“Chris, I’m concerned, do customers actually want to speak to an AI receptionist?”.
I hear this almost daily on calls with new customers asking about Aeva AI.
The truth is, no. Most people will always say they would rather speak to a person.
Of course they would. Thats what they’ve always done.
But here’s the question that really matters:
Would they rather speak to an AI receptionist who can help them now OR get sent to voicemail, wait on hold, and call back tomorrow?
Almost every single person chooses the AI.
Clinics aren’t call centres.
And unless you’ve got a 24/7 team that picks up instantly and can clone themselves when two or three lines light up at once, you’re going to miss calls. And those missed calls? They’re missed bookings. Missed care. Missed revenue.
That’s what Aeva solves.
Currently working off the grid from Ubud, Bali
What it’s really taken to build Aeva
This whole journey started in a place you might not expect: real estate.
I spent five years making 50 to 100 calls every day as a real estate agent.
Same conversations, same objections, same routines. It was effective, but numbing. I was constantly thinking, surely there’s a smarter way to do this.
Then I stumbled across early AI voice tools. It was basic stuff, but something clicked. I couldn’t unsee it. I teamed up with my technical co-founder and best friend Louis, and we started building small systems for realtors. Then we got curious and began testing the tech in other industries like construction, finance, even sports teams and events. It worked. But we didn’t yet know where it belonged.
That changed in late 2024.
We crossed paths with a clinic owner in Auckland who used Cliniko. He was spending over $20,000 a year on a local phone answering service and it wasn’t working. Different voice every time. No one knew the business. No continuity. He didn’t want to take on the cost of a full-time receptionist either. Post-COVID, he had to make smarter decisions.
He saw something in what we were building and gave us a shot.
We worked with him that entire month to create the first version of what would become Aeva. It was rough. He didn’t love it at first. But we stayed close, refined it, kept iterating.
Then December came and everything changed.
A large, multi-practitioner clinic reached out. Over 40 clinicians. They didn’t just want to use Aeva, they wanted to help us build it properly. They believed in us. They understood the vision. That was our moment. We weren’t going to disappoint.
While most people were winding down for the holidays, we were working. Hard. Over that break, we rebuilt the entire system from scratch and launched the first AI receptionist fully integrated with Cliniko in January 2025.
That large clinic is still with us today. Still one of our biggest advocates.
From there, it’s been the most exciting journey working with the most amazing customers. We’ve worked 7 days a week with over 300 practitioners to get Aeva to where it is now. And we’re still building.
How much the small details matter.
“Doesn’t AI make stuff up?”
Yep.
“Does your AI make stuff up?“
Nope.
One of the biggest challenges we faced early on was ‘hallucinated’ availability. No matter how many instructions we gave it, the AI would sometimes invent appointment times that didn’t exist.
We struggled with this back in January.
Then one day, Louis my co-founder said, “I know how to fix it”.
Our secret: whenever a time is agreed during a call, Aeva sends the details to a second AI agent. That agent’s only job is to check and verify the booking against the real calendar. All of this happens in under a second, without the caller ever knowing. And still works today.
The longer we’ve been doing this, the more we’ve realised: the breakthroughs don’t come from flashy features. They come from the tiny, quiet moments people don’t even notice. But they’re what make it work.
That’s how Aeva grows.
Not from theory. Not from guessing.
From real feedback. Real usage.
We hold ourselves to the standard of making this perfect. Not because it’s easy, but because that’s what clinics deserve. Reliable customer service.
We’re not here to build a gimmick. We’re here to change what it feels like to run a front desk in a busy practice.
The phone is still the front door.
In every clinic we work with, it’s the same story. The phone rings, and behind every ring is a person needing help.
You can spend thousands on marketing, websites, social media, but if the call gets missed, none of it matters. The moment someone reaches out, that’s the moment that counts.
That’s why Aeva exists. To meet people at the front door, every time, with clarity, consistency and care.
If you’ve been with us from the beginning, you’ve helped shape what Aeva is today.
If you’ve joined more recently, you’re already seeing how fast things are moving.
And if you’re still on the sidelines…
At some point, you’ll need to decide whether to keep watching, or step into the future.
Thanks for reading. Thanks for being here.
Keep innovating,
Chris Baxter
Founder, Aeva AI Receptionist for Healthcare
p.s - I reply to every response, if you have a great Aeva story, need help or just want to chat, reply here.