Prepare your

business

career

1 on 1

project

recurring

discussions
for better results.

OurSails is the collaborative writing app that organizes discussion notes and improves meeting habits.

For high-performers, professionals, managers, coaches and mentors. For you. Create engaging discussions, insightful topics and great habits.

Collaborative discussion notes, meeting agendas and reminders.

The Problem

Losing Focus and Missing What Matters

In 2020, I was leading a team of 50 talented individuals spread across four time zones from New York to Tokyo. We were just beginning a 5 billion dollar post-acquisition integration that was changing how we worked, in the middle of a pandemic which changed where we worked, with no in-person interactions to help me or my leadership team communicate why we were doing any of it.

Gone were the lunchtime discussions, whiteboard activities, and hallway conversations that helped me understand what motivated and inspired the people around me. So I found myself working double-time to save our team's great culture. I used video calls with one-on-one agendas in Google docs to spark and track discussions about the individual challenges and aspirations of my teammates, but this system was painful for three big reasons:

Copy / Paste / Miss. When I wanted to ask each person about their private opinion on a topic, I had to remember to copy it into each one-on-one document. I dreaded pasting a bullet into 20+ documents, so I usually kept an extra doc with my agenda, but I always missed asking some people.
Nothing Was in Focus. With dozens of separate documents continuously scrolling with all sorts of discussion history - it was too easy to forget where I had written down a note about a

Copy / Paste / Miss. When I wanted to ask each person about their private opinion on a topic, I had to remember to copy it into each one-on-one document. I dreaded pasting a bullet into 20+ documents, so I usually kept an extra doc with my agenda, but I always missed asking some people.
Nothing Was in Focus. With dozens of separate documents continuously scrolling with all sorts of discussion history - it was too easy to forget where I had written down a note about a topic. On top of that, it was painful to find patterns across these discussion notes. And what happened if my teammate updated some of the notes in between our 1:1s? Unless they tagged me, I'd rarely see it in time to prepare adequately to focus on what mattered to them. With dozens of documents mixed with dozens of ideas, nothing was in focus and everything was too easily forgotten.
Forgetting What Matters. Any long-running, deep discussions we had felt out of place in these Google documents. The topics on individual growth were hard to revive from a bullet point in an agenda. When stored in other documents, the documents were hard to find. I often failed to recall key details that mattered about my teammate's goals and personal objectives. And when I said I'd follow up in the next month, I needed reminders that wouldn't get lost in old agendas or random docs.

From 2020 to 2023 my team excelled and grew rapidly. We delivered, and we did it better than ever before - but it wasn't easy, and I made a lot of mistakes along the way. I tried dozens of tools and systems, but none of them fit just right. OurSails was created out of my frustration at organizing discussions on the topics that matter with the people that mattered to me.

OurSails Solves Those Problems Today.

OurSails takes a meaningful topic-first approach to discussions, rather than a shallow agenda-first approach to meetings. Our features include smart agendas, but also a single-pane view for all of your reminders and notes on any topic, and personal insights that will encourage discussions on all the topics that matter with the people that matter to you.

More Time Saving Than Google Docs

More collaborative than OneNote. Quickly capture, access and share the meaningful material that matters.

All of your meeting agendas, discussion notes, and follow-up reminders are just a click away. Never waste time looking for the meeting agenda again.

No more copy/pasting bullets between agenda documents. Schedule topics onto multiple agendas with a mouse click. During meetings quickly search and add any existing topics without leaving the meeting page. Access and evolve your talking points, shared notes and private notes anytime.

Each topic has its own dedicated, collaborative rich-text document that lets you and your meeting counterpart collaborate immediately. Easily facilitate an evolving, meaningful discussion and capture key context, details and reminders with ease. Discuss this topic again 2 days, 2 weeks or 2 months later without forgetting the details that matter.

More Reliable Than Emailing Yourself

More contextual than your todo list. Easily recall what to talk about, why it matters, and how you'll follow-up.

Repeat Topics

Never forget important topics from the agenda with auto-repeat

Sometimes you need to discuss a topic repeatedly, and consistently until it's no longer a priority.
Any topic you add to an agenda can be automatically added to future agendas with the simple click of a toggle.

No more copy-and-pasting topics in a document, topics can repeat automatically on agendas.

Private Talking Points

Recall crucial details or questions with private talking points

Draft key talking points that you can always reference privately while discussing the topic.
Talking points travel with you between meetings with different people, wherever you discuss this topic. So you can improve your topic talking points as you gain experience discussing it.

Draft topic talking points at anytime before or after you add the topic to an agenda.

Discussion Reminders

Remember to follow-up on key discussion points with reminders

Clearly commit to following-up by leaving a reminder on a topic for your meeting counterpart to see.
Find all of your reminders in one view, and quickly drill into the topic to get the full context.
Prioritize reminders by date, and celebrate as you mark them complete with a click of a button.

Create reminders visibly on shared topics or privately for behind-the-scenes follow-up.

Shared Notes

Quickly recall conversations and context with shared notes

Every topic has its own rich-text, collaborative document for building shared context.
Shared note-taking helps engage attendees during meetings and gives them something to review at their leisure afterwards.
Revisit the topic 2 days, 2 weeks, or 2 months later and your shared notes are still there - one document, fully focused on this topic.

Notes have audits to remind you of who and when, not just what.

Data Driven Insights

Data insights let you objectively judge your past consistency

How consistently did you meet with your manager, peers, reports, mentor or mentees?
How often did you collaborate on topics that matter most in the long-run?
Are you collaborating more or less frequently than in previous quarters?

Your insights are summarized by relationships and individuals and across different time frames.

Side-by-side Discussion Notes

Review discussion notes with a side-by-side view for each topic

You discuss the same topic with 10 people, take notes, and later find all those notes side-by-side for easy review.
Discover patterns across conversations, consolidate lessons or action items, or improve your talking points all from a single topic page.

Discussion notes let you capture the unique conversation highlights, and later distill insights with ease into topic notes.

More Prepared To Build Trust

Inject your authentic style and securely collaborate to take meeting notes with anyone, anytime.

Discussion Templates

Prepare your own discussion topics, or use our templates

Start drafting a template for your discussions, evolve it over time as you gain experience using it.
Or select one of our curated templates for discussions - from getting started as a new manager to delivering tough feedback, our library can set your discussion in the right direction.

Drafting templates gives you time to frame a discussion long before you have it.

Data Encryption

Peace of mind with at rest, at work and in transit encryption

All of your private notes, talking points, shared notes, and reminders are protected with best-in-class encryption at all times
Most products claim they provide Encryption at Rest, but we go the extra mile and ensure your data is encrypted in use / at work, too
Our application-level encryption makes direct querying and reading of your notes impossible.

Your data is always safe, secure and available for your eyes only. We take privacy seriously.

Group Discussions

One place for all of your meeting agendas

OurSails is designed to empower great one-on-ones, but group discussions and agendas fit, too.
Anyone invited to the group can add topics to group agendas, and each topic boasts its own rich-text shared document for collaborative note taking.

Try it in your one-on-ones or use it for your team meeting minutes.

For your laptop and mobile

Access your meeting agendas, reminders and notes from anywhere.

Great DiscussionsConsistently

share updates align plans discuss growth
while building trust through the reassuring evidence of consistency.

OurSails has helped me transform the way I go about my day-to-day work from one filled with post-it's, scribbled notes and various e-documents to an efficient, centralised record of the conversations I have with colleagues, and the reminders of what I need to do next to move my projects along.

Anthony Hall Leads an organization of 50+ creative teachers and coaches

Meeting Participants

Free

Join discussions you are invited to.

Collaborate on meeting agendas
Review past agendas and topics
Take private discussion notes

Paying users can invite you to participate in discussions.

For Leaders & Coaches

Individuals

$240 /year

Lead collaborative discussions.

Create 1:1 and group meeting spaces
Invite anyone to meetings you create
Craft templates and talking points
Curated library of one-on-one activities
Personalized collaboration insights

You may cancel at any time. Downgrading to a free plan removes your ability to create or start meetings, but the notes, topics, and meetings you've already created remain accessible to you. Terms and Privacy Policy.

Purchase Subscription

For Businesses

Teams

Cultivate alignment in your organization.

Your team can create meeting spaces
Configure allowed domains
Craft templates and talking points
Curated library of one-on-one activities
Personalized collaboration insights
Manage access and team roster
Organizational insights
Simple, predictable, bulk pricing

Frequently asked questions

General Questions

: OurSails was created to enhance your communication skills, whether with colleagues, family, or friends. By using OurSails systematically and purposefully, you can gather and utilize information from interactions to improve alignment and collaboration in your life. It's also a tool for organizing thoughts and planning future communications, with the aim of making your communication more effective and noticeable to others.
: OurSails allows you to consolidate your communication notes in one user-friendly platform. The Topics section enables you to record outcomes from your interactions, whether in real-time during meetings or outside of them. Topics are easily created, filterable for quick reference, and can be added to new meeting agendas quickly. You can view all related outcomes for a specific topic, and make private notes for personal reference. Overall, the consolidated nature of the OurSails platform allows you to access all of your communication records with ease.
: Any organization that creates value and develops its best practices through the effectiveness of one-on-one or group communication could derive benefits from using OurSails.
: OurSails uses cutting-edge encryption technology to ensure your data is safe. First, all data is encrypted via SSL/TLS when transmitted from our servers to your browser. The database backups are also encrypted. Second, your private notes, shared notes, reminders and other long-form content is always encrypted while living in our database, and it remains encrypted in memory and throughout its use in the application. This is encryption in use / at work , the gold standard, and it is an additional layer of security that we're proud to offer. This means that if an attacker ever gained access to your data regardless of location (from the database, our server's RAM, or a backup or data dump etc), they would not be able to read it. Our encryption scheme follows a non-deterministic approach which guarantees each time it is encrypted the results will differ - making crypto-analysis of the encrypted data basically impossible. Encryption at rest is the third approach to how we secure your data. Some of your data is not encrypted while living in our database such as the titles of topics (titles only) or the names of meetings or people you are connected to (since it needs to be queryable), but we go to great lengths to secure ALL of your data at rest. Moreover, OurSails will never provide your data to a third party. We value your privacy and your trust in us to protect your data and will always strive to ensure that the highest data security standards are adhered to at all times.
: It couldn’t be easier to start using OurSails. On the landing page, in the yellow box, enter the email address that you would like to associate with your new OurSails accounts then press the ‘Create Account’ button. This will take you to the ‘Email Authentication’ page. A one time passcode will be sent to your email address. Retrieve this code and enter it into the box that appears on the page and click ‘Submit Password’. These simple steps are all that is needed to begin your OurSails journey.
: OurSails is a subscription based service. The cost for a single user to access the service is $240 per year, which is roughly equivalent to a box of Magic The Gathering cards, or a really nice pair of sneakers.
: OurSails is designed to be used on desktops, laptops, and all mobile devices. It also works on Windows and Apple operating systems. It also has a dark mode to go easy on your eyes.
: OurSails customer support agents can be reached via email. Click here to get some help: [email protected]

Features and Functionality

Account and Data Management

: It couldn’t be easier to start using OurSails. On the landing page, in the yellow box, enter the email address that you would like to associate with your new OurSails accounts then press the ‘Create Account’ button. This will take you to the ‘Email Authentication’ page. A one time passcode will be sent to your email address. Retrieve this code and enter it into the box that appears on the page and click ‘Submit Password’. These simple steps are all that is needed to begin your OurSails journey.
: The login process for OurSails uses a one-time password that will be sent to your registered email address. Input the code and then you can login to the OurSails platform.

Alternatively, you can use Google or LinkedIn to log in to your account.
: To edit or update the information in your account click on the account icon in the bottom left hand corner of your screen. This will take you to your account page, on which you can edit your account details such as your name, avatar or your settings for 2 factor authentication. You can also look at your account features such as your notification preferences by clicking on the ‘Features 🔧’ icon. Lastly, you can log out on the account screen.
: Currently, there is no export function in OurSails, but send as a message through our customer service email address to express a desire for this function and if enough people ask, we will have to build the feature for you.
: Each topic and private note may hold up to 1200 pages of written content - you can effectively write your own Moby Dick novel in a single OurSails topic with plenty of room to spare.
: Should you cancel your subscription, your topics, notes and meetings will all remain accessible and editable, however you will no longer be able to create or start meetings and some features will no longer be accessible.

Technical Support

: In the event that you experience technical issues with the OurSails platform, firstly take a look through the FAQ section for an answer. Should that not help, please contact our customer support team at: [email protected]. Our team will aim to help you within a 24 hour time period.
: Should need help from from a human, please contact our customer support team at: [email protected]. Our team will aim to help you within a 24 hour time period.
: There are tutorial videos for your reference on the FAQ page that will guide you through the choppy waters of your first few voyages with OurSails. Before long you will be adept at sailing through our systems and improving your communications as you do so. That said, should you be having a particular difficulty, please email us for support at [email protected]. Our team will aim to help you within a 24 hour time period. We will also, be adding articles about the OurSails platform at our LinkedIn page at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/oursails/about/

Privacy and Security

: OurSails uses cutting-edge encryption technology to ensure your data is safe. First, all data is encrypted via SSL/TLS when transmitted from our servers to your browser. The database backups are also encrypted. Second, your private notes, shared notes, reminders and other long-form content is always encrypted while living in our database, and it remains encrypted in memory and throughout its use in the application. This is encryption in use / at work , the gold standard, and it is an additional layer of security that we're proud to offer. This means that if an attacker ever gained access to your data regardless of location (from the database, our server's RAM, or a backup or data dump etc), they would not be able to read it. Our encryption scheme follows a non-deterministic approach which guarantees each time it is encrypted the results will differ - making crypto-analysis of the encrypted data basically impossible. Encryption at rest is the third approach to how we secure your data. Some of your data is not encrypted while living in our database such as the titles of topics (titles only) or the names of meetings or people you are connected to (since it needs to be queryable), but we go to great lengths to secure ALL of your data at rest. Moreover, OurSails will never provide your data to a third party. We value your privacy and your trust in us to protect your data and will always strive to ensure that the highest data security standards are adhered to at all times.
: No, we value your privacy and understand that a trusting relationship is built upon the solid foundations of keeping your information private at all times.
: Firstly, OurSails users don't have to remember weak passwords - they can get one-time passwords mailed to them when they want to log in - or they can choose to use Google or LinkedIn to authenticate their sessions securely. Second, we offer Two-Factor Authentication as an option and highly recommend our users avail themselves of this additional layer of security to prevent unauthorized access. The 2FA settings can be found in the accounts page.
: OurSails uses cutting-edge encryption technology to ensure your data is safe. First, all data is encrypted via SSL/TLS when transmitted from our servers to your browser. The database backups are also encrypted. Second, your private notes, shared notes, reminders and other long-form content is always encrypted while living in our database, and it remains encrypted in memory and throughout its use in the application. This is encryption in use / at work , the gold standard, and it is an additional layer of security that we're proud to offer. This means that if an attacker ever gained access to your data regardless of location (from the database, our server's RAM, or a backup or data dump etc), they would not be able to read it. Our encryption scheme follows a non-deterministic approach which guarantees each time it is encrypted the results will differ - making crypto-analysis of the encrypted data basically impossible. Encryption at rest is the third approach to how we secure your data. Some of your data is not encrypted while living in our database such as the titles of topics (titles only) or the names of meetings or people you are connected to (since it needs to be queryable), but we go to great lengths to secure ALL of your data at rest. Moreover, OurSails will never provide your data to a third party. We value your privacy and your trust in us to protect your data and will always strive to ensure that the highest data security standards are adhered to at all times.

Usage Scenarios

: OurSails enable live users to synchronously add notes to live meetings. This way, working together at a distance can be overcome.
: OurSails can be used by an individual effectively to help you solidify and organize their thoughts. We have heard from authors and journalists who use the platform to write up their thoughts about their stories and the information they collect from interviews for example. We have also heard from users that use the platform to record notes for self-reflection and motivation as they plan for and overcome the challenges they face. We would encourage you to use the platform creatively to make it useful for your own needs. It is a simple tool and we hope that the simplicity helps to give you thought space to make great notes and move towards your personal goals.
: This may be possible but is only likely to happen if a. Your organization signs up first and then briefs us for the changes you need to keep subscribing or b. Enough users request the same function to be added. Feel free to contact customer services to make a request. We won’t guarantee a change, but we do value your interactive thoughts and feedback.

Quality of Life Tips and Tricks

In this section of the FAQs we will share ongoing insights into how to use OurSails effectively and efficiently.

: If you are looking to find a word or a phrase from within any of your notes that you have loaded on a page, your web browser will be happy to help. Simply press ‘CTRL+F’ to open a search dialogue box. Type in the word or phrase that you are looking for and the browser function will allow you to look at all instances of the word or phrase across the notes you have open.

Other

: On the Dead Sea.

Prepare your business career 1 on 1 project recurring business discussions for better results.