Through Breaking Barriers, the Amsterdam-based startup aims to strengthen its own AI platform and raise funding.
Most of the time, salespeople aren’t actually selling. They’re searching for companies, sifting through profiles, writing emails, and keeping track of everything. The Amsterdam-based startupRe:Sharkhas AI agents do that legwork. Through the AiNed Breaking Barriers program, the company now aims to further develop its own specialized AI models, secure the necessary funding, and increase its brand awareness.
We spoke with Nawid Sadat (owner and CEO) about his platform and his goals within the program.
From Customer to Owner
Before Sadat became the owner of Re:Shark, he built up the sales department at YoungOnes, YoungCapital’s freelance platform. In that role, he tested one tool after another, but nothing really worked well—until he became a client of Re:Shark. “I saw results—prospects were found faster. I noticed that my team was happy with it. I wanted to learn more about it.” Within six weeks,he bought out the two founders—a year ago now. “It’s been an intense year.”
Leadership role
Re:Shark started out as a database that salespeople used to select their ideal customers and reach out to them via email. That’s how sales software usually works. “The solutions on the market today are often traditional SaaS solutions that require a lot of input from the user. If the user doesn’t do anything, the tool won’t do anything for you either,” Sadat explains.
In the latest version of the Re:Shark platform, the division of roles has changed. The user provides direction, context, and goals, while the agent carries out the tasks and makes suggestions on their own. However, the user always remains in charge and gives approval when necessary. Sadat gives an example. “For instance, the agent might say: ‘I found this company based on your input and drafted this email based on its profile. Is it okay to send this message?’”
Further Development and Funding
Part of Re:Sharks’ strategy is to become an AI-native company, but it needs the resources to do so. “We joined Breaking Barriers to get that extra push. It’s a way to accelerate our progress.”
As part of the program, the company set a number of concrete goals. The first is further development of the AI technology, which simply requires more people. The second is funding. The company operates on its own revenue and acquires customers through its own platform, but to scale up faster, additional funding is necessary.
“To secure funding, you need a solid strategy. That will involve refining our value proposition, but also strengthening our network to connect with the right partners. We hope to find that at Breaking Barriers.”
Targeted AI Models
In the coming period, the AI agents will undergo further development. The idea is to build specialized models that excel at specific tasks, such as identifying the ideal customer, drafting emails, or picking up on signals from the market.
To this end, Re:Shark will soon co-host and train a model using its own data and customer conversations. “The goal is a digital sales representative that mimics the behavior of top salespeople as closely as possible.”
Sadat now sees an opportunity to accelerate these developments and continue to grow. “Everyone starts by solving a single problem. To operate at scale, you have to solve a deeper problem. With Breaking Barriers, we’re going beneath the surface of the iceberg so that we can eventually operate on a European scale as well.”
