Powering concierge customer experiences for the most impactful companies in the world.
Backed by @a16z, @accel, @baincapVC, @coatuemgmt, @indexventures
Introducing Duet Autopilot, the first verified self-improving AI agent for CX.
It automates agent improvement by turning conversation signals into validated improvements ready for human review, helping agents get better with every conversation. 🧵
@FortuneMagazine recently took a closer look at how AI is transforming customer experience, and we're excited to be part of the story.
Full feature below. ↓
Rate of Output as a leading indicator of success.
At a @firstround Angel Track retreat I attended recently, @brettberson and @btrenchard shared one of the clearest signals they’ve found for predicting a startup’s success: rate of output – the pace of new products and features shipped between the first and second founder meetings.
It’s the single best indicator of whether you should join or invest.
Very few companies illustrate this better than @DecagonAI.
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When I caught up with @AshwinSreenivas (back when I was still a founder and Decagon was ~20 people), what struck me was how efficient and intentional every minute of the conversation was.
Coupled with the pace of enterprise wins they were publicly announcing – new testimonials seemingly every other day – it felt different.
By the time I seriously considered joining, the gap since the first time I heard of them was apparent through team growth, products shipped, traction, and brand – nearly quadrupling in what felt like no time (we were just ~150 people and 2 yrs old then). Few startups compound like this.
What makes Decagon special is the relentless push for speed. We get speed through directness, transparency, seeking pain, and a winner’s mindset.
@thejessezhang and Ashwin set the precedent that if you want to solve a problem here, you have the authority and agency to figure it out.
When there’s an opportunity - a deal, a candidate, a partnership - we swarm. When we compete on product, we win by shipping faster, not just better. When we make wins, we’re not afraid to get loud about it socially.
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Fast forward: we're now ~500 strong, still shipping as if we were 150.
@1daveschneider once said: find an elevator going up, and just get on.
Join a company with a High Rate of Output.
This week, @firstharmonic hosted its first sales-focused Builders Table (Sellers Table?) with top AEs from @DecagonAI, @Rippling, @fal, @getserval, @_hex_tech, @stripe, @coderabbitai, @figma, and other great companies.
Some interesting takeaways from the room:
1/ Most sellers are using AI for meeting prep and follow-up, not as much for building decks or writing emails (!).
2/ The thing sellers most WISH AI could do for them is automate CRM input (hard relate).
3/ Most sellers think that there will be fewer SDRs in five years, and that they'll have different skills than they do today.
4/ Most sellers think Salesforce will eventually get displaced, but not for 10+ years.
5/ The "AI tool" that sellers value most isn't an AI-native tool at all; it's @Gong_io.
Personally, I learned that the most cracked sellers are the ones who show up at a dinner on the last day of the quarter, the week before 4th of July!
Thanks to all who joined us. We want to do more of these dinners: for engineers, salespeople, marketers, you name it. DM or email me if you want to get on the list.
Voice agents are one of the hottest use cases in enterprise today, but also one of the hardest to go live.
→ How do you reduce latency to something that feels natural while also prioritizing intelligent responses?
→ How do you reliably make tool calls to your CRM without losing the customer on the line?
→ How do you build a system of fallback models in case Anthropic and OpenAI are running hot?
Last week, I hosted a fireside chat with Basia Sudol (Head of Enterprise Solutions, @DecagonAI), @vr000m (CPTO, @trydaily), Steven Diaz (FDE Manager, Vapi), Tyler D'Silva (Founding FDE, @retellai), and @kamath_sutra (Founder, @smallest_AI) to deep dive into the world of voice agents and answer some of those questions.
Some of my favorite parts and link to full episode in comments ↓
Building production-grade agents shouldn't be difficult or tedious. In fact, over the last few months, several customers have begun sharing major agent improvements, built E2E without deployed support. The big unlock has been Duet, Decagon's AI agent for building AI agents!