Doug Camplejohn
(00:01)
Hello everyone, welcome to this week's episode of Revenue Renegades. I'm Doug Camplejohn, CEO and founder of Coffee. With me this week is Santosh Sharan, the CEO and co-founder of ZeerAI. Santosh has an amazing career. I could take the next 10 minutes just going through his background, but a few highlights: he's the former COO of retention.com/RB2B, co-CEO of ContactOut, president and CEO of Apollo.io, and VP of Growth and Strategy at ZoomInfo. Needless to say, I reached out to Santosh early on when we were starting Coffee to pick his brain about data. He has lots of wisdom and insights, and I'm really excited for this conversation. Welcome to the show, Santosh.
Santosh Sharan
(00:53)
Thank you, Doug. Excited to be here. Looking forward to our conversation.
Doug Camplejohn
(00:57)
As a fellow founder, we always ask the same question at the beginning. Tell me about your new company, ZeerAI—what it's about and how you came up with the idea.
Santosh Sharan
(01:07)
Doug, I was trying to remember the first time I met you, which was almost 15 years ago when you were starting Fliptop. Both of us have seen the modern go-to-market stack being built from the days when we used Excel spreadsheets. Over time, I think we broke go-to-market with extreme automation, efficiency, and a bit of greed. What worked before no longer works. The sales math is broken. Reps are taking meaningless meetings. Marketing channels are ineffective—emails go to spam, and nobody picks up unknown calls anymore.
Last December, I was sharing my frustration about go-to-market with my friend Amit, the co-founder of ClearBit (which he sold to HubSpot). We met in San Francisco, and a one-hour meeting turned into three, realizing something new had to happen. Many ventures are only making small improvements to the existing system rather than creating something entirely new. That's what we're doing with ZeerAI. Four weeks after that evening, I left RB2B.
Santosh Sharan
(03:15)
Earlier this year, in March, David joined us as CTO. He also came from HubSpot and ClearBit. Now we have a few more team members. We've spent months thinking about how to solve this problem. Our first solution automates the top of the funnel in go-to-market. Our research showed about 50% of sales time is spent at the top of the funnel, trying to get leads and negotiate.
A lot of the cycle goes into outreach, both from sellers and buyers evaluating vendors. We thought, why not build an AI agent for both seller and buyer, letting them negotiate comprehensively? For the seller, when a meeting is booked, it's with a highly engaged buyer. For the buyer, they go to a platform, state what they want, and get highly vetted vendors aligned to their needs. We're also building a research platform for buyers to solve problems, not just get leads. That's what we're developing in a nutshell.
Doug Camplejohn
(05:04)
Let's talk about the research agent. Today, the best solution is probably going to G2.com or asking friends. How do you see that changing in the future?
Santosh Sharan
(05:18)
Once someone goes to G2 and searches for a product category, they're already late—it's reactive. They know they have a problem and how to solve it, so they're lower in the funnel. ZeerAI's role is much higher in the funnel, being proactive and proposing problems people may have.
Our agents have access to call transcripts, so we see problems being discussed in companies. We're creating "synthetic experts"—for example, the world's best SMB marketer, trained on data from thousands of marketers. Buyers can ask questions, run playbooks, and get research-type answers on topics that are top of mind that week, proactively. This is very different from G2 or Gartner.
Doug Camplejohn
(07:02)
So, is the future my AI buyer agent talking to your AI seller agent?
Santosh Sharan
(07:11)
Absolutely. We already have those agents internally. Soon, they'll discover each other and do our first call where a buyer and seller agent find each other, negotiate, and book a meeting.
Doug Camplejohn
(07:30)
We've had Amanda from 1mind on the show. I think you position yourselves differently. How would you describe the differences?
Santosh Sharan
(07:42)
Amanda's company is replacing the seller, lower in the funnel, taking over the job of selling. We're not trying to replace the seller. We're much higher in the funnel, extending the seller's presence 24/7 and qualifying meetings. If a seller does 20 calls a week, we help ensure all 20 are valuable—not 10 valuable and 10 junk. Our clone qualifies and does preliminary conversations, then reports back which meetings are worth attending. We still see a future for human sellers, but their quotas will double, and they'll need tools like ours.
Doug Camplejohn
(09:14)
You've talked about doing dozens, even hundreds, of customer interviews. How do you secure and conduct interviews to avoid just hearing what you want to hear?
Santosh Sharan
(10:01)
Both of us come from product backgrounds. It's important to get first-party data and keep tweaking along the way. There's power in numbers—you can't just talk to a few friends. You need to talk to hundreds and keep evaluating. We've already gone through two or three micro-pivots. Fifteen years ago, that would have taken two years; now, it's two weeks.
Here's my playbook: I write a LinkedIn post relevant to the topic, then use an automated script to identify people who engage and match my ideal customer profile (ICP). I send a short message with a calendar link. I've done this 15 times, and within 12 hours, I get a flood of meeting bookings. Giving value first creates a micro-celebrity effect, and if you ask within a few hours, you get a 50-70% conversion.
Doug Camplejohn
(13:04)
Are you using an off-the-shelf tool for this or something custom?
Santosh Sharan
(13:12)
We use an API from one of many off-the-shelf tools, configured for our needs, including data enrichment. It logs into my LinkedIn and handles the outreach.
Doug Camplejohn
(13:37)
What kind of questions lead to the most valuable insights in interviews?
Santosh Sharan
(13:54)
I can't say I've mastered interviewing, but I've mastered reliably getting meetings. Interviewing is an art. I use two or three templates, ask structured questions, and record structured responses, but also leave 10-15 minutes for open-ended discussion to dive into unknowns. I validate the product, risks, and look for patterns. After talking to hundreds of people, you find what's dominant.
Doug Camplejohn
(15:32)
Is a complaint the same as something people will pay for? That’s the vitamin vs. aspirin analogy.
Santosh Sharan
(15:46)
Not at all. It's difficult to tell in a few interviews.
Doug Camplejohn
(15:54)
What do you think is the most broken part of B2B go-to-market, and what does the future look like?
Santosh Sharan
(16:07)
Let me share some fundamental shifts. Years ago, there were maybe 35 CRM vendors. Today, there are 768. In five years, there will be thousands. The cost of developing tools is going down, and with AI, this will accelerate. What took 20 years will happen in three. Any feature can be copied quickly. There will be a CRM for every niche, and the market will be distributed among many vendors. Pricing pressure will increase, and selling will change because buyers have too many choices. The market will polarize into super-big companies and many small ones. Distribution is now instant, so VCs will chase life-changing opportunities and also smaller, semi-bootstrapped outcomes.
Doug Camplejohn
(20:43)
So, more niche products, smaller teams, and changes in venture capital?
Santosh Sharan
(21:11)
Exactly. There will be positive outcomes, but the market will polarize.
Technology is no longer the barrier—customer acquisition is. AI will create parity in experience, so companies will expand to fulfill more needs. Platform plays will increase, but endpoint solutions will also partner and collaborate to compete.
Doug Camplejohn
(24:58)
How do you see the data market evolving in the go-to-market stack?
Santosh Sharan
(25:52)
Data fuels AI, and everything AI knows comes from the data we feed it. Go-to-market data was mostly third-party, structured around companies and contacts. That market is becoming commoditized. The value is shifting to first-party and unstructured data. Most companies don’t manage their first-party data well, but its importance will keep growing. Third-party data is less useful because the channels to activate it (email, phone, LinkedIn) are saturated. The real value is in real-time, contextual signals and first-party data.
Doug Camplejohn
(29:35)
Can you give examples of structured first-party and unstructured third-party data?
Santosh Sharan
(29:41)
LinkedIn has the most valuable unstructured third-party data, especially for intent signals. The real value is using AI to infer who is interested in your business based on real-time activity. For first-party data, website visitors are often anonymous, but de-anonymizing them can unlock value. CRM systems have a lot of first-party data that is underutilized. Today, most sales are competitive displacements, so knowing your own historical customer data is crucial.
Doug Camplejohn
(34:13)
Are there GTM practices you think will be obsolete in the next five years?
Santosh Sharan
(34:37)
The future sales rep will be a mix of management consultant and social influencer. Many inexperienced reps succeeded in the past, but those roles will disappear. Teams will shrink, and the remaining reps will be highly strategic. All SaaS will be AI agents, and the sales pitch will focus on ROI. Personal branding will matter more than company branding, and senior reps will take their audience with them when they move companies.
Doug Camplejohn
(37:30)
As we hand over more to AI, personal interactions and trust become more important. Building personal brands and relationships is key.
Santosh Sharan
(38:55)
Exactly. In B2B, as choices multiply, trust in people close to you will matter more.
Doug Camplejohn
(39:33)
You've talked about personal habits and productivity. What do you do to boost creativity and productivity?
Santosh Sharan
(39:55)
I walk and run, which clears my mind. I've reduced coffee and use the sauna at least twice a day. Sauna and walking help me stay clear-headed. I live near great walking trails and use them often.
Doug Camplejohn
(41:16)
What do you like to do for fun?
Santosh Sharan
(41:24)
I watch movies and used to play soccer. Playing soccer taught me decision-making and teamwork, which I apply to entrepreneurship.
Doug Camplejohn
(43:25)
Have you watched "Welcome to Wrexham"? It's a great analogy for building a company—sometimes you have to upgrade your team as you move up.
Santosh Sharan
(43:58)
That's true. I love that analogy.
Doug Camplejohn
(44:26)
Is there a product you use or love in your personal life that you'd recommend?
Santosh Sharan
(44:38)
If you'd asked me a year ago, I'd have picked a product with an interface. Now, I use my ChatGPT subscription constantly—validating thoughts, research, and ideas. It's become my best friend, even though it's just an LLM without a traditional interface.
Doug Camplejohn
(45:38)
I was skeptical at first, but the voice interface on Perplexity is so good. I use it in the car and can always go back to the conversation history. It's only going to get better from here.
Santosh Sharan
(46:35)
It feels like the early days of the internet—so much building going on, very exciting and sometimes confusing.
Doug Camplejohn
(47:13)
For those not in the field, it's a firehose of information. Sometimes you just have to buckle up and hang on.
Santosh Sharan
(49:23)
There will be disruption in the short run, but humans are resilient. We'll figure it out.
Doug Camplejohn
(49:36)
Santosh, we're running up on time. How can listeners stay in touch with you and ZeerAI?
Santosh Sharan
(49:47)
We're onboarding alpha and beta customers. If you'd like to join, reach out to me at santosh.ai or on LinkedIn.
Doug Camplejohn
(50:14)
Definitely follow Santosh—he posts amazing content. Check out ZeerAI. Santosh, thank you for your time today. Great to chat with you, my friend.
Santosh Sharan
(50:22)
Thanks, Doug. Always good talking to you. Cheers.
