In partnership with

Hire an AI BDR to Automate Your LinkedIn Outreach

Sales reps are wasting time on manual LinkedIn outreach. Our AI BDR Ava fully automates personalized LinkedIn outreach using your team’s profiles—getting you leads on autopilot.

She operates within the Artisan platform, which consolidates every tool you need for outbound:

• 300M+ High-Quality B2B Prospects

• Automated Lead Enrichment With 10+ Data Sources Included

• Full Email Deliverability Management

• Personalization Waterfall using LinkedIn, Twitter, Web Scraping & More

Book a demo to see what Ava can do.

Welcome back to the Collective. About a week ago, a collective sense of awe ensued as DeepSeek changed everything by releasing their open-source R1 model, rivaling OpenAI’s o1 model and changing the AI landscape as we know it for founders, technologists, and venture capitalists everywhere.

As AI models become commoditized, it is the level of adaption in new industries that will drive economic growth moving forward. So, we’ve decided to write this newsletter about three industries that will see fundamental changes as a result of this newly decentralized and distributed AI revolution.

It is well-timed that we have interviews with two industry leaders being published this week, with Louis Ciano, Co-Founder & CEO of Crosby Health, and with Andrea Legnani, President of Aluminati Enterprises. These follow last week’s interviews with Anand Deshpande, Strategic Partnerships at Mercury, and Ruben A. Austin, Founder of the all in all community and General Partner of TransAtlantic Venture Partners.

Here we go!

— By Antonio DiMeglio and Leon Li

This Week’s Highlights

• Three industries are showcased as being on the cusp of AI-driven disruption: sales, education, and inventory management.

• In sales, AI is amplifying the capabilities of salespeople by handling routine tasks and providing deep customer insights, allowing reps to focus on building relationships.

• Education is shifting focus from memorization to teaching students how to effectively collaborate with AI and critically evaluate AI outputs.

• AI-driven inventory management is enabling significant cost reductions and waste minimization through predictive demand forecasting and real-time optimization.

• These transformations are interconnected as related to how Deepseek’s open-source model has enterprise-grade AI accessible to companies of all sizes, thus driving the capability for rapid transformation.

A Fundamental Shift

The release of DeepSeek into the open source domain has opened up new possibilities for businesses of all sizes to leverage enterprise-grade AI capabilities. This democratization of AI technology is set to revolutionize industries across the board, with sales, education, and inventory management being among the most profoundly impacted sectors. As we explore these transformations, it becomes clear that the AI revolution is not just about adopting new tools but also about fundamentally rethinking the way we work and learn.

Industry at Risk #1: Sales

The sales landscape is undergoing a significant shift as AI becomes an integral part of the sales process. By leveraging AI-powered tools, sales teams can now focus on building meaningful relationships with prospects while delegating routine tasks such as lead qualification, meeting scheduling, and follow-ups to intelligent systems.

The impact of AI on sales is multifaceted and far-reaching. First and foremost, AI-driven analytics provide sales representatives with deep insights into customer behavior, enabling them to tailor their approach to each prospect's unique needs and preferences. This level of personalization not only enhances the customer experience but also significantly improves conversion rates and deal outcomes.

Predictions for Change