Founder Profile: Mellers Tech
Chris Mellers - New Zealand
What Does Your Company Do?
“Mellers Tech is building OBDAssistant, an AI-powered vehicle health platform that automatically monitors how a car behaves and detects meaningful changes over time.
It translates diagnostics into clear, simple insights, and also scans quotes, invoices, and repair documents to explain findings and estimate fair, region-based pricing.
The focus is shifting diagnostics from reactive scans to proactive, understandable vehicle health intelligence.”
What Is Your Origin Story?
“Working as a mobile mechanic, I constantly saw people stressed and unsure when warning lights appeared.
Even simple issues felt overwhelming because the information wasn’t clear. Existing tools are built for technicians, not everyday drivers.
I wanted to use my hands-on experience and combine it with AI to create something that makes vehicle health and maintenance easy to understand and removes that uncertainty.”
What Are You Celebrating Now?
“Being accepted into the Google Play Apps Accelerator is a major milestone.
It’s strong validation that the direction I’m taking (moving from traditional diagnostics toward automated, intelligence-driven vehicle monitoring) has real potential.
It’s also helped refine the product’s focus so it delivers clear value rather than just more features.”
What Is One Lesson You Wish You’d Learned Earlier?
“I wish I’d realised earlier that adding more features doesn’t create value on its own.
For a long time I focused on building capability, but the real shift comes from making the core experience obvious and meaningful straight away.
If users don’t instantly understand what your product does for them, it doesn’t matter how powerful it is underneath.”
How Do You Keep Your Energy Up On Tough Days?
“I stay focused on the long-term vision of making vehicle health something people actually understand and feel confident about.
Progress, even small improvements, keeps momentum going.
I also remind myself that I’m building something that solves a real problem I’ve seen firsthand , which makes it easier to push through the tougher days.”
Learn More
Who: Q&A with Chris Mellers of Mellers Tech
HQ: New Zealand
Web: obd2assistant.com
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