OrbitPhone
Category: AI Agents
AI-powered virtual receptionist platform for small businesses, founded by University of Rochester students to help capture missed calls and book appointments OrbitPhone was founded in 2025. The company is led by Walter McDonald. Based in Rochester, New York, United States. Team size: 2-10. Latest round: Bootstrapped.
- Founded
- 2025
- Headquarters
- Rochester, New York, United States
- Team size
- 2-10
Value proposition
Affordable, easy-to-setup (under 2 minutes) AI receptionist that captures every customer call for small businesses, democratizing AI tools that were previously only accessible to large corporations
Products and solutions
Orbit AI (OrbitPhone) — AI-powered virtual receptionist that answers calls, books appointments, syncs with Google Calendar, and provides call summaries, later pivoted to AI system for car dealerships to match customers with bank loans
Unique value
Sub-200ms response latency using neural network processing; under 2-minute setup; website scraping for instant business knowledge; affordable subscription model for small businesses
Target customer
Small service businesses (locksmiths, HVAC, financial offices, auto dealerships, spas) that rely on phone calls for revenue
Industries served
Small Business Services, Automotive (car dealerships), Spa & Wellness, Home Services (HVAC, locksmiths)
Technology advantage
Powered by OpenAI GPT Turbo; neural network processes customer speech and generates responses with ~200ms latency; website scraping for auto-configuration; integrates with Google Calendar; subscription-based business model
How they differentiate
Purpose-built for small businesses with a price point and ease-of-use gap that larger AI receptionist solutions don't address; founded and built by students who understand small business pain points firsthand; uses OpenAI GPT Turbo with custom voice models from third-party providers
Main competitors
Goodcall, Smith.ai, Answering Agent, RingCentral AI Receptionist, NextPhone
Key partnerships
University of Rochester Center of Excellence in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (CoE-DSAI), Soleo Communications (internship pipeline), Simon Business School professor Dan Keating (mentor)
Notable customers
5 Star Auto (Greece, NY), Guava Spa (Homer, 17 firms signed up for beta version as of February 2026
Major milestones
Launched company in late November 2025, featured in University of Rochester News Center (December 2025), featured in Rochester Beacon (February 2026), covered by WHEC News10NBC (April 2026), pivoted to car dealership loan matching, 17 beta customers as of February 2026
Growth metrics
17 beta customers as of February 2026; covering business costs (not yet profitable as of Feb 2026); founders not taking salaries
Market positioning
Early-stage, student-founded startup targeting the underserved small business AI receptionist market, competing on affordability and ease of use vs. enterprise-focused solutions
Geographic focus
United States (Rochester, NY area initially, with national ambitions)
About Walter McDonald
Data Science and Mathematics double major at University of Rochester (Class of 2027); AI voice systems internship at Soleo Communications through NYS Center of Excellence in Data Science and AI
Official website: https://orbitphone.net