HVAC student building AI for tradespeople. Hi from Toronto.
Hey everyone,
I'm Asad. Solo founder from Pickering, just outside Toronto.
Slightly weird situation: I'm enrolled in HVAC/R at Centennial College. Not as a backup plan or a side thing — I genuinely like the trades. I'll be back in fall 2026 for another year.
While in school I noticed something that wouldn't leave me alone. Plumbers and HVAC techs lose customers constantly because they can't pick up the phone on a job. Someone calls, gets voicemail, dials the next guy on Google. I watched it happen to my classmates' family businesses over and over.
So I started building Avidra — an AI receptionist that picks up when they can't. Answers in their business's voice, captures the job details, books the callback. Everything they'd want a real receptionist to do, except it's available at 2 AM and doesn't cost $40k/year.
Launching on PH May 13. Bootstrapped, no funding, no team. Currently going through the launch checklist (which is how I ended up on this forum at 9 PM on a Saturday).
A few other things I'm building:
— Mailuno (mailuno.io), a cold email tool that reads before it writes
— Teawise (teawise.ca), a small organic tea brand my family helped me start
Mostly here to learn from other builders. If you're launching soon or have launched recently, I'd love to hear what you wish you'd known going in.
Avidra
Every call answered. Even the ones you can't pick up.
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