From Founder-Led to Structured Sales with fonio.ai
At this GTM, First Hand Event, you’ll hear how to go from founder-led sales to structured sales from two people who accompanied & led this process at fonio.ai.
When sales start to work, it runs on people. Each sale is unique and the founder is still in every deal that matters.
Getting out of that state is not one decision. It is a sequence of questions, setups and rebuilds, that captures what works and teaches it to a team, so that revenue becomes predictable and new joiners get up to speed fast. This evening walks through that sequence at one company.
Some background on fonio.ai and EffortlessGTM
fonio.ai builds AI voice and communication agents for SMBs, out of Vienna. In roughly twelve months it went from $500k to $10M ARR, from 5 to more than 100 people, into 10 markets. Over 10,000 companies currently use the platform, including Volkswagen and Brita.
EffortlessGTM worked with them from four to five people onwards. Etienne Freléchoz built the first pipeline structure and commercial infrastructure, and finished the setup together with the first sales hire once real deals were running through it.
That hire was Steve Gruber. He took the system over, sold in it, scaled the team past ten people, and then moved into sales enablement. Today he onboards and coaches every new sales hire at fonio, creates sales content, and is responsible for increasing funnel conversions across all 10 markets.
The room
You will be among founders and builders from the Austrian startup and AI scene, at the AI Factory Austria hub in St. Marx, where a good part of the country's AI work currently happens. You will have time for networking after the Presentation and Q&A.
Who this is for
Founders and commercial leads at B2B startups who are already selling and want it to stop depending on individuals. AI and technical founders are especially welcome: the commercial gap tends to be widest where the product is strongest.
Language
The talks are in English.
Agenda
17:30 - 18:00
Doors Open & Welcome at AI Factory
Arrive, grab a drink and meet fellow founders and builders from the Austrian startup and AI scene.
18:00 - 18:30
Building fonio.ai's first scalable sales system
Etienne Freléchoz, Founder, EffortlessGTM
Keynote by the Consultant who built fonio.ai's first pipeline structure and commercial infrastructure when the team was five people.
18:30 - 19:00
Scaling fonio.ai as first sales hire
Steve Gruber, Head of Sales Enablement, fonio.ai
Guest talk by fonio.ai's first sales hire, who took over the initial commercial setup and scaled the sales team past ten people. Today he heads sales enablement at fonio.ai, onboarding and coaching every new sales hire, creating sales content and driving funnel conversions across all 10 markets.
19:00 - 19:30
Q&A "From Founder-Led to Structured Sales"
Open questions from the room to both speakers: structure, tooling and AI in sales, hiring and scaling.
19:30 - 20:30
Networking with speakers, founders & builders
Enjoy and get to know the Austrian startup and AI community at the AI Factory.
Some Small Snacks will be provided.
This is an EffortlessGTM event, hosted by AI Factory Austria.