Sailes is a company that is harnessing artificial intelligence to streamline prospecting for enterprise sales teams. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Sailes’ president, CEO, and founder, Nick Smith, to learn more about the company.
Nick Smith’s Background
Smith’s career has had a lot of range, from sales leadership to political advertising and a lot of abstract selling, to bring multiple groups together. And Smith said:
“I’ve always been interested in the intersection of business and labor. Before starting Sailes and in addition to my sales roles, I was the co-host of a radio show called ‘Common Ground’ in New York that focused on bridging the gap between business and labor.”
“I founded Sailes in 2018 after spending the majority of my career in strategic sales at CBS Corporation, iHeartRadio, Audacy, and other companies. Through my time in Sales Leadership and Sales Management, I began to see how practical uses of AI could help human executives thrive by reducing repetitive manual tasks, increasing business development opportunities, and multiplying output.”
Formation Of Sailes
How did the idea for Sailes come together? Smith shared:
“It was July 4th, 2018, at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, when I had the idea that salespeople should have their own robot. I still have the note on my phone I wrote to myself. What would be possible if reps had their own AI that was like them, controlled by them, and unique to them? The idea was that – what we call a Sailebot – would automate all prospecting tasks for sales executives so they could spend more time selling.” “I got to work that day.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Smith reflected:
“There are a couple of threads here, but on one hand, it’s the phenomenal ROI our customers have received. Seeing a seven-figure return from something that costs less than half of the manual equivalent is really rewarding.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Smith explained:
“Sailebots are the first and only AI to automate all prospecting points for enterprise sales teams – from discovery to engagement to opportunity – hands-free. In addition, our recent product release, Starboard, is an immersive user experience where sales leaders can oversee all activity for their fleet of Sailebots, and users can onboard, instruct, deploy, and train their Sailebot.”
Challenges Faced
Has Smith faced any specific bottlenecks in his sector of work recently? Smith acknowledged:
“The bottleneck we run into is the status quo. Salespeople are trained that “some will/some won’t, who cares? Who’s next?” Encouraging sales leaders to understand that there’s a better way is real work, but it’s our mission.”
Evolution Of Sailes’ Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Smith noted:
“Well, we actually didn’t even have any user interface until a few months ago. Customers loved that their Sailebots were prospecting 24/7, but it was hard to visualize. Now, we’ve given them visibility and are slowly giving them more and more control of their AI with Starboard™. We’re not trying to simply “get AI in the hands of salespeople” but allowing them to mold and modify their AI, which is extremely new and exciting.”
“Today, our customers – usually senior sales leaders – can oversee all activity for their fleet of Sailebots, and salespeople can onboard, instruct, deploy, and train their Sailebot. They can see in real-time what their Sailebot is working on, who they’re conversing with, and make adjustments where necessary.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Smith cited:
“We bootstrapped the company to $1.4 million ARR before closing a seed round in 2022. We grew our team, had triple-digit revenue growth, and then closed a Series A a few weeks ago.”
“Aside from the metrics, being chosen as a Startup to Watch and being placed at the furthest point forward on KPMG’s History of Sales timeline are some of the things I am most proud of.”
“The validation from significant Fortune 500 adoption goes a long way, too. We’re really proud and grateful for that. And it’s all thanks to our Sailebots. Before we had a sales team, we had Sailebots driving our growth.”
“Most of all, seeing the vision come together and the way our team has rallied around it and made it a reality with Starboard™.”
Customer Success Stories
After asking Smith about customer success stories, he cited:
“A notable customer success story is that of one of the nation’s largest electrical distributors with a 7-figure ROI, 88,231 prospecting hours saved, and 251 Actionable Leads delivered.”
Funding/Revenue
After asking Smith about funding and revenue information, he revealed:
“Without going into ARR, we’ve seen triple-digit growth nearly every year since inception and recently closed a $5.1M Series A led by Lewis and Clark Ventures.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Smith assessed:
“The TAM that Sailes is pursuing is companies worth $25.3 billion or 351,520 large companies.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Smith affirmed:
“We are the first technology of its kind that automates the entire prospecting lifecycle, unlike point solutions that automate just a portion of this. We are also putting the power of our unique AI in the hands of our clients with Starboard™, allowing them to completely onboard, train, deploy, and interact with their Sailebot.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future company goals? Smith concluded:
“Soon, we will release predictability for Sailebots, which will allow them to predict success before ever engaging a prospect. This is one of the core features of Sailebot Model 2. Our current Sailebot model has had fantastic success, but this new model will be able to significantly advance capabilities with machine learning and the history of real sales data Sailebots possess.”
