Doug Camplejohn
(00:01)
Hello everyone, this is Doug Camplejohn and welcome to this week’s episode of Revenue Renegades. This week, I’m very excited to welcome Amanda Kahlow, rhymes with J-Lo, the CEO and founder of 1mind, to the show. Welcome, Amanda.
Amanda Kahlow
(00:15)
Thanks for having me, Doug. Great to see you again, friend.
Doug Camplejohn
(00:18)
Great to see you. I’m a big fan of founding stories. You previously founded the tremendously successful company, 6sense, and now you’re back at it again. What was the light bulb moment that made you jump back into the game?
Amanda Kahlow
(00:34)
Absolutely. At 1mind, we’re building go-to-market superhumans-a photorealistic face and voice, combined with what we call a go-to-market brain that can do what your team does across the customer lifecycle. She can pitch, qualify, share slides, join Zoom calls, and soon will be able to give demos and read the screen. Our goal is to help drive revenue and save costs across your go-to-market organization, but more than anything, we’re solving for buyers.
Going back to our founding story, I had announced on LinkedIn that I was permanently on the bench and wouldn’t come off unless something truly excited me. I believe in founder fit, so it had to be in my lane-B2B marketing and sales. I also wanted something I could take all the way. Not enough women have rung the bell, and that’s my ultimate goal. I know it’s lofty, but I hope one day to be part of the less than 1% who get to ring the bell.
I saw the technology and the team that had built it in a lab. They’d been working on it for years-it was a photoreal face and a deterministic brain before generative AI. They’d cloned the likes of Barack Obama and Deepak Chopra and built AIs to help caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients, with many horizontal use cases. At first, I thought, “This is cool, but not me.” Then I spent a weekend thinking about it and realized, “Wait, could this replace salespeople?” When I got to yes, I had my technical co-founder from 6sense take a look, and he was on board. I took over the company, merged it, and we raised venture funding. We’ve been at it for almost exactly a year-three days from now is my one-year mark at 1mind. It’s super exciting.
Doug Camplejohn
(03:13)
That’s amazing. I have to ask: 6sense, 1mind-what’s the obsession with numbers in your company names?
Amanda Kahlow
(03:25)
I didn’t set out to name a company with a number, but when naming 6sense, I realized that lists are always sorted numeric-alpha, so if you start with an actual number, you’re listed first. That served us well at 6sense, especially in the early days-we’d always be first on lists at Forrester or Gartner events. There was definitely an ego boost seeing our logo at the top. When I started this company, I thought, “It has to be a number, and it has to be before six, just in case we’re ever listed together.” So, it had to be five, four, three, two, or one. Obviously not zero. 1mind just made sense.
Doug Camplejohn
(04:41)
We had Sam McKenna on the show a few weeks back-her company is #SamSales, for the same reason: always at the top of every list. I think Sam will show up before you, though. Sorry.
Amanda Kahlow
(04:58)
Would that be before a number? You’re crushing this, Doug.
Amanda Kahlow
(05:13)
For the record, I’m 6sense’s biggest fan. It’s not a knock on 6sense. I’m still cheering from the sidelines-I’m their number one fan. Jason and the team are doing amazing things.
Doug Camplejohn
(05:25)
They are, for sure. Tell me, what’s the hardest part about building this?
Amanda Kahlow
(05:33)
The hardest part is always product-market fit. You can have great ideas, but getting the timing right is something you can’t control. As a founder, finding that right timing with the right need and the market moving in the right direction-that inflection point-is key. I feel we have it right now at 1mind, more than I experienced in the early days of 6sense. Back then, we were in a new category, fighting hard to educate the market. Many of our early deals were built on relationships-I was taking people to dinner, really getting to know our buyers, and they were taking a bet on me and the company.
At 1mind, the market is ready. Everyone is looking for efficiency gains and has a mandate to use AI, but there aren’t many tools that are truly creating a new playbook. People are taking a bet on us, and we’re lucky. The other hard part is getting the team right. I made mistakes at 6sense, hiring people from big companies who didn’t always have the entrepreneurial spirit needed for a startup. This time, I feel fortunate to apply all those lessons to 1mind. My purpose and calling is 1mind now, and I get to fix what I did wrong before. Of course, I’ll make new mistakes, but that’s part of the journey.
Doug Camplejohn
(07:35)
Make brand new mistakes this time. Exactly.
Amanda Kahlow
(07:51)
Exactly. I truly feel that coming from a beginner’s mindset is important. There are playbooks and companies to look to, but back in 2012 and 2013, we were just hacking it.
Doug Camplejohn
(08:09)
Absolutely. I think every entrepreneur shares this childlike curiosity. I wake up excited to learn something new every day. I have to force myself to go outside before sitting down at my laptop because I’m so eager to see what happened overnight with our international team. I love product. I think I’m more able to focus on what’s important and not get bogged down by the small stuff. But as you said, I’ll make all new mistakes, but I’m excited for what those will be.
Amanda Kahlow
(09:18)
I have a similar mindset. I keep a list: what did I get wrong yesterday? Constantly looking for ways to test myself and my thinking. Even as I figure out our lane and our ICP-I actually have a thesis that ICP is dead, but that’s another conversation. When figuring out product-market fit, I recently learned that PLG companies with a massive long tail and no business model to put a human on a free trial or pay-as-you-go weren’t on my radar initially, but after talking to people, I realized it’s a big opportunity. In deal cycles, our superhuman compresses sales cycles. For example, with HubSpot, what could have been a six-month sales cycle went down to a month because Mindy answered their hard technical questions on the website. I wasn’t solving for that when I built her, but now I see the value. I love knowing when I get things wrong-it’s actually fun to be wrong.
Doug Camplejohn
(11:12)
What are the sweet spots for where 1mind fits best today, and where isn’t it a fit?
Amanda Kahlow
(11:25)
Right now, we’re staying away from support. There are plenty of ticket management solutions, and the need for a face or multimodal experience isn’t as strong there. We’re focused on the top-of-funnel inbound. If you have a lot of inbound website traffic, 90% go away without engaging. Most people offer a form or scheduling tool, or even AI chatbots that just qualify leads and book meetings. We can go further-pitch, answer questions, scope solutions. We had a customer, a CRO at a large company, talk to Mindy for 90 minutes, then pass her to the CMO, who had another 30-minute conversation. Our sales rep only needed one or two calls, and the deal closed in three weeks for $100K. The biggest objection is, “Don’t people want to talk to a human?” But when did anyone get excited to get on a call with a salesperson? We want information, and we buy technology in our off hours. Our goal is to remove time and capacity limitations, giving control to the buyer and creating a better buying experience.
Doug Camplejohn
(14:24)
So, mostly inbound sales use cases, from top of funnel through mid-funnel, even down to the close?
Amanda Kahlow
(14:36)
Yes, and she’ll go all the way to close. For HubSpot, she’s closing deals for their SMB segment. For enterprise companies, she’s pitching, qualifying, answering technical questions, and providing deal support. It’s a web experience that can be on the website or in-product. For example, New Relic will use their superhuman in-product to help move users from free trial to pay-as-you-go, or from pay-as-you-go to committed contract. We also have a “ride along” sales engineer use case-she joins Zoom calls in passive mode and is called upon to answer technical questions or show slides. She’s there as in-the-moment support, keeping the conversation flowing.
Doug Camplejohn
(16:05)
It sounds like you’re not focused at all on outbound, like the AI SDR. You’re staying away from that?
Amanda Kahlow
(16:12)
I’m as far away from outbound as possible. My catchphrase is, “I started 6sense to find buyers, and I’m starting 1mind to close them.” We’ll join the conversation once it starts. Outbound is hard, and while there are some positive use cases, it’s not our focus. Some customers will put the superhuman in emails to engage, but we’re not sending the emails or doing the personalization.
Doug Camplejohn
(17:06)
Let’s talk about mistakes and differences. How has your experience at 1mind been different or similar to your early days at 6sense?
Amanda Kahlow
(17:19)
There are almost no similarities other than my passion, which is even stronger now at 1mind. I had kids in between, which gives you perspective. I’m a staunch guardian of my calendar and time. I’m never on social media, and I pay attention to the metrics in a way I didn’t before. There are so many new ways to look at efficiency and growth. Of course, some things about me haven’t changed-I’m outgoing, wear my heart on my sleeve, and embrace vulnerability. I had four years to think about my mistakes, and now I get a second chance, which is incredibly exciting.
Doug Camplejohn
(18:56)
What are people getting wrong about AI as it relates to go-to-market? Everyone is doing AI, but some of it is more real than others.
Amanda Kahlow
(19:12)
This might be a spicy take, but I think the conversation around agents is yesterday’s news. Buying and selling decisions happen in a conversation, not around a conversation. A lot of what people are doing with AI is building agents and workflow, task-based systems. These are fine, but they’re about making today’s process more efficient. I want to push toward AGI, where we have human-like dynamics across the funnel and help buyers in a human way. We should start fresh and think about new playbooks, not just make today’s playbook better.
Doug Camplejohn
(21:03)
I’ll push back on your spicy take. I don’t think it’s an either/or situation. In any technological wave, people often extrapolate from what they know. There will be failed experiments, just like in the early days of the web or mobile. In sales, maybe superhuman is the right model, but I also think there’s value in agents that have agency and flexibility to do things on their own, always seeking the next opportunity.
Amanda Kahlow
(23:02)
I agree. I’m speaking from the founder's perspective. Many companies are just solving simple workflow problems, but I want to rethink things from scratch. What’s the new playbook, not how can I make today’s better?
Doug Camplejohn
(23:34)
That’s fair. I have empathy for people in the arena trying new things. For us at Coffee, there’s so much low-hanging fruit in improving CRM, but you can still have a 10x better CRM without being as breakthrough as what you’re talking about.
Amanda Kahlow
(24:36)
Absolutely. I use note-takers like Gong, but I’d love someone to take it to the next level. Why does it exist? To help us remember what was said and what to do next. I want it to do the next thing for me-send the email, create the deck, build the order form, follow up. Do the things the note-taker is doing, but take action.
Doug Camplejohn
(25:36)
I agree. I often joke with my team at Coffee that I’m building it for myself because I’m so bad at follow-up. I want as much of that automated as possible.
Amanda Kahlow
(26:23)
Exactly. When it gets things right 99% of the time, you can flip to full automation. That’s why we say bring the superhuman on the call with the seller until you’re confident. Once you’re comfortable, she can take over.
Doug Camplejohn
(26:54)
Let’s talk about “superhuman.” All the AI SDR folks are putting up billboards about hiring AI, not humans. What’s your take on people replacement?
Amanda Kahlow
(27:11)
We’re doing the world a disservice by telling people AI won’t replace jobs. To some degree, it’s true that those who use AI will replace those who don’t, but I believe AI will replace a lot of jobs. We need to be honest and give people the tools and the truth, not just what they want to hear.
Doug Camplejohn
(37:52)
I’ve heard the same from VCs. If everyone thinks your idea is obvious, you’re probably late. If everyone says no, maybe it’s a bad idea, but somewhere in between is the right mix. That’s when you probably have the timing right.
Amanda Kahlow
(38:24)
I think what you’re doing is amazing. It’s hard for people to imagine another world in CRM, but what a better problem to solve than these old, stodgy systems of record. The world is coming for them.
Doug Camplejohn
(38:49)
You’ve talked about consolidating the go-to-market tech stack. How does 1mind fit into that vision?
Amanda Kahlow
(38:59)
We’re starting by consolidating roles and jobs. The cost of 1mind is roughly that of a single SDR. We’ll take your inbound BDR, then your sales engineer, then customer success, and eventually some outbound. Looking a year ahead, we’ll be giving demos, forecasting, taking notes, doing follow-up-all those agentic tasks consolidated into one. Many tools exist in silos because it was hard to build otherwise, but now we can be nimble and custom for each customer.
Doug Camplejohn
(40:41)
One of my inspirations for starting Coffee was Rippling and how they approached HR. They thought about the entire problem over a long arc. That’s why I didn’t get back into sales tech-everything seemed like a small slice. It sounds like you’re thinking about the whole platform with 1mind as well.
Amanda Kahlow
(41:36)
Exactly. The key is crushing the conversation-knowing when to speak, show the right slide, give the demo, ask questions, and listen. If we can do that, all the incremental pieces will come together. At the end of the day, we need revenue, and she’s creating it. That’s my ultimate goal: convert and provide an amazing buying experience, then add the rest of the stack.
Doug Camplejohn
(42:21)
Love it. Since we’re almost out of time, if you could automate one task in your personal life using AI, what would it be?
Amanda Kahlow
(42:39)
I would automate all my kids’ school stuff. I can’t handle all the alerts and updates. As a single mom, it’s overwhelming. Just do it for me and tell me what to do.
Doug Camplejohn
(43:06)
I want that too. When my kids started school, I wanted something to help remember all the new people and relationships.
Amanda Kahlow
(43:31)
It’s awful.
Doug Camplejohn
(43:33)
I want the “Veep” Gary who whispers in your ear-basically that. What’s something you’re passionate about that might surprise people?
Amanda Kahlow
(43:48)
I’m really passionate about cooking, mountain biking, and golf. I used to love beach volleyball, but I don’t have time for it anymore. I’m obsessed with mountain biking and golf.
Doug Camplejohn
(44:09)
You’re on your own for golf. I appreciate people who love it, but it’s never been my thing. I used to go once a year, take a lesson, and the pro would say, “Same time next year?” I’d say, “See you next year.”
Amanda Kahlow
(44:24)
I had the luxury of taking four years off and needed a challenge. I played four or five days a week with a pro once a week. Now I’m obsessed.
Doug Camplejohn
(44:46)
Got it. What’s one thing you can’t live without in your daily routine?
Amanda Kahlow
(44:51)
Daily, it would be coffee. I’m never giving up coffee. The other would be my Tonal-I’m pretty obsessed with it and weightlifting.
Doug Camplejohn
(45:12)
Finally, how can listeners keep in touch with you and support your 1mind mission?
Amanda Kahlow
(45:17)
Go to 1mind.com-the number one, M-I-N-D. Talk to Mindy and see what you think. You can also reach me on LinkedIn.
Doug Camplejohn
(45:26)
Fantastic. Amanda, always great to speak with you. Thank you so much for taking the time.
Amanda Kahlow
(45:30)
You’re the best. Thank you.
