Rivva: The First AI Planner That Schedules Based on Your Energy

2026-02-10 | Product Hunt | Official Website

Gemini Interpretation: A full desktop dashboard with a three-column layout—task list on the left, weekly calendar in the center, and the AI assistant Nia on the right. In dark mode, you can see an "Morning Rise - Low energy" status tag, with Nia recommending optimal meeting times based on calendar gaps and energy levels.

30-Second Quick Judgment

What is this?: It pulls your emails, tasks, and calendars into one system and automatically schedules them based on your energy curve (read via wearable sleep data)—placing deep work at peak energy and chores during slumps.

Is it worth watching?: Yes. This is the first tool I've seen that truly productizes "energy management." It's not just a slogan; it directly accesses Apple Health data to make scheduling decisions. At $13.99/month, it's half the price of Motion ($29/month) and offers a unique angle. However, the product is in a very early v0.1.0 stage, so expect some rough edges.

Three Key Questions

Is it for me?

• Target Audience: Founders, executives, high-output knowledge workers. Especially those who have experienced burnout or the ADHD community.
• Do I fit?: If you fight your calendar daily, find yourself procrastinating by 3 PM despite a full schedule, or feel exhausted after a day of "doing nothing," you are Rivva's target user.
• When would I use it?:
  • You wake up and Rivva has already planned your day based on last night's sleep data.
  • An afternoon meeting changes, and you need to automatically reshuffle remaining tasks.
  • If you just need a simple to-do list, you don't need this; Todoist is enough.

Is it useful?

ROI Judgment: If you spend more than $20/month (in time value) on time management and struggle with grinding through tough tasks during low-energy periods, it's worth the 7-day free trial. If you're happy with Google Calendar, don't bother.

Is it satisfying?

The "Aha" Moments:

• Wake up to a finished plan: Nia works while you sleep, analyzing tomorrow's energy forecast and reshuffling tasks. You wake up and just execute.
• Energy Visualization: That energy curve lets you "see" for the first time when you are sharpest and when you should take it easy.

Gemini Interpretation: The Energy Insights page shows a gradient waveform of the day's energy rhythm. "Morning Peak - Your energy level is high right now - Best time to lock in and do deep work." The top right shows 8h 5m of sleep last night.

What users are saying:

"I never considered my energy and sleep when trying to do work before, and with rivva, I'm more aware than ever." -- App Store User

"The shift from time management to energy management is so needed." -- Product Hunt User

For Indie Developers

Tech Stack

• Frontend: Native iOS App + Next.js Web App (confirmed via _next/image URLs).
• Backend: Undisclosed, but functionality suggests: real-time calendar sync, email parsing (Gmail API), wearable data processing, and an AI inference engine.
• AI/Models: Undisclosed. Nia understands natural language commands ("move my meeting with Sonia so I can prepare the sales proposal"), likely using an LLM + proprietary scheduling algorithm.
• Infrastructure: Enterprise-grade encryption (in transit and at rest), multi-source integration (Apple Health, Gmail, Calendar).

Gemini Interpretation: Nia's chat interface—a user says "I need to move my meeting with Sonia," and Nia automatically adjusts the schedule and shows a "Review actions" card for the user to Approve or Cancel. The interaction design is very smooth.

Core Implementation

Essentially, Rivva tackles three difficult tasks:

1. Energy Prediction Model: Uses 2 weeks of sleep history to establish a baseline, calibrating continuously without overreacting to short-term fluctuations.
2. Multi-source Task Ingestion: Parses meeting summaries from Gmail, Notion comments, GitHub issues, and Jira tickets to automatically create tasks.
3. Constraint-Solver Scheduling: Finds the optimal solution under four-dimensional constraints: Available Time + Energy State + Task Priority + Meeting Conflicts.

Open Source Status

• Not open source; nothing found on GitHub.
• Similar open-source project: Zero Calendar (AI calendar, but lacks the energy dimension).
• Build Difficulty: High. Calendar sync and email parsing are hard enough; adding an energy prediction model and a real-time reshuffling engine would likely take 3-4 person-months for an MVP.

Business Model

• SaaS Subscription: $13.99-$19.99/month.
• 7-day free trial.
• Team Edition: A teams page already exists (rivva.app/teams) for cross-timezone energy coordination.

Giant Risk

This is the critical question. Apple owns all the HealthKit data; if they integrate energy prediction directly into Apple Calendar... however, Apple is historically conservative with productivity tools. Google Calendar has AI features but avoids health data. Motion is the biggest direct competitor, but it costs $29/month and doesn't do energy sensing. In the short term, Rivva's "energy + scheduling" combo provides a solid moat.

For Product Managers

Pain Point Analysis

• What it solves: Most scheduling tools treat people like machines, looking only at "availability" rather than "capability." You might have a 30-minute gap after 6 back-to-back meetings at 4 PM, but your brain is mush by then.
• How painful is it?: High-frequency and essential. Every knowledge worker makes scheduling decisions daily. Burnout is a global issue.

User Persona

• Core User: Founders and executives with dense schedules and severe decision fatigue.
• Potential User: The ADHD community—Rivva adapts to how the brain actually works rather than forcing a rigid structure.
• Team User: Teams collaborating across time zones who need to understand each other's energy states.

Feature Breakdown

Competitor Differentiation

Key Takeaways

1. Energy is a Blue Ocean: Currently, all calendar/task tools focus only on "time." The energy dimension is a true differentiator. Consider adding this dimension to any productivity tool.
2. Founder Story Drives GTM: Peace's story of two burnouts gives the product a soul, which is more effective than any feature list.
3. Substack for Content Marketing: Rivva's blog features many "X alternatives" articles (Motion alternatives, Akiflow alternatives, etc.), which is a smart SEO strategy.

For Tech Bloggers

Founder Story

• Founder: Peace Itimi, @peaceitimi
• Background: Imperial College MBA with an undergraduate degree in Medical Biochemistry and Genetics (a major pivot). Previously founded a digital marketing agency (scaled to 6 figures in 2 years), worked in global growth at Seedstars, and held roles at Africhange and Smile ID. Also founded Founders Connect—a media platform documenting stories of Black and African entrepreneurs.
• The "Why": "Like many ambitious people, I built a reputation for getting a lot done... By 29, I had burned out twice." After her second burnout, she began studying cognitive energy science, discovering that the key to productivity isn't squeezing time, but managing energy.

Controversies / Discussion Angles

• Is "Energy Management" Pseudoscience?: How solid is the science behind using sleep data to predict work performance? Circadian rhythms are well-supported, but individual variance is huge.
• Privacy Anxiety: An app that reads your emails, calendar, and health data simultaneously—this data combination is more sensitive than any single dimension.
• The Courage of v0.1.0: Launching on Product Hunt with such an early version makes managing user expectations a challenge.

Hype Data

• PH: 230 upvotes, 229 comments (comments far exceed typical ratios, indicating high engagement).
• Hacker News: Launch post appeared 6 days ago.
• App Store: Multiple 5-star reviews.
• BetaList: Already featured.

Content Suggestions

• Angle: "From Burnout to Startup: How an African Female Founder is Redefining Productivity with AI."
• Trending Hooks: Burnout culture, AI agents, wearable ecosystem integration.

For Early Adopters

Pricing Analysis

Getting Started Guide

• Setup Time: ~20 minutes.
• Learning Curve: Low—mostly connecting data sources.
• Steps:
  1. Download the iOS App or visit web.rivva.app.
  2. Connect Apple Health (let Rivva read 2 weeks of sleep history).
  3. Connect Gmail and Calendar.
  4. Wait for Nia to analyze your data and generate your first daily plan.
  5. Work according to your energy curve and see if it improves your day.

Pitfalls and Critiques

1. v0.1.0 is very early: Expect bugs and potential instability. Only for those willing to be guinea pigs.
2. Diminished value without wearables: The web version requires manual sleep entry, which significantly reduces energy prediction accuracy.
3. Android users must wait: Currently iOS + Web only; Android is "coming soon" with no timeline.
4. High permission requirements: It wants everything—email, calendar, health. Privacy-sensitive users may hesitate.

Security and Privacy

• Data Storage: Cloud (enterprise-grade encryption).
• Privacy Policy: No selling, sharing, or exposing data to third parties.
• User Control: Choose what to sync or disconnect at any time.
• Note: Apple has not yet verified its privacy claims.

Alternatives

For Investors

Market Analysis

• Productivity Software: $77B (2025) -> $222B (2033), CAGR 14.14%.
• Task Management Software: $7.8B (2024) -> $15.4B (2033), CAGR 8.5%.
• AI Penetration: 48% of productivity software integrated AI features by early 2024.
• Drivers: Remote work normalization, burnout culture reflection, wearable adoption, and AI agent maturity.

Competitive Landscape

Timing Analysis

• Why now?: Three forces converging: (1) Wearables make energy data collection possible, (2) LLMs make natural language interaction seamless, (3) The global burnout crisis makes energy management a mainstream demand.
• Tech Maturity: Wearable APIs (Apple Health) and AI scheduling algorithms (Motion) have proven the path; combining them is the next step.
• Market Readiness: Multiple AI calendar projects on PH (Ocal, Calen AI, FlyLoop) indicate validated demand.

Team Background

• Peace Itimi (Co-founder): Imperial MBA, deep growth/GTM experience, helped multiple startups scale from 0 to 1.
• Team Size: Undisclosed; estimated 5-8 people based on product complexity.
• Company: Rivva Technologies LTD (Likely UK-registered).

Funding Status

• Undisclosed: No records in PitchBook or Crunchbase.
• Likely in seed stage or bootstrapped.
• Based on v0.1.0 and product maturity, likely around a Seed round.

Conclusion

Rivva has done what everyone knew should be done but no one did—turning energy management from a philosophy into a product.

However, the v0.1.0 version number is a reminder: this is a promising direction to watch, rather than a tool to rely on immediately.

Resource Links

2026-02-10 | Trend-Tracker v7.3