Cactus

What do they actually do

Cactus runs a hosted, 24/7 phone assistant for service businesses. When a customer calls a business’s number, Cactus answers with a conversational voice, collects job details (location, scope, timing), filters out low‑quality inquiries, and either books the job or hands a structured, “job‑ready” lead into the business’s calendar or CRM/CSR inbox so staff can close it—no voicemail handoff. Cactus also handles onboarding and tuning by reviewing historical calls and codifying each customer’s qualification rules and availability oncactus.com/how-it-works, oncactus.com.

They say they’ve onboarded solopreneurs in hospitality and home services—YC lists “100+ chefs” as early users and the public site shows testimonials from clinics, roofing, and other services YC profile, oncactus.com. The product already triggers basic follow‑ups (phone/text/email) for unbooked leads and pushes confirmed bookings or leads into calendars/CRMs; specific accuracy metrics, pricing, and a detailed integration list are not published on the site oncactus.com.

Who are their target customer(s)

• Independent/private chefs and small catering businesses: They’re often busy during service and miss calls; they also waste time on low‑quality inquiries. They need someone to answer, qualify, and book without hiring staff.
• Plumbing/HVAC/electrical contractors and other home‑service solo owners: They receive urgent and after‑hours calls and need fast, accurate intake to decide on dispatching or scheduling. Missed calls mean lost jobs and revenue.
• Small clinics and appointment‑based local service providers: Voicemail and poor triage cause patient/client drop‑off; limited staff means weak follow‑up and more no‑shows.
• Photographers and personal trainers (solo or micro‑teams): High inquiry volume but limited bandwidth to qualify and nurture leads; promising prospects slip away without structured intake and follow‑up.
• Small businesses without a full‑time receptionist (roofing, landscaping, small contractors): Owners spend time screening calls instead of billable work; inconsistent follow‑up reduces conversion and repeat business.

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Founder‑led, high‑touch pilots with chefs via personal/Y Combinator networks; 30–60 day free or discounted trials with hands‑on onboarding and tuning to prove more bookings, then secure testimonials and referrals oncactus.com/how-it-works, YC profile.
• First 50: Targeted outreach to similar solopreneur verticals (photographers, trainers), referral bonuses, and local ads pointing to chef case studies; partner with booking platforms/trade groups for warm intros while keeping onboarding human‑assisted to maintain conversion oncactus.com, YC profile.
• First 100: Use seed funds to hire a small outbound/onboarding team and integrate with common calendars/CRMs; launch referral program and targeted paid search/social using early ROI proof, and pursue reseller/bundle deals with scheduling/POS vendors Yahoo Finance, oncactus.com.

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

Angi estimates the U.S. home services market at about $657B annually, supported by roughly 6.1 million pros across ~2.5 million businesses Angi. Specialty trade contractors alone account for ~590k employer establishments in recent BLS counts BLS NAICS 238.

Bottom-up calculation:

If we focus on phone‑heavy home services (e.g., plumbing, HVAC, electrical, roofing, handyman, cleaning/landscaping), assume ~40% of Angi’s ~2.5M businesses are a fit (~1.0M). At a conservative $150/month ($1,800/year) for an AI call assistant, TAM ≈ $1.8B in the U.S.

Assumptions:

• Eligible, phone‑intensive segments are ~40% of U.S. home service businesses (based on Angi’s ~2.5M business count).
• Average price point assumed at $150/month for always‑on AI answering/qualification/scheduling.
• Estimate limited to U.S. SMBs; excludes larger call centers, multi‑location enterprises, and non‑phone‑driven trades.

Who are some of their notable competitors

• Smith.ai: AI‑first virtual receptionist with optional human backup; handles intake, lead qualification, appointment booking, and CRM/calendar integrations—very similar core workflow to Cactus.
• Ruby: Human‑centric virtual receptionist service known for live answering, intake, and scheduling; competes on reliability/white‑glove human coverage over pure automation.
• Goodcall: AI phone agents marketed to service businesses for conversational answering and booking; overlaps directly with the “stop missing calls” value proposition.
• GoTo Connect (AI Virtual Receptionist): VoIP/UCaaS platform bundling an AI receptionist for answering/routing/analytics; convenient for customers already on GoTo’s phone system.
• Posh: 24/7 virtual receptionist/live answering with a mobile app; targets the same SMBs that want dependable coverage, leaning on live agents with simple controls.