In January 2024, 62‑year‑old Sacramento plumbing entrepreneur Marcelle Flowers was appointed chief operating officer of Broccoli AI, an AI‑driven startup that has already secured $52 million in funding and is servicing more than 1,500 contractors.
Flowers grew up in Anaheim, the daughter of a commercial plumber, and began her own business after a 19‑year‑old pregnancy forced her to become a single mother. The experience of balancing a family and a trade shaped her pragmatic approach to technology.
Founders Anand Jain and Ketan Ketkar met at BITS Pilani in 2016, launched a campus delivery service, and later joined Y Combinator to build an EV API before relocating to San Francisco in January 2024. Their early ventures taught them the pitfalls of scaling tech without industry insight.
When Flowers told the duo that a $5,000 monthly answering service was only filling a third of her scheduling software, they delivered an AI call‑handling prototype in ten days. The platform now powers automated reminders, incoming call routing, and customer engagement for 1,500 contractors, positioning the firm for rapid expansion into the broader service sector.