Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lukas Simianer. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Lukas, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Vetclaims.AI is a veteran-owned and operated platform dedicated to simplifying Veteran Affairs (VA) disability claims for US veterans. Unlike traditional services, VetClaims.AI provides a transparent, affordable, and user-friendly approach to help veterans secure benefits and optimize their VA requests. On average, VetClaims.AI customers see a lifetime earnings increase of $618,000 in VA benefits, with the platform unlocking over $101 Million in benefits to date. With a mission to fix a broken system, VetClaims.AI leverages the power of artificial intelligence coupled with personalized support to provide veterans with educational resources and tools to file and maximize their entitlements. An official partner of The Purple Heart Foundation, VetClaims.AI utilizes a veteran-first approach and prioritizes ethical practices to ensure veterans obtain the aid and assistance they deserve

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I never set out to be in the world of AI-driven claims automation. I just saw a broken system and decided to fix it.

My name is Lukas Simianer, and I’m the founder and CEO of VetClaims.ai. I got into this space because I was tired of seeing veterans—men and women who put everything on the line—fighting against a bureaucratic nightmare to get the benefits they rightfully earned. So, instead of just discussing the problem, I built a solution.

VetClaims.ai is redefining the way veteran disability claims are processed. We use cutting-edge AI and a team of elite professionals to automate and optimize the claims process, reducing errors, cutting down wait times, and ensuring veterans aren’t left in the dark. The VA system is outdated, inefficient, and bogged down with unnecessary red tape. We’re cutting through that noise and giving veterans something they haven’t had in a long time: control.

What sets us apart? Simple. We move fast, put veterans first, and don’t accept mediocrity. VetClaims.ai isn’t just another company—it’s a mission. We’re not here to make a quick buck; we’re here to fundamentally change the way this system works because the status quo is unacceptable.
What am I most proud of? The moments when a veteran calls us and says, “You changed my life.” We relish when someone denied for years suddenly gets the benefits they deserve. We’re proud to prove that a more innovative, tech-driven approach can do in days what used to take months—or even years.
For anyone reading this, here’s what you need to know: If you’re a veteran struggling with the VA, we’re here for you. If you’re someone looking to invest in real change, we’re leading the charge. And if you’re just tired of seeing good people screwed over by a broken system, join us in fixing it.

Because, at the end of the day, veterans deserve better. And we’re making damn sure they get it.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

A pivot isn’t always about chasing an opportunity. Sometimes, it’s about surviving a gut punch.

For me, that moment came when Clusiv—my first company—got crushed, not because we failed, but because we succeeded too well. Clusiv was a groundbreaking ed-tech platform designed to help blind and visually impaired individuals gain meaningful employment. We worked directly with state agencies, proving that we could train people faster, better, and cheaper than the outdated, bureaucratic programs that had been in place for decades.

And that’s when the pushback started.

These agencies—who were supposed to be helping people—felt threatened by our success. Instead of embracing innovation, they saw us as a challenge to their funding, control, and their entire way of operating. Contracts got pulled. Calls stopped getting returned. We went from being the next big thing to actively shut out of the system.

I had a choice: fight a war against government bureaucracy that could take years (and drain everything I had), or take what I learned and apply it somewhere I could make an even more significant impact.
That’s when VetClaims.ai was born. I saw the same inefficiencies, the same outdated systems, and the same unnecessary suffering—except this time, it was veterans trapped in a cycle of paperwork and denials instead of people with disabilities. But unlike Clusiv, where we needed state agencies to play ball, I realized something crucial: if we built the right tech and gave veterans the power to fight back on their own terms, no one could shut us out.

So I pivoted. I took everything I had learned about breaking down barriers, using AI to drive real change, and refusing to accept the status quo, and I built VetClaims.ai.

The lesson? Sometimes, your biggest setback is actually your biggest gift. If Clusiv hadn’t been shut down, I might not have had the fire to build VetClaims.ai the way I did. That experience taught me that real disruption doesn’t always come with applause—it comes with resistance. And if you’re not pissing off the right people, you’re probably not making a big enough impact.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

After Clusiv fell, I could’ve let it break me. And for a while, maybe it did.

The company I built, the vision I believed in, the mission that gave me purpose—was gone. The man people had cheered for, the founder pushing boundaries, didn’t exist anymore. My identity, my work, and everything I had poured myself into had crumbled around me.

But life has a way of forcing you forward, even when you’re not ready.

Not long after, I was tapped by our government to advise on digital innovation for the CIA’s Open Source Enterprise. It was an unexpected shift—one that I could’ve approached with bitterness or defeat. And in part, I did. I felt like I was operating in someone else’s world, playing someone else’s game. But while I there, I did what I’ve always done: I started looking for my next move.

My role involved interviewing and assessing leading AI companies and understanding the landscape of artificial intelligence and how it was evolving. And the more I saw, the clearer a pattern became—most AI was focused on replacement. Replacing workers. Replacing decision-makers and replacing human effort with automation. Some were focused on improvement, but even then, almost exclusively for business applications—profit-driven, efficiency-obsessed.

No one was asking the question that started keeping me up at night: How could AI multiply each employee’s ability to help more humans?

That was the moment VetClaims.ai was born—not as a company yet, but as an idea, a shift in how I saw AI’s potential. What if, instead of replacing people, we built AI to empower them? What if, instead of automating humans out of the equation, we used AI to fight back against broken systems and bureaucracies that were failing the people they were supposed to serve?

That was the seed. And once it was planted, I knew I couldn’t let it go.

Resilience isn’t just about getting back up. It’s about learning to see what’s next, even when standing in the wreckage. VetClaims.ai was built from that wreckage—not as a rebound, but as a rebirth because the story wasn’t over – I just had to write the next chapter.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://vetclaims.ai/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vetclaims.ai/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vetclaims/