Sara Du spent 2025 helping companies build MCP servers while users constantly asked how to run AI agents directly inside Slack. Technical barriers prevented this integration: moving messages back and forth and supplying agents with context without exhausting token budgets.
Du identified a deeper flaw in how communication platforms were constructed. “The deeper I went, the more I felt Slack and Teams were built for a world that was starting to pass us by,” Du told TechCrunch. “Agents were treated as apps you install even as they were becoming participants in the team.”
She proposed a system to eliminate “meat proxies,” where staff members must relay AI agent work to the wider group. “The human effectively becomes the messenger between the agent and the rest of the company,” she said.
An ideal setup allows agents to participate in shared conversations where work gets coordinated. They should understand why decisions were made, ask colleagues questions, build on another agent’s output, and request human input when judgment is required.
Ando launches
Her startup, Ando, emerged from stealth on Thursday with an app designed for both human and AI workers. The platform acts as a full replacement for Slack or similar messaging tools for companies using AI agents internally.
Ando gives agents their own identities and inboxes, allowing them to join conversations as naturally as people can. The app includes channels, direct messages, group chats, and live calls that can be transcribed for agents to view.
Agents can browse channels, select which ones to join, and enter conversations without being tagged. If an agent believes a human worker needs notification, it can message them directly rather than waiting for approvals.
To continue development, Andon announced on Thursday it raised $20 million in pre-seed and seed funding from investors including Accel, Index Ventures and Emergence.
Du’s concept is not new. Major players in workplace collaboration have already added support for AI agents. Slack has converted its native bot into an AI agent, while Microsoft has integrated Copilot into Teams to connect with the wider Office 365 suite.
There remains a market for apps to challenge the incumbents given how quickly AI is invading workplaces. Just a few months ago, Twitter and Block co-founder Jack Dorsey announced Buzz, which combines people and AI agents into one messaging app, though it targets developers.
Du believes an advantage exists in building an AI-agent-native team messaging platform as legacy incumbents attempt to pivot their existing software.
She acknowledges the uphill battle ahead. “A lot of people we showed it to early on were understandably unimpressed. It was, in many respects, just a jankier messaging platform. People would get stuck on that before they even got to what was different about the agents,” she explained.
The team knew they were onto something when more customers began using Ando for longer periods. With the new tool, agents could notice two separate channels discussing the same problem and, without being asked, bring everyone together in a group chat, explain the context, and suggest a decision.
“That was really delightful for me,” she said. “I felt agents could better manage people than humans can because they can process a lot more messages than a human can in a shorter span of time.”
Ando currently works with customers in software, real estate and finance across 15 countries, though many teams served are small. The fresh capital will be used to hire more staff and burn through more tokens.
“I think agents will let very small teams operate at a scale that previously required hundreds of people,” she said. “They can take on more of the execution, research and coordination work, while humans spend more of their time on judgment, strategy and deciding what should happen next.”
