platoseed
โ† All companies
Signals logo

Signals

Active

Proactive AI customer support that engages high-value users

Winter 2026Founded 20252 peopleSan Francisco, CA, USA
Generate ideas โ†’
AI insightcan contain mistakes
Proactive AI Customer SupportSaaSCompanies with high-value customersMedium competition
Moat
iMessage outbound capability and authentic engagement quality create differentiation.
Key risk
SMS/messaging regulations may constrain outbound; customer fatigue from over-engagement.
Why now
Customer support cost pressures and retention focus drive proactive engagement demand.
Competitors
Drift, Intercom, custom AI engagement
โ†ป Pivot / rename signal

This company has previously operated under โ€œMaterial Modelโ€, โ€œReturn Signalsโ€. A rename frequently marks a pivot in positioning or product โ€” useful raw material for variant ideas.

About

Proactive AI customer support that engages high-value users. By using LLMโ€™s to engage customers in an authentic way before they reach out to customer support we minimize support tickets, build relationships and deliver upsells. We are the only AI agent on the market with sufficient engagement to be allowed to send iMessages outbound.

Founders ยท 2

Ilya Valmianski
Ilya ValmianskiCo-Founder/CEO

Co-Founder Return Signals. 2x founder. Previously built AI patient intake at Kaiser Permanente, medical ChatGPT before ChatGPT at Curai Health, and co-founded MDandMe. Physics PhD.

Alejandro Zaniolo
Alejandro ZanioloFounder

Co-founder at Return Signals. I like building things from the ground up. Previously helped take two startups from 0 - 1: one was acquired by Blueground, and another grew 6x YoY to $40M ARR and became profitable by the time I left.

Related startups

Also in Winter 2026