Persana AI’s Journey to Connect You with the Right People and the Right Message

When Rush Shahani and Sriya Maram met at LinkedIn, they saw a fundamental problem in modern sales that needed solving. Shahani and Maram began developing what would become Persana AI as a side project while still at LinkedIn. Their combined background – Shahani’s four years in NLP/gen-AI and Maram’s five years focusing on NLP – would prove instrumental in shaping their approach to sales intelligence.

“We really wanted to make the sales process really efficient and we started the initial version of Persana, you know, on the side while we were still working at LinkedIn,” recalls Shahani. Their vision was clear: “I think sales you really need to be on top of your game in terms of acquiring tech because your compensation or your company’s revenue comes on how effective its sales processes are.”

The company soon caught the attention of Y Combinator, leading to a successful seed funding round of $2.3 million in November 2024. The round attracted notable investors including Race Capital, Stage 2 Capital, and Dharmesh Shah, the CTO of HubSpot. This financial backing has enabled Persana AI to accelerate its growth and expand its platform’s capabilities significantly.

Today, Persana AI processes data from an impressive 700 million contacts and 100 million companies, combining information from over 75 sources that update in real-time. The platform’s crown jewel is its suite of AI agents, led by the Quantum Agent, which serves as their most powerful tool for internet research and insight discovery. These AI agents can accomplish remarkable feats – researching 10,000 accounts in under 5 minutes, automating follow-ups, and predicting high-priority prospects based on emerging trends.

“Our AI agents are like having an army of tireless, brilliant assistants working 24/7. They don’t just find information; they analyze patterns, predict opportunities, and even initiate outreach. It’s not just about data anymore – it’s about actionable, real-time intelligence that drives sales,” Shahani explains.

One of the most significant challenges in AI technology that Persana has tackled head-on is the issue of hallucinations. “AI hallucinations are a critical issue,” Shahani emphasizes. “Imagine an AI confidently telling a salesperson that a prospect’s company just acquired a competitor, when in reality, no such acquisition occurred. That kind of misinformation can derail sales conversations and damage relationships.” To address this, Persana employs retrieval-augmented generation (RAG). “RAG is a game-changer in preventing AI hallucinations,” Shahani explains. “In simple terms, it’s like giving the AI a reliable reference book to check before it speaks.”

The results speak volumes about Persana’s effectiveness. Clients report up to 90% reduction in time spent on manual research and up to three times higher conversion rates. The platform has helped clients collectively increase their pipeline by over $20 million, with some seeing their sales cycle time reduced by up to 65% and conversion rates boosted by 30%.

In the competitive sales intelligence market, projected to reach $10 billion by 2032, Persana AI has positioned itself as a cost-effective alternative to established players like ZoomInfo and Apollo. Their Unlimited Plan, priced at $750 per month, gives users access to unlimited enrichments, 50,000 credits for external data sources, job change alerts, and seamless integration with popular CRM systems like Salesforce and HubSpot.

The company has already gained significant traction, securing over 50 paid customers and more than 1,000 users on their freemium model. Their revenue has tripled in just three months, validating their approach to sales intelligence. The platform’s success stems from its comprehensive approach to data orchestration, combining waterfall enrichment, intent signal detection, and AI-driven personalization capabilities.

Looking toward the future, Shahani sees partnerships as a key focus. “I think in 2024 it’s going to be a lot about partnerships, not just for sales tools but across the stack.” The company is expanding beyond prospecting into other high-value GTM functions, including lead nurturing, customer onboarding, and post-sale engagement. “I think now we’re in the stage of synthetic AI, which is taking a bunch of data insights and making it actually useful to your daily work workflow,” he notes.

“Having a relentless focus on how people are using your product and becoming customer obsessed would eventually help you win,” reflects Shahani on the company’s philosophy. “Those are two key problems that Persana solves: helping you reach the right person with the right messaging.” As AI continues to reshape the sales landscape, Persana AI stands at the forefront of this transformation, making sales processes more efficient and effective than ever before.

The platform has also developed battle-tested playbooks for both outbound and inbound-led outbound strategies, showing GTM teams exactly how to orchestrate multi-channel outreach, combine enrichment data for deeper insights, build targeted audiences at scale, and leverage AI signals effectively to find, convert, and close more deals. These aren’t theoretical frameworks but proven strategies from top performers who have mastered modern prospecting.

For GTM teams frustrated by insufficient opportunities to showcase their selling abilities while being bogged down by manual tasks, Persana AI represents a paradigm shift in how sales intelligence can be leveraged for better results. “I think almost all the people I spoke to have started thinking about AI and started playing around, seeing how to make their workflows more effective,” observes Shahani, pointing to the growing recognition of AI’s transformative potential in sales.