teckel: About
teckel builds agentic AI that streamlines the preparation of regulatory compliance documentation for any industry. Our launch use case is UK dental practices. Behind it are two aerospace engineers, trained where precision and accuracy come first. Yusuf spent a decade on spacecraft flight dynamics and control, then more than two decades building quantitative risk software for banks, insurers and financial regulators worldwide. Steven worked on the thermal design of Space Station Freedom before building businesses of his own. We have brought that same rigour, plus a privacy-first account-identity foundation, to a new generation of AI tools for regulated industries.
Our story
Yusuf and Steven first met in 1988 at Stanford University, on a study of a reusable re-entry satellite for NASA. Yusuf was the project manager; Steven was on the team.
Aerospace has an old saying: a plane is ready to fly when the paperwork weighs as much as the plane. All businesses — and dentistry is no exception — have the same problem. So we built Benedict.
How we work
We set out to harness AI in a positive way: to reduce the administrative demands on a practice’s time, while the decisions stay with the practice. The division of labour is the whole idea: you do the thinking; Benedict does the dog work.
And a teckel is a dachshund, hence the dog in our logo and our motto: let the dog do the dog work.
Our founders
Yusuf Jafry
Co-Founder
Bio
With a PhD from Stanford University, an MS degree from MIT, and a BSc degree (1st class) from Glasgow University, all in aerospace engineering, Dr Yusuf Jafry worked for a decade in the space science sector specialising in flight dynamics and control for NASA and ESA missions, before co-founding Risk Integrated in 2002 to provide quantitative risk software to the global financial services sector.
Over his career, Dr Jafry has gained expertise in a wide range of programming languages and computing frameworks, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). He co-founded teckel with Steven Adler to bring enterprise-grade, privacy-first AI to regulated industries.
In his spare time, Dr Jafry plays guitar, writes music processing software, and flies and maintains his vintage military training aircraft, having been trained to fly by the Royal Air Force whilst at Glasgow University.
Steven Adler
Co-Founder
Bio
Steven Adler holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from Stanford University. Steven’s first career was as a thermosciences engineer at McDonnell Douglas, where he helped develop the thermal control of the Space Station Freedom propulsion modules. Steven then pursued a career in sales, culminating in the founding of NowComp, an IBM equipment dealer. While managing NowComp, Steven also founded Sacred Chocolate, a boutique chocolate maker serving the health and wellness sector, for which he developed a low-temperature chocolate manufacturing process. Steven’s blend of engineering and entrepreneurship led to co-founding teckel with business partner, Yusuf Jafry.
In his spare time, Steven is a novice beekeeper and enjoys spending time in nature.
Chicken Pie
Brand Ambassador
Bio
My name is Chicken Pie. I am a teckel (quite literally), and I am delighted to be appointed Brand Ambassador for teckel. I don't mind being given all the dog work.
