Entry-level skills feel obsolete. The market sells doom. Students get no agency and no proof.
Dilly AI LLC · Seed · August 2026
The daily workbench to stay ahead of AI.
Dilly turns changing job demand into demonstrated, AI-ready ability. App Store product and Stripe billing are live. The field-specific Skill Engine is in private beta. Shipping from Tampa.
Raising$250K
InstrumentSAFE · post-money
Try itApp Store live · 15-min demo
Open now. Stretch to $500K. Closes when filled. Get the app · Book a demo
Book a demo Get the app Open now · Stretch to $500K · Closes when filled
01 · Problem
The one-and-done diagnostic trap.
Generic
Blanket tips ("Learn Python") that ignore coursework, projects, and the real stack.
Passive
Static walls of text. Read once, overwhelmed, never open again. Churn by design.
Education GTM is the distribution path. Daily execution is the product. Schools need a system that builds judgment, not another chatbot.
01b · Kill shot
Whoever owns the work loop owns the proof.
ChatGPT
Smart. Amnesiac. Same answer for everyone. No proof. No habit.
Handshake / resume AI
Job inventory or one-shot polish. Sold to schools or churned after one PDF.
Dilly
Job demand becomes guided work, a professional artifact, and proof tied to relevant roles.
Daily habit drives return. Field-specific work gives students something valuable to return for.
02 · Product · live app + Skill Engine private beta
From real jobs to proof of work.
- 1. Dilly reads real job demand.
- 2. It maps demand to universal AI capabilities.
- 3. Students build field-specific applied skills.
- 4. Each skill requires real work, not content completion.
- 5. Completed work creates proof that supports relevant jobs.
Marketing
AI-Assisted Competitive Research
- Frame the business question
- Identify competitor signals
- Verify important claims
- Make a strategic recommendation
ResultCompetitive Research Brief
03 · What's verifiable today
Live system. Explicitly pre-revenue. Capital already spent on product.
App Store
v1.1.2 · live since May 202650K+
Active jobs · nightly refresh50+
ATS & niche job sources1,100+
iOS production builds$8.99
Stripe direct · .edu-gated1
Mission · schools & AI literacy · Career is the proofDemand-side numbers (downloads, paid conversion, week-4 retention) are what this round funds. We don't invent them.
04 · If we're right
A ladder you can argue with. Not TAM theater.
$1.1M
10K paid × $108/yr. First ARR target this seed is built to prove.
$10.8M
100K paid. Still under 1% of US undergrads. Same $8.99 plan.
Then
School seat licenses. Family plans. Dilly for Teams. Same spine, different buyer.
Career alone has a ~$2.0B theoretical US undergrad ceiling. Schools, parents, and workplaces sit above it.
04b · Why $250K looks small
This round prices proof. The asset is already built.
Not an MVP check
App Store binary, Stripe, job pipeline, Truth Ledger, and vertical spine exist. Competitors raise seed to start building this.
Unit economics clear
$8.99 ARPU vs ~$0.40/active user LLM COGS (~$0.10 free). Same spine expands into school partnerships, Admissions, then later field verticals.
Capital efficiency
Solo-built with Claude Code. 1,100+ builds. Daily shipping from Tampa. $250K funds GTM + one hire, not a rebuild.
Round can stretch to $500K. The next round prices retention. This one is priced to get there lean.
04c · Now-or-never
One live beachhead. Three markets remade by AI.
Schools
K-12 ed-tech ~$32–44B in 2026 · paths to ~$96.5B by 2030 or ~$325B by 2035. Find Your Grind raised $5M to sell career readiness into schools.
Parents
Kids educational apps $12.3B → $54.8B by 2034. Broader apps-for-kids ~$2.61B in 2026 at ~29% CAGR. Lingokids raised $186M.
Workplaces
AI corporate training $7.5B → $18B by 2031 (alt. ~$10.4–10.5B by early 2030s). ~$13T upskilling value by 2030. 91% raising AI L&D spend.
EdTech VC tightened in H1 2026. Workforce-learning still took ~70% of Q1 dollars. Capital is concentrating into Dilly's corners.
05 · Business model & moat
The work loop compounds into proof.
Monetization
- B2C (live): $8.99/mo · Craft, deep Moves, Chat
- Schools (next): seat licenses on verified rosters
- Family plans (next): parent sponsorship as its own funnel
- Workplaces (planned): Dilly for Teams · AI upskilling with proof
Why it sticks
- Daily moves bring students back to the next valuable action
- More applied skills and proof make the profile more useful
- Education GTM: schools as the distribution wedge
06 · Roadmap
Education is the main line. Other verticals are planned around it.
| When | Status | Product |
|---|---|---|
| Q2 2026 | Shipped | Career · proof · App Store v1.1.2 |
| Now | Private beta | Skill Engine · AI-Assisted Competitive Research · 8 guided steps |
| Q3–Q4 2026 | Building | Education · schools · AI literacy |
| Q4 2026–Q1 2027 | Building | Admissions · HS path into the spine |
| 2027+ | Planned | Medical · International · Recruiter · Agent |
Field verticals stay on the map. They are not the mission until schools prove the habit.
07 · Founder
Dilan Kochhar · Founder & CEO
- 20 · Sophomore, University of Tampa Honors College · B.S. Data Science (May 2028)
- Solo-built iOS app, FastAPI backend, AI pipeline, and marketing surface
- 1,100+ production builds · App Store since May 2026 · shipping daily from Tampa
- Kochhar Education Foundation: $20K raised, 60 computers to 6 schools in Tamil Nadu, 100K+ reached
- President, UT Data Science & AI Club · Chairman of Technology, Alpha Kappa Psi
08 · The ask
$250K seed. Distribution on a live product.
GTM proof
Campus + .edu referral, first 25 schools, path to 10K actives and week-4 retention.
One hire
GTM / partnerships: school deals, parent-invite for Admissions, campus reps.
Keep shipping
Founder runway + infra/LLM for 10K users. Stretch to $500K if oversubscribed.
Milestone 1First 10K active users
Milestone 2Week-4 retention proof
Milestone 3First recurring revenue
Built in Tampa · Seed open · Closes when filled
15 minutes. From job demand to proof of work.
See a real student profile, the AI skill worth building next, and the guided work that creates a professional artifact. Product live. Skill Engine in private beta. $250K to prove retention and distribution.