Editor’s Note: Through its Origin Ventures Office of Entrepreneurship, Gies College of Business is supporting entrepreneurial activities of both on-campus and online learners. The Origin Ventures Office fosters knowledge creation and dissemination from top faculty in the field, and it designs and offers the curriculum needed to bring that knowledge to the classroom. The office houses iVenture, an accelerator for top student startups at the University of Illinois, and co-sponsors the Cozad New Venture Challenge, which allows University of Illinois startups to compete for a pool of $550,000 in funding. This is one in a series of features on Gies teams participating in this year’s Cozad, which culminated in the finals on April 17.
Like many founders, Runzhao Hu found that most of her work ultimately flowed through a single system: her inbox. From fundraising conversations to hiring pipelines to customer outreach, critical workflows were all happening in one place — but without structure, prioritization, or clear next steps.
Navigating those messages, maintaining context, and deciding what to act on became a constant source of friction — not just for Hu, but for others operating in similarly high-intensity environments.
Hu, who is pursuing a master’s degree in technology management (MSTM) at Gies College of Business, is launching a startup called MailWand to address this challenge. She is joined in this pursuit by her co-founder, Haozhen (Raymond) Wu, a graduate of Illinois’ Grainger College of Engineering with a degree in computer science.
MailWand is an AI-native email client designed to transform inboxes into personalized workflow systems. Rather than organizing emails chronologically, the platform restructures them into prioritized tasks, categorized workflows, and structured information based on what each message represents and what action it requires.
“Email hasn’t evolved with how people work today,” Hu said. “There’s almost no barrier to receiving information, but every message requires a different level of context, priority, and time-to-action. That’s where the overload comes from.”
Through conversations with founders, executives, operators, and job seekers, Hu found that this challenge is widely shared. Many users rely on their inbox not just for communication, but as the primary system for managing relationships, tasks, and knowledge — without the tools to support that complexity.
“The inbox is effectively a system of record for a lot of people,” Hu said. “But it was never designed to function that way.”
Through MailWand, Hu is building a system that turns unstructured communication into structured, actionable workflows. Emails are automatically classified, key information is extracted, and related messages are grouped — no longer confined to chronological threads.
Users can then view their inbox in formats tailored to their needs, such as task lists, structured tables, or focused reading views.
“What users actually need is simple,” Hu said. “What is this? What do I need to do, and when do I need to do it? We reorganize email around that.”
What separates MailWand from other potential solutions?
Hu explains that most existing tools fall into three categories: traditional email clients that prioritize message delivery, speed-focused tools that optimize for faster replies, and external systems like CRMs that require manual data entry and sit outside the inbox.
“Speed is helpful, but it doesn’t solve overload,” Hu said. “Most tools still operate on the idea that email is something you read and reply to. They don’t change how information is structured or how work actually gets done.”
MailWand takes a different approach.
“We’re workflow-first, not message-first,” Hu said. “Instead of processing emails one by one, we automatically structure them into workflows — with AI handling classification, prioritization, and information extraction.”
The platform also incorporates adaptive intelligence through progressive rule learning. It begins working immediately and improves over time by learning from user behavior, suggesting new rules, and refining how emails are organized — without requiring complex manual setup.
“You’re not configuring a system upfront,” Hu said. “It evolves with you.”
While an undergrad at Illinois pursuing a degree in computer science, she heard from fellow students who benefited from their involvement in the Cozad New Venture Challenge, Illinois’ largest venture creation program, where U of I students annually compete for $550,000 in funding. So, this year, she entered MailWand in Cozad to connect with other builders and mentors, perfect her prototype, and hopefully win some funding to take MailWand to market. This year, TechNexus Venture Collaborative is sponsoring a $100,000 grand prize.
“We want to turn digital conversations into structured workflows,” Hu said.
Today, MailWand is focused on supporting founders and high-intensity operators, while also serving professionals such as recruiters, administrators, and job seekers who manage complex, email-driven workflows.
“These are people whose inbox isn’t just communication — it’s operations,” Hu said.
Hu has already tested early versions of MailWand with more than 30 active beta users and over 200 users on the waitlist. (See the latest demo) Early users report near-zero manual configuration, faster identification of high-priority emails, and shorter turnaround time on tasks. Overall, the product has improved clarity in how users manage and act on their workflows.
As the product evolves, future development will focus on expanded use cases supported by purpose-built workflow templates, along with deeper customization and more advanced AI capabilities.
Leveraging the University of Illinois’ entrepreneurial ecosystem
Hu will graduate in August from the MSTM, a 12-month, STEM-designated master’s program that equips students to see technology not just as tools, but as engines for real business impact. Graduates gain the strategic business mindset to lead innovation, guide teams, and drive decisions that shape the future of technology-driven enterprises.
Her involvement in the program also grants her access to one of the world’s top entrepreneurial ecosystems at the University of Illinois, which includes alumni contacts in a host of fields. Cozad has already provided Hu with a list of industry experts, who she hopes can help provide direction on customer discovery, monetization, and promotional strategies. She presented the product at Cozad workshops in front of more than 100 attendees and received feedback from over 15 mentors and judges.
She has registered for the iVenture Seminar, which will prepare her, if selected, for the iVenture Accelerator, a Gies Business-sponsored educational accelerator for top U of I-based startups. In addition, Hu has worked closely with staff at the Technology Entrepreneur Center (TEC), participated in Forge, a Midwest entrepreneurship conference in Chicago, and will present MailWand at the upcoming Engineering Open House in April.
“From the first workshop I attended, I was pushed to think beyond the initial use case,” Hu said. “Cozad has helped us move from an idea to a system — not just building features but really understanding the problem and where we fit in a crowded market.”
Through these experiences, Hu has focused on expanding MailWand toward founders and high-intensity operators, while continuing to refine its positioning. By engaging with users across different workflows, she is identifying where existing tools fall short and where MailWand can offer a distinct advantage.
“There are a lot of tools around email,” Hu said. “But the core problem hasn’t been solved well — how to actually structure and act on large volumes of unstructured communication.”
As far as monetization is concerned, MailWand is currently experimenting with a freemium model, allowing users to process a limited number of emails before transitioning to a subscription. The team is also exploring early-user pricing, referral programs, and partnerships with creators and communities, along with tiered plans based on usage and workflow complexity as it builds traction.
Hu believes MailWand is emerging at a pivotal moment, as advances in AI intersect with the growing volume and complexity of digital communication.
“People need to process more unstructured information than ever before,” Hu said. “For the first time, AI can provide that source of power to benefit individual users.”
Looking ahead, Hu envisions MailWand extending beyond email to support a broader range of digital conversations and workflows.
“We’re starting with email,” Hu said, “but the goal is to redefine how people process and act on information across all their communication channels.”