Trickle vs Martin: Why Trickle Is the Smarter Executive Assistant
Comparing Trickle with Martin AI? Discover why Trickle is the smarter, more proactive AI assistant built for real professionals — and how it outshines Martin on productivity, scheduling intelligence, and executive readiness.
Martin is a voice-first digital assistant for managing reminders, daily briefings, and light scheduling via Slack, email, or voice. It's intuitive and helpful for personal productivity but lacks deep integration, proactive support, and executive-level features — especially for Microsoft users and complex scheduling needs. Trickle goes further. It proactively manages your time, understands priorities, and adapts to how you work — with smart scheduling logic, travel time awareness, and real-time calendar syncing across platforms. Unlike Martin, Trickle is purpose-built for high-performance professionals managing complex calendars and client interactions.
Thijs van der Zwaan
Sep 6, 2025
What Martin Does
Martin positions itself as your personal Jarvis — the voice-powered digital assistant designed to take care of your reminders, email summaries, and scheduling through a conversational interface. You can interact with it via email, text, Slack, or voice, and it offers features like daily briefings, to-do management, and inbox scanning. Backed by Y Combinator, Martin focuses on being a reactive assistant that helps you organize your day.
While Martin aims to be your right-hand assistant, the execution remains mostly lifestyle-focused. It doesn’t fully support Microsoft Office users, and its integrations primarily favor U.S.-based tools and systems. Daily briefings, lightweight scheduling, and inbox support are its core strengths — but there’s little evidence of proactive time management or executive-level prioritization.
Where Martin Shines
Voice-first interface: Martin's early lead with voice interaction makes it intuitive to use.
Multi-platform commands: You can interact with Martin via Slack, email, text, and calls.
Daily briefings: A clean snapshot of your day via email or voice.
Simple scheduling via CC: Auto-scheduling triggered by CC-ing Martin in an email thread.
These features make Martin an appealing AI sidekick for busy individuals. However, this is where Trickle moves beyond the role of an assistant — and becomes a strategic partner.
Trickle vs Martin: The Real Executive Edge
Trickle isn't here to match Martin — it's here to surpass it.
Proactive vs Reactive: Where Martin waits for your instructions, Trickle acts on its own. It learns your priorities, patterns, and context to reorganize your calendar, book meetings based on intent and hierarchy, and automatically reschedule lower-priority events. Martin reacts; Trickle thinks ahead.
Advanced Scheduling Logic: Trickle calculates travel time, considers office hierarchy, prioritizes important meetings, and adapts to your unique way of working. Martin's scheduling is basic and lacks context awareness — no travel buffers, no intelligent prioritization, no link between goals and time spent.
Executive Assistant-Level Features: Trickle supports real-time availability syncing across Google and Microsoft accounts, even for non-users via smart booking links. It works whether your contacts are on the platform or not. Martin, by contrast, works best within its own interface ecosystem.
Professional Focus: Martin feels like a productivity companion. Trickle is designed for consultants, project leads, and high-performance professionals who can’t afford admin drag. It's optimized for fast-paced environments, not casual reminders.
Omnichannel Strategy vs Lifestyle App: Martin is a reactive lifestyle app with impressive tech. Trickle is the proactive command center for executive productivity.
Ideal Use Cases: Trickle Wins for Professionals
Scenario | Best Fit |
|---|---|
Scheduling across multiple time zones & calendars | Trickle |
Prioritizing meetings based on team structure | Trickle |
Setting reminders and checking emails | Martin |
Getting proactive help to restructure your day | Trickle |
Acting as your AI in client-facing communication | Trickle |
Martin is a solid choice for users wanting a reactive, voice-first assistant for basic tasks. But if you're looking for an AI that works like a real executive assistant, manages complexity, and scales with your pace — Trickle is built for you.