Off-the-shelf email agents draft nonsensical replies that sound nothing like me. So I built my own…

My new Grok Automation is saving me serious time managing my inbox. The key: giving Grok extremely specific instructions with examples.

The Problem With Email Agents

Tons of different tools claim to manage your inbox. I’ve tried Upstream, Town, and more. 

They read through your emails and try to draft replies in your voice. 

But despite reading my messages, the agent didn’t really understand what I do. It drafted responses that didn’t sound like me and didn’t make sense in context.

So I built my own with Grok. Here’s how it works…

Teaching Grok How to Manage My Emails

First, I showed Grok how to categorize my messages:

1. Too early, ask founder to follow up later
2. Not an area I invest in
3. Good prospect, want to book a meeting

For example, a pre-revenue company goes into Bucket 1. A US based software startup with 3 customers goes into Bucket 3.

Then, I gave Grok example messages to send in each case. 

For the pre-revenue founder, I had Grok say: “I don’t do pre-revenue, but feel free to shoot me a message when you have 3 paying customers, and I’d be happy to take another look. Thanks!”

This way, I know Grok will sound like me. 

Taking My Agent Out on the Road

I was astounded to find the agent actually works! 

It parsed a founder email, found the company was pre-revenue, and politely declined. It found another message from a startup that has several customers and asked to book a meeting.

Success! 

Not every draft reply is usable, but around half are. I hope to improve the agent’s performance over time. 

Maintaining the Human Touch

My Grok agent is making it easier for me to stay on top of my messages. But I never want to drain the humanity out of my relationship with founders.

I always look over every draft before I send it. I want AI to help me, not take over. 

There are also tons of edge cases that my agent isn’t ready for: someone inviting me to an event or a founder who wants an intro.

It’s tough to make an agent work in every single case. What matters to me is handling the more common message types.

Building Your Own Email Agent With Grok

If you’re struggling to get through your emails, try building your own email agent with Grok!

Maybe some of your messages are spam and don’t require a response. Others are from sales prospects — you want to book meetings with these.

Once you explain the categories and give Grok example messages, it should be able to manage many of your emails. 

Wrap-Up

I’m used to prompting AI by just giving it a general idea of what I want.

Then I realized: I’m not being an effective teacher. If I was trying to teach this to a human, they probably wouldn’t get it. 

No wonder AI doesn’t either!

Giving Grok a clear framework and example outputs made all the difference.

If you’re struggling with your inbox, try Grok Automations! 

More from the blog:

I’ve Seen Thousands of Founder Pitches. These 5 Mistakes Keep Showing Up.

Building a Deal-Tracking App in Just 4 Minutes with Grok 4.6

Fundraising Friction is Killing Your Round – Here’s How to Remove It

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