.

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Where to learn more

Gooday is currently onboarding businesses ahead of its hard launch scheduled for 2025. The team here at espresso is super excited to follow Gooday and solutions like it that are innovating to help people stay focused on what matters, increase productivity, and help people live and work smarter. We can't wait to follow its success!

You can check out Gooday and register as a business here: https://www.gooday.com.au/

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