telli Builds AI-Native Phone System to Replace Call Centers, Seeks Talent with Generous Referral Bonuses

telli, an AI communications startup that graduated from Y Combinator's F24 cohort, is building what it claims to be the "first AI-native phone system" designed to replace traditional call centers. Founded by veterans who previously managed a 150-person call center at Enpal, the company has reached over $2 million in annualized revenue with just 12 employees since launching last year.

The core premise challenges conventional customer service models: "Many companies fail in customer communication not because they don't care, but because they can't keep up," the company states. Their solution deploys AI voice agents to handle repetitive calls while routing complex cases to human operators, all managed through a unified platform. This architecture diverges fundamentally from legacy systems retrofitted with AI capabilities.

Technical implementation details remain undisclosed, but the platform appears to leverage speech recognition, natural language processing, and workflow automation to handle call routing and basic customer interactions. The founders emphasize their firsthand experience scaling customer operations as key differentiator: "We know how difficult and expensive it is to scale high-quality customer experience with phone calls."

The startup is actively recruiting across several technical roles with notable referral bonuses:

• Software Engineer & Founding Designer: €10,000 referral bonus
• Customer AI Engineer: €5,000 bonus
• Growth Associate & AI Operations Associate: No specified bonus
• Intern positions: No bonus offered

Bonuses follow a 50/50 payout structure after start date and probation completion. The company explicitly excludes candidates already in their recruitment pipeline from bonus eligibility.

While promising "higher efficiency, happier teams, and better customer experiences," telli faces inherent challenges in AI telephony including handling complex edge cases, emotional customer interactions, and maintaining consistent service quality across languages and accents. Their platform's ability to seamlessly integrate human and AI agents remains unproven at scale.

With the tagline "ending the era of low-quality call centers," telli positions itself against both traditional outsourcing firms and emerging competitors like Cresta and Observe.AI. Referrals should be sent to [email protected] with "[Referral for telli]" in the subject line.