Case Study
How Salesforce Ventures is Helping AutogenAI Sell to Enterprises
the opportunity
Build an AI-Enabled Bid Writing Tool For Enterprises
AutogenAI founder and CEO Sean Williams remembers the exact moment he encountered large language models (LLMs) in September 2021. “I was blown away by their power,” Sean recalls. As a 15-year veteran in the bid writing industry, Sean saw an immediate application for LLMs in drafting high-quality bids, proposals, and tenders. A few months later, Sean and co-founder Raj Khaira launched Autogen AI to modernize the bid writing process—and the reception was strong. Within a year Autogen AI boasted 28 customers across Fortune 500 companies and international government agencies, helping their clients achieve a 30% uplift in win rates while cutting associated costs by up to 85%.
The company raised initial funding in the summer of 2023. Given strong market pull, by late 2023 they were ready to raise additional funding to further accelerate growth. For this stage of the journey, the team sought to align with a partner who could help them gain a stronger foothold within large enterprises.
When enterprises see we’re backed by Salesforce Ventures it instantly changes the dynamic of the conversation
Sean Williams, Founder and CEO, AutogenAI
the solution
Partner With a Firm That Understands Enterprise Sales
Salesforce Ventures commitment to AI dates back to the establishment of the Salesforce AI research lab in 2014. In 2023 the firm launched a dedicated Generative AI fund focused on nurturing the huge potential of generative models. One area of focus for the fund is vertical applications of AI. After being introduced to the Autogen AI team by an existing investor, we saw the potential for AI to improve the bid writing experience. We were also impressed by the combination of industry and technical expertise on the team.
Our London team arranged an in-person meeting with Sean, and we learned that the feelings of admiration were mutual: Sean and his team viewed Salesforce Ventures as a leader in helping startups reach the enterprise, which could be valuable for AutogenAI’s go-to-market (GTM) motion.
“The insight into the enterprise is really powerful,” said Sean. “Everyone is at a different stage in their journey of AI adoption and so having that connective tissue with Salesforce and Salesforce Ventures is really helpful in terms of understanding how to go to market, who’s ready to integrate AI, and who we should be talking to.”
There was also strong understanding and shared vision between the Salesforce Ventures and AutogenAI teams.
“They asked the right questions and had the right view of where the market was going,” said Sean. “They understood the impact of Gen AI and a lot of our theses around augmented intelligence and AI with a sector focus.”
These synergies culminated in a formal partnership: Salesforce Ventures co-led Autogen AI’s Series B fundraise in December of 2023 alongside Spark Capital.
the impact
Lots of Value in a Short Amount of Time
Salesforce Ventures believes in delivering value at every opportunity. Even before the deal was closed, Salesforce Ventures invited the AutogenAI team to several exclusive events, including World Tour New York and several New York City founder dinners. Salesforce Ventures also facilitated an introduction between AutogenAI and the Salesforce AppExchange team, as well as a handful of enterprise customer introductions.
When AutogenAI was ready to announce their Series B fundraise, the Salesforce in-house PR team helped them maximize publicity by coordinating with media contacts. Since becoming a portfolio company, Salesforce Ventures has facilitated dozens of new customer introductions, including the Heads of Innovation at AT&T, Accenture, HSBC, and JP Morgan. The AutogenAI team has also been able to put themselves in front of potential new customers via participation in Salesforce Ventures Demo Days, in which founders are able to pitch their products to groups of enterprise buyers.
“Getting an exclusive audience with executives who are looking to scale their business through artificial intelligence has been an amazing opportunity,” Sean said.
Salesforce Ventures has also connected AutogenAI with dozens of experts who can assist in their enterprise sales motion, including the Salesforce Public Sector Sales Team, RFP team, the SVP of AI Transformation, and the CEO of Salesforce Australia.
“These introductions to internal subject matter experts have been very useful in terms of helping us understand who are the right people in these complex organizations to talk to,” Sean said.
Furthermore, Salesforce Ventures offers strategic counsel to the AutogenAI senior leadership team through a board observer role, monthly in-person meetings, and a dedicated Slack channel for quick ad-hoc requests and to exchange ideas and industry news.
Lastly, Sean says partnering with Salesforce Ventures has enhanced AutogenAI’s credibility within the enterprise software market segment.
“Most enterprises are conservative. They want AI innovation but are naturally quite risk averse,” Sean explains. “The Salesforce Ventures badge gives branded credibility to what we’re doing. When enterprises see we’re backed by Salesforce Ventures it instantly changes the dynamic of the conversation. It’s an additional certificate that we’re enterprise-ready.”
the future
Helping Enterprises Undergo AI Transformation With Confidence
In less than six months, AutogenAI has already derived immense value from their partnership with Salesforce Ventures.
Most recently, co-founder Raj Khaira was invited to Salesforce London World Tour to participate in a fireside discussion with Franny Hsiao, distinguished AI architect at Salesforce, in front of a VIP audience of the top 500 Salesforce customers at the executive level.
“It’s been a nice surprise what a dynamic and fast-moving organization Salesforce Ventures is,” Sean said. “With large corporate entities you expect everything to be slow but Salesforce Ventures has been able to move quickly to support us.”
Sean and his team have ambitions to build the definitive product for writing competitive business prose, bids, and tenders — and they feel confident they’ll be able to realize that ambition alongside Salesforce Ventures.
“It’s the perfect partnership,” Sean said. “We have people who have decades of experience doing this at our side. That gives me lots of confidence.”