Hey 365 friends, we have an important announcement to make!
Over the last year we caught ourselves thinking more and more about the type of interface that could change the world of online learning.
We all know that Generative AI will transform the edtech industry. But that transformation has not happened yet. So, we were brave enough to think that we might be the ones who will introduce an important shift.
So we poured our hearts and minds into building Guidy, a friendly AI desktop assistant we believe can change the way people work and learn.
Special note: Before Guidy launches publicly in a few days, we're offering lifetime access at an exclusive price to our 365 community. Take a look now.
How Guidy was born
We started by asking ourselves, “If AI could do anything, what would be the best way to help students learn?”
“Answering student questions?”
Nope. Too trivial. ChatGPT can do that.
“Generating learning materials?”
Not great. People don’t like reading textbooks and PDFs, generated by AI.
So, we went in a different direction. We thought about the feedback we’ve heard most often in the last decade - everyone wants to learn while doing. Our students have shared repeatedly that the best way to acquire and internalize skills is by interacting with real software and solving real-world problems.
The obstacle’s that learning by doing is often frustrating. The moment you get stuck, progress slows down dramatically. You search through forums, open multiple tabs, watch tutorials, ask colleagues, retry the same step over and over again. Many people simply give up along the way.
So, we thought:
“What if there was a tool that could guide students in real-time?”
In this way, you can get help as soon as you get stuck. That’s pretty powerful, isn’t it? Especially if the tool works inside any software and any website.
We did some research but couldn’t find anyone working in this direction. Instead, it feels that people building with AI aim to find a way to replace humans rather than empower them (see tools like Claude, OpenClaw, etc.).
This is why we decided to build Guidy.
Naturally, the inspiration came from our decade-long journey in the world of online courses, but soon we realized Guidy can be used in so many different ways.
What is Guidy?
Guidy is an AI tool that provides real-time guidance inside any software. You can ask it how to perform a task, and it will navigate you every step of the way.
Our software highlights the relevant button on your screen and allows you to perform actions on your own. It works inside desktop applications such as Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe Photoshop, and many others but also does extremely well when navigating web pages.
For example, you can ask Guidy how to unsubscribe from a service whose creators seem determined to make cancellation impossible. Guidy will help you do that.
Why we believe this matters
The core idea is that Guidy doesn’t do the work for you. It works with you. This is very important to us. Everyone on our team shares the vision that humans should be empowered by AI, not replaced by it.
Modern software changes too fast. It has become too complicated. Every month we come across updates, new interfaces, and new tools. As a result, software friction consumes a significant amount of our mental bandwidth. People spend hours trying to figure out where to click after an update.
How Guidy helps you
- Get unstuck inside any software: Instead of searching through forums or tutorials, Guidy helps you continue your task in real time.
- Navigate new interfaces: New software, tools, processes become much easier when you tell Guidy what needs to be done, and it shows you how to do it.
- Learn new software in an interactive way: Acquire practical skills directly inside the tools you use instead of passively watching tutorials.
- Understand error messages: Guidy can understand what went wrong and suggest what to do next.
- Ask questions about the content on your screen: Ask Guidy for context-aware help. It will understand your Excel data, PowerPoint slides, and anything you’re working with.
- Sense check your work: Gain confidence in your work by using AI to help you revise if everything looks good
These are just a few of the many ways Guidy can help you. We believe we’ve only scratched the surface. There are likely countless use cases we haven’t even imagined yet and are yet to discover.
Who is Guidy for?
#1 Professionals
Every time you get stuck inside software, it costs time, energy, and focus. Instead of spending 30 minutes searching through tutorials, Guidy can help you find the next step in seconds. We believe professionals should spend less time fighting software and more time doing meaningful work.
#2 Learners
Guidy is designed for people who want to learn by doing. As you work on hands-on projects, there will be moments when you need guidance. That’s not a weakness. It’s part of the learning process.
#3 Organizations
Organizations often lose users and employees because their systems are too difficult to navigate. Step-by-step guidance reduces friction while onboarding employees, helping customers complete workflows, or supporting users inside complex platforms.
How Guidy compares to other AI tools
ChatGPT
There is a major difference between sending screenshots to a chatbot and using a tool that understands your workflow in real time.
AI chatbots work in the following way:
- You ask a question and upload a screenshot
- Receive a response
- Then go inside the software and start looking for the action suggested by the AI
There's a few major issues with this approach:
1) It's time consuming and somewhat stressful
2) Instructions provided do not always match what you see on the screen
3) Real workflows rarely happen on a single screen
Guidy is designed to understand multi-step processes across software and websites. Instead of helping you with one screenshot at a time, it can guide you throughout an entire workflow. And this matters because modern software changes constantly.
Traditional AI tools may provide outdated or difficult-to-follow instructions because they were trained on older versions of software interfaces. Anyone who has tried following a tutorial after a major UI update knows how frustrating this can be.
Guidy approaches the problem differently by interacting with your live environment and helping you navigate the software in real time.
Copilot
While building Guidy, we noticed that Microsoft introduced Copilot features that move in a similar direction, such as voice-based assistance and screen-aware guidance. We think this validates the importance of the category.
However, there is still a fundamental difference in philosophy and functionality.
Most current assistants focus on answering questions about what is visible on a single screen. Guidy is designed to support complete workflows and multi-step processes from start to finish.
That distinction is extremely important. Real work rarely consists of a single click or one isolated screen. Most valuable tasks require navigating through multiple tools.
Early-bird offer
You are reading this because you are part of the 365 community. We highly value your opinion and eagerness to grow professionally.
For this reason, we want to extend a special offer. We’re offering our students the unique opportunity to get lifetime access to Guidy at a fraction of the price, we will charge for the tool later. The special early bird access you can access will be valid until June 15 only.
We would be thrilled if you decide to become one of the early adopters of Guidy and will depend on your feedback to help us continue improving the tool.
I sincerely want to take this occasion to thank you for being a client of our business and for supporting us in the past. It is because of you that we are able to work on such new tools and initiatives, and we deeply value your support.
What’s next?
We will be launching Guidy as a standalone product next week. The offer you see today is available exclusively to our 365 community.
Looking ahead, we plan to integrate Guidy directly into our learning experience. This will allow students to receive real-time guidance while completing hands-on exercises.
Beyond learning, Guidy can help you navigate any software or website.
Once you experience having instant guidance, Guidy will quickly become one of the most valuable tools for you.
We are incredibly excited about what lies ahead and would love for you to be part of this journey from the very beginning. Thank you!
Yours faithfully,
Ned
