Ex-HubSpot Exec Launches AI Tool for Customer Success After Drift Sale

After selling Drift, a former HubSpot executive has launched an AI tool tailored for customer success managers. This innovative solution aims to improve customer engagement and streamline success strategies. With a focus on enhancing productivity and providing valuable insights, the tool is designed to help customer success teams optimize their operations and drive business growth in an increasingly competitive landscape.

Elias Torres has accomplished much for someone who immigrated to the U.S. from Nicaragua at 17 without speaking any English. Before co-founding Drift, which was sold to Vista Equity for approximately $1.2 billion in 2021, he held the position of VP of engineering at HubSpot.

“It’s quite uncommon to reach this level of success, but I’m not finished yet,” Torres stated in an interview with TechCrunch.

About a year ago, Torres (shown above) launched Agency, a startup powered by AI that aims to automate tasks typically performed by customer success managers (CSMs). These professionals are responsible for offering tailored support to users of intricate B2B software, which includes onboarding, training, and upselling new features.

On Wednesday, Agency announced its emergence from stealth mode and shared that it secured a $12 million seed funding round, led by Sequoia and HubSpot Ventures.

The concept for Agency originated when Torres began consulting for OpenAI in early 2023. The company behind ChatGPT sought his assistance in developing AI solutions for several enterprise clients, including NBA and LiveNation. During this process, Torres realized that businesses could benefit from AI-driven customer success managers.

His motivation to establish a startup around this idea intensified after a meeting with Brian Halligan, co-founder and executive chairman of HubSpot. “We collaborated on the CRM at HubSpot, and he expressed interest in building something remarkable together again,” Torres recalled regarding his discussion with Halligan, who later joined Agency’s board.

Following his conversation with Halligan, Torres contacted Sequoia partner Pat Grady, who had previously invested in Drift. Grady quickly became convinced of the idea's potential. “Finding great CSMs is challenging, and scaling them is equally tough,” Grady told TechCrunch. “If you have a product that can handle a significant portion of their responsibilities, you can grow your company without the need to hire a large team of CSMs, which is incredibly valuable.”

Agency aims to save time in customer success managers' schedules by managing tasks such as scheduling, follow-ups, note-taking, customer onboarding, and preparing for meetings. Torres explained that Agency’s AI develops a comprehensive understanding of each customer through emails, CRM data, chat messages, and phone conversations, enabling it to anticipate customer needs effectively.

“This is something we've aspired to achieve for a long time,” he remarked, noting that this was a goal of Salesforce, the CRM he helped create at HubSpot and Drift, which aimed to facilitate personalized conversations for sales professionals. “We lacked the technology to accomplish this until now.”

The company’s product is currently undergoing testing with clients, including HeyGen, and is available in an invite-only beta for customer success professionals.

While Agency currently faces no direct competition, the sales and marketing sector's role of sales development representative is experiencing disruption from numerous AI-driven solutions.

“I’m not aware of anyone else targeting this market,” Sequoia’s Grady stated. “Hopefully, it will remain undiscovered for a while, giving them some space to grow.”

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Source: techcrunch‍