How Killian Dunne is building software to navigate software – London Business News | Londonlovesbusiness.com

Software acts as a computer’s brain, and hardware would be useless without it. Creating software becomes complex when you have to make it usable for diverse users. One user might have vastly different needs, expertise, and history to another.

The interfaces users interact with to operate software are an integral part of the software itself, which is why it’s paramount that the interface is as straightforward as possible. Software with poor user interfaces can prove clunky, unresponsive, and sometimes completely unusable. When it comes to large-scale operations, poorly crafted software can lead to hampered progress and additional labor costs.

To combat this, Killian Dunne, cofounder and CTO of AI-powered software navigation company Telepathic, is working to make software more accessible through AI. As an expert in mathematics, engineering, and software, Killian has already spearheaded several projects helping to make software do the work for people rather than the other way around.

Meeting Killian Dunne

Born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, Killian studied mathematics at the University of Edinburgh and UC Berkeley.

His major focused primarily on the theoretical side, which Killian says he found interesting although less applicable to the real world, leading him to pursue more practical applications through engineering.

One such application was a project dedicated to developing working pods for the Hyperloop, a transportation system devised by Elon Musk to replace trains and subways. “I led the pressure vessel team for the University of Edinburgh’s Hyperloop development team, HYPED. We competed at the annual hyperloop competition at the SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, CA, and pitched to Elon Musk, earning 6th place worldwide.”

Later, in his final year of university in Edinburgh, Killian cofounded Scotland’s first amateur rocket development team, which, only a few weeks ago, demoed their first liquid motor engine.

“I was Head of Structures and led the design and manufacture of all external parts of the rocket,” Killian explains. “The body and fins were made from carbon fiber (a difficult material to work with) and involved deep research into ply configurations and stress and strain analysis.” They founded the project to reignite British rocketry—which had been dormant since the ‘60s—and began by building a rocket to fly to 3 km at the Spaceport America Cup in New Mexico.

While working on the project, Killian helped recruit more than 40 team members and was involved in fundraising, PR, and software development, all of which helped guide him toward his work with software today. Upon finishing college, he became a founding engineer at one of the UK’s hottest proptechs in London and learned to program.

Soon after, Killian became CTO of a start-up that provides hotel customer service. A year ago, he dropped out of that to become a founder, first at Entrepreneur First, a global platform that invests in talented individuals, helping them form teams, build technology companies from scratch, and access resources and funding. Since then, he’s been fixated on unlocking software that understands how to navigate other software.

Telepathic: Improving software accessibility

Killian states he chose to cofound a user assistance startup after working at Homeland, which provided on-demand, pay-as-you-go customer service for hotels. It was here that he developed co-browsing software, which allows users to perform actions on behalf of another user within the browser. “I thought it was crazy that it’s always humans who must navigate interfaces and saw the early signs of what it’d look like if software were to do it for you instead,” Killian adds.

This line of thinking eventually led Killian to cofound Telepathic, an AI that can understand how to navigate software products by scraping software, capturing how it works, and synthesizing it for software end users.”

Navigating closed-gated web apps is particularly difficult, even for experienced people. Telepathic is dedicated to solving this issue as its primary focus. The program comes in multiple forms and will be able to handle different kinds of software issues as it’s further developed.

Although Telepathic is still relatively early in its development, Killian sees a bright future for the company, not just for clients but for employees as well. “Ultimately, I want to build a huge company people love to work at. I think a company often impacts the people they hire more than the customers they serve, and so I’d love to create a movement where people are inspired to come to work every day and challenge themselves.”

Killian also aims to push for greater software accessibility to help those who may be unfamiliar with it to fully utilize what technology can accomplish.

“I have so often supported my family using technology and know that the way to allow them to reap the benefits is not to change their disposition but to make software easier to use,” Killian says. “Telepathic intends to do that, with a focus on those who most need help using software.”

Killian Dunne’s mission is to help anyone access and make the most of great software. By developing AI-powered software navigation tools, he wants to break down barriers and make technology accessible to everyone, and his company, Telepathic, promises to transform how people and businesses interact with it. Killian’s passion for problem-solving, coupled with his expertise in mathematics, engineering, and software development, positions him as a key figure in shaping the future of user experience.