Meet Aidan Guo, young entrepreneur building an AI desktop assistant, his startup has already attracted about $1.6 million in funding

Aidan Guo is trying to change how people use their computers with artificial intelligence (AI). At the age of just 20, Guo is the co-founder of Attention Engineering, a startup developing an AI-powered desktop assistant designed to understand user's work and help them complete tasks.

Guo's startup had attracted around $1.6 million in funding, according to a July 2026 report by TechCrunch. Guo is building the company with co-founder Julian Windeck.

The company aims to make AI more useful in everyday computer work, and determine what users are doing and provide help based on that.

How did the journey begin?

Guo's interest in technology began when he was young. On his personal website, he says he started sneaker botting at the age of 13, The activity involved using software to help purchase limited-release sneakers online.

He later studied computer science at Carnegie Mellon University. However, he decided to pause his studies and move to the San Francisco Bay Area to pursue his startup ambitions.

His decision put him in the middle of a technology ecosystem known for its startups, investors and entrepreneurs. He also took part in programmes such as Z Fellows, which supports people working on early-stage projects.

What is the aim to build?

Guo and Windeck launched Attention Engineering in 2025 to develop an AI assistant that could work across a user's computer activities.

In an interview with Business Insider in 2025, Guo described the product as an assistant that could understand how people use their time and eventually automate tasks across applications.

The idea goes beyond a chatbot that responds only when a user types a question. The assistant is intended to understand the context of a person's work and help with routine tasks.

How did it get the funding?

Attention Engineering raised $1.25 million in pre=seed funding in 2025, according to Business Insider. The funding came from a group of venture capital firms and individual investors.

The earlier funding round helped the company develop its product and build its team. TechCrunch reported in July 2026 that the startup had attracted around $1.6 million in funding to date.

In July 2026, Attention Engineering introduced a preview of Coast, a product focused on giving AI agents a persistent memory of computer activity.

According to a report by Runtime Wire, Coast is designed to record desktop context locally so users and AI agents can retrieve information from earlier work sessions. The product shows a more focused direction for the company's original desktop assistant idea.