A chance encounter with a frustrated salon owner helped transform two University of Chicago graduates from file-searching entrepreneurs into emergency services innovators, culminating in a $14 million Series A funding round for their Seattle-based company Aurelian.
Max Keenan and James Liu initially launched Needl in 2022, creating personal search technology to help users find files, documents, and messages across digital platforms. Despite raising pre-seed funding and joining Y Combinator, the founders felt disconnected from their mission.
“We just didn’t love our customers,” Keenan admitted. The pair reassessed their goals, seeking to combine “interesting tech for people who did meaningful work.”
In 2023, they pivoted to conversational AI, initially experimenting with salon appointment booking and automated price quotes. The shift seemed logical given advances in large language models, though the founders discovered scheduling automation presented unexpected technical challenges.
The breakthrough came through an unrelated conversation with a salon owner who complained about cars blocking her business during school pickup times. When she called the police non-emergency line, she waited 30 to 40 minutes before giving up and dialling 911 instead.
“Can you make it so the police answer the phone?” she asked Keenan, unknowingly suggesting their next business direction.
The founders recognised an opportunity to modernise 911 call centres struggling with staffing shortages and outdated technology. Most facilities still operate with on-premises software rather than cloud-based systems, creating inefficiencies in emergency response.
Aurelian’s AI assistant connects to existing phone lines, answering calls, gathering information, and asking follow-up questions. The system can resolve non-emergency calls about stolen wallets, parking violations, and noise complaints without human dispatcher involvement, whilst routing urgent matters to appropriate personnel.
The technology handles linguistic nuances distinguishing “robbery” from “burglary” and processes vague location data, helping free up staff for genuine emergencies whilst reducing wait times for routine requests.
Since launching in May 2024, Aurelian has deployed across more than a dozen agencies nationwide, including seven in Washington state. The platform demonstrated immediate impact during a recent “bomb cyclone” storm affecting the Seattle region.
Aurelian answered over 500 power outage calls in 24 hours for Snohomish County, including an urgent request from a woman whose husband’s chairlift was stuck mid-stair. The system transferred her call instantly rather than requiring an hour-long wait.
The company projects automating more than one million calls monthly as adoption expands. NEA led the Series A round, with participation from existing investors including Liquid 2 Ventures, Y Combinator, and Palm Drive Capital.
“This was the first time we woke up every day excited to work with our customers,” Keenan reflected. The founder emphasised optimising for energy and excitement when building businesses, suggesting passion for the mission proves more valuable than pursuing theoretically sound but uninspiring opportunities.
The transformation from document search to emergency services illustrates how startup success often emerges from unexpected conversations and willingness to abandon comfortable but unfulfilling paths.
