Last Received
a0e3a3c
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 03:44
bby
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 03:43
bobby
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 03:42
ail
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 03:41
mydailymoment
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 03:40
nbobby
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 02:37
jonbobby
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 02:36
liamonnn
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 02:35
funnyordie
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 01:46
gp6
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 00:43
Newest Addresses
nh
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 00:13
office
Thu, 18 Dec 2025 23:51
fggfgfgfgrgfggfgt
Thu, 18 Dec 2025 20:35
supskdosoeeesdsd
Wed, 17 Dec 2025 19:50
new_batch2
Wed, 17 Dec 2025 13:29
technique
Tue, 16 Dec 2025 20:16
evanmiller
Mon, 15 Dec 2025 19:03
susdsdeeeesdsd
Sat, 13 Dec 2025 13:05
new_batch13
Thu, 11 Dec 2025 20:43
dsssdsdsd5s5d9999sdsdeee
Thu, 11 Dec 2025 20:18
Last Read
ztr
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 04:12
liamonnn
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 04:12
vanchina2
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 04:12
jonbobby
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 04:12
l
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 04:12
gp6dd
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 04:11
mydailymoment
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 04:11
da2e3305
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 04:11
liamont
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 04:11
amont
Fri, 19 Dec 2025 04:11
Most Received
ail
128603
gp6
109411
jonbobby
83678
gp6dd
83423
bobby
63354
mydailymoment
59911
cb322c5
55854
vanchina2
55148
liamont
52745
funnyordie
51171
Available Messages
The following is a list of recent messages for ztr. Select one to see the content. Messages are removed frequently. Check early. Check often.
Subject
Received
Notion put an engineer in sales to build better AI tools
Thu, 18 Dec 2025 17:59:00 GMT
Selected Message
From: review@...
To: [email protected]
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2025 17:59:00 GMT
Subject: Notion put an engineer in sales to build better AI tools
To: [email protected]
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2025 17:59:00 GMT
Subject: Notion put an engineer in sales to build better AI tools
- HTML Content
- HTML Source
- Plain Text
HTML Content
HTML Source
<!doctype html>
<html>
<head>
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<!--[if mso]><xml><o:OfficeDocumentSettings><o:PixelsPerInch>96</o:PixelsPerInch><o:AllowPNG/></o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]-->
<title>Notion put an engineer in sales to build better AI tools</title>
<style>
.post-title-link {
display: block;
margin-top: 32px;
color: #15212A;
text-align: center;
line-height: 1.1em;
}
.post-title-link-left {
text-align: left;
}
.view-online-link {
word-wrap: none;
white-space: nowrap;
color: #73818c;
text-decoration: underline !important;
}
.kg-nft-link {
display: block;
text-decoration: none !important;
color: #15212A !important;
font-family: inherit !important;
font-size: 14px;
line-height: 1.3em;
padding-top: 4px;
padding-right: 20px;
padding-left: 20px;
padding-bottom: 4px;
}
.kg-twitter-link {
display: block;
text-decoration: none !important;
color: #15212A !important;
font-family: inherit !important;
font-size: 15px;
padding: 8px;
line-height: 1.3em;
}
.kg-cta-link-accent .kg-cta-sponsor-label a {
color: #62DCAD !important;
}
.kg-cta-link-accent .kg-cta-text a {
color: #62DCAD !important;
}
.kg-audio-link {
color: #73818c !important;
}
@media only screen and (max-width: 620px) {
table.body {
width: 100%;
min-width: 100%;
}
.hide-mobile {
display: none;
}
.mobile-only {
display: initial !important;
}
.hide-desktop {
display: initial !important;
}
.desktop-only {
display: none !important;
}
table.body p,
table.body ul,
table.body ol,
table.body td {
font-size: 16px;
}
table.body .post-excerpt {
font-size: 16px !important;
}
table.body .kg-callout-card {
padding: 16px 24px !important;
}
table.body .kg-callout-text {
font-size: 16px !important;
line-height: 1.5em !important;
}
table.body pre {
white-space: pre-wrap !important;
word-break: break-word !important;
}
table.body .content {
padding: 0 !important;
}
table.body .container {
padding: 0 !important;
width: 100% !important;
}
table.body .main {
border-spacing: 10px 0 !important;
border-left-width: 0 !important;
border-radius: 0 !important;
border-right-width: 0 !important;
}
table.body .btn table {
width: 100% !important;
}
table.body .btn a {
width: 100% !important;
}
table.body .img-responsive {
height: auto !important;
max-width: 100% !important;
width: auto !important;
}
table.body .site-icon {
padding-top: 0 !important;
}
table.body .site-info {
padding-top: 24px !important;
}
table.body .post-title-link {
margin-top: 24px !important;
}
table.body .post-meta-wrapper {
padding-bottom: 24px !important;
}
table.body .site-icon img {
width: 36px !important;
height: 36px !important;
}
table.body .site-url a {
font-size: 13px !important;
padding-bottom: 16px !important;
}
table.body .post-meta,
table.body .post-meta-date {
white-space: normal !important;
font-size: 13px !important;
line-height: 1.2em;
}
table.body .post-meta,
table.body .view-online {
width: 100% !important;
}
table.body .post-meta-left,
table.body .post-meta-left.view-online {
width: 100% !important;
text-align: left !important;
}
table.body .post-meta.view-online-mobile {
display: table-row !important;
}
table.body .post-meta-left.view-online-mobile,
table.body .post-meta-left.view-online-mobile .view-online {
text-align: left !important;
}
table.body .post-meta.view-online.desktop {
display: none !important;
}
table.body .view-online {
text-decoration: underline;
}
table.body .footer p,
table.body .footer p span {
font-size: 13px !important;
}
table.body .view-online-link,
table.body .footer,
table.body .footer a {
font-size: 13px !important;
}
table.body .post-title a {
font-size: 26px !important;
line-height: 1.1em !important;
}
table.feedback-buttons {
display: table !important;
width: 100% !important;
max-width: 390px;
}
table.feedback-buttons img {
display: inherit !important;
}
table.body .feedback-button-text {
display: none!important;
}
table.body .latest-posts-header {
font-size: 12px !important;
}
table.body .latest-post-title {
padding-right: 8px !important;
}
table.body .latest-post h4,
table.body .latest-post h4 span {
padding: 4px 0 6px !important;
font-size: 15px !important;
}
table.body .latest-post-excerpt,
table.body .latest-post-excerpt a,
table.body .latest-post-excerpt span {
font-size: 13px !important;
line-height: 1.2 !important;
}
table.body .subscription-box h3 {
font-size: 14px !important;
}
table.body .subscription-box p,
table.body .subscription-box p span {
font-size: 13px !important;
}
table.body .subscription-details,
table.body .manage-subscription {
display: inline-block;
width: 100%;
text-align: left !important;
font-size: 13px !important;
}
table.body .subscription-details {
padding-bottom: 12px;
}
table.body .kg-bookmark-card {
width: 90vw;
}
table.body .kg-bookmark-thumbnail {
display: none !important;
}
table.body .kg-bookmark-metadata span {
font-size: 13px !important;
}
table.body .kg-embed-card {
max-width: 90vw !important;
}
table.body h1 {
font-size: 32px !important;
line-height: 1.3em !important;
}
table.body h2,
table.body h2 span {
font-size: 26px !important;
line-height: 1.22em !important;
}
table.body h3 {
font-size: 21px !important;
line-height: 1.25em !important;
}
table.body h4 {
font-size: 19px !important;
line-height: 1.3em !important;
}
table.body h5 {
font-size: 16px !important;
line-height: 1.4em !important;
}
table.body h6 {
font-size: 16px !important;
line-height: 1.4em !important;
}
table.body blockquote {
font-size: 16px !important;
line-height: 1.6em;
margin-bottom: 0;
}
table.body blockquote p {
margin-right: 15px !important;
margin-left: 15px !important;
}
table.body blockquote.kg-blockquote-alt {
border-left: 0 none !important;
margin: 0 !important;
font-size: 18px !important;
line-height: 1.4em !important;
}
table.body blockquote.kg-blockquote-alt p {
margin-right: 20px !important;
margin-left: 20px !important;
}
table.body hr {
margin: 2em 0 !important;
}
table.body .kg-header-card.kg-v2 span {
font-size: inherit !important;
}
table.body .kg-header-card.kg-v2 .kg-header-card-content {
padding-top: 64px !important;
padding-bottom: 64px !important;
}
table.body .kg-header-card.kg-v2 .kg-header-card-image + .kg-header-card-content {
padding-top: 52px !important;
padding-bottom: 52px !important;
}
table.body .kg-header-card.kg-v2 .kg-header-card-heading {
font-size: 2.2em !important;
line-height: 1.1 !important;
}
table.body .kg-header-card.kg-v2 .kg-header-card-subheading {
line-height: 1.3em !important;
}
.feature-image-caption {
font-size: 13px!important;
}
.kg-card-figcaption {
font-size: 13px!important;
}
.kg-card-figcaption p,
.kg-card-figcaption p span {
font-size: 13px!important;
}
table.body .kg-cta-card {
padding: 0 20px;
}
table.body .kg-cta-card.kg-cta-bg-none {
padding: 0;
}
table.body .kg-cta-sponsor-label {
padding: 10px 0;
}
table.body table.kg-cta-content-wrapper {
padding: 20px 0;
}
table.body .kg-cta-immersive.kg-cta-has-img:not(.kg-cta-bg-none):not(.kg-cta-no-label) table.kg-cta-content-wrapper {
padding-top: 0;
}
table.body .kg-cta-minimal .kg-cta-image-container {
padding-right: 20px;
}
table.body .kg-cta-immersive .kg-cta-image-container {
padding-bottom: 20px;
}
table.body .kg-cta-immersive.kg-cta-no-text .kg-cta-image-container {
padding-bottom: 0;
}
table.body .kg-cta-button-container {
padding-top: 16px;
}
table.body .kg-cta-minimal .kg-cta-image-container {
display: inline-block !important;
width: 100% !important;
padding: 0 !important;
padding-bottom: 16px !important;
padding-right: 0 !important;
}
table.body .kg-cta-minimal .kg-cta-content-inner {
display: inline-block !important;
width: 100% !important;
padding: 0 !important;
}
table.body .kg-cta-minimal img.kg-cta-image {
width: 52px !important;
height: 52px !important;
}
table.body .kg-cta-minimal a.kg-cta-button {
display: inline-block !important;
}
table.body .kg-cta-minimal table.kg-cta-button-wrapper td {
padding: 4px 16px 5px;
}
table.body .kg-cta-immersive .kg-cta-button-wrapper {
padding: 6px 18px 7px;
}
}
@media all {
.subscription-details p.hidden {
display: none !important;
}
.ExternalClass {
width: 100%;
}
.ExternalClass,
.ExternalClass p,
.ExternalClass span,
.ExternalClass font,
.ExternalClass td,
.ExternalClass div {
line-height: 100%;
}
.apple-link a {
color: inherit !important;
font-family: inherit !important;
font-size: inherit !important;
font-weight: inherit !important;
line-height: inherit !important;
text-decoration: none !important;
}
#MessageViewBody a {
color: inherit;
text-decoration: none;
font-size: inherit;
font-family: inherit;
font-weight: inherit;
line-height: inherit;
}
.btn-primary table td:hover {
background-color: #34495e !important;
}
.btn-primary a:hover {
background-color: #34495e !important;
border-color: #34495e !important;
}
}
</style>
</head>
<body style="background-color: #fff; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0; padding: 0; -ms-text-size-adjust: 100%; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; color: #15212A;">
<span class="preheader" style="color: transparent; display: none; height: 0; max-height: 0; max-width: 0; opacity: 0; overflow: hidden; mso-hide: all; visibility: hidden; width: 0;">Actually doing the work revealed the right problem to solve</span>
<table role="presentation" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="body" width="100%" style="border-collapse: separate; mso-table-lspace: 0pt; mso-table-rspace: 0pt; background-color: #fff; width: 100%;" bgcolor="#fff">
<!-- Outlook doesn't respect max-width so we need an extra centered table -->
<!--[if mso]>
<tr>
<td>
<center>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600">
<![endif]-->
<tr>
<td style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; vertical-align: top; color: #15212A;" valign="top"> </td>
<td class="container" style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; vertical-align: top; color: #15212A; display: block; max-width: 600px; margin: 0 auto;" valign="top">
<div class="content" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin: 0 auto; max-width: 600px;">
<!-- START CENTERED WHITE CONTAINER -->
<table role="presentation" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="main" width="100%" style="border-collapse: separate; mso-table-lspace: 0pt; mso-table-rspace: 0pt; background: #ffffff; border-radius: 3px; border-spacing: 20px 0; width: 100%;">
<!-- START MAIN CONTENT AREA -->
<tr>
<td class="wrapper" style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; vertical-align: top; color: #15212A; box-sizing: border-box;" valign="top">
<table role="presentation" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="border-collapse: separate; mso-table-lspace: 0pt; mso-table-rspace: 0pt; width: 100%;">
<tr class="post-content-row">
<td class="post-content-sans-serif" style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: top; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.5em; color: #15212A; padding-bottom: 20px; border-bottom: 1px solid #e0e7eb; padding-top: 32px; max-width: 600px;" valign="top">
<!-- POST CONTENT START -->
<p style="margin: 0 0 1.5em 0; line-height: 1.6em;"><em>This week on Applied Intelligence, we learn how an AI engineer at Notion joined the sales team for a month to understand their challenges and build better tools to solve their problems. </em></p><h2 id="context-before-code-how-notion-put-an-ai-engineer-on-the-sales-floor-to-discover-what-actually-needed-building" style="margin-top: 0; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.11em; font-weight: 700; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; margin: 1.5em 0 0.5em 0; font-size: 32px;"><a href="https://email2.firstround.com/c/eJxUj0tq7DAQRVcjzdSUqvQpDTR48PA-9I1F7Haw1R3I6kOaTDK8lwOHU2PO2hnZovbOAYMnL9uexqZGjS4YY8C6REzkAECjJe1ArrFbLEzepe5zg5YyAXPIuZgUCtUuR0RAq1Gz9patvbXWA-USgLlanbUw0Md5zfN43OutHLvc4jrnxyXon8BF4HK252ift7_Uzy9woYoOPaKgZRf0n3IHxgKq6uKU6YZVQOqqF--DDlQ9WHnGr3kKA9tI-3F_KWfMj-1dvYrljG_rcc3f9Yz4HQAA__-LNFNq" rel="noreferrer" style="overflow-wrap: anywhere; color: #62DCAD; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Context Before Code: How Notion Put an AI Engineer on the Sales Floor to Discover What Actually Needed Building</a></h2><p style="margin: 0 0 1.5em 0; line-height: 1.6em;">His first day on Notion’s sales team, AI engineer Theo Bleier made 40 cold calls. He didn’t land a single meeting — but he did discover insights that would change how Notion built internal AI sales tools.</p><p style="margin: 0 0 1.5em 0; line-height: 1.6em;">Instead of just throwing AI at the sales team and expecting results, Bleier became a card-carrying member of the sales pod for a month. He had named accounts. He learned about objection handling. He (unsuccessfully) cold-called.</p><p style="margin: 0 0 1.5em 0; line-height: 1.6em;">Sitting with Notion’s most successful salespeople, Bleier noticed they spent extra time doing account research before any outbound. <strong style="font-weight: 700;">But he learned the result of that research wasn’t better email messaging — these reps developed a better understanding of <em>when</em> to reach out to these accounts and prioritize them accordingly</strong>.</p><blockquote style="margin: 0; padding: 0; border-left: #62DCAD 2px solid; font-size: 17px; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.6em; letter-spacing: -0.2px;"><p style="line-height: 1.6em; margin: 2em 25px; font-size: 1em; padding: 0;">“From the outside, it seems obvious we should make the sales team move faster by doing account research for them. But when Theo came in and did research, where he ended up was actually account prioritization." <br>- Pravesh Mistry, Notion’s Head of Global Sales.</p></blockquote><p style="margin: 0 0 1.5em 0; line-height: 1.6em;">This led to Bleier’s framework for a successful sales process: “Right messaging to the right person at the right company at the right time — and right time is step zero.”</p><p style="margin: 0 0 1.5em 0; line-height: 1.6em;">As a result, Bleier created an internal tool called “Salestino bot” to automate that process. It gives reps specific product signals they use to better prioritize which accounts to reach out to, while also providing them with customized messaging to edit and use in that outreach.</p><div class="kg-card kg-image-card" style="margin: 0 0 1.5em; padding: 0;"><a href="https://email2.firstround.com/c/eJxUj0tqxDAQBU8j7WS61a3fQotA8D2sXyxij4OtmUBOHzJkM8v3KCiqxJTQsqwRnbXgwZGTdV_6pnqJNjAzGLuQJ7IAgNoQWpBrhMWZUlNrlk3h5J1tuRQL7LlpgiB71KANavTojDdmqrUFSjmA98VgQsHQ-nmN87jfypSPXW5xHePrEvQm9Cz0fNZHr9_TK_X3Cz0HbxCRgqB5F_ROqYHXGVTBbBU39ipoaqpl5wIGKg6MPOPPOAXD1pf9uD2VI6b79qmexXLEj_W4xv96RP0bAAD__xVHUro" style="overflow-wrap: anywhere; color: #62DCAD; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank"><img src="https://review.firstround.com/content/images/size/w1600/2025/12/Slack_Bot_Infographic-2.png" class="kg-image" alt loading="lazy" width="600" height="402" style="border: none; -ms-interpolation-mode: bicubic; max-width: 100%; display: block; margin: 0 auto; height: auto; width: auto;"></a></div><p style="margin: 0 0 1.5em 0; line-height: 1.6em;">In this exclusive interview, we learn about Bleier’s immersion process to find the right problems and exactly how he built the tools to solve them. If you’re developing internal AI tools, Bleier’s process is a clear example of how to find the real problem before writing a single line of code.</p><p style="margin: 0 0 1.5em 0; line-height: 1.6em;">Thanks, as always, for reading and sharing,</p><p style="margin: 0 0 1.5em 0; line-height: 1.6em;">-The Review editors</p><p style="margin: 0 0 1.5em 0; line-height: 1.6em;"></p><div class="btn btn-accent" style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 100%; display: table;"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" style="border-collapse: separate; mso-table-lspace: 0pt; mso-table-rspace: 0pt; width: auto;" width="auto"><tr><td align="center" style="font-size: 18px; vertical-align: top; color: #15212A; border-radius: 5px; text-align: center; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; background-color: #2CC58A;" valign="top" bgcolor="#2CC58A"><a href="https://email2.firstround.com/c/eJxUj0tqKzEQRVcjzWSqVCp9Bho8ePQ-Wp-KRbrdoS07kNWHmEwyvJcDh9NyKeid7hmD9xAhUNB9X8dmRss-OeeA_UqRyAMAWib0oK_ZAYkDWbkmzySBmGt3iB5jTSyiR7ZgGS1GDByZL71LolITxNgYCyoHMs77PI_HrV3qsestX-f8uCv6p-yi7HL25-ifl7_Uz6_sIqFIqGtQtOyK_lMRiLaCaVi9ceKiSZbESA0hYaIWgPWZv-apHGxj3Y_bSzlzeWzv5lWsZ367Hvf5u57ZfgcAAP__7elTGg" style="overflow-wrap: anywhere; border: solid 1px #3498db; border-radius: 5px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 12px 25px; text-decoration: none; background-color: #2CC58A; border-color: #2CC58A; color: #FFFFFF;" target="_blank">Take me to Applied Intelligence</a></td></tr></table></div><p style="margin: 0 0 1.5em 0; line-height: 1.6em;"></p>
<!-- POST CONTENT END -->
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
<!-- END MAIN CONTENT AREA -->
<tr>
<td dir="ltr" width="100%" style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; vertical-align: top; color: #15212A; background-color: #ffffff; text-align: center; padding: 32px 0 24px; border-bottom: 1px solid #e0e7eb;" align="center" bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">
<table class="feedback-buttons" role="presentation" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: separate; mso-table-lspace: 0pt; mso-table-rspace: 0pt; margin: auto; width: 100%;" width="100%">
<tr>
<td dir="ltr" valign="top" align="center" style="font-size: 18px; color: #15212A; display: inline-block; vertical-align: top; font-family: inherit; text-align: center; padding: 0 4px 4px; cursor: pointer; width: 30%;" width="30%">
<a href="https://email2.firstround.com/c/eJxUkc2K3DAQhJ9GvmlodeuvDz4EFr-Hflo7Yjz2YssTkqcPGXLIHgs-Cqq-OudsvJ1kNsF7iBAoTPJMfdW9zp6tteB8okjkAcCgI-Nhus-GG-VWSgau5AwEajHZJpELxwY49RkBnUETTXDRuZtIY8qFIcbqTDbKQuvHOY792uqt7M9pne9jfJ2KfihcFC6HvLr8vH2nFC7bPvq-6a9r6LRp2T77JnLovukzrXLqset89bXqLGPIoVPXY9_X891KCpcmUnMqD4WLZ0scQf6fiIBF4WL-8rRcV6-KPig3iFhAV1O8ts1GzUhNtxICG6YawCn0D_ml6KOi8dIYE5VkyKVUmnMWgYUt10AYvRj2GAOmAJWpcU6mcgiptExpOubf41AW1p6e-_Z-Z8z5Wh_6LWca8-d9P8e_9JrxTwAAAP__NkCG1w" target="_blank" style="color: #62DCAD; text-decoration: none; overflow-wrap: anywhere;">
<img src="https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/more-like-this-mobile.png" border="0" width="42" height="42" alt="More like this" style="border: none; -ms-interpolation-mode: bicubic; max-width: 100%; display: block; margin: 0 auto; vertical-align: middle;">
<p class="feedback-button-text" style="display: inline-block; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: #15212A; font-weight: 500; margin: 1em 0 0 0; line-height: 1.4em; word-break: break-word; font-size: 13px;">More like this</p>
</a>
</td> <td dir="ltr" valign="top" align="center" style="font-size: 18px; color: #15212A; display: inline-block; vertical-align: top; font-family: inherit; text-align: center; padding: 0 4px 4px; cursor: pointer; width: 30%;" width="30%">
<a href="https://email2.firstround.com/c/eJxUkcuK3DAURL9G3qm5Dz0XXgQG_4ceV9Oi3fZgyx2Srw9pssgsCw4FVafOOaMzk8zonYMAnv0kz9RX3evsojEGrEscmB0AIFlGB9N9hlBDAk8UA3ufs7SKMXAxGREi4tRnArJIGNDbYO1NpEXOJUII1WJGZaD14xzHfm31VvbntM73Mb5OxT8ULYqWQ15dft6-U4qWbR993_TXNXTatGyffRM5dN_0mVY59dh1vvpadZYx5NCp67Hv6_luZUVLE6k5lYeixUXDMYD8P5GAiqIF_vK8XFevij84NwhUQFcsTptmgo7ETbfifcTI1YNV5B7yS_FHJXTSIiUuCdmmVJq1hiBKNLF6puAEo6PgKXmokVvMCWv0PpWWOU3H_HscysDa03Pf3u-MOV_rQ7_lTGP-vO_n-JdeM_0JAAD___5xhgg" target="_blank" style="color: #62DCAD; text-decoration: none; overflow-wrap: anywhere;">
<img src="https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/less-like-this-mobile.png" border="0" width="42" height="42" alt="Less like this" style="border: none; -ms-interpolation-mode: bicubic; max-width: 100%; display: block; margin: 0 auto; vertical-align: middle;">
<p class="feedback-button-text" style="display: inline-block; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: #15212A; font-weight: 500; margin: 1em 0 0 0; line-height: 1.4em; word-break: break-word; font-size: 13px;">Less like this</p>
</a>
</td> </tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="wrapper" align="center" style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; vertical-align: top; color: #15212A; box-sizing: border-box;" valign="top">
<table role="presentation" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="border-collapse: separate; mso-table-lspace: 0pt; mso-table-rspace: 0pt; width: 100%; padding-top: 40px; padding-bottom: 30px;">
<tr><td class="footer" style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: top; color: #73818c; margin-top: 20px; text-align: center; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-left: 30px; padding-right: 30px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 13px;" valign="top" align="center"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0 0 1.5em 0; line-height: 1.6em;"><span> Made with ✨ by </span><a href="https://email2.firstround.com/c/eJxUj8tq6zAURb9Gmjmch6QjDTS4cPF_6NmI2nFxlBT69aWhkw73ZsFi1ZgzOqNbRHEOPAiLbnsa2zJqdMEYA9Yl9swOAJAsowN9jVADYaLCBcXaHCTYBtQq2iTJBNIjEpBFQo9ivbWX1nrgXAJ4Xy1mVAb6OO_zPB63einHrrd4nfPjrvifolXRerbnaJ-Xv9TPr2hNIj1VA4rXXfF_zh08FVgqFreYbvwSiPvSi0jAwFXA6jN-zVMZ2Ebaj9tLOWN-bO_Lq1jP-HY97vN3PSN9BwAA___OT1LS" target="_blank" style="overflow-wrap: anywhere; color: #73818c; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 13px;"><span>First Round Capital</span></a><span>.</span></p></td></tr>
<tr>
<td class="footer" style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: top; color: #73818c; margin-top: 20px; text-align: center; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-top: 10px; padding-left: 30px; padding-right: 30px; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 13px;" valign="top" align="center">First Round © 2025 – <a href="https://email2.firstround.com/c/eJxU0DuO2zAUheHVUB2N--DrFiwCGN4HH5exMLIdSNQMktUHMdJMeYCvOX_PtWJwi2aMIUCCyHHRR1k3u_YcxDkHPhROzAEAkDxjgOWefeuFiEWkaYjQoAL30HxCAq_My5oJyCNhwuiT9xfVIVybQErdY0XjYKz7MffX-eyX9nosW77P-esw_MPQzdBt189Vvy7flaHb-TzOerR9rfoP8u081274ynVAoga2YwvWDZesEA87WoyCwj2CNxQ-9LfhaycMOoQKt4LsS2nDe0cgKk56ZEpBUQKlSCVCFx5SC3aJsbRRuRgKT_06Np1Td8NXaM4zBLIeU7MuJLHFp2p5RKVBjhDbsuc_czcOtrU8Xs_36ZnruX3Yd_Nl5p_31zH_r89MfwMAAP__mYd4Fg" style="overflow-wrap: anywhere; color: #73818c; text-decoration: underline; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank">Unsubscribe</a></td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<!-- END CENTERED WHITE CONTAINER -->
</div>
</td>
<td style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; vertical-align: top; color: #15212A;" valign="top"> </td>
</tr>
<!--[if mso]>
</table>
</center>
</td>
</tr>
<![endif]-->
</table>
<img width="1" height="1" alt="" src="https://email2.firstround.com/o/eJwszk1uxCAMQOHTDLsZ2RgbWPgw_E0HNQkSIV309JWiLt9bfVVzRnGmKXoRCODJm7anvj17VYnOOWBJFIgEANAyoYD5aAFMVCK52BCrlWIDcAIUBmJMzXS1YBktBvQcmF-tvSPlEiGEypjx4eDd57nmuI76KmM3U3_XfDjYetrHca-l-dq-n7fILP36jHP914_avwAAAP__lwM2Zw"></body>
</html>
Plain Text
This week on Applied Intelligence, we learn how an AI engineer at Notion joined the sales team for a month to understand their challenges and build better tools to solve their problems.
Context Before Code: How Notion Put an AI Engineer on the Sales Floor to Discover What Actually Needed Building [https://email2.firstround.com/c/eJxUj0tq7DAQRVcjzdSUqvQpDTR48PA-9I1F7Haw1R3I6kOaTDK8lwOHU2PO2hnZovbOAYMnL9uexqZGjS4YY8C6REzkAECjJe1ArrFbLEzepe5zg5YyAXPIuZgUCtUuR0RAq1Gz9patvbXWA-USgLlanbUw0Md5zfN43OutHLvc4jrnxyXon8BF4HK252ift7_Uzy9woYoOPaKgZRf0n3IHxgKq6uKU6YZVQOqqF--DDlQ9WHnGr3kKA9tI-3F_KWfMj-1dvYrljG_rcc3f9Yz4HQAA__-LNFNq]
His first day on Notion’s sales team, AI engineer Theo Bleier made 40 cold calls. He didn’t land a single meeting — but he did discover insights that would change how Notion built internal AI sales tools.
Instead of just throwing AI at the sales team and expecting results, Bleier became a card-carrying member of the sales pod for a month. He had named accounts. He learned about objection handling. He (unsuccessfully) cold-called.
Sitting with Notion’s most successful salespeople, Bleier noticed they spent extra time doing account research before any outbound. But he learned the result of that research wasn’t better email messaging — these reps developed a better understanding of when to reach out to these accounts and prioritize them accordingly.
> “From the outside, it seems obvious we should make the sales team move faster by doing account research for them. But when Theo came in and did research, where he ended up was actually account prioritization."
> - Pravesh Mistry, Notion’s Head of Global Sales.
This led to Bleier’s framework for a successful sales process: “Right messaging to the right person at the right company at the right time — and right time is step zero.”
As a result, Bleier created an internal tool called “Salestino bot” to automate that process. It gives reps specific product signals they use to better prioritize which accounts to reach out to, while also providing them with customized messaging to edit and use in that outreach.
In this exclusive interview, we learn about Bleier’s immersion process to find the right problems and exactly how he built the tools to solve them. If you’re developing internal AI tools, Bleier’s process is a clear example of how to find the real problem before writing a single line of code.
Thanks, as always, for reading and sharing,
-The Review editors
More like this
Less like this
Made with ✨ by First Round Capital [https://email2.firstround.com/c/eJxUj8tq6zAURb9Gmjmch6QjDTS4cPF_6NmI2nFxlBT69aWhkw73ZsFi1ZgzOqNbRHEOPAiLbnsa2zJqdMEYA9Yl9swOAJAsowN9jVADYaLCBcXaHCTYBtQq2iTJBNIjEpBFQo9ivbWX1nrgXAJ4Xy1mVAb6OO_zPB63einHrrd4nfPjrvifolXRerbnaJ-Xv9TPr2hNIj1VA4rXXfF_zh08FVgqFreYbvwSiPvSi0jAwFXA6jN-zVMZ2Ebaj9tLOWN-bO_Lq1jP-HY97vN3PSN9BwAA___OT1LS].
Warning
Almost all the messages that arrive here are garbage! Resist the urge to click on any unexpected or questionable links.
It may happen that e-mail will claim to come from liamon.com, especially from some administrative role or process. These are certainly garbage. There are no accounts to expire. There are no passwords to leak. There aren't administrators sending messages to liamon.com addresses. These are certainly phishing attempts.
Absolutely ignore those links!