How Cledara Leverages AI to Gain a First-Mover Advantage in Outbound Sales

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: 

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