Co-Founder Flai (S25), prev Founding Engineer @ Happyrobot

Joined March 2019
55 Photos and videos
Pinned Tweet
3 Oct 2025
Today we’re excited to share that @useflai has raised a $4.5 million seed round led by @firstround with participation from @ycombinator @svangel , @Liquid2V, and many other terrific funds and angel investors. This funding fuels our mission to bring customers to automotive dealerships by handling all communication before they walk in the door. 
After visiting hundreds of dealerships and speaking with service advisors, BDC managers, GSMs, and GMs across the US, the pattern was clear: missed calls, full inboxes, long hold times, and customers who don’t try again. In fact, 70% of people who hit voicemail call a competitor within 30 minutes, translating directly into lost revenue for the dealership.

Flai has already handled tens of thousands of customer calls and is live in dozens of dealerships. Some dealers have told us Flai has paid for itself on a single Sunday and we’ve generated millions in revenue in the last two months. For our biggest location, we’re generating about 150k in revenue each month. 
With this funding, we’re pushing the product to new levels to build the AI communications platform for auto dealerships where every customer interaction outside of the store is taken care of.
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ari polakof retweeted
There are 7 days left until we close applications for our next cohort. Some of the people you’ll be meeting: @pedroh96, founder of @brex @viccpoes, founder of @krea_ai @fernandorojo, head of @v0 Rodrigo Schmidt, first Brazilian at Meta @eliast, founder @agency @saradu, founder @andocorporation @victorcardenas, founder of @slashapp Andres Perez, founder Sanas. @APolakof, founder @useflai @RohanVasishth, founder of @getbluejay_ai @zacbakerr, founder @tryterac @abustamante, founder @bem_hq @Andydy42, founder @RespanAI @cvander, founder @platzi @pablorpalafox, founder @happyrobot If you’re in doubt, apply! The thing you’ll quickly realize in SF is that everyone is just like you, so please don’t underestimate yourself.
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Just have to pick and win the right battles
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ari polakof retweeted
Why Most Service Departments Leak Calls – And What Actually Stops It | Pre-NADA AI #5 Stream the full episode now, hosted by @samdarc: 02:27 What are Kissee Ford's operational challenges? 08:45 How can AI solve service call problems? 14:46 What is "The Flai Solution"? 20:45 What were the early AI successes? 21:53 How were vendor issues solved? 23:57 How did "Amanda" impact operations? 26:00 How was AI integrated at the dealership? 32:03 What are future AI plans?
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8 Nov 2025
Yesterday night at the @ycombinator F25 fundraising talk :)
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30 Oct 2025
We work every day all day for messages like this one 🥹
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25 Oct 2025
Flai in Times Square 🦅
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ari polakof retweeted
Saturday with the Flai guys
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9 Oct 2025
There’s something very exciting about trying to solve what seems impossible at first
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ari polakof retweeted
Congrats to @useflai on their $4.5M seed round! Flai helps automotive dealerships bring in more customers by handling all communication before they walk in the door — across calls, text, and email. techcrunch.com/2025/10/03/fl…
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ari polakof retweeted
3 Oct 2025
Congratulations to Flai on the seed round led by First Round Capital! The visited over 400 car dealerships in person to get Flai off the ground.
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ari polakof retweeted
We are excited to partner with @APolakof and the Flai team! We were very impressed by the team's deep background in voice AI and their increasing momentum with customers, and excited to be supporting them with our friends at First Round Capital Liquid 2 Ventures.
3 Oct 2025
Today we’re excited to share that @useflai has raised a $4.5 million seed round led by @firstround with participation from @ycombinator @svangel , @Liquid2V, and many other terrific funds and angel investors. This funding fuels our mission to bring customers to automotive dealerships by handling all communication before they walk in the door. 
After visiting hundreds of dealerships and speaking with service advisors, BDC managers, GSMs, and GMs across the US, the pattern was clear: missed calls, full inboxes, long hold times, and customers who don’t try again. In fact, 70% of people who hit voicemail call a competitor within 30 minutes, translating directly into lost revenue for the dealership.

Flai has already handled tens of thousands of customer calls and is live in dozens of dealerships. Some dealers have told us Flai has paid for itself on a single Sunday and we’ve generated millions in revenue in the last two months. For our biggest location, we’re generating about 150k in revenue each month. 
With this funding, we’re pushing the product to new levels to build the AI communications platform for auto dealerships where every customer interaction outside of the store is taken care of.
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ari polakof retweeted
3 Oct 2025
So excited to share about my most recent investment!! The technical depth willingness to put in the unglamorous work that @APolakof, @alen0vich & @_juan_alzugaray have is a key attribute I look for in founders. In just a few months, the amount of product built and customer traction was crazy impressive. But most of all, I loved how these 3 engineers (ex-Uber, Netflix & HappyRobot) visited 450 car dealerships in person.  Since then they’ve generated millions in revenue for customers, with one customer saying Flai’s voice AI solution paid for itself on a single Sunday. Super proud to lead Flai’s $4.5M Seed round @firstround. Love working with this team — three of the most competitive founders I’ve ever met. Article on @techcrunch 👇
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26 Sep 2025
Happy Ari :p
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13 Sep 2025
Using claude code (cc) on a typical Saturday: me: can you do x cc: sure here it is (horrible work) me: can you do it correctly please cc: sure here it is (perfect)
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12 Sep 2025
almost last day at @ycombinator with @amiklas 🥹
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ari polakof retweeted
23 Jul 2025
Congrats, guys! Love the rapid progress!
Flai (useflai.com) is building voice AI assistants that turn every missed call at a car dealership into revenue. Congrats on the launch, @_juan_alzugaray, @APolakof, and @alen0vich! ycombinator.com/launches/O19…
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9 Sep 2025
Demo day with the goat @NathanBelaye
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we invested in @APolakof - beat this👇
we're building cluely of angel investing. apply now
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