Tepper School Undergraduate Student Makes History as Third-Youngest Funded by Y Combinator

Caseflood.ai, a rising star in the legal tech world, is transforming the way law firms handle client interactions.

Founded earlier this year by Ethan Hilton, a freshman business administration major at the Tepper School, Tolen Schreid from Purdue, and Ayushman Srivastava, a recent CMU Masters graduate in Information Systems Management, Caseflood.ai is an AI-powered inbound system that takes people from incoming callers to engaged and informed clients.

Officially launched only three months ago, Caseflood.ai is making a national impact, fielding calls for law firms across the country. Their innovative approach caught the eye of Y Combinator, the highly prestigious startup accelerator known for backing game-changing ventures such as AirBNB and DoorDash.

Caseflood.ai was recently accepted into the Winter 2025 batch, securing a coveted spot among a select group of approximately 100 companies chosen from a pool of 40,000-50,000 applications. This achievement is particularly remarkable considering the median Y Combinator founder profile leans towards experienced tech professionals in their late 20s. Ethan's age of 18 makes him the program's third youngest founder ever, demonstrating the potential of Caseflood.ai.

The inspiration for Caseflood.ai stemmed from Ethan's first hand experience in the legal tech industry.

“I quickly recognized the challenges faced by small law firms with limited resources, particularly in managing client inquiries,” Hilton said. He joined forces with Schreid and Srivastava to create a solution.

With their combined expertise in AI, computer engineering, and information systems management, they developed a multilingual AI receptionist system. This innovative virtual assistant acts as the first point of contact for potential clients, qualifying leads through natural language processing and directing them to the appropriate lawyer within the firm. The virtual assistant calls clients back to notify them of upcoming appointments, updates in their case, and more.

“Carnegie Mellon’s vibrant community has been invaluable to us. This year we were able to set up a dedicated workspace in the Swartz Center, which was extremely helpful,” Hilton said. “This immersion in the university's entrepreneurial ecosystem has helped us to turn our vision into reality.”

With their groundbreaking technology and impressive Y Combinator acceptance, Caseflood.ai is poised to revolutionize the legal industry and pave the way for a more efficient and client-centric future for law firms across the nation.