We build AI employees for local businesses
OpenTulpa exists because local service businesses — salons, clinics, cleaning companies, gyms, and real estate agencies — deserve the same quality of customer communication that large enterprises can afford, at a price that makes sense for a small business.
The problem we're solving
Every day, local service businesses miss calls, lose Instagram DMs, and wake up to voicemails from customers who've already booked with a competitor. Not because they don't care — but because they're busy doing the actual work: cutting hair, treating patients, cleaning homes, training clients.
The traditional solution — hire a receptionist — costs $2,500–4,000/month and still leaves you uncovered after 5 PM, on weekends, and during holidays. That's when 30–40% of customer inquiries arrive.
Chatbot platforms promised to solve this, but delivered rigid decision trees that frustrate customers and require constant maintenance. They're not employees — they're scripts with a chat interface.
We built something different.
What is an AI employee — and how is it different from a chatbot?
An AI employee is trained on your specific business — your services, pricing, availability, policies, and tone. It doesn't follow a flowchart. It understands context, handles unexpected questions, books appointments against your real calendar, and escalates to you when a situation genuinely needs a human.
The distinction matters because the customer experience is entirely different. A chatbot frustrates customers with "I didn't understand that" and limited menus. An AI employee handles the conversation the way a well-trained team member would — and does it 24/7 across every channel your customers use.
We call them AI employees rather than chatbots or AI assistants because that's what they functionally are: purpose-built, business-aware agents that fill a specific operational role in your business.
Why local businesses specifically?
Enterprise AI tools are built for enterprise teams with enterprise budgets — complex setup, per-seat pricing, and feature sets designed for SaaS support teams. Local service businesses need something that works on day one, costs less than a part-time hire, and understands the actual workflows of booking, quoting, and customer communication.
We focus on industries where the operational pain is highest and the technology gap is widest: hair salons, dental and medical clinics, cleaning services, gyms and fitness studios, physiotherapy and chiropractic clinics, and real estate agencies.
Our approach
We believe the best AI employee is one you don't have to think about. You describe your business once — what you offer, how it's priced, what a qualified customer looks like, what channels you want covered — and your AI employee is operational the same day.
We don't build flowcharts or decision trees for you. We don't require technical integration work or weeks of onboarding. The setup is intentionally simple because the businesses we serve don't have time for anything else.
Human oversight is built into the product from the start. Sensitive actions require your approval. Unusual requests get flagged. You stay in control of the decisions that matter — your AI employee handles the volume.
Open source
OpenTulpa is open source. The core codebase is available on GitHub — we build in public because we believe AI infrastructure for local businesses should be transparent, auditable, and improvable by the community.
View on GitHubOur AI employee roles
Each role is purpose-built for a specific business function — trained on your operations, priced at a fraction of a human hire.
Ready to hire your first AI employee?
Describe your business and your AI employee is operational the same day. First two weeks free.
First two weeks free