Ben Slaughter

I’m Ben. I run AstraRelay, and I work with HVAC and plumbing companies on one narrow problem: the calls that ring out.

I grew up in construction. All through high school and college I worked alongside plumbers and HVAC technicians, and that's where I picked up both a real respect for the work and a clear sense of what those crews actually care about: keeping customers happy and making money. Not tech lingo. I went on to become a software engineer, building complex systems for large clients, but the job sites stayed with me.

The idea for AstraRelay showed up when I was on the other side of the phone. I had an AC failure and then a water heater failure at a multifamily property I own, and I called eight companies before a single real person picked up. Somewhere in the middle of that it hit me: I would have stopped looking immediately if any one of them had simply texted me back, even just to say they couldn't talk right now, but could sort it out over text.

That's the whole thesis. People don't want to argue with an AI that answers the phone, and they usually hang up without what they needed anyway. A text keeps them with you instead of working down the Google results to the next shop. So I took the systems work I do for a living and built exactly that.

I also don't enjoy selling, which is part of why this suits me. I'm comfortable selling something that makes the buyer more money than it costs.

AstraRelay has no app to install and no software to learn, on purpose. You tell me a few things about your shop, you forward a line, and it runs. At the end of every month you get a report showing you made more than you paid me.

Outside of work I'm at home with my wife and daughter.