Spotlight

What if AI could answer your business calls, qualify leads, and book jobs—so you don’t have to?

Quick Pitch: Cactus is building a voice-first AI assistant for solopreneurs. It answers inbound calls, qualifies leads, and books jobs—letting owners focus on their craft, not admin.

The Problem

• Time Drain: Solopreneurs waste hours on calls and admin instead of growing their business.

• Revenue Ceiling: Without scalable systems, growth stalls.

• Admin Overload: Essential tasks prevent focus on core services.

• Tool Gap: CRMs don’t automate or understand service-based workflows.

Snapshot

• Industry: AI Copilots for Small Business

• Headquarters: San Francisco, California

• Year Founded: 2024 (YC Spring 2025)

• Traction: $200K+ revenue in 3 months, double-digit weekly growth, 40+ paying customers (primarily private chefs)

Founder Profiles

• Ajith Govind, Co-Founder, CEO: 2x YC alum, raised $20M+ with prior startup Turing Labs (YC W20).

• Avinash Joshi, Co-Founder, CTO: Full-stack engineer (Python, React, Rails) with deep technical chops.

Funding

• Current Round: Raising ($3M Seed)

• Notable Backers: Y Combinator, Rebel Fund, Liquid 2 Ventures, Pioneer Fund, Batch Ventures, and strategic angels

• Total Funding: ($500K Pre-Seed)

Revenue Engine

• Subscription: ~$500/month for call handling, bookings, and admin automation

• Scaling Path: 1,700 solopreneurs = $10M ARR

• Target Market: 2M private chefs, trainers, and coaches with $6K/year spend (est. $12B market)

What Users Love

• AI that actually answers calls

• Booking system synced with calendars

• Tailored workflows for service providers (chefs, trainers, photographers)

Playing Field

• Owner.com: Restaurant-first, no voice AI

• GoHighLevel: CRM with steep learning curve

• HoneyBook & Bonsai: Good for creatives, lacks real-time interaction

Why It Matters

Over 41 million solopreneurs in the U.S. contribute more than $246B to the economy. Yet most business tools are built for retailers or agencies—not for service providers like chefs, trainers, and consultants, who remain largely underserved by existing infrastructure.

What Sets Them Apart

• AI-Native: Voice-first from day one

• Vertical Focus: Starting with chefs, expanding to adjacent services

• Founder-Market Fit: Repeat founders with domain and technical expertise

• Community Flywheel: Growth driven by tight solopreneur networks

Analysis

Bulls Case 📈 

• Strong early revenue and growth

• Deep customer pain with clear value prop

• Defensible wedge via vertical workflows

• Repeatable go-to-market across verticals

Bears Case 📉 

• Needs to expand beyond chefs without losing focus

• Crowded AI assistant space

• Voice AI accuracy still evolving

• Customer acquisition cost could be high in fragmented market

Verdict

Cactus shows strong early momentum with impressive traction, an experienced team, and a differentiated product for a large market. The company's voice-first, vertical-specific AI approach offers a clear advantage over existing tools. The primary risk lies in executing its vertical expansion strategy and scaling customer acquisition effectively. For investors, the opportunity is in backing a team that is building foundational infrastructure for the growing solopreneur economy.

The Startup Pulse

• Meta x Play AI — Meta acquired Play AI to boost its AI voice capabilities and is building a 5GW AI data center, Hyperion, in Louisiana.

• Cognition x Windsurf — Cognition (maker of Devin) bought rival Windsurf after Google poached its leadership in a $2.4B licensing deal; Goldman Sachs to pilot Devin.

• Bilt — Raised $250M at a $10.75B valuation to expand into condos, student housing, mortgages, and launch Bilt Card 2.0.

Written by Ashher

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