Sidekick is an AI-powered SMS assistant for frontline workers in manufacturing, auto dealerships, and retail. The idea came from Justin's father, who owns a manufacturing facility and asked him to build a tool to help with worker onboarding, training, and organizing company knowledge. Workers text questions in any language and get instant answers from their company's documents — no app, no login, works on any phone. They can send photos of equipment for instant identification or voice memos when their hands are dirty or they're wearing gloves. Managers upload documents and record video walkthroughs; Sidekick automatically generates step-by-step tutorials and a searchable knowledge base. When Sidekick can't answer, it escalates to the manager via SMS and learns from the response, getting smarter with every interaction.
Last stage
Seed
Investors
Justin So
Co-founder & CEO at Sidekick (YC S26). UPenn Masters in Computer Science. Previously Finance at Arm.
LinkedInAadip Khanal
Co-founder and CTO of Sidekick (YC S26), confirmed via YC company profile and f4.fund.
No applications, no recruiter spam. Just the intro.
A few questions to make sure this role is the right shape for you. Two minutes.
I write the intro, send it to the founder, and handle the back-and-forth.
If they’re a yes, I book the chat. You show up — that’s the whole job-hunt.