From Manual Prospecting to Market Insight: How 14.ai Replaced 3+ Hours of Daily Research with AI-Powered Outbound

The Problem

14.ai, an AI support platform aiming to replace legacy tools like Zendesk, had just graduated from Y Combinator (2024). With a deeply technical founding team, their top priority was speed: generating conversations to test product positioning and refine the roadmap.

But early outbound was proving unsustainable.

“I was spending over three hours a day just hunting down leads on LinkedIn,” said Marie, co-founder at 14.ai. “We didn’t have the team or budget to scale that effort — and we needed answers fast.”

Hiring an SDR or sales team was too early. They needed a way to test messaging across multiple ICPs — like FinTech and DevTools — without burning time or cash.

“At our stage, every conversation mattered. We weren’t selling — we were learning,” Marie added.

The Solution

Feedback-Driven Campaigns at Scale

• 14.ai implemented Topo as their outbound engine — fully automating the process of sourcing, enriching, and sequencing leads.

• The agent was trained on 14.ai’s ICP and product narrative, then launched campaigns with a feedback-first approach, aligned with YC’s lean validation mindset.

“The switch was immediate. Suddenly I wasn’t spending hours on LinkedIn — the agent was doing it better, and faster.”

Test-and-Learn Messaging Loops

• Campaigns were structured to test value props with highly specific personas — not pitch, but learn.

• Additional campaigns supported 14.ai’s early webinar initiatives and targeted users of incumbent support tools they aimed to replace.

• The agent adapted based on early replies, helping surface strong hooks and objections quickly.

“We didn’t just get meetings — we got signal. That helped us adjust both the product and the way we talk about it.”

No New Tools, No Extra Ops

• Everything ran end-to-end inside the Topo platform — no CRM workarounds or ops bottlenecks.

• Marie could stay focused on product discovery and customer calls — not data cleaning or sequencing.

The Results

• 3+ hours saved per day by replacing Marie’s manual research process with the Topo agent.

• A steady flow of high-quality conversations, tightly aligned with their ICPs.

• Early customers acquired through Topo campaigns, alongside critical feedback that directly shaped the roadmap.

• Outbound became a repeatable, low-lift growth motion, without premature team expansion.

“Topo became our engine for GTM learning. We stayed lean, but moved fast — and that was the goal.”