You can collect as many business cards as possible, but nurturing professional relationships takes time, effort and the off chance that you'll remember to keep in touch with the new contacts you make. That's why there’s now an artificial intelligence tool that will help you nurture connections you make. Fireflies AI, a Boston-based startup, is trying to take the work out of networking. And unlike other CRM tools used by sales teams, Fireflies want people to connect when money isn't on the table.
Sam Udotong, Krish Ramineni and Om Mahida - Fireflies’ co-founders - are used to innovating with each other, having participated together at MIT hackathons over the past couple of years. They’ve collaborated on other startup projects that never ended up taking off, which unintentionally sparked the inspiration for Fireflies.
“When we were working on these other projects, we were reaching out to VCs and colleagues, looking for insight and direction,” Ramineni explained. “It was hard to keep in touch with all of the people we had talked to in the past… I wondered, ‘Is there a way to make a smart, intelligent assistant to help us with that?’”
Fireflies lets users know the last time they talked to a contact, in addition to making suggestions as to when and how they should reinitiate a conversation with that person. As Ramineni put it, “It helps them understand their own interaction history and network by sharing insights and smart reminders to guide them.”
“Its core set of features are built around email engagement because that’s how most professionals interact, and email can be like a black hole for messages,” he continued.
The company’s long-term vision is to go beyond email, informing users when there’s an opportunity for context-relevant communication with a contact on various mediums. Ramineni pointed out that, despite having more ways of communicating than ever before, people are still struggling to develop strong, meaningful rapports with individuals they should. Social media users usually connect with as many people as possible, the majority with whom they hardly ever talk.
“There are a lot of mediums to reach out to people,” Ramineni said. “You can go on Facebook and message them, go to LinkedIn, text them or even call someone up. But if you look at all of these channels, social media is really meant for breadth of network… You end up talking to the same 10 people on a day-to-day basis. We’re looking to prioritize communication with key contacts.”
“Too many of our connections fade away because we fail to keep track of those that matter,” Udotong added. “Fireflies AI takes that burden away without keeping me disconnected.”
Fireflies is also planning to incorporate a dynamic search feature into their product. For example, Ramineni said, if you know you’re heading down to New York, you would be able to search Fireflies to find strategic contacts living there and arrange a coffee meeting with them.
Up until this point, Fireflies has been bootstrapping and is already cash positive, as access to its services costs either $12.50 per month for users with an annual subscription or $15 per month for people who prefer a month-to-month membership. The co-founders are considering raising a seed round starting in August and they believe they're in a good place to close capital because of the public's current interest in AI technology.
“The hype around AI isn't about bots we build today but the intelligent solutions we expect to have in the future,” Mahida said. “We want to head down that path."
Images via Fireflies AI.
