The Front Lines How Abel turned 32 police ride-alongs into the ultimate customer discovery strategy | Daniel Francis ($5M Raised)
Abel Police is transforming law enforcement efficiency through AI-powered report generation technology. With $5 million in funding, the company has developed a computer vision and natural language processing platform that automatically generates police reports from body camera footage, reducing officer paperwork time by up to one-third. In this episode of Category Visionaries, we sat down with Daniel Francis, Founder and CEO of Abel Police, to explore how a former data engineer with no policing background identified a massive inefficiency in law enforcement and built technology to address it.
Topics Discussed:
- How a personal experience with domestic violence response times led to the founding of Abel Police
- The discovery that police officers spend one-third of their time writing reports
- Abel Police's approach to integrating with existing digital evidence management systems
- The unique challenges of selling technology to government agencies and police departments
- The company's evolution from attempting full record management system integration to standalone solutions
- The regulatory compliance requirements specific to criminal justice information systems (CJIS)
GTM Lessons For B2B Founders:
- Immerse yourself completely in your target customer's world: Daniel spent 32 ride-alongs with police officers across different departments, not just conducting interviews but observing their daily workflows for hours. He describes himself as "chief ride along officer" and emphasizes that he had to "creepily watch them work for hours" to understand their pain points. B2B founders should go beyond traditional customer interviews and embed themselves in their customers' actual work environment to identify problems that aren't immediately obvious through conversation alone.
- Start with mock data when real data is inaccessible: Unable to access actual body camera footage, Daniel created fake scenarios with friends, filming mock arrests and citations to train their AI models. This creative workaround allowed them to begin product development despite regulatory barriers to accessing real police footage. B2B founders facing data access challenges should find creative ways to simulate their target environment and data types to begin building and testing their solutions.
- Become an insider to overcome industry skepticism: Daniel secured a position as a "records intern" at Richmond Police Department when they wouldn't initially buy his solution, giving him access to real body camera footage and deeper understanding of police workflows. This inside access became crucial for product development and credibility. B2B founders entering unfamiliar industries should consider temporary or consulting arrangements that allow them to work alongside their target customers and gain credibility within the industry.
- Give away pilots strategically in government markets: Contrary to Y Combinator's advice to always charge for pilots, Daniel found that offering free trials was essential for police departments due to their complex procurement processes. He explains that "if they have to pay for something, that's a hassle" in government settings, but if they're willing to share their data with you, "they're serious about it." B2B founders selling to government should consider free pilots as a necessary investment to navigate bureaucratic purchasing processes.
- Build standalone solutions before attempting platform integration: Abel Police initially tried to integrate with every record management system, which significantly delayed their go-to-market timeline. They found success by building a standalone version first, then pursuing integrations. Daniel notes they "would have never sold anything" if they had stuck to their original integration-first approach. B2B founders should prioritize getting a working solution in customers' hands over achieving perfect system integration from day one.
- Leverage adjacent opportunities from your core market position: Once established with police departments, Abel Police identified additional problems like online citizen reporting and policy/law lookup tools. Their relationship with agencies made them "very open to new solutions" since "there's way more problems than there is solutions" in policing. B2B founders should view their initial market entry as a platform for identifying and addressing related problems within the same customer base.
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