YC GTM Tech Companies: The AI Revolution in Sales (S20–F25)

We analyzed 135 Y Combinator companies revolutionizing Go-To-Market technology, from the S20 batch to the latest F25 cohort. The trend is unmistakable: 100% of these companies leverage AI as a core component of their value proposition.

But beyond the "AI" buzzword, what are they actually building? We're seeing a definitive shift from simple tools to autonomous agents that are redefining how businesses sell, market, and support customers.

Here is a deep dive into the major automation themes emerging from YC's GTM tech cohorts.

1. Automating Lead Generation & Qualification

One major focus is using AI to find and qualify prospects – a task traditionally handled by Sales Development Reps (SDRs). Many startups have built "AI SDR" tools that monitor various data sources to identify companies or people who are likely in the market for a product.

For example, Coldreach (YC W23) scans public "buying signals" (like specific job postings, news mentions, or SEC filings) to spot companies that might need your product, then alerts the sales team so they can reach out with relevant timing.

Tools like Persana AI (YC W23) and OpenFunnel (YC F24) take a similar approach: they pull from 100+ data sources (funding news, tech stack changes, hiring trends, etc.) and use autonomous agents to continuously research and enrich lead lists without manual effort.

This means AI can handle the prospecting work – building targeted lists and qualifying which leads are "hot" – that an SDR would normally spend hours on. Some companies explicitly pitch themselves as replacements for human SDR teams. Throxy (YC X25), for instance, combines AI agents with human experts to run outbound campaigns in traditional industries, "replacing the need for internal SDR teams" by consistently delivering qualified pipelines.

Likewise, AiSDR (YC S23) advertises that it "automates sales prospecting" (writing and sending cold emails and even following up to book meetings) and is "aiming to replace over 600k SDRs" in the workforce.

In practice, these tools can prospect 24/7 at a scale and speed a human team can't match, though human salespeople typically still oversee the process and step in once a lead shows real interest.

2. Automating Outreach & Follow-Up Engagement

Besides finding leads, many startups automate the initial outreach and nurturing of those leads. This includes writing personalized emails, sending LinkedIn messages, making calls, and scheduling meetings – tasks that occupy a large chunk of a sales rep's day.

AI writing assistants craft emails that read as if a human wrote them, often pulling context about the recipient from online sources. For example, AiSDR not only finds prospects but also automatically writes and sends highly personalized outreach emails; when a prospect replies, it continues the email conversation and even schedules a meeting on the rep's calendar without human involvement.

In other cases, AI helps reps write better emails rather than sending them entirely autonomously – e.g. Soff.ai analyzes sales emails to suggest improvements, and Flike acts as a sales "co-pilot" to personalize templates. These tools reduce the manual effort of crafting each message while maintaining personalization that a generic mail merge can't achieve.

AI-driven outreach isn't limited to email. Roger (YC S24) is an "intelligent CRM" that automates multi-channel engagement – it can craft outreach messages across email, LinkedIn and other channels, continually refining its approach based on what prospects respond to.

On the phone side, startups like Terrakotta (YC W24) use autodialers with AI voice tech to reach out via calls. Terrakotta will even clone a salesperson's voice and leave personalized voicemails at scale when prospects don't pick up, A/B testing the messages to maximize callbacks.

A key part of outreach is also scheduling meetings and follow-ups. Tools like Canvas (YC F24) deploy AI agents to handle the back-and-forth of booking a meeting. In practice, once a prospect says "I'm interested," the AI can send a calendar link or negotiate a time via email/chat automatically. By automating these repetitive communications, sales teams can engage far more prospects in parallel.

3. Automating CRM Data Entry & Administration

Salespeople famously dislike entering data into CRM systems, and now a wave of YC startups are tackling this pain point with automation. These tools connect to communication channels (email, calendars, Zoom, call recordings) and automatically log or update the relevant data in the CRM, sparing reps from tedious manual updates.

Octolane AI (YC W24) calls itself "the world's first self-driving CRM" – it updates itself, takes actions, and learns from every interaction so sales teams never have to manually update data again. This means if a sales rep emails a prospect or a prospect moves to a new stage, the CRM fields and pipeline stages are adjusted by the AI behind the scenes.

Similarly, Ergo (YC W25) built AI agents that watch customer communications (Zoom calls, Slack messages, emails, etc.) and automatically execute "revenue-generating activities" like updating the pipeline or sending a follow-up, based on what's happening in those conversations. By "eliminating manual operational tasks," Ergo helps sales teams keep deals moving without a coordinator micromanaging the CRM.

Even more straightforward, DryMerge (YC W24) and others focus on data sync and cleaning – ensuring that contact info, call notes, and meeting outcomes get logged in the right places. rift (YC W23), for instance, is a sales platform that automates all the "in-between" busywork: if some lead data is incomplete or messy, "we'll clean it for you", and the system will highlight the best leads to pursue next so reps don't have to pull reports or sift spreadsheets.

In essence, these tools act as an automated sales ops assistant. Instead of writing call notes and logging tasks, a rep can trust the AI to capture what happened in a meeting. For sales operations teams, these tools reduce the grunt work of maintaining CRM hygiene.

4. Automating Sales Calls & Demo Assistance

Another area of automation is live sales calls and product demos, where AI acts as a real-time assistant or even a stand-in for a human rep.

Aside (YC F25) is a prime example of a "sales call assistant" that listens to your Zoom/phone sales calls and can instantly pull up answers to questions from your knowledge base or CRM. If a prospect asks a tricky question, Aside will display the relevant info on the rep's screen in real time. Aside also provides live coaching: if a rep forgets to ask an important question, the AI nudges them during the call.

In addition to supporting human callers, some startups are using AI to handle entire calls or demos themselves. Karumi (YC F25) created an AI agent that can join a live video call with prospects to deliver a product demo on behalf of the company, 24/7 and in any language. This is aimed at the gap between a website visit and a live salesperson: Karumi's bot can engage "tire-kickers" and answer common questions before a human salesperson ever gets involved.

Other companies like Storylane, Coast, and Navattic (YC W21) have offered interactive demo platforms, and now they're adding AI to generate or personalize those demos.

On the voice call side, Acrely AI (YC S25) is geared towards home services and can automate outbound calls. And for in-person sales, companies like Candytrail (YC S25) use AI to passively capture face-to-face customer interactions and surface insights about winning talk tracks.

5. Automating Sales Training & Coaching

Training sales teams is another labor-intensive area being transformed by AI. Startups are using AI both to simulate training scenarios and to analyze real performance.

Hyperbound (YC S23) pioneered an "AI sales roleplay" platform: it generates lifelike role-play conversations with an AI persona acting as a tough customer. A rep can practice a pitch or handling objections with this AI buyer, getting unlimited at-bats. Hyperbound also listens to actual sales calls to provide personalized feedback.

Hindsight (YC W23) combs through thousands of past sales deals to figure out patterns behind wins and losses, auto-generating battle cards and objection handling guides. It can create AI-driven roleplays using real scenarios your team has encountered.

Even real-time assistants like Aside and Nomi (YC X25) have a training element: they "remember" common mistakes and successes and turn them into coaching tips for future calls. This allows sales managers to offload routine coaching to AI systems, focusing instead on high-level mentorship.

6. Automating Proposal Writing & Quote Generation

Responding to RFPs and customizing sales quotes are time-consuming tasks common in B2B sales cycles.

Inventive AI (YC S23) uses AI to generate first-draft answers for RFPs and security questionnaires, reporting that their system produces drafts 10x faster than a human by pulling accurate information from company knowledge sources.

Wolfia (YC S22) focuses on automating compliance questionnaires and RFPs, handling the heavy lifting of documentation.

On the quoting side, Mercura (YC W25) automates quotes and orders for distributors and manufacturers. Sales teams can process a pricing request "in minutes instead of days." Veles (YC W24) provides a "Sales Calculator" that helps sales reps craft the best pricing options and proposals on the fly.

7. Leveraging Networks & Relationship Intelligence

Some YC startups target the "who you know" aspect of sales: helping teams map relationships and get warm introductions.

Centralize (YC W24) helps revenue teams "operationalize multi-threading" by automatically identifying key stakeholders and tracking account changes. It leverages the sales team's collective network to highlight warm intro opportunities.

PartnerHQ (YC W24) aggregates relationship data to create a "professional network graph" that companies can query to buy warm introductions.

There are also more personal-scale tools like Pally (YC S25), an "AI relationship management" platform that helps salespeople keep in touch with their network by suggesting check-ins and topics.

8. End-to-End AI Sales Agents

A few startups are attempting to go beyond single-task automation toward a more complete sales agent.

Floworks AI (YC W23) markets a suite of AI "employees," including an AI SDR named "Alisha" designed to perform the full outbound job autonomously. They also offer "Romona," an AI revenue-operations manager.

Item App (YC F25) positions itself as an AI-native replacement for the CRM system. It provides an Assistant where you can simply ask for actions like "find me leads in X industry," and allows creating custom Agents to follow standard operating procedures across sales and support.

Cargo (YC S23) talks about replacing SDR-heavy models with a hybrid approach – empowering a few full-cycle Account Executives to handle everything from prospecting to closing with AI support.

Conclusion: Impact on Roles and the Future of Sales Work

Reviewing these companies, it's clear that almost every part of a salesperson's job is being addressed by some form of automation.

• SDRs: This role is most directly impacted. Tools from AiSDR to Throxy are automating the high-volume top-of-funnel work.
• Account Executives: AEs are becoming more productive, with "assistants" handling admin, scheduling, and data entry. They can manage larger pipelines and focus on relationship-building.
• Sales Managers: Can rely on AI for routine coaching and data analysis (e.g., Hindsight), allowing them to focus on strategy and team culture.
• Sales Ops: Tools like Octolane AI and DryMerge reduce the need for manual CRM maintenance, shifting the role toward strategic process design.

The trend is accelerating: newer startups are more ambitious about end-to-end automation, yet the immediate impact is making human teams more efficient rather than redundant. The mission is often to free up the sales team's time so they can "focus on selling" – implying that everything else can be offloaded to AI.