The problem
Sales teams spend heavily on human SDRs and a stack of tools to fill pipeline with outbound
What they do
AI BDR 'Ava' that researches leads, writes outreach and books sales meetings
Traction ARR ~$5M (Apr 2025) to ~$9-9.5M (2026); hundreds of customers
Hiring trend
- Open roles
- 4
- Ops roles
- 1
- Headcount
- ~50
Cooling: 4 open roles vs 22 planned in Apr 2025; ~40-50 staff (CEO), reported ~24% layoff late 2025
Hiring in
- San Francisco
- New York
Glassdoor
3.4 ★ 6 reviews ↗Funding
- Last round
- $25M
- Stage
- Series A
- Date
- Apr 2025
Led by Glade Brook Capital
- Hiring+14 open roles on the live job board (3–9 roles = +1)
- Funding recency+0.5Series A · $25M, Apr 2025 (18 months ago): 12–24 months = +0.5
- Traction+0.75Some growth: ARR ~$5M (Apr 2025) to ~$9-9.5M (2026); hundreds of customers
- Red flags−22 significant flags in the last 24 months, −1 eachReported ~24% layoff in late 2025 after the Series A, with headcount stuck around 40-50 vs plans for 100+; LinkedIn banned the company and staff profiles for ~2 weeks in Dec 2025 over scraped data and trademark use; CTO hired Apr 2025 left after ~6 monthsThe Quota AI Sales Report, May 2026: ~24% layoff late 2025, CTO departures, high churn ↗ · TechCrunch, Apr 2026: CEO says 100+ hires to keep 40 people ↗ · TechCrunch, Jan 2026: LinkedIn banned Artisan, now back ↗ · The Org: CTO Ming Li at Anthropic since Sep 2025 ↗ · TechCrunch, Apr 2025: 35 staff, hiring 22, 'relatively high churn' ↗
- Total0.251 + 0.5 + 0.75 − 2 = 0.25 → Cool-down
Cool-down rule: score under 1.5 and headcount is shrinking or there were layoffs.
Distance (10K) is a separate read on how long the lead can last. It doesn't change the score.
Distance
10K
A follower in a crowded AI SDR market behind Apollo, Clay and many look-alike agents, with a thin outbound product that is easy to copy; heavy exposure to LinkedIn and mailbox-provider rules (LinkedIn briefly banned it in Dec 2025), self-admitted high customer churn, and a team that shrank after its Series A
Sources: TechCrunch, Jan 2026: LinkedIn ban ↗ · TechCrunch, Apr 2025: $5M ARR, relatively high churn ↗ · Y Combinator job post: $9M+ ARR, ~50 staff ↗ · The Quota, May 2026: churn, layoffs, rivals ↗
Watch-outs
Reported ~24% layoff in late 2025 after the Series A, with headcount stuck around 40-50 vs plans for 100+; LinkedIn banned the company and staff profiles for ~2 weeks in Dec 2025 over scraped data and trademark use; CTO hired Apr 2025 left after ~6 months
Sources: The Quota AI Sales Report, May 2026: ~24% layoff late 2025, CTO departures, high churn ↗ · TechCrunch, Apr 2026: CEO says 100+ hires to keep 40 people ↗ · TechCrunch, Jan 2026: LinkedIn banned Artisan, now back ↗ · The Org: CTO Ming Li at Anthropic since Sep 2025 ↗ · TechCrunch, Apr 2025: 35 staff, hiring 22, 'relatively high churn' ↗
Open ops roles · 1
Last checked Oct 25, 2026