Kanad Bahalkar built the new weapon for sales teams: Potion's AI Video Outreach Solution

22 Nov 2022

In 2017, Kanad Bahalkar was working at a health startup in San Francisco called Knit Health that used AI-based camera technology to detect sleeping and breathing disorders without an invasive sleep study. Bahalkar himself was focused on the architecture of all the reporting dashboards for clients and their doctors, but in true startup fashion, he found himself doing plenty of customer outreach to explain the product and lift the veil behind how his dashboards worked.

Kanad Bahalkar

During this outreach, it became clear that simple emails weren’t enough, but when personalised videos were included, it was easier to get traction with potential clients. It wasn’t lost on Kanad how valuable it was for customers to be able to put a face to the name that was on the “sender” line of an email they didn’t recognise. However, making videos was time-consuming and the startup world is always short on time.

Eventually, Knit Health was purchased by Google and Bahalkar stayed on to support the Google Health team. His work was exciting; he mapped complex patient data in patient portals and more, but he couldn’t let go of his experience trying to change how outreach was done. He felt the opportunity was there to use technology to send personalised videos at scale and, eventually, he left Google to work on Potion.

Potion uses artificial intelligence and deepfake technology to help sales teams create personalized videos in large quantities. These videos result in higher meeting bookings and more sales. In fact, videos in sales can yield up to 5x higher conversion rates, leading to a major lift in sales leads and deal closures. The logic behind the tool makes sense; not only do people like to be able to connect a face to a message, but so much of the media that people are used to consuming today is in video format. People are more likely to listen to a message and actually process it if it’s via video instead of traditional approaches like a simple text.

As it turns out, Bahalkar’s bold move was the right one to make. Potion now partnered with AppSumo and secured $3.5m in seed funding. Bahalkar partners with large organisations like SAP, Gorgias, and Orum to help them change their approach to outreach. To connect with new clients, Bahalkar uses Potion’s technology to send personalised videos in cold email campaigns.

His career path started out as many technical careers do; he completed a degree in Engineering and Information Technology, then went on to get his master’s degree in Management Information Systems. After that, he worked in mobile development, frontend, and other software roles, but after just over a decade of those jobs, Bahalkar took a chance on himself and his idea. He saw a prevalent problem that could influence industries and organisations all over the world, and he solved it with Potion.

The future of Potion is bright; the tool will seamlessly integrate with major sales tools such as Outreach, Salesloft, Salesforce, and Hubspot. These integrations will make Potion more accessible and impactful than ever before. Though there are plenty of competitors in the space, Bahalkar is focused on continuing to improve Potion’s advanced technology, make connections with new clients, and solve more business problems in the future. For startups and large businesses alike, Potion can change its approach to sales and marketing, offering a chance to set itself apart.