In this episode of Sound Bites, host Bill Binch from Battery Ventures talks with Brad Van Leeuwen, COO and Co-Founder of Cledara, about how his team built an AI-driven trigger detection engine that surfaces real-time buying signals faster than third-party data providers resulting in higher conversion rates, more pipeline and a culture of experimentation across the sales org.

Key Takeaways/Key Moments:

(01:10) The Challenge: Cutting Through AI-Fueled Outbound Noise

Brad explains that outbound has become saturated due to AI-generated emails, pushing Cledara to find a more differentiated “why now” trigger to break through.

(02:14) Building an In-House Trigger Engine Using n8n + AI

A rep built a workflow that scraped RSS feeds from 20 industry publications, detected positive ICP-relevant news, researched the account and generated call openers, summaries and talking points in Slack.

(04:00) First-Mover Advantage: Acting Before the Inbox Flood

The goal was to surface triggers faster than traditional aggregators—allowing reps to reach prospects before their inboxes filled with identical outreach from competitors.

(04:52) Tangible Impact: 11,000 Signals and 30% Higher Conversion

The system produced 11,000 unique signals in two months, and cold calls based on these triggers converted to second conversations 30% more often than general cold calls.

(06:17) A Culture of Experimentation at Cledara

Brad describes how bottom-up innovation, empowerment to experiment and “AI or die” as a cultural mantra encourages reps and RevOps to build tools that meaningfully impact revenue.

Disclaimer:

This material is intended for an audience of entrepreneurs and provided for informational purposes, and it is not, and may not be relied on in any manner as, legal, tax or investment advice or as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any fund or investment vehicle managed by Battery Ventures or any other Battery entity.

The information and data are as of the publication date unless otherwise noted.

Content obtained from third-party sources, although believed to be reliable, has not been independently verified as to its accuracy or completeness and cannot be guaranteed. Battery Ventures has no obligation to update, modify or amend the content of this post nor notify its readers in the event that any information, opinion, projection, forecast or estimate included, changes or subsequently becomes inaccurate.

The information above may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or expectations. Predictions, opinions, and other information discussed in this video are subject to change continually and without notice of any kind and may no longer be true after the date indicated.

Battery Ventures assumes no duty to and does not undertake to update forward-looking statements. For a full list of all Battery investments, please visit https://www.battery.com/list-of-all-c…

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