If you’ve ever been locked out of your work computer, you know the urgent need to reach IT support. Unfortunately, helpdesk staff are often busy assisting others, which can mean a significant delay before you regain access.

Andrei Serban realized the critical importance of IT’s manual work when he was a product lead on Rippling’s apps and integrations team. Serban, who joined Rippling after it acquired his coding security startup Fuzzbuzz in 2023, saw an opportunity to automate many of the helpdesk’s basic tasks with AI, from resetting passwords to granting access to apps like Figma and Miro, and routine troubleshooting.

Sereban couldn’t wait to get started on his vision. He left Rippling last year to found Console, a startup on a mission to help IT teams reduce mundane, repetitive tasks, thereby freeing up time for helpdesk professionals to work on more strategic and sophisticated projects.

While trying to automate helpdesk functions isn’t new, Console differentiates itself from existing competitors, including Moveworks, which was acquired by ServiceNow in March for $2.85 billion, by forgoing long, complex installation processes.  Thanks to its easy integration with Slack, Console’s AI assistant can be made available to everyone in the company in just a few weeks.

“We’re able to get there so fast because you don’t require you to replace your help desk,” he said.

Console sees itself as an AI co-worker that uplevels existing helpdesk professionals. Serban even suggested that as companies digitize more of their operations, the IT function will become increasingly vital.

Employees message Console on Slack and the startup’s AI agent quickly responds to requests because it knows everything about the user, from their specific laptop model to the applications they have permission to use. Console’s AI can resolve over 50% of the tasks on its own, and it will loop in someone from IT for more complex issues, Serban said.

The fast install time attracted customers, including Scale AI, Flock Safety, and Calendly.

These customer wins have led Console to secure $6.2 million in seed funding from Thrive Capital.

Vince Hankes, a partner at Thrive, said that the firm, which has backed many of the leading AI companies, including OpenAI, Cursor, and ElevenLabs, has had a thesis about artificial intelligence’s potential to assist with IT tasks since ChatGPT was first released in the fall of 2022.

While Hankes acknowledged that Console’s fast integration might make it seem easily replaceable, he believes its AI technology will improve so quickly with user adoption that it will become an indispensable, deeply integrated system essential to everyone at the customer’s company.

Console’s goal is to eventually start supporting other functions, including answering employee requests about HR, finance, and legal.

“We want Console to be an employee’s first call for help,” Serban said.