Niek Hogenboom

Niek Hogenboom is the Co-Founder and CEO of Minimal AI, an artificial intelligence startup based in San Francisco, California. Founded in 2024, the company recently raised $3.6 million led by Y Combinator, with participation from Reddit CEO Steve Huffman. Under his leadership, the startup develops AI agents designed to automate over 90 percent of e-commerce customer support tickets for clients like UpFront and CloudPillo. Before launching Minimal AI, Hogenboom studied aerospace engineering at Delft University of Technology, conducted master's research at the University of Oxford, and managed a top-ranked solar racing team. His entrepreneurial career began at age 16 with a custom suit business he sold three years later, followed by scaling SitRight to over $2 million in annual revenue. Hogenboom's current focus centers on deploying autonomous AI managers to streamline complex customer service operations.