Why We Built Deskly
Every workspace booking tool was either overpriced or overcomplicated. So we built something better.
Last year, I was helping a 60-person startup manage their hybrid office. Three floors, 12 meeting rooms, hot desks for about 40 people. A growing team in a space that was supposed to feel modern and efficient.
Their booking system was a Google Sheet with color-coded tabs.
It broke every week.
The search for something better
So I did what anyone would do: I looked at what was already out there. The workspace booking market isn't small — it's projected to hit over $1 billion by 2030. Surely someone had built the right tool for a team this size.
Here's what I found:
Robin
$399/mo minimumRequired a demo call, a 3-month onboarding process, and a contract. Built for companies with thousands of employees and dedicated facilities teams. For a 60-person startup, it was like buying a commercial jet to fly across town.
Envoy
$$$A great product — but it's a full workplace platform. Visitor management, deliveries, health screenings, the works. We didn't need any of that. We needed room booking. Just room booking.
Officely
ModerateSlack-only, which meant no standalone interface, no visual floor plan, and limited customization. Fine for a 10-person team, but it fell apart at 60 people across multiple floors.
The pattern was clear: every tool was either built for enterprises with 1,000+ employees, or was a side feature of something bigger. Nothing existed for the 20-200 person company that just needs booking to work.
The gap in the market
We dug into the data. 73% of organizations now offer some form of hybrid work policy. 62% have moved to shared or unassigned seating. The shift to flexible workspaces is happening everywhere — but the tools haven't caught up.
The average enterprise booking tool starts at $399/month and requires weeks of implementation. For a startup spending $29/desk on coworking fees, that pricing makes zero sense. These companies don't need AI-powered space optimization or IoT sensor integration. They need a calendar that shows which rooms are free and lets people book them.
“We don't need a workplace platform. We need a tool that does one thing really well: let us book rooms and desks without thinking about it.”
— What we heard from almost every office manager we talked to
So we built it
Deskly does four things, and does them well:
Visual booking calendar
A clean, color-coded view of every room and desk. Drag-and-drop scheduling. See the full picture at a glance.
Real-time availability
Zero double bookings. When someone books a room, it updates instantly. No conflicts, no confusion.
Calendar integrations
Syncs with Slack, Google Calendar, Outlook, and Teams. Your bookings flow where your team already works.
Analytics dashboard
See which rooms are overbooked, which sit empty, and when your peak hours are. Data to help you use space better.
What we deliberately left out
This might be the more interesting list. We intentionally don't do:
- —Visitor management — Envoy does this better than we ever will
- —Delivery tracking — not our problem to solve
- —Health screenings — the pandemic is over
- —IoT sensor integration — you don't need hardware to book a room
- —AI-powered space optimization — you need a calendar, not a data scientist
We're not trying to be the “workplace platform” that does everything. We're the booking tool that does one thing really well. And we think that's exactly what most teams need.
The numbers
If your team is between 10 and 200 people and you're still using spreadsheets, Slack, or sticky notes to manage space — we built Deskly for you. Literally.
We'd love to hear what you think. And if you have a booking horror story, we've definitely heard worse.
See what simple booking looks like
Founding customers get 50% off any plan for the first 3 months and direct access to the team while we onboard our first 10 customers.
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