Actually be in the meeting instead of typing through it

Every founder ends up choosing between two things in a meeting: actually paying attention, or typing fast enough to remember what was said. AI meeting tools solve this two different ways — one works quietly in the background off your own rough notes, the other joins the call as a visible participant and transcribes everything. Which one fits depends less on features and more on how you feel about a bot sitting in on your calls.

Granola — best if you want notes, not a visible bot

Granola's approach is distinct: it doesn't join your call as a participant or announce itself to anyone else on the line — it listens locally while you type your own rough, incomplete notes during the meeting, then uses that plus the audio to turn your fragments into a clean, structured summary afterward. For a solo founder who's on calls with clients, investors, or partners where introducing a visible recording bot would feel awkward or require explanation, this matters more than it sounds like it should. It's less suited to situations where you specifically need a full, searchable verbatim transcript — Granola's output is a polished summary built from your notes, not a word-for-word record.

Affiliate application in progress — link above will go live once approved.

Otter — best if you need a full, searchable transcript

Otter takes the more conventional approach — it joins the call directly and produces a complete, timestamped transcript you can search later, which is genuinely valuable for longer meetings, interviews, or anything where "what exactly did they say about X" matters weeks later. The trade-off is visibility: Otter's presence in a call is typically announced, which some external participants (particularly on sales or investor calls) may ask about or feel uneasy with. For internal team meetings where everyone already expects it, that's a non-issue.

We haven't verified an active affiliate program for Otter yet, so no link here for now — the verdict above stands regardless.

How we'd actually decide

• External calls (clients, investors, partners) where a visible bot would feel out of place: Granola.
• Internal meetings or interviews where a full searchable transcript matters most: Otter.