I recently had the pleasure of learning about Tungle, a self-styled calendar accelerator. It helps to synchronize all of your calendars into one, more coherent productivity solution. Marc Gingras, CEO of Tungle, was kind enough to answer a few questions about his product. This is what he had to say.

Tungle is the industry’s first “calendar accelerator”. There are a few event scheduling services out there, some that even offer a degree of synchronization with your calendar, but none that address the core challenges all professionals face with their calendars the way Tungle does.

So what does calendar accelerator mean?

It means that:

• Tungle takes your existing calendar – which is currently a time tracking tool – and accelerates its functionality so that it becomes a true productivity tool, allowing you to share, schedule and manage your time in ways you never could before.
• Tungle is not a calendar – it is a service that you synchronize with your existing calendar (currently Outlook, Google, iCal, Entourage and we recently partnered with IBM to support Lotus Notes in the near future)
• Tungle has a full, 2-way synchronization between your calendar and your Tungle account, so that everything you do in Tungle is reflected in your calendar, and vice versa.

Ok, that’s the basics, but what do YOU get out of using Tungle? Here’s just a taste of what you’ll be able to do with your calendar once it’s been Tungled:

• Propose multiple meeting times in an invitation without worrying about double-booking (this is why 2-way sync is key – Tungle knows what’s happening in your calendar, so it won’t let a spot get booked twice)
• Send invitations to anyone – Tungle will dynamically update the times for any invitee in a different time zone
• Share across calendars – For example, if you use Outlook and your coworker who telecommutes uses Google Calendar, you can share
• Control what you share – Choose between free/busy or full detail sharing (and stop sharing at any time)
• Create your personal Meet with Me link – a link that displays your free/busy schedule and allows others to schedule meetings with you, without having to sign up

To really see Tungle in action, check out this short video

That’s Tungle in a nutshell. But, if we only had 30 seconds to convince you, we’d ask one simply thing – Do you want to save time? Chances are, you’d say yes. Tungle eliminates all the back and forth emails and phone calls of scheduling that waste so much time. It does that without making you switch to a different system (keep using your calendar!), and without compromising your schedule – it actually makes your schedule easier to manage.

What We’ve Learned

It is an exciting time to be an Entrepreneur in the Social Web. Social Web is evolving from being an intriguing and cool toy to giving users key professional services that help them be more productive, connected, and efficient. The boundaries of Social Web are constantly being tested, and new strategies are being developed.

First and foremost, simplicity wins. Simplicity in service, simplicity in messaging, simplicity in solving a problem, and simplicity in getting the word out. In the early days of Tungle, we spent too much money with PR firms. The product should sell itself. If it doesn’t, then make your product/service more simple.

Second – measure, measure, measure. You can only improve what you measure. Conversion rates are king and should be the dashboard for any new startup.

If you enjoyed that why not find a job or read our guide to working in the 21st century. You can also join our Kiva team or hire me for your project.