From DeepMind to 200 Customers in 20 Countries: Building the Execution Layer for Sales | Adam Liska, CEO of Airspeed

1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,160 SPEAKER_01: I think there was a lot of talk around AI completely 2 00:00:02,160 --> 00:00:03,200 replacing sales reps. 3 00:00:03,359 --> 00:00:04,080 I don't think that's happening. 4 00:00:04,320 --> 00:00:07,120 SPEAKER_00: Adam Lizka, co-founder and CEO of Airspeed. 5 00:00:07,599 --> 00:00:11,039 I mean Devang both came up in one of the most elite research 6 00:00:11,039 --> 00:00:12,720 environments in the world, frankly. 7 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:13,359 Deep mine. 8 00:00:13,839 --> 00:00:17,679 What made you walk away from like a frontier AI research and 9 00:00:17,679 --> 00:00:19,039 start a company as a founder? 10 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:22,879 SPEAKER_01: So we left in uh 2022, actually pre-Chad GPT. 11 00:00:23,039 --> 00:00:25,280 I guess being a DeepMind, we kind of saw the future. 12 00:00:25,359 --> 00:00:27,839 We were both Devine and I were on the Gemini team before it was 13 00:00:27,839 --> 00:00:30,079 called Gemini, but we're scaling element training, scaling the 14 00:00:30,079 --> 00:00:30,239 models. 15 00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:32,799 SPEAKER_00: You recently raised $20 million Series A round. 16 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:33,200 Thank you. 17 00:00:33,359 --> 00:00:36,320 We branded from your former name Glyphic to AirSpeed. 18 00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:37,679 What comes to the rebrand? 19 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:40,000 SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, super excited about the series A, kind 20 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:42,479 of uh unlocking a lot of the growth that we want to do right 21 00:00:42,479 --> 00:00:42,560 now. 22 00:00:42,719 --> 00:00:44,560 On the rebrand side, it's an interesting one. 23 00:00:44,719 --> 00:00:45,920 We started with the name Glyphic. 24 00:00:46,159 --> 00:00:48,560 The meaning behind that was really, you know, generative 25 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:49,600 intelligence language. 26 00:00:49,679 --> 00:00:51,920 But as we were building the product and as we were seeing 27 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:54,640 our users use the product, what we realized that it's not really 28 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:57,840 matching any more kind of what were the problems we're solving 29 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:00,479 for the teams, which is mostly around execution, mostly around 30 00:01:00,479 --> 00:01:00,799 speed. 31 00:01:01,039 --> 00:01:03,679 SPEAKER_00: We now have 200 customers in 20 countries. 32 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:06,079 How did you get your first customers? 33 00:01:18,239 --> 00:01:20,239 Adam, welcome to GTM Now. 34 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:21,599 SPEAKER_01: Super excited to be here. 35 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:22,319 Hi, Sophie. 36 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:23,680 SPEAKER_00: Great to have you here. 37 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:27,280 For anyone unfamiliar, give us a quick overview of Airspeed. 38 00:01:27,519 --> 00:01:27,680 SPEAKER_01: Great. 39 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:30,640 Yeah, so Airspeed is the AI native revenue execution 40 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:31,040 platform. 41 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:35,040 Uh when you look at your GTM stack now, most of it is mostly 42 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:38,159 storing data, analyzing data, but at AirSpeed, really 43 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:41,040 executing on that data, whether that's you know understanding 44 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:44,079 your dealer risks and the suggested best next actions, 45 00:01:44,319 --> 00:01:47,120 updating your CRM, or improving your forecast. 46 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:50,000 And through that, really improving how your how your team 47 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:50,719 executes. 48 00:01:50,959 --> 00:01:54,400 Maybe if I can give you an example here, every rep has 49 00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:57,359 said, and we've all heard this sentence, I'll follow up on 50 00:01:57,359 --> 00:01:57,599 that. 51 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:00,640 It's a you know very simple, very simple question. 52 00:02:00,719 --> 00:02:02,079 It sounds kind of harmless. 53 00:02:02,239 --> 00:02:05,040 If anything, it sounds maybe even a bit uh responsible. 54 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:07,120 You know, you you'll do that, you'll do that thing. 55 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:10,400 But in in revenue teams, it's really the single most expensive 56 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:11,680 promise uh you can do. 57 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:15,280 And that's where most of the deals go to die, actually. 58 00:02:15,439 --> 00:02:16,879 When uh and why? 59 00:02:17,599 --> 00:02:19,919 When you when you when you think about it, when when someone says 60 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:21,360 this, what happens afterwards? 61 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:24,719 They they finish the call, uh, they might have five more 62 00:02:24,719 --> 00:02:27,680 additional conversations, and that follow-up gets put on a 63 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:27,919 list. 64 00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:31,520 That list then really loses to your inbox, your personal admin 65 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:32,479 at the end of the day. 66 00:02:32,639 --> 00:02:35,520 Uh, and what happens, you know, three days later, the urgency on 67 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:36,879 the prospect side is gone. 68 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:39,919 And that this is this is a problem that kind of we we see 69 00:02:39,919 --> 00:02:43,199 across the board, and it's also a problem that compounds within 70 00:02:43,199 --> 00:02:44,639 uh within the organization. 71 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:49,120 Because the CRM, the the deal is live in the CRM, but it's not 72 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:49,599 moving. 73 00:02:49,759 --> 00:02:51,520 The manager makes a forecast. 74 00:02:51,599 --> 00:02:54,960 Uh, they they're relying on this on the data in the CRM, but they 75 00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:56,400 know they're mostly guessing. 76 00:02:56,639 --> 00:03:00,479 The C the CRO then goes, misses their plan. 77 00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:03,039 In a board meeting, they're kind of stumbling, trying to 78 00:03:03,039 --> 00:03:05,599 understand, trying to explain, explain what happens. 79 00:03:05,759 --> 00:03:09,120 But the problem is that you know, this whole time, this data 80 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:13,120 was based on a promise, and a promise that wasn't executed on. 81 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:15,680 Uh, and that's that's really that's really the problem. 82 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:17,759 That's the problem we're trying to we're trying to solve. 83 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:19,759 Because when you when you look at it, you have you might have 84 00:03:19,759 --> 00:03:22,479 all the data, you might know what to do, but there's still 85 00:03:22,479 --> 00:03:25,919 like a huge gap between knowing what to do and doing that thing. 86 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:28,879 Internally, we call it the the execution gap. 87 00:03:29,039 --> 00:03:31,599 And that's the thing that we're we're we're trying to close and 88 00:03:31,599 --> 00:03:32,479 we're trying to solve. 89 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:33,919 SPEAKER_00: The execution gap. 90 00:03:34,159 --> 00:03:34,639 I love it. 91 00:03:34,719 --> 00:03:37,840 And before we get into the sales-specific areas, you 92 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:40,719 recently raised a$20 million series A round. 93 00:03:40,879 --> 00:03:44,240 Huge congratulations and rebranded from your former name, 94 00:03:44,479 --> 00:03:46,080 Glyphic to Airspeed. 95 00:03:46,319 --> 00:03:47,680 What prompted the rebrand? 96 00:03:48,159 --> 00:03:50,960 SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, yeah, no, super excited about the the the 97 00:03:50,960 --> 00:03:51,680 series A. 98 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:54,800 Uh, it's I'm sure we'll get to that later, but it's kind of uh 99 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:57,280 unlocking a lot of the growth that we want to do right now. 100 00:03:57,439 --> 00:04:00,000 On the rebrand side, it's uh it's an interesting one. 101 00:04:00,159 --> 00:04:02,879 We we started with the name Glyphic, you know, back already 102 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:05,759 uh three, four years ago, you know, when it when it was early 103 00:04:05,759 --> 00:04:05,919 days. 104 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:08,960 And kind of when we were Glyphic is really from Hieroglyphic, 105 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:12,319 what we wanted to, the meaning behind that was really you know 106 00:04:12,479 --> 00:04:14,159 generative intelligence language. 107 00:04:14,319 --> 00:04:16,639 But as we were building the product and as we were seeing 108 00:04:16,639 --> 00:04:19,680 our users use the product, what we realized that it's not really 109 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:23,360 matching anymore kind of what what we're the problems we're 110 00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:25,759 solving for for the teams, which is mostly around execution, 111 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:27,279 mostly around speed. 112 00:04:27,439 --> 00:04:30,319 Uh and so that kind of prompted prompted the search. 113 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:33,600 When I uh I think that's kind of one part of the story. 114 00:04:33,759 --> 00:04:34,560 I'll I'll be open. 115 00:04:34,639 --> 00:04:37,279 There's a second part of the story as well, is you know, I'm 116 00:04:37,279 --> 00:04:39,759 sitting, I'm sitting with the sales folks, they're behind me 117 00:04:39,839 --> 00:04:43,519 calling, and then very often I would hear, you know, hi, hi, 118 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:45,439 this is Hector from from Glyphic. 119 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:49,439 Glyphic, G-L-Y-P-H-I-C. 120 00:04:49,759 --> 00:04:52,879 And then kind of hearing that on a daily basis kind of made me 121 00:04:52,879 --> 00:04:54,720 realize we we need to rebrand. 122 00:04:54,879 --> 00:04:56,160 And so we kicked that off. 123 00:04:56,240 --> 00:04:58,879 It was a it was a you know tough decision. 124 00:04:58,959 --> 00:05:01,519 You it's not the decision you take, you take lightly, but uh 125 00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:03,040 it was the right, right decision. 126 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:06,160 Uh and then kind of now looking back, we we announced it when uh 127 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:08,160 I think two weeks ago or something like that. 128 00:05:08,319 --> 00:05:12,000 And it's been been accepted, you know, great by our customers. 129 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:14,240 The team really embraced it, and so I think it was the right 130 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:14,639 decision. 131 00:05:14,959 --> 00:05:15,519 SPEAKER_00: Incredible. 132 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:18,319 I mean, if you've already got so much data just two weeks in that 133 00:05:18,319 --> 00:05:20,800 it was the right decision, that's fantastic. 134 00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:22,480 SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I'm definitely getting, you know, 135 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:25,279 I'm I'm probably getting biased, uh, biased view of the of the 136 00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:28,560 feedback, but uh, I would say 99% of the feedback people 137 00:05:28,639 --> 00:05:30,240 people liked, uh, like the new name. 138 00:05:30,399 --> 00:05:32,879 Some of them kind of like the quirkiness of Glyphic. 139 00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:37,120 Uh uh and so yeah, I mean, just just like I did, but yeah, we're 140 00:05:37,199 --> 00:05:39,759 we're very happy that we we we've we've gone through this. 141 00:05:40,079 --> 00:05:42,319 SPEAKER_00: Well, two different names, different eras of the 142 00:05:42,319 --> 00:05:43,279 company's growth. 143 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:47,519 And Adam, you and DeVang both came out of one of the most 144 00:05:47,519 --> 00:05:51,199 elite research environments uh in the world, frankly, deep 145 00:05:51,199 --> 00:05:51,360 mind. 146 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:56,560 What made you walk away from like a frontier AI research and 147 00:05:56,560 --> 00:05:58,399 start a company as a founder? 148 00:05:58,959 --> 00:05:59,439 SPEAKER_01: Good question. 149 00:05:59,519 --> 00:06:01,600 And I yeah, I get this question quite quite often. 150 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:06,560 It's uh so we left in uh 2022, actually pre-Chad GPT, uh, but 151 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:10,319 kind of, I guess being a deep mind, uh, we we kind of saw the 152 00:06:10,319 --> 00:06:10,480 future. 153 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:13,279 We were both Devang and I were on the Gemini team before it was 154 00:06:13,279 --> 00:06:16,480 called Gemini, but really scaling, uh scaling LLM 155 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:19,279 training, scaling the models, especially looking at how how 156 00:06:19,279 --> 00:06:22,560 LLMs can work with external data, how they can be kind of 157 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:24,800 kept up to date and reason about external data. 158 00:06:24,959 --> 00:06:28,560 And uh we're really excited about the shift that that was 159 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:31,360 going to um you know going to bring about. 160 00:06:31,519 --> 00:06:35,040 But it's also funny, you know, it's just four years, but 161 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:37,279 looking back, it was pre-Chad GPT. 162 00:06:37,439 --> 00:06:40,560 People are actually, especially even even internally at Google, 163 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:43,759 kind of very unsure, you know, will this go into production? 164 00:06:43,839 --> 00:06:46,000 Uh, what are some of the risks around that, etc.? 165 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:49,360 And so we knew, you know, this is gonna change things, but at 166 00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:52,319 the same time, we we knew that if we wanted to move fast and 167 00:06:52,319 --> 00:06:54,560 build something in the space, we we had to leave. 168 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:58,079 And uh, and so in the end, it was it was uh it was quite a 169 00:06:58,240 --> 00:06:59,439 quite an easy decision. 170 00:06:59,519 --> 00:07:02,399 It's but yeah, kind of deep mine, very, very fortunate. 171 00:07:02,480 --> 00:07:04,480 We we both really enjoyed that in that that time there. 172 00:07:04,639 --> 00:07:07,680 It's funny, I thought 2022, when we were leaving, it was really 173 00:07:07,759 --> 00:07:10,480 you know the top AI hype uh in a way. 174 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:14,879 I I knew you know the the kind of the the things it was gonna 175 00:07:14,879 --> 00:07:17,519 bring about, but kind of the growth since then, it's been 176 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:18,160 it's been amazing. 177 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:22,399 And it's it's very easy to kind of underestimate how how quickly 178 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:23,600 change can happen. 179 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:25,040 SPEAKER_00: Truly. 180 00:07:25,279 --> 00:07:30,399 And very timely, seeing as uh Mythos has had some recent 181 00:07:30,399 --> 00:07:34,480 updates and is now more generally publicly available. 182 00:07:35,199 --> 00:07:39,680 What is that like for yourself as a leader, as a CEO, when the 183 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:44,800 frontier models and underlying AI that products are built on 184 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:45,920 are just constantly changing? 185 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:48,399 SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the rate of change is really high in the in 186 00:07:48,399 --> 00:07:51,600 the space and it I think it really pushes companies and and 187 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:55,439 product builders to operate much more kind of flexibly. 188 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:57,759 And you you just need to execute faster because there's just so 189 00:07:57,759 --> 00:07:58,800 much, so much change happening. 190 00:07:58,879 --> 00:08:02,480 And we when I look back kind of over the last three years of us 191 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:05,839 building uh AirSpeed, it's really we've we've had to change 192 00:08:05,839 --> 00:08:08,639 the underlying architecture so many times because you know we 193 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:11,600 we started with actually our own models that we trained ourselves 194 00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:15,279 because in the early days there were already LLM APIs available, 195 00:08:15,439 --> 00:08:18,000 but the context length wasn't wasn't good enough for us. 196 00:08:18,079 --> 00:08:20,160 And so we actually had to train a lot of our models. 197 00:08:20,319 --> 00:08:24,000 Since then, we kind of we learned uh that kind of we we 198 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:27,920 had to build the product so that we can we can be always moving 199 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:29,839 to the best model available. 200 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:33,600 And in a way, it's also kind of what we it's part of the promise 201 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:34,879 at Airspeed as well. 202 00:08:35,039 --> 00:08:38,399 Around we want to keep our customers as close to the AI 203 00:08:38,399 --> 00:08:39,600 frontier as possible. 204 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:43,440 What we see on the on the product side in GTM Tech, but 205 00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:45,519 it's also in in in other areas. 206 00:08:45,679 --> 00:08:48,000 You know, you've got existing kind of legacy tools somewhere 207 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:52,159 over here, and then AI, AI capabilities are somewhere over 208 00:08:52,159 --> 00:08:52,320 here. 209 00:08:52,399 --> 00:08:54,879 And people, people know what's possible because they they're 210 00:08:54,879 --> 00:08:56,399 really kind of playing with it. 211 00:08:56,559 --> 00:08:59,519 Uh, they're using Cloud for their personal admin, for 212 00:08:59,519 --> 00:09:01,840 planning, you know, for planning their trips and all that stuff. 213 00:09:01,919 --> 00:09:04,879 And so they know there's this huge gap between what what they 214 00:09:04,879 --> 00:09:07,919 get, what they have in you know their daily work and what's 215 00:09:07,919 --> 00:09:08,480 possible out there. 216 00:09:08,559 --> 00:09:12,159 And that's why that in a way kind of spurred a lot of a lot 217 00:09:12,159 --> 00:09:13,519 of kind of internal building. 218 00:09:13,600 --> 00:09:16,799 And I feel like it kind of there's a resurgence of the buy 219 00:09:16,799 --> 00:09:18,720 versus build uh conversation. 220 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:21,759 I think it's just a temporary thing because legacy products 221 00:09:21,759 --> 00:09:23,919 are not delivering the value that's out there. 222 00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:26,879 And so people are kind of trying to bridge this, but but that's 223 00:09:26,879 --> 00:09:30,399 one thing, one thing that we we try to do, and it's we try to do 224 00:09:30,399 --> 00:09:32,879 it airspeed, and it's one of our promise, is really keeping our 225 00:09:32,879 --> 00:09:35,360 users, our customers as close to the AI frontier as possible. 226 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:38,720 And so we have to build everything uh in the back end so 227 00:09:38,720 --> 00:09:42,320 that we can always be kind of using the best model for the 228 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:42,799 best thing. 229 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:45,840 And so we're we're actually we're not using just a single 230 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:48,639 model behind the scenes, uh, it's multiple models. 231 00:09:48,879 --> 00:09:52,639 We have to build a little lot of evaluation frameworks, etc., so 232 00:09:52,639 --> 00:09:56,320 that we kind of always pick the best model for specific workflow 233 00:09:56,320 --> 00:09:57,039 within the product. 234 00:09:57,360 --> 00:09:57,679 SPEAKER_00: Brilliant. 235 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:01,120 Yeah, I heard it saying where customers are really looking to 236 00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:03,200 vendors now to bring them into the future. 237 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:06,159 So it's less about just your product quality in the moment. 238 00:10:06,240 --> 00:10:09,120 It's much more of who's the vendor that can actually keep 239 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:12,960 you at the top as all of these changes occur. 240 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:13,759 SPEAKER_01: Definitely. 241 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:16,320 And I think that's uh I think people are really looking kind 242 00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:20,559 of trying trying to evaluate uh vendors and partners uh through 243 00:10:20,559 --> 00:10:23,039 this lens is just because of the rate of change. 244 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:25,600 They want to make sure they're investing in something that's 245 00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:26,720 gonna stay, stay around. 246 00:10:26,799 --> 00:10:30,240 And I think kind of looking, looking back at some of the tech 247 00:10:30,559 --> 00:10:34,480 in in the space, I feel like there were very few GTM tech 248 00:10:34,480 --> 00:10:36,879 products that were kind of that build durable products. 249 00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:39,600 It's very often, you know, you you build something, you scale 250 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:42,480 something very fast that works in that moment, but GTM is 251 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:44,080 always it's kind of constantly evolving. 252 00:10:44,159 --> 00:10:46,960 You're always looking to get that alpha, to get that small 253 00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:48,080 improvement over others. 254 00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:51,919 Uh, and then if if you're if the products that you you use are 255 00:10:51,919 --> 00:10:54,960 not improving, not kind of chasing that, uh, you're stuck 256 00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:56,879 with you know with the previous generation of tools. 257 00:10:56,960 --> 00:11:00,799 And so I feel like that's maybe in in GTM, it's even kind of 258 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:03,919 this feeling is even stronger than than in other areas. 259 00:11:04,399 --> 00:11:05,679 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I would definitely agree. 260 00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:10,000 The advances are are just far quicker, and there's a lot more 261 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:13,440 options, but only a few actually durable companies that will keep 262 00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:14,720 you at that top level. 263 00:11:15,039 --> 00:11:18,000 And you've been building for a couple years, you now have 200 264 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:20,000 customers in 20 countries. 265 00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:22,799 How did you get your first customers? 266 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:26,399 SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, there's nothing really glamorous 267 00:11:26,399 --> 00:11:26,639 about that. 268 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:29,039 It was a lot of uh a lot of hustle, a lot of founder at 269 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:29,519 sales. 270 00:11:29,679 --> 00:11:33,039 Uh we were Devang and I were going, you know, to many 271 00:11:33,039 --> 00:11:36,399 conferences, uh, meeting people kind of where where they were 272 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:38,639 and kind of really talking about the pains they had. 273 00:11:38,799 --> 00:11:42,000 And kind of looking back at uh early days of Airspeed, one of 274 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:44,399 the biggest pains we were solving back then, and it's a 275 00:11:44,399 --> 00:11:46,720 pain we're still solving now, is around data. 276 00:11:46,879 --> 00:11:49,360 Because if you want to execute fast, you really need to have a 277 00:11:49,360 --> 00:11:51,200 good understanding of what's happening in your motion. 278 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:53,360 Why are you winning, why are you losing, and all that stuff. 279 00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:57,759 And it's really the data piece that was our first kind of wedge 280 00:11:57,759 --> 00:12:01,039 into many conversations, and it also what people kind of 281 00:12:01,039 --> 00:12:01,840 understood very well. 282 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:04,879 And so we were, we were, we were kind of discussing that problem, 283 00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:06,480 we were solving that problem very well. 284 00:12:06,639 --> 00:12:10,080 Uh, and it was, yeah, kind of a lot of a lot of hustle, a lot of 285 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:14,000 fun to let sales, uh, I remember kind of and a lot of chance as 286 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:14,159 well. 287 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:16,240 I mean, but it's all uh serendipity. 288 00:12:16,320 --> 00:12:18,799 It's uh I'm sure this is kind of the case for everyone. 289 00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:21,679 But I remember one of our early bigger deals, uh, a company 290 00:12:21,679 --> 00:12:22,639 called PriceFX. 291 00:12:22,879 --> 00:12:25,919 I remember I was in Nashville at the Pavilions GTM conference, 292 00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:29,519 and the last, I think the last day, the last lunches people are 293 00:12:29,519 --> 00:12:32,799 leaving and randomly, you know, joined a table with uh with 294 00:12:32,799 --> 00:12:33,200 their team. 295 00:12:33,279 --> 00:12:37,120 We started a conversation, and then that led to uh a big deal 296 00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:38,480 for us back back in the days. 297 00:12:38,639 --> 00:12:40,480 And so, yeah, a lot of a lot of that. 298 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:42,080 SPEAKER_00: I love it, I love it. 299 00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:44,720 And you call it chance, and I say you open up the 300 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:47,679 opportunities and kind of surface level for that chance. 301 00:12:47,919 --> 00:12:52,000 What kind of advice would you have for first-time founders? 302 00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:55,200 SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, it's uh I think they kind of went up, 303 00:12:55,279 --> 00:12:58,320 it's it's changed a lot uh between I think when we started 304 00:12:58,399 --> 00:13:02,000 and it's been just a few years ago, uh, and now, but it's but I 305 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:04,559 think the the speed and everything, I think all these 306 00:13:04,559 --> 00:13:06,799 things change, but I think the basics are still the same. 307 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:10,080 So, you know, you want to be solving a major pain, you want 308 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:12,960 to be moving fast, you want to be kind of really staying close 309 00:13:12,960 --> 00:13:16,720 to your close to your customers, uh understanding how they use 310 00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:21,600 you, uh how their workflows work and what doesn't work, kind of 311 00:13:21,600 --> 00:13:23,759 all that, all that really, really stays the same. 312 00:13:23,919 --> 00:13:27,200 But then it means you know, going out there, talking to as 313 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:30,000 many people as possible, uh being very flexible in the setup 314 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:30,240 as well. 315 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:33,279 We in the early days were doing a lot of POCs, a lot of trials, 316 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:37,120 kind of making sure that we work with companies that we we learn 317 00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:38,159 through that as well. 318 00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:41,519 Uh, and I think that kind of that learning process, uh, kind 319 00:13:41,519 --> 00:13:45,200 of as you we're very fortunate actually that we had a stable 320 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:47,200 product engineering team at uh at our speed. 321 00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:50,559 And I think that that kind of compounds uh as well as you kind 322 00:13:50,559 --> 00:13:53,279 of work with customers with every new one, you learn 323 00:13:53,279 --> 00:13:55,679 something new uh that you can then kind of incorporate in the 324 00:13:55,679 --> 00:13:57,679 product or incorporate in your next approach. 325 00:13:57,840 --> 00:14:01,519 Um yeah, so kind of all these things kind of remain the same, 326 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:05,440 but I think just the speed uh speeds kind of uh changed a lot. 327 00:14:05,759 --> 00:14:07,600 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, it's now in the new name. 328 00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:08,320 SPEAKER_01: Exactly. 329 00:14:08,639 --> 00:14:11,759 SPEAKER_00: Now you've scaled uh globally, you're in over 20 330 00:14:11,759 --> 00:14:15,840 countries, and similarly, a lot of other companies are operating 331 00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:16,320 globally. 332 00:14:16,799 --> 00:14:20,559 AI has changed what it means to actually be able to operate 333 00:14:20,559 --> 00:14:24,399 globally, and sales a huge, huge part of this when we talk about 334 00:14:24,399 --> 00:14:25,039 language. 335 00:14:25,519 --> 00:14:27,039 What have you seen on your side? 336 00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:30,240 And what have you kind of seen in the space overall around how 337 00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:32,960 language is evolving, how we can actually sell globally? 338 00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:35,840 SPEAKER_01: Well, so I mean we we started in London, but kind 339 00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:38,480 of from the very beginning, we wanted to build uh we wanted to 340 00:14:38,480 --> 00:14:39,279 build a global business. 341 00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:41,840 I think if you wanna, if you wanna you know win, you need to 342 00:14:41,919 --> 00:14:42,720 you need to sell globally. 343 00:14:42,799 --> 00:14:45,120 And so from from the early days, we were selling globally. 344 00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:48,080 US actually has been our main market from I would say like 345 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:49,600 month three or something like that. 346 00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:52,639 And so it's it's something that you you need to do. 347 00:14:52,799 --> 00:14:57,600 Uh also I think what's what what I think one thing that you know 348 00:14:57,759 --> 00:15:00,799 makes it a bit easier, or I think yeah, something that's 349 00:15:00,799 --> 00:15:04,240 changed is that you know the the talent is global and people are 350 00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:07,279 looking for solutions in the market and they're looking 351 00:15:07,279 --> 00:15:07,759 globally. 352 00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:10,720 Uh if they can get you know a slight improvement over their 353 00:15:10,720 --> 00:15:13,440 existing way of operations or the the way they're execute, 354 00:15:13,679 --> 00:15:16,799 there they will, and and that you know, that piece of tech is 355 00:15:16,799 --> 00:15:19,120 based out of somewhere else, they're gonna go for it. 356 00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:21,919 Uh, because the borders have really kind of disappeared in in 357 00:15:21,919 --> 00:15:22,240 that way. 358 00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:26,720 I think in terms of language, uh, etc., I think that to be 359 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:30,639 honest, AI helps with, but it doesn't really, I don't think 360 00:15:30,639 --> 00:15:31,759 that kind of solves it. 361 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:34,080 You still probably want to, if you're if you're selling in a 362 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:35,759 specific market where maybe English is not the main 363 00:15:35,759 --> 00:15:38,639 language, you probably would want to still have local talent 364 00:15:38,639 --> 00:15:38,879 there. 365 00:15:39,039 --> 00:15:43,279 I think that's something that AI AI will not not change. 366 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:46,240 But I think what what AI definitely helps with is around 367 00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:49,600 when you build a global business, uh, understanding how 368 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:52,879 the different geos operate, what are some of the problems in the 369 00:15:52,879 --> 00:15:53,840 different geos, etc. 370 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:56,320 We a lot of our customers, they might actually have the 371 00:15:56,320 --> 00:15:59,519 leadership in the US, but a big part of their business is in 372 00:15:59,519 --> 00:16:00,240 Latin America. 373 00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:02,320 And some of their managers actually don't understand what's 374 00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:04,080 happening, or the product team doesn't understand what's 375 00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:07,679 happening on sales calls in in that specific geo. 376 00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:10,960 Uh, and then they want to keep everything in English so that 377 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:13,840 they can, they can, they can, they can review everything, get 378 00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:15,279 the feedback to product team, etc. 379 00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:18,879 So I remember one example with them with one of our customers 380 00:16:18,879 --> 00:16:24,000 was where in a specific geo, in in actually it was a case where 381 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:27,039 in Europe, I think their SOC2 compliance kind of wasn't wasn't 382 00:16:27,039 --> 00:16:27,519 good enough. 383 00:16:27,679 --> 00:16:29,840 The leadership just kind of wouldn't really believe the 384 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:33,039 sales team that this is the main main problem that they that they 385 00:16:33,039 --> 00:16:33,840 see in the market. 386 00:16:34,080 --> 00:16:37,440 But then with airspeed, with all the data they were getting, they 387 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:40,000 actually saw that, okay, we need to change this, this, this. 388 00:16:40,159 --> 00:16:42,000 Even though they didn't really understand what's happening in 389 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:44,960 Germany, what's happening in in France, they could tell from the 390 00:16:44,960 --> 00:16:48,080 inside Spoo surfacing that they need to change something around 391 00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:49,679 their uh compliance posture. 392 00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:53,279 And then that led to to them actually unlocking that specific 393 00:16:53,279 --> 00:16:53,519 geo. 394 00:16:53,679 --> 00:16:56,320 So I would say it's become easier to operate because you 395 00:16:56,320 --> 00:16:58,480 can you can really understand what's happening across what's 396 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:00,960 happening across all the different teams, but you would 397 00:17:00,960 --> 00:17:05,119 still want to have your local teams if uh if uh in that market 398 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:07,839 uh people are not comfortable kind of being sold to in 399 00:17:07,839 --> 00:17:08,240 English. 400 00:17:08,640 --> 00:17:09,839 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, definitely. 401 00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:11,119 That makes sense. 402 00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:14,559 And um let's go a little bit deeper into the sales role 403 00:17:14,559 --> 00:17:17,119 itself and how it's evolved and and what's different, what 404 00:17:17,119 --> 00:17:18,079 people need to know. 405 00:17:18,799 --> 00:17:21,680 The big, big question everyone's asking is how much of the reps 406 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:23,759 workflow should be automated? 407 00:17:24,319 --> 00:17:26,480 And what does that mean in an AI first world? 408 00:17:26,559 --> 00:17:28,480 Like what does the reps role look like now? 409 00:17:28,799 --> 00:17:30,480 SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, a lot is changing. 410 00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:33,519 Uh I think there was a lot of talk around AI completely 411 00:17:33,519 --> 00:17:34,799 replacing sales reps. 412 00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:36,400 I don't think I don't think that's happening. 413 00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:39,039 Uh, and I think we're kind of over over that already. 414 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:42,720 Uh, but there, the kind of the the workflows and the activities 415 00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:45,839 that reps are doing, that's definitely, definitely changing. 416 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:48,480 And if anything, to be honest, I think what's what's happening 417 00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:51,359 now is that the role of the sales reps is actually getting 418 00:17:51,359 --> 00:17:53,440 uh increased and accentuated. 419 00:17:53,519 --> 00:17:55,599 We we see that, for example, in software engineering as well, 420 00:17:55,759 --> 00:17:58,480 where software engineering is kind of really ahead in terms of 421 00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:00,000 AI, AI adoption. 422 00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:03,519 But I don't really see you know engineers being completely 423 00:18:03,519 --> 00:18:04,160 replaced. 424 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:08,720 But they're their work and the the kind of requirements and 425 00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:10,160 expectations have changed. 426 00:18:10,319 --> 00:18:12,240 But because everyone's moving faster, you actually want to 427 00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:13,119 keep your engineering team. 428 00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:17,119 You might be actually slowing down junior hiring, etc., but 429 00:18:17,119 --> 00:18:20,079 you still kind of want to keep your your team there executing. 430 00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:23,599 And I think something similar is happening in in sales and in 431 00:18:23,599 --> 00:18:27,039 GTM, where the roles of sales of sales reps is getting increased, 432 00:18:27,119 --> 00:18:30,160 where you need to rotate fast, but you don't need to now do, 433 00:18:30,240 --> 00:18:31,920 you don't in terms of execution. 434 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:34,720 I think there's a lot of a lot of things that we can we can 435 00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:37,839 take off your plate, whether that's kind of doing some of 436 00:18:37,839 --> 00:18:42,079 that account research, whether that's doing you know post-call, 437 00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:46,960 postcall workflows, CRM updates, prepping the business case, uh, 438 00:18:47,279 --> 00:18:50,480 prepping that that follow-up email, prepping that handovers, 439 00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:52,880 all that stuff, that's getting automated and should be 440 00:18:52,880 --> 00:18:53,279 automated. 441 00:18:53,359 --> 00:18:57,119 And in a way, kind of selling will be really just about 442 00:18:57,119 --> 00:19:00,559 selling, whether that's you know, back channeling, uh 443 00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:04,400 understanding, you know, that hesitation in your champion's 444 00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:06,960 voice when you talk to them or when you meet them in person. 445 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:12,000 I think that has always been the main kind of, I think best sales 446 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:14,559 reps were always really good at doing that. 447 00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:17,039 But then on top of that, they had to do a lot of admin, a lot 448 00:19:17,039 --> 00:19:18,640 of other other tasks. 449 00:19:18,799 --> 00:19:21,440 I think those tasks are getting automated, but the selling is 450 00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:24,000 still is still remaining the the way it was. 451 00:19:25,119 --> 00:19:28,000 SPEAKER_00: And presumably, I mean, you are using Airspeed 452 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:28,400 yourself. 453 00:19:28,559 --> 00:19:32,799 You're uh if we think about an overall kind of maturity curve, 454 00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:36,400 you are far along the maturity curve from a sales organization 455 00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:37,119 perspective. 456 00:19:38,079 --> 00:19:40,880 What advice would you give to any kind of sales rep that's 457 00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:44,160 trying to evolve that process or a sales leader? 458 00:19:44,799 --> 00:19:48,480 SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think to be honest, it's uh I think one 459 00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:51,039 thing that I that we see in the market, we what we've been 460 00:19:51,039 --> 00:19:53,839 pitching kind of has been the same, let's say, over the past 461 00:19:53,839 --> 00:19:55,200 two years, year and a half. 462 00:19:55,359 --> 00:19:59,200 But it's really in the last six to eight months that things have 463 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:01,599 really changed where people realize the urgency and they 464 00:20:01,599 --> 00:20:02,640 want to move faster. 465 00:20:02,880 --> 00:20:07,119 Uh my advice to to leaders or all sales reps, well, or sales 466 00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:10,079 reps is really kind of embrace that and do that every day. 467 00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:12,720 Kind of when you when you think about your workflows, what do 468 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:13,680 you think you can automate? 469 00:20:13,839 --> 00:20:14,559 Experiment. 470 00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:18,319 If you can automate this part of your of your workflow, try 471 00:20:18,319 --> 00:20:22,319 automated uh and then see, you know, see what kind of gains you 472 00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:23,599 can you can you can get from that. 473 00:20:23,759 --> 00:20:27,039 What we see in uh one of our customers at Fermat, what what 474 00:20:27,039 --> 00:20:28,960 they were what they're doing actually is I think they got 475 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:32,400 monthly or quarterly hackathons where everyone, I think it's 476 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:36,000 like two days, three days, where everyone's tasked with trying to 477 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:38,000 automate themselves as much as possible. 478 00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:42,079 Uh and I think kind of I think the this type of this type of uh 479 00:20:42,079 --> 00:20:45,279 kind of approach or or outlook is really something that that 480 00:20:45,279 --> 00:20:47,920 everyone needs to have and experiment so that they they can 481 00:20:47,920 --> 00:20:51,039 learn what's possible uh and then can have kind of always be 482 00:20:51,039 --> 00:20:52,559 pushing pushing the boundary. 483 00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:55,119 SPEAKER_00: And then if we think about how sales reps are 484 00:20:55,119 --> 00:20:59,039 actually generating results, are you seeing any particular 485 00:20:59,039 --> 00:21:02,319 channels take the lead right now? 486 00:21:02,880 --> 00:21:04,960 SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean I think it really depends on on your 487 00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:06,720 vertical and you know what you're selling. 488 00:21:06,799 --> 00:21:10,079 I think what what works really was works real well for us is 489 00:21:10,079 --> 00:21:12,559 in-person events, especially kind of on the top of funnel, in 490 00:21:12,559 --> 00:21:14,880 the in the kind of yeah, very much top of funnel. 491 00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:18,319 We do, we do dinners, we do breakfasts, we do hackathons as 492 00:21:18,319 --> 00:21:18,480 well. 493 00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:21,920 And all these events kind of really, really help because you 494 00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:24,960 might, you know, we're still doing code calling, it works 495 00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:25,680 real well for us. 496 00:21:25,839 --> 00:21:28,400 But if you have that kind of initial relationship, you met 497 00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:31,920 somewhere, you you went to an event together, or you uh you 498 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:34,000 organized that dinner where the where the prospect came. 499 00:21:34,160 --> 00:21:36,559 I think that always helps when you reconnect with them, you 500 00:21:36,559 --> 00:21:38,480 know, a month later, half a year later. 501 00:21:38,640 --> 00:21:41,519 And so I think in person, in person really helps kind of 502 00:21:41,519 --> 00:21:42,160 early on. 503 00:21:42,319 --> 00:21:44,720 We're still mostly selling, you know, over Zoom. 504 00:21:44,799 --> 00:21:46,400 Uh that that hasn't really changed. 505 00:21:46,559 --> 00:21:50,079 We're doing call calling, we're doing uh automated outbound with 506 00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:50,799 with emails. 507 00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:54,079 But I think that kind of in person touch really, really 508 00:21:54,079 --> 00:21:54,480 helps. 509 00:21:54,799 --> 00:21:55,039 SPEAKER_00: Yeah. 510 00:21:55,119 --> 00:21:58,240 I mean, it goes to back to your first customer story too. 511 00:21:58,400 --> 00:21:59,599 Just having that in person touch helps. 512 00:21:59,759 --> 00:21:59,839 Yeah. 513 00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:03,440 SPEAKER_01: I remember we were I think in when we were finishing 514 00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:06,400 the first year, uh I think kind of half a year since our first 515 00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:10,480 uh paid customer, I did a I did a review of where the different 516 00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:12,480 prospects or the deals came from. 517 00:22:12,559 --> 00:22:15,279 And I think 70% were just events. 518 00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:18,799 Um and that that kind of really, really I think meeting in 519 00:22:18,799 --> 00:22:20,960 person, having that initial conversation, even if you close 520 00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:24,000 eventually kind of over Zoom, uh it just increases your win rate 521 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:24,240 a lot. 522 00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:25,599 SPEAKER_00: Is that recent or renewed? 523 00:22:25,759 --> 00:22:27,599 SPEAKER_01: No, that was that was that was uh yeah, a couple 524 00:22:27,599 --> 00:22:28,000 of years back. 525 00:22:28,079 --> 00:22:28,240 Yeah. 526 00:22:28,400 --> 00:22:30,720 Yeah, I haven't looked into it recently, but I would imagine 527 00:22:31,119 --> 00:22:32,079 we're still doing a lot of events. 528 00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:36,720 I don't think it's 70% now, but definitely I think meeting that 529 00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:40,880 person in person uh first improves the sales cycle length, 530 00:22:41,039 --> 00:22:42,079 improves the win rates. 531 00:22:42,160 --> 00:22:45,200 Uh I don't know if the numbers from our pipeline, but I would I 532 00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:46,000 would still think so. 533 00:22:46,240 --> 00:22:47,920 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, definitely, or at least it's 534 00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:50,000 more of an omni-channel experience now where it's 535 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:51,759 supporting the efficiency of other channels. 536 00:22:52,079 --> 00:22:52,559 SPEAKER_01: Exactly. 537 00:22:52,799 --> 00:22:53,359 SPEAKER_00: I love it. 538 00:22:53,519 --> 00:22:56,319 And you know, a big part of sales role is also improvement, 539 00:22:56,400 --> 00:22:59,279 especially when you take away a lot of the administrative work. 540 00:22:59,599 --> 00:23:01,839 Like now we're talking about relationships, we're talking 541 00:23:01,839 --> 00:23:05,839 about hands-on conversations with prospects, and coaching is 542 00:23:05,839 --> 00:23:07,039 usually a big part of that. 543 00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:12,799 You know, how do AI platforms like Airspeed make personalized 544 00:23:12,799 --> 00:23:15,680 coaching better than otherwise possible? 545 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:18,720 SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, there's I think the issue with 546 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:21,519 coaching kind of traditionally was you know, it was very much 547 00:23:21,519 --> 00:23:24,720 reliant on you talking to your manager, your manager actually 548 00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:27,279 spending time to review some of the conversations and some of 549 00:23:27,279 --> 00:23:28,319 the activities you do. 550 00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:30,880 Uh, but we all know you know this wasn't happening. 551 00:23:31,039 --> 00:23:33,279 And if there was any feedback, it was kind of very much, you 552 00:23:33,279 --> 00:23:37,680 know, ask better open questions or you know, listen more, things 553 00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:37,920 like that. 554 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:40,480 I think it was very, very generic uh feedback. 555 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:43,599 I think what's what happens now, and kind of one thing that we 556 00:23:43,599 --> 00:23:47,519 also want to encourage with encourage with our with our 557 00:23:47,519 --> 00:23:50,640 product and in our customers is around you know being very open 558 00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:53,279 within within the go-to-market team so that everyone can learn 559 00:23:53,279 --> 00:23:53,680 from everyone. 560 00:23:53,759 --> 00:23:56,640 And so that all that all those conversations, most of the 561 00:23:56,640 --> 00:23:59,359 conversations these days are recorded or transcribed. 562 00:23:59,599 --> 00:24:03,200 We we we kind of encourage everyone, all our users, to make 563 00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:06,160 all these available across all their teams so that everyone can 564 00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:07,039 learn from everyone else. 565 00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:10,079 And once once you have all this data, you can actually have a 566 00:24:10,079 --> 00:24:13,519 look at per rep kind of patterns, you know, who's 567 00:24:13,519 --> 00:24:16,559 bringing up pricing earlier versus later, who's doing better 568 00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:18,960 multi- multi-threading, who's actually really good at 569 00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:22,000 understanding the paper process, you know, before they commit 570 00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:22,319 their deal. 571 00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:23,519 Kind of all these things. 572 00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:27,119 I think we can we can now analyze per rep and then give 573 00:24:27,279 --> 00:24:31,519 give that feedback to to you know to kind of everyone within 574 00:24:31,519 --> 00:24:31,839 the team. 575 00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:34,720 And I think feedback's also changed from you know getting 576 00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:37,519 that written feedback or you know, feedback in your 577 00:24:37,519 --> 00:24:41,839 one-on-one quarterly to actually now we're in a way we're 578 00:24:41,839 --> 00:24:44,559 actually kind of creating corrective actions in in 579 00:24:44,559 --> 00:24:47,279 Airspeed where we can we actually suggest you should 580 00:24:47,279 --> 00:24:51,839 really engage the uh the CFO on this deal because in similar 581 00:24:51,839 --> 00:24:54,799 deals previously, this was the case and the CFO blocked it, and 582 00:24:54,799 --> 00:24:57,680 you still, you know, you still haven't discussed the CFO at 583 00:24:57,680 --> 00:24:57,759 all. 584 00:24:57,839 --> 00:25:01,279 And we can actually kind of do coaching on the job, around the 585 00:25:01,279 --> 00:25:03,279 conversations through these corrective actions and 586 00:25:03,279 --> 00:25:04,160 corrective suggestions. 587 00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:05,839 So I think that that really changed. 588 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:07,359 But I think that's one thing. 589 00:25:07,519 --> 00:25:10,400 The other thing is around just that mindset, around you know 590 00:25:10,559 --> 00:25:13,200 having everything open, accessible to everyone so that 591 00:25:13,519 --> 00:25:15,279 so people on the team can learn from each other. 592 00:25:15,759 --> 00:25:16,160 SPEAKER_00: Brilliant. 593 00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:19,920 And as AI makes information accessible everywhere, it's 594 00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:23,440 really execution that becomes more of the competitive 595 00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:24,000 advantage. 596 00:25:24,319 --> 00:25:27,039 And this translates not only from the product itself, like 597 00:25:27,039 --> 00:25:29,920 we've been talking about, but also to go-to-market teams. 598 00:25:30,559 --> 00:25:33,920 And I think if if anyone meets someone from the airspeed team, 599 00:25:34,079 --> 00:25:37,519 you get that notion of that everybody is here from an 600 00:25:37,519 --> 00:25:40,559 execution capabilities and desire perspective. 601 00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:44,480 Like, what are you doing as a CEO, as a C as a leader to 602 00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:47,920 motivate your people and empower them to be so execution first 603 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:50,960 for anyone else looking to empower and motivate their 604 00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:51,279 teams? 605 00:25:51,599 --> 00:25:52,720 SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, great, great question. 606 00:25:52,799 --> 00:25:55,599 I think one aspect of this is, you know, I think people, people 607 00:25:55,599 --> 00:25:58,640 on the team, and one thing that I kind of wanna wanna get get 608 00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:01,519 across to my team in our own hands, and when we when we when 609 00:26:01,680 --> 00:26:04,079 when we talk internally, is that it's there's a really great 610 00:26:04,079 --> 00:26:07,359 reset happening right now around tech and and software and kind 611 00:26:07,359 --> 00:26:10,400 of what's what's possible with with with AI and the kind of 612 00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:14,400 execution really being being the the next and maybe the last 613 00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:14,960 frontier. 614 00:26:15,119 --> 00:26:18,000 And I feel like kind of people internally understand it. 615 00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:20,480 We we we kind of preach it across the whole team. 616 00:26:20,559 --> 00:26:23,039 So it's not just the GTM team, but it's also the the 617 00:26:23,039 --> 00:26:23,759 engineering team. 618 00:26:23,839 --> 00:26:27,680 And if anything, we've got this nice healthy competition between 619 00:26:27,839 --> 00:26:30,559 between the GTM team and the engineering team around you know 620 00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:34,079 who can execute and who can automate more and faster. 621 00:26:34,319 --> 00:26:38,079 Uh, and we're we're actually kind of sharing learnings. 622 00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:40,720 That actually it's it it's it's quite interesting. 623 00:26:40,799 --> 00:26:43,759 I think we're quite quite uh fortunate building in this space 624 00:26:43,759 --> 00:26:46,160 and seeing how things are developing in software 625 00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:46,559 engineering. 626 00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:48,880 I think we can bring a lot of those learnings to to go to 627 00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:49,039 market. 628 00:26:49,359 --> 00:26:51,039 I think the team on the go-to-market side, they're 629 00:26:51,039 --> 00:26:51,599 really excited. 630 00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:54,400 They know the opportunity, they know we can win, uh, they know 631 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:55,359 the size of the market. 632 00:26:55,440 --> 00:26:56,640 They're they're salespeople. 633 00:26:56,720 --> 00:26:59,039 Uh, and so they know the tech, they know the opportunity, they 634 00:26:59,119 --> 00:27:02,799 know the problems uh that that sales teams have been kind of 635 00:27:02,799 --> 00:27:04,960 running into over the past decade. 636 00:27:05,119 --> 00:27:09,519 And so I think all that really, really helps internally to keep 637 00:27:09,519 --> 00:27:11,599 that execution and urgency very high. 638 00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:14,000 SPEAKER_00: Nothing like a little healthy competition to 639 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:14,960 get people motivated. 640 00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:16,240 SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I know for sure. 641 00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:17,119 SPEAKER_00: I love it. 642 00:27:17,279 --> 00:27:20,240 Well, I've got a couple last questions for you, Adam. 643 00:27:20,559 --> 00:27:24,319 One, going back to Deep Mind, you and Devang leave. 644 00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:25,839 This is pre-Chat GPT. 645 00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:27,680 What was actually happening? 646 00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:29,599 Like, take us back to that moment. 647 00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:33,920 Who pitched the other on leaving, or was it a mutual? 648 00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:36,720 SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I think it was uh somehow mutual. 649 00:27:36,799 --> 00:27:37,119 I think so. 650 00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:39,119 Devang joined during COVID. 651 00:27:39,279 --> 00:27:42,960 And I think we when we were working from home, and so that 652 00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:45,200 meant that we actually started you know meeting outside of the 653 00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:47,359 office and discussing as well, because that was kind of the 654 00:27:47,359 --> 00:27:50,319 only way how we could talk about projects, etc. 655 00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:52,640 Because we were not in the office and Devang lived nearby. 656 00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:56,400 And so we started talking, and I think uh, you know, very quickly 657 00:27:56,480 --> 00:27:59,119 we we realized that we both are really excited about building 658 00:27:59,119 --> 00:28:02,079 products, about selling, about being you know, close to our 659 00:28:02,079 --> 00:28:02,799 customers. 660 00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:06,000 Uh, and then I think it kind of all developed relatively, 661 00:28:06,079 --> 00:28:07,119 relatively quickly from there. 662 00:28:07,279 --> 00:28:09,279 We saw you know the change that was happening. 663 00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:12,880 We also saw that that change is not happening fast enough for us 664 00:28:12,880 --> 00:28:15,039 internally, especially on the product side. 665 00:28:15,279 --> 00:28:18,640 And uh, but to be honest, I think the main thing in in 666 00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:21,519 starting any business is finding a co-founder you're comfortable 667 00:28:21,519 --> 00:28:24,640 with that you you you can rely on because it's you know it's a 668 00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:25,440 it's a long journey. 669 00:28:25,599 --> 00:28:28,079 You spend so much time together, you need to rely on each other. 670 00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:30,640 When you know one is down, the other one needs to kind of 671 00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:33,359 maintain the momentum and maintain the excite excitement. 672 00:28:33,599 --> 00:28:39,359 Uh so yeah, I think the single most important decision or the 673 00:28:39,359 --> 00:28:41,599 single most important thing is really find the right co-founder 674 00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:43,440 and then everything is downstream from there. 675 00:28:43,759 --> 00:28:44,400 SPEAKER_00: I love it. 676 00:28:44,559 --> 00:28:45,599 Find the right person. 677 00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:48,640 And both of you, when you were meeting up, and maybe people can 678 00:28:48,640 --> 00:28:51,920 tell by your accent, but when you were meeting up, that was in 679 00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:52,480 London. 680 00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:54,400 The company's HQ is in London. 681 00:28:54,559 --> 00:28:57,359 Any strong thoughts about company building in London 682 00:28:57,359 --> 00:28:58,160 versus the US? 683 00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:00,640 SPEAKER_01: Yeah, to be honest, I don't really have super strong 684 00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:01,200 opinions on this. 685 00:29:01,279 --> 00:29:02,319 It just happened. 686 00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:07,359 So both Devang and I moved to the UK, eventually ended up at 687 00:29:07,359 --> 00:29:08,799 Deep Mind, worked together. 688 00:29:08,960 --> 00:29:11,839 And so it just it just kind of made sense for us to start start 689 00:29:11,839 --> 00:29:12,799 the business there. 690 00:29:13,039 --> 00:29:15,920 Uh I think the talent in in London is amazing. 691 00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:16,960 It's very international. 692 00:29:17,039 --> 00:29:18,720 Uh, I mean, I'm Czech, Devang's Indian. 693 00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:19,839 We ended up there. 694 00:29:20,079 --> 00:29:24,160 Uh, I think we, I don't know now how many, how many nationalities 695 00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:26,720 we've got on the team, but but it it's it's gonna be a lot. 696 00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:30,079 Uh, it's so it's it's great to be building in London. 697 00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:32,799 I think what's what's nice in London as well, I think uh the 698 00:29:32,799 --> 00:29:34,960 team is is more loyal. 699 00:29:35,119 --> 00:29:37,279 We've been you know, we've been building with the same team from 700 00:29:37,279 --> 00:29:40,000 the very beginning, or nearly the same team, and that really 701 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:42,240 compounds is you know that experience with all the 702 00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:44,400 different customers, all the different new models, and all 703 00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:44,799 that stuff. 704 00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:48,000 So I think we've been really fortunate uh in in this way. 705 00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:50,640 But you know, as I mentioned before, from the very beginning, 706 00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:52,240 we we wanted to be a global business. 707 00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:54,880 We were selling globally, we're selling remotely. 708 00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:57,759 You know, I remember you know doing so many late evening 709 00:29:57,759 --> 00:29:58,079 calls. 710 00:29:58,160 --> 00:30:00,960 I still do a lot of late evening calls, maybe a bit less now. 711 00:30:01,039 --> 00:30:03,680 But uh one thing, one thing that I also wanted to add is you 712 00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:06,799 know, building London, we we really enjoy. 713 00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:10,000 Uh selling in the US is you know what what we need to do. 714 00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:11,519 US just moves much faster. 715 00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:14,240 I would say in terms of tech adoption, they're kind of one 716 00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:16,720 gener you guys are one generation ahead of the rest of 717 00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:17,039 the world. 718 00:30:17,119 --> 00:30:19,359 And so you're always looking for that next solution. 719 00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:22,000 And so it just made a lot of sense for us to be selling more 720 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:25,759 in the US than uh in a uh in the in the early days. 721 00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:26,799 Uh but yeah. 722 00:30:27,039 --> 00:30:28,799 SPEAKER_00: I think it's really interesting when we talk about 723 00:30:28,799 --> 00:30:31,920 retention of employees too, because it's one of the most 724 00:30:31,920 --> 00:30:34,480 underrated things for growth, if you have the right person, I'll 725 00:30:34,559 --> 00:30:35,359 caveat with that. 726 00:30:35,440 --> 00:30:37,680 But yeah, if you look at companies like GitHub or Carta, 727 00:30:37,839 --> 00:30:40,799 who've had CROs that have just scaled with the organization or 728 00:30:40,799 --> 00:30:45,440 Snowflake or you know, other orgs, you see it compound over 729 00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:45,599 time. 730 00:30:45,759 --> 00:30:45,920 Yeah. 731 00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:47,920 Um, and it reflects in their revenue. 732 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:49,039 So that is very, very cool. 733 00:30:49,119 --> 00:30:49,440 SPEAKER_01: Yeah. 734 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:53,200 SPEAKER_00: And what's one of your favorite AI use cases that 735 00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:54,880 helps you as a busy CEO? 736 00:30:55,200 --> 00:30:57,200 SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'll I'll be a bit boring, but uh, I think 737 00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:00,400 for me it's really staying on top of all of my inbox and uh 738 00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:01,680 LinkedIn inbox, especially. 739 00:31:01,759 --> 00:31:05,119 And so I actually do I have a Mac Mini, you know, running uh 740 00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:08,640 running Cloud remotely and then helping really understand what 741 00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:11,920 are the top conversations that I maybe forgot to answer and get 742 00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:12,240 back to. 743 00:31:12,319 --> 00:31:15,440 I was I was a very much inbox zero type of person, but then I 744 00:31:15,440 --> 00:31:18,960 had my daughter now two years ago, and I think everything 745 00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:21,599 slipped, and then I wasn't really able to get back to inbox 746 00:31:21,599 --> 00:31:26,480 zero, and I think that is a use case that I love uh and that I'm 747 00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:28,160 kind of like fully, fully embracing. 748 00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:29,680 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I have to agree with you. 749 00:31:29,759 --> 00:31:31,119 That is my favorite use case too. 750 00:31:31,440 --> 00:31:32,240 Email inbox. 751 00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:36,079 Last question biggest misconception about AI in sales. 752 00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:39,359 SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I think I mentioned that earlier 753 00:31:39,359 --> 00:31:43,039 as well, but it's I think what when you look at the you know, 754 00:31:43,119 --> 00:31:46,160 the discussion a year ago, two years ago, it was all around AI 755 00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:48,960 replacing salespeople uh and the role of sales reps kind of 756 00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:49,279 diminishing. 757 00:31:49,359 --> 00:31:50,880 If anything, I think it's the other way around. 758 00:31:51,039 --> 00:31:53,039 The role of sales reps is getting stronger. 759 00:31:53,279 --> 00:31:55,839 Potentially, the the middle management is getting squeezed a 760 00:31:55,839 --> 00:31:57,759 little bit, uh, and so organizations are getting 761 00:31:57,759 --> 00:31:58,480 flatter. 762 00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:02,000 Uh, but yeah, I think that would be that would be the biggest 763 00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:02,160 one. 764 00:32:02,240 --> 00:32:04,799 And I think it's it's gonna be the golden age actually for for 765 00:32:04,799 --> 00:32:05,519 sales reps. 766 00:32:05,759 --> 00:32:07,039 SPEAKER_00: No better time to be in sales. 767 00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:07,599 SPEAKER_01: Exactly. 768 00:32:07,839 --> 00:32:09,200 SPEAKER_00: Adam, this has been fantastic. 769 00:32:09,359 --> 00:32:10,720 Thank you for the time and the conversation. 770 00:32:11,039 --> 00:32:11,839 SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much, Sophie. 771 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:12,799 Really enjoyed it. 772 00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:14,960 SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, and congrats on the Series A. 773 00:32:15,119 --> 00:32:16,160 SPEAKER_01: Thank you, thank you.