Ex-Meta AI director Rohit Patel launches Ndoc to rival Office, Workspace

Rohit Patel, a director at Meta's Superintelligence Labs, has left the company after eight years to launch Ndoc, an AI-first office suite meant to compete with Microsoft Office and Google Workspace, according to reports published on October 27, 2026. Ndoc is a three-person start-up with no outside funding. It is running a pilot with an enterprise customer and an early "alpha" version for people on its waiting list, with a wider beta expected in the coming weeks and a full launch planned for 2027. Patel says the product is built on fine-tuned open-source AI models, which he says keeps running costs down.

Office software is one of the most entrenched markets in technology. Most companies and schools around the world use either Microsoft's Word, Excel and PowerPoint or Google's Docs, Sheets and Slides, and switching is costly because files, habits and training are built around them. Both giants have added AI assistants to their suites, so a newcomer has to offer something they cannot easily copy.

Ndoc's bet is on a different structure rather than an assistant bolted onto old apps. Instead of separate tools for writing, presenting and calculating, it groups work into three connected views. The idea is that AI can move information between them, for example turning analysis into a narrative or a presentation, without users copying and pasting between programs. Whether that is more useful in practice will only become clear once more people use it.

The choice of open-source models is also significant. Large language models from companies such as OpenAI and Google are powerful but can be expensive to use at scale. Fine-tuning open models, which anyone can adapt, lets a small team control costs and tailor the AI to specific tasks. This is a growing trend among AI start-ups that want to avoid depending on a single provider.

Patel's decision to stay small and unfunded for now is unusual in an AI market where start-ups often raise large sums before launching. He has said he wants proof that customers want the product before taking investment. For readers interested in founding companies, that approach, test demand first and raise money later, is a useful contrast to the headline-grabbing mega-rounds of the AI boom.

Short-term: Ndoc will open to more testers in its beta, and early feedback will show whether its three-tab approach appeals to businesses.

Long-term: Even if it does not dislodge Microsoft or Google, Ndoc adds to a wave of AI-native work tools that are pushing incumbents to rethink how office software works. If it gains traction, it may attract investors and larger customers in 2027.

Who is affected: Office workers and students who use document, slide and spreadsheet tools every day, businesses choosing software, Microsoft and Google, and AI start-ups building on open-source models.

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