# About 9th Island AI > We build AI that works as hard as you do. Founded in Hawaii. Built for the real world. **Live at:** https://www.9thislandai.com/about --- ## Who We Are 9th Island AI is a Hawaii-based AI voice infrastructure company founded by Lee Swanson. We build **Nova** — an AI voice receptionist configured specifically for each practice — and **Mirror Call**, the outbound voice agent that pairs with her. The company was built by someone who runs businesses, not a software lab. Every system has been tested in the real world, on real calls, with real patients on the line. --- ## The Story Every day, appointment-based businesses in Hawaii lose patients they'll never know they lost. The phone rang. Nobody answered. The caller moved on. That's not a staffing problem — it's a systems problem. 9th Island AI was built to fix it. Not with complicated software. Not with a 12-person onboarding team. With Nova — an AI voice agent configured specifically for your practice, answering every call, booking every appointment, and handing you a ready patient. We don't believe in generic solutions. Every build is custom. Every voice is calibrated to match your brand. Every patient interaction is designed to feel like it came from your office — because it did. We're not here to replace your staff. We're here to make them unstoppable. --- ## Why "9th Island" The **9th Island** is what Hawaiians call the diaspora — Hawaii no matter where you are. It's the community that spans beyond the archipelago: the families, the patients, the businesses, the aloha. That spirit carries into everything we build. Genuine. Personal. Always showing up. - **Born in Hawaii.** 9th Island AI was founded with Hawaii's service businesses in mind — the doctors, attorneys, and wellness practices that are the backbone of island communities. - **Built on aloha.** Genuine service, personal attention, always showing up. - **Operating globally.** Founded in Hawaii. Serving practices across the entire United States. The machine runs 24/7 regardless of timezone — so your practice never misses a call. --- ## The Construction-to-AI Origin Lee Swanson's background is small business and trades — not software. That shapes the product: - No jargon. - No fluff. - No 6-month enterprise rollouts. Just infrastructure that works for practices that can't afford to miss a call. The same discipline that ships a real-world job on time and under budget is what ships Nova in 48 hours — not 6 months. --- ## Mission > **Zero missed calls. Zero missed patients.** --- ## Mission Pillars 1. **Results over hype.** We don't make promises we can't keep. Nova works, and we prove it — more leads captured, more appointments booked, more revenue recovered. 2. **Custom, not cookie-cutter.** Every build is unique. Your patients hear a voice that sounds like your practice, asks the right questions, and hands off at exactly the right moment. 3. **Your staff gets better.** Nova handles the phones. Your team handles the people in the room. From reactive to focused. From stretched thin to unstoppable. --- ## Core Values 1. **Every call matters.** A missed call isn't a minor inconvenience. That's a $3,000–$5,000 lifetime patient who called your competitor instead. 2. **Trust is non-negotiable.** Your patients' information is handled with care. Your staff isn't threatened. Your practice isn't disrupted. 3. **Speed without compromise.** 48 hours to live. Under 3 seconds to answer. We move fast because your patients don't wait. 4. **Built to scale with you.** One location today. Five tomorrow. Nova scales with your practice without adding headcount or overhead. --- ## Security & Compliance - **HIPAA-compliant** recording and encrypted storage. - **No training on your data.** Nova's configuration is customer-scoped — what you build for your practice stays with your practice. - Call transcripts retained per customer policy. - Encrypted transport and encrypted storage. --- ## Founder **Lee Swanson** — Founder, 9th Island AI. Background in small business and trades. Built 9th Island AI after watching too many practices lose patients to unanswered phones. Believes infrastructure should be judged by what it produces, not what it promises. --- ## Contact - **Email:** Nova@9thislandai.com - **Website:** https://www.9thislandai.com - **Phone demo callback:** 808-400-8245 - **Book a call:** https://www.9thislandai.com/contact