#StartupsEverywhere: Ali Aldubaisi, Co-Founder, Kaiden AI
This profile is part of #StartupsEverywhere, an ongoing series highlighting startup leaders in ecosystems across the country. This interview has been edited for length, content, and clarity.
De-escalating conflict through AI
When his original grading and evaluation platform wasn’t getting any bites in the world of higher education, Ali Aldubaisi and his co-founder, Ali "AJ" Aldjaei, ended up pivoting to the training of law enforcement. Today, Kaiden AI is used in police academies across the country to train recruits on how to de-escalate high-pressure scenarios. We sat down with Ali to discuss his software, selling to government organizations, and founding a startup in northern Virginia.
Tell us about your background. What led you to Kaiden AI?
I originally planned to go to medical school after graduating with a neuroscience degree from George Mason University. During college, COVID’s shift to distance learning led me to launch vRealm, an online tutoring platform, which became my first company. That experience pulled me into the world of startups, and I co-founded Kaiden AI in early 2024 with my vRealm partner, AJ Aldjaei.
Initially, we built an AI-powered platform for grading and evaluation in higher education, but the market was slow to adopt. We realized we needed to pivot quickly, so we built a small-scale AI simulation demo to test a new direction. One of the first people to see it was Steve Gladis, a former FBI Special Agent and senior scholar at George Mason University. He immediately saw its potential for law enforcement training and encouraged us to pursue that path.
We started showing our MVP to police chiefs and academy directors, and their reaction was completely different from our higher education customers. That was the turning point—we doubled down on law enforcement training.
What is the work you all are doing at Kaiden AI? Who are your users/customers?
My co-founder came from the Department of Defense. He led a lot of simulation-based training, so it just made sense to take that segment more seriously. We got in front of a few chiefs of police and saw momentum around adopting Kaiden AI for police academies.
Kaiden AI gives recruits at police academies more opportunities to practice and improve their handling of high-pressure scenarios through AI-voiced simulations. Our software is being used across Virginia in police academies as well as in Pennsylvania and Colorado.
Have you encountered any challenges in selling your software to the government? Are there things that the government should do to make this easier?
Policy changes to speed up government procurement and make it more uniform would help the process work better for startups and get more innovative technologies in the hands of those working with the public. At Kaiden AI, we sell to governments or agencies like Fairfax County, but most of our customers are regional academies that are non-profit, non-government agencies. When we sell to academies, it’s like a business-to-business enterprise deal, which is good for our product now. Long term, we’d like to work with more government agencies directly because one of the core pieces of feedback we get is that a lot of police departments do in-service training after they’ve graduated from the academy.
Navigating government procurement is a challenge because the process is different for every agency and in every state. Figuring all this out slows down our growth because we have to tweak our product each time we sell it to a government agency. To help ease this right now, we often work with channel partners that hold contracts that allow state and local agencies to purchase our products and services through those partners. This is not ideal for our startup because we have fewer direct interactions with our customers, reducing the ways we can deepen our relationships with them and limiting the feedback we can get to improve our product faster.
How was your experience starting a company in the DC, Maryland, Virginia (DMV) area? Were there any unique challenges you encountered?
We finished our pre-seed round on Christmas 2024. I ended up having to raise from the West Coast because the DMV is just brutal for deploying early-stage, pre-seed capital, high-risk profiles. With that being said, there are tremendous opportunities for startups to build in the DMV region if there is access to resources and capital.
In my experience, the DMV has a lot of meetings and classes on best practices, but it's very time-consuming to move the needle. When I got traction, I had to move fast, and sitting in a six-week program is just not designed for the agility needed in the startup ecosystem.
Everybody's doing so many things simultaneously that it's difficult to sit through a structured curriculum-based program. We need more programs that have us networking directly. If something like that existed in the DMV, it would be a complete game changer. There is a lot of talent, and many people want to be entrepreneurs and have the background and expertise to do so. If the DMV had an organized community like San Francisco, we’d see a lot more innovation here.
Are there any local, state, or federal startup issues that you think should receive more attention from policymakers?
Broadening the definition of an accredited investor would be helpful. There are a lot of individuals who have the means and want to invest in startups but don’t meet the current threshold. When we were seeking angel investors through Angel List, I had many people turn us down because they couldn’t meet any of the requirements. Part of Angel List’s investor onboarding is that you verify that you're an accredited Angel through one of the options. It slowed us down in the beginning.
Another challenge for startups, especially in regions like the DMV, is the lack of risk-tolerant early-stage capital. Many investors in this area come from government contracting or established industries, where funding models prioritize low risk and predictable returns. Unlike in places like San Francisco, where investors are more willing to back high-growth startups early, DMV founders often face longer fundraising cycles, excessive due diligence requirements, and demands for financial projections that don’t align with the realities of pre-seed startups.
Expanding investment incentives for early-stage startups, such as tax breaks for angel investors or government-backed funding programs that prioritize innovation, would help bridge this gap and make it easier for startups to secure the funding needed to grow.
What are your goals for Kaiden AI moving forward?
I hope we have a successful seed raise and continue expanding beyond Virginia. We’re already working with agencies in major metropolitan areas across the country, and scaling to larger departments has been a key milestone. We’ve got a great team and a strong vision, and I’m excited for what’s ahead.
All of the information in this profile was accurate at the date and time of publication.
Engine works to ensure that policymakers look for insight from the startup ecosystem when they are considering programs and legislation that affect entrepreneurs. Together, our voice is louder and more effective. Many of our lawmakers do not have first-hand experience with the country's thriving startup ecosystem, so it’s our job to amplify that perspective. To nominate a person, company, or organization to be featured in our #StartupsEverywhere series, email advocacy@engine.is.
