Artisan

Overview

Category: Autonomous AI SDR/BDR Agent Pricing: From $1,500-2,000/month per agent (annual contract) Best For: Sales teams needing fully autonomous outbound automation with AI-powered personalization

Artisan is an AI employee platform that provides autonomous AI SDR/BDR agents, starting with "Ava"—an AI agent that handles the entire outbound demand generation workflow from lead research to personalized outreach to response management. Unlike traditional automation tools that require constant human oversight, Ava operates autonomously, automating 80%+ of outbound work including lead sourcing (300M+ contact database), hyper-personalization (using Personalization Waterfall), multi-channel outreach (email + LinkedIn), and response handling (sentiment analysis to qualify/disqualify replies).

The platform's key differentiator is full autonomy: Ava doesn't just send pre-written sequences—she researches each prospect using 100+ data points (technographic, firmographic, demographic, intent signals, personal interests), writes unique emails for each lead, manages email deliverability (auto-warmup, bounce testing, sending limits), and hands off qualified leads to sales reps when positive intent detected. This makes Artisan a true "AI employee" vs a tool requiring constant supervision.

Artisan's AI agent "Ava" autonomously executes end-to-end outbound campaigns: sourcing leads from 300M+ database, researching prospects across web/social/intent signals, writing hyper-personalized emails using AI, managing deliverability, sending multi-channel sequences, analyzing sentiment in replies, and routing qualified leads to sales reps—all with minimal human intervention.

How It Works:

1. Define ICP: Provide targeting criteria (titles, industries, company sizes, geographies, tech stack, intent signals)
2. Ava Sources Leads: Searches 300M+ contact database across 200+ countries for matches
3. Deep Research: For each lead, mines 100+ data points: recent LinkedIn posts, job changes, company news, funding rounds, technographics, intent data, personal interests
4. Personalization Waterfall: Ranks best personalization approach per lead (LinkedIn activity > company news > industry trends > generic value prop)
5. AI Email Writing: Generates unique email for each prospect referencing best available personalization
6. Multi-Channel Orchestration: Sends email sequences + LinkedIn connection requests/messages
7. Deliverability Management: Auto-warms inboxes, monitors health scores, adjusts sending limits dynamically
8. Sentiment Analysis: Analyzes replies for positive ("interested, tell me more") vs negative ("not interested, stop") intent
9. Qualified Lead Handoff: Routes positive replies to sales reps with full context (research, email history, response analysis)

Key Differentiator: Ava is the only AI SDR that fully automates deliverability management (warmup, health monitoring, limit adjustments)—every other AI SDR requires separate deliverability tools (Instantly warmup, Smartlead, etc.).

1. Ava - Autonomous AI SDR Agent

Full-stack AI employee that operates independently after initial setup. Ava handles: lead sourcing (300M database), prospect research (100+ data points per lead), email copywriting (unique per prospect), sequence orchestration (multi-touch, multi-channel), deliverability management (auto-warmup, health monitoring), and response handling (sentiment analysis, qualification). Minimal human oversight after 2-3 week training period.

2. Personalization Waterfall (100+ Data Points)

AI-driven personalization engine that mines technographic (tools used, tech stack), firmographic (company size, revenue, industry), demographic (job title, seniority, tenure), intent (website visits, content downloads, hiring signals), and personal interest data (LinkedIn posts, hobbies, recent life events). Ranks best personalization per prospect and references in emails (e.g., "Saw your LinkedIn post on AI challenges—we help SaaS CTOs like you...").

3. Automated Email Deliverability Management

Ava automatically warms up connected inboxes as soon as they're added, continuously monitors mailbox health scores (spam rates, bounce rates, engagement), and dynamically adjusts daily sending limits based on deliverability health. If inbox health declines, Ava reduces sending; as health improves, she scales volume. Only AI SDR with this built-in (competitors require separate tools).

4. Sentiment Analysis & Auto-Qualification

AI analyzes every reply to detect positive intent ("Can you send pricing?", "Let's schedule a call") vs negative intent ("Not interested", "Remove me from list"). Positive replies get routed to sales reps with full context; negative replies trigger auto-unsubscribe. Saves reps from manually triaging 100+ daily responses.

5. Multi-Channel Outreach (Email + LinkedIn)

Ava orchestrates sequences across email and LinkedIn: Connection request → LinkedIn message (if accepted) → Email outreach → Follow-ups. Tracks engagement across channels and adjusts approach based on where prospect is most responsive. Higher reply rates (15-20%) vs single-channel (5-10%).

Artisan maps to 4 of 5 GTM stages, with primary strength in Personalization + Orchestration:

Primary Stages

Stage 1: Signal Detection

• Intent data integration: Ava tracks website visits, content downloads, job postings, funding announcements
• Buying signals: Monitors "hiring for SDR roles" (expanding team = potential buyer)
• Trigger events: Job changes, company growth (Series A → Series B), tech stack changes
• ICP fit scoring: Ranks leads by fit (title + industry + company size + tech stack)

Stage 2: Enrichment

• 300M+ contact database across 200+ countries
• 100+ data points per prospect: technographics, firmographics, demographics, intent, interests
• Real-time web scraping: LinkedIn posts, company news, funding announcements
• Email verification built-in (no need for separate Hunter.io/NeverBounce)

Stage 3: Personalization ⭐ Primary Strength

• Personalization Waterfall ranks best approach per prospect (LinkedIn post > news > trend > generic)
• AI generates unique emails per lead (not templates with {{firstName}} variables)
• Dynamic content based on persona: C-suite gets ROI focus, IC gets feature focus
• References specific data points: "Congrats on your Series B raise last month—perfect timing to scale sales..."

Stage 4: Orchestration ⭐ Primary Strength

• Fully autonomous campaign execution (no human approval per email)
• Multi-channel sequencing (email + LinkedIn with smart delays)
• Dynamic follow-ups based on engagement (opened but didn't reply → different follow-up vs didn't open)
• Deliverability orchestration (warm-up, health monitoring, volume scaling)
• Response routing (positive → sales rep, negative → unsubscribe, neutral → continue sequence)

Sends Data To

Artisan (Ava) → Salesforce
└─ "Qualified leads + full research + email history + sentiment analysis → Lead records"

Artisan (Ava) → HubSpot
└─ "Positive replies + engagement tracking → Contact timeline & Deal creation"

Artisan (Ava) → Slack
└─ "Qualified lead notifications → #sales channel for immediate follow-up"

Receives Data From

Clay → Artisan (Ava)
└─ "Enriched leads with custom research → Ava's targeting criteria"

Salesforce/HubSpot → Artisan (Ava)
└─ "Existing contacts for re-engagement campaigns"

6sense/Koala → Artisan (Ava)
└─ "Intent signals (website visits, content downloads) → Ava's outreach triggers"

Works Alongside

• Clay: Pre-campaign research → Ava automates outreach based on Clay insights
• Attention/Gong: Ava books meetings → Attention records/analyzes calls
• Instantly/Smartlead: Some teams use Instantly for high-volume + Ava for high-touch
• HubSpot/Salesforce: Ava operates on top of CRM (creates leads, logs activities)

Native Integrations

• CRMs: Salesforce, HubSpot (bi-directional sync)
• Communication: Slack (notifications), Email (Gmail, Outlook via OAuth)
• Intent Data: 6sense, Koala, Clearbit (trigger-based campaigns)
• Note: Ava has built-in database (300M contacts), so doesn't require Apollo/ZoomInfo

Primary Use Case 1: Replace 2-3 Human SDRs with One AI Agent

Problem: Hiring 2-3 SDRs costs $150K-250K/year (salary + benefits + tools), takes 3-6 months to ramp, with 30-50% turnover annually

Solution: Artisan's Ava operates 24/7, never quits, requires no ramp time, and costs $18K-24K/year

Example Workflow:

1. Company currently has 2 SDRs doing outbound: $120K salary + $30K tools/benefits = $150K/year total
2. SDRs send 50 emails/day each = 100 emails/day = 2,200 emails/month
3. Human SDRs achieve 3-5% reply rate = 66-110 replies/month = 15-25 meetings booked
4. Replace with Ava at $1,500/mo ($18K/year) sending 200 emails/day = 4,400 emails/month
5. Ava achieves 8-12% reply rate (better personalization) = 350-530 replies/month = 70-110 meetings booked
6. Results: 3-4x more meetings booked at 1/8th the cost ($18K vs $150K)
7. Savings: $132K/year + eliminate recruiting/onboarding time

Results: $132K cost savings + 3-4x meeting volume increase + zero turnover risk

Primary Use Case 2: Hyper-Personalized Account-Based Outreach at Scale

Problem: Manual personalization (researching each prospect, writing custom emails) takes 10-15 minutes per lead—can only do 30-40/day

Solution: Ava researches 100+ data points per lead and writes unique emails in seconds—scales to 200+ daily

Example Workflow:

1. Target 50 enterprise accounts (10 prospects per account = 500 total prospects)
2. Manual approach: 15 min research + 5 min email writing = 20 min per prospect × 500 = 167 hours (4+ weeks work)
3. Ava approach:
   • Day 1: Define ICP, import 50 account lists to Ava
   • Day 2-3: Ava researches all 500 prospects (LinkedIn posts, company news, tech stack, intent data)
   • Week 1: Ava writes personalized emails: "Hi {{firstName}}, saw your post about struggling with [pain point]. Given {{companyName}}'s recent Series B ($50M), now is perfect time to scale [solution]..."
   • Weeks 2-6: Ava sends multi-touch sequences (email + LinkedIn) with unique follow-ups per prospect
4. Track results: 500 prospects → 60 positive replies (12% rate) → 18 meetings booked (30% conversion)
5. Human would have reached only 150 prospects in same timeframe (30/day × 5 days) with 3-5% reply rate = 5-8 meetings

Results: 18 meetings vs 5-8 meetings (2-3x improvement) with zero manual research time

Primary Use Case 3: Multi-ICP Campaigns Without Team Expansion

Problem: Company sells to 3 different buyer personas (CTO, VP Sales, CMO); would need 3 SDRs (one per persona) to personalize effectively

Solution: One Ava agent runs 3 concurrent campaigns with persona-specific messaging

Example Workflow:

1. Company ICP: (1) CTOs at SaaS companies (infrastructure angle), (2) VP Sales at $50M+ orgs (pipeline angle), (3) CMOs at B2B tech (demand gen angle)
2. Traditional approach: Hire 3 SDRs at $180K total/year, each learns one persona
3. Ava approach:
   • Configure 3 campaigns in Ava with different ICPs and messaging frameworks
   • Campaign 1 (CTOs): Focus on technical scalability, uptime, security compliance
   • Campaign 2 (VP Sales): Focus on pipeline growth, rep productivity, forecast accuracy
   • Campaign 3 (CMOs): Focus on lead quality, attribution, campaign ROI
4. Ava runs all 3 campaigns simultaneously:
   • 100 emails/day per campaign = 300 total/day
   • Persona-specific personalization: CTO emails mention tech stack, VP Sales emails mention quota attainment, CMO emails mention demand gen challenges
5. Track results per persona: CTOs (8% reply rate), VP Sales (12% reply rate), CMOs (10% reply rate)
6. Total: 900 prospects/month × 10% avg reply rate = 90 replies → 25 meetings booked across all personas

Results: 25 meetings/month from 3 ICPs at $18K/year vs $180K/year for 3-person SDR team

Secondary Use Case 1: Event Follow-Up Automation

After trade show/conference, upload 500 attendee contacts to Ava. She researches each attendee, writes personalized follow-ups ("Great meeting you at SaaStr—as discussed, here's how we help [pain point]..."), and books follow-up meetings. 30-40% meeting conversion vs 5-10% with generic follow-ups.

Secondary Use Case 2: Dormant Lead Reactivation

Import 5,000 cold leads from CRM (past opportunities that went dark 6-12 months ago). Ava researches what changed (new funding, executive hire, product launch), writes re-engagement emails, and reactivates 3-5% of dormant leads into pipeline.

Pricing Model

Artisan uses custom pricing with annual contracts (no public tiers). Must schedule demo for quote.

Pricing Notes

• Annual Contracts Required: Typically 12-month commitment, paid upfront or quarterly
• No Free Trial: Must schedule demo; some offer 30-day pilot at discounted rate
• Per-Agent Model: Each Ava agent = separate subscription ($1,500-2,000/mo per agent)
• Includes Everything: 300M contact database, deliverability management, email sending infrastructure (no separate Instantly/Smartlead needed)
• Training Time: Budget 2-3 weeks of active training before Ava operates autonomously

Cost Calculator Examples

SMB (1 Ava Agent)

• 1 agent @ $1,500/mo = $18,000/year
• Replaces: 2-3 human SDRs at $60K each = $120K-180K/year
• Output: 150 emails/day = 3,300 emails/month = 400 replies/year (12% rate) = 80 meetings booked
• ROI: $102K-162K savings vs human SDRs

Mid-Market (3 Ava Agents)

• 3 agents @ $1,500/mo each = $4,500/mo = $54,000/year
• Replaces: 6-9 human SDRs at $60K each = $360K-540K/year
• Output: 450 emails/day = 9,900 emails/month = 1,200 replies/year = 240 meetings booked
• ROI: $306K-486K savings vs human SDRs

Enterprise (10 Ava Agents)

• 10 agents @ $1,200/mo each (volume discount) = $12,000/mo = $144,000/year
• Replaces: 20-30 human SDRs at $60K-80K = $1.2M-2.4M/year
• Output: 1,500 emails/day = 33,000 emails/month = 4,000 replies/year = 800 meetings booked
• ROI: $1.05M-2.25M savings vs human SDR team

ROI Calculation

• Cost per meeting booked: $18K/year ÷ 80 meetings = $225/meeting (vs $1,500-2,250/meeting for human SDR fully loaded cost)
• Break-even: 12 closed deals/year @ $10K ACV = $120K revenue >> $18K Ava cost
• Payback period: Typically 2-4 months (vs 6-12 months ramp for human SDR)

5-Step Implementation Guide

Step 1: Demo & Contract Negotiation (1-2 weeks)

• Schedule demo at artisan.co (no self-service signup)
• Prepare questions: Pricing for # of agents, training support included, contract length flexibility
• Negotiate: Some offer 30-day pilot at 50% discount before annual commit
• Typical contract: 12 months, $18K-24K/year for single agent, paid quarterly
• Pro Tip: Ask for "training support" add-on (Artisan CSM joins first 10 campaigns to accelerate Ava training)

Step 2: Initial Setup & ICP Definition (Week 1)

• Connect email accounts (Gmail/Outlook via OAuth; recommend 3-5 dedicated cold email domains)
• Integrate CRM (Salesforce or HubSpot for lead routing)
• Define ICP: Job titles, industries, company sizes, geographies, tech stack, exclusions (competitors, current customers)
• Provide 10-20 examples of "ideal prospect" profiles from past closed deals
• Upload messaging framework: Value props, pain points, case studies, objection handling
• Pro Tip: Don't launch campaigns Week 1—let Ava warm up email accounts while you train her

Step 3: Ava Training Period (Weeks 2-3)

• Ava generates first batch of 50-100 emails based on your ICP/messaging
• Daily review: Read every email Ava writes, provide feedback (too generic, wrong pain point, tone off)
• Iterative improvement: Ava learns from corrections and adjusts future emails
• A/B test subject lines: Let Ava test 3-4 variations, identify winners
• Dial in personalization: Mark which personalization types work best (LinkedIn post references > company news > industry trends)
• Pro Tip: Spend 1-2 hours/day during training; quality input = quality output long-term

Step 4: Controlled Launch (Week 4)

• Start with 50-100 prospects (small batch to validate messaging + deliverability)
• Monitor deliverability: Check inbox placement (target: 95%+), spam scores (<2), bounce rates (<5%)
• Track engagement: Open rates (target: 40%+), reply rates (target: 8-12%), positive reply rate (target: 3-5%)
• Ava sentiment analysis: Verify she correctly identifies positive vs negative replies
• Adjust sending volume: If deliverability holds, scale from 50/day → 100/day → 150/day over 2 weeks
• Pro Tip: Don't scale past 200 emails/day per agent (LinkedIn limits + deliverability ceiling)

Step 5: Autonomous Operation & Optimization (Ongoing)

• Reduce oversight: After Week 4, spot-check 10% of Ava's emails (vs 100% during training)
• Weekly reviews: Track KPIs (emails sent, reply rate, meetings booked, cost per meeting)
• Monthly campaign tuning: Refresh ICP, test new messaging angles, update case studies
• Scale with more agents: If 1 Ava books 80 meetings/year, add 2nd agent for different ICP or region
• Pro Tip: Set up Slack notifications for positive replies (Ava → Slack → rep responds within 2 hours = higher meeting conversion)

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• ❌ Launching campaigns without 2-3 week training → Generic AI emails, low reply rates
• ❌ Providing vague ICP ("B2B companies") → Ava targets too broadly, wastes outreach on bad fits
• ❌ Skipping email warmup before sending → Instant spam folder, burned domains
• ❌ Not reviewing Ava's early outputs → Bad habits compound, harder to correct later
• ❌ Expecting 100% autonomy Day 1 → Requires human feedback loop first 2-3 weeks
• ❌ Scaling too fast (500 emails/day Week 1) → Triggers spam filters, account restrictions

Official Resources

• Artisan.co: https://www.artisan.co - Product overview, demo request, AI SDR resources
• Artisan Blog: https://www.artisan.co/blog - AI SDR guides, case studies, best practices
• What is an AI SDR?: https://www.artisan.co/blog/ai-sdr - Comprehensive guide to AI SDR category
• YouTube Channel: Artisan AI - Feature tutorials, customer success stories
• Y Combinator Profile: https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/artisan - Company background, funding

Our Resources

• Ava Training Framework: Step-by-step guide for first 2-3 weeks (ICP definition, messaging review, feedback loops)
• AI SDR vs Human SDR Calculator: ROI model comparing Ava cost vs human SDR headcount
• Personalization Waterfall Guide: How to leverage Ava's 100+ data points for maximum reply rates
• Multi-ICP Campaign Playbook: Running 3+ concurrent Ava campaigns for different buyer personas
• Ava + Clay Integration: Pre-campaign research in Clay → Ava outreach execution

Works Best With

1. Clay - Pre-campaign research enrichment

   • Use Clay to build hyper-targeted lists with 90+ provider waterfall
   • Export enriched leads to Ava with custom personalization fields
   • Ava uses Clay research for even deeper personalization

2. Attention/Gong - Meeting intelligence after Ava books calls

   • Ava books discovery meetings → Attention records/transcribes
   • Attention analyzes calls → Feeds insights back to Ava for future personalization
   • Closed loop: Call intelligence improves AI outbound

3. HubSpot/Salesforce - CRM integration for lead routing

   • Ava creates leads in CRM with full research + email history
   • Sales reps see entire conversation context before first call
   • Track Ava-sourced pipeline vs human-sourced for ROI analysis

Recommended Stacks

Stack 1: AI-First Outbound (Replace SDR Team)

• Artisan (2 Ava agents) ($3,000/mo) - Autonomous outbound
• HubSpot Sales Pro ($90/user/mo × 3 AEs = $270/mo) - CRM
• Attention ($100/user/mo × 3 = $300/mo) - Meeting intelligence
• Total: $3,570/month vs $300K/year for 6 SDRs + 3 AEs

Stack 2: Hybrid (AI + Human SDR)

• Artisan (1 Ava agent) ($1,500/mo) - Top-of-funnel outbound
• Human SDR ($60K/year = $5,000/mo) - Qualification + complex discovery
• Clay Starter ($149/mo) - Pre-campaign research
• HubSpot ($270/mo) - CRM
• Total: $6,919/month for hybrid approach

Stack 3: Enterprise Multi-Channel

• Artisan (5 Ava agents) ($7,500/mo) - Email outbound across regions
• 11x (2 Alice agents) ($5,000/mo) - Phone-first outbound
• Salesforce Enterprise ($200/user × 10 = $2,000/mo) - CRM
• 6sense ($12,500/mo) - Intent data to trigger Ava campaigns
• Total: $27,000/month vs $1.2M/year for 20-SDR team

Integration Partners

• CRM: Salesforce, HubSpot (native bi-directional sync)
• Intent Data: 6sense, Koala, Clearbit (trigger campaigns)
• Enrichment: Clay (pre-campaign research), ZoomInfo (supplementary)
• Meeting Intelligence: Attention, Gong, Chorus (post-meeting analysis)
• Communication: Slack (notifications), Email (Gmail, Outlook)

This profile was compiled from:

• Artisan official documentation (artisan.co)
• Artisan Pricing - SDRX
• Artisan AI Review - SalesForge
• Artisan Review - Reply.io
• Best AI SDR Platforms - LeadLoft
• Y Combinator - Artisan
• User interviews with 4 Artisan customers (SMB, mid-market, enterprise)
• Internal demo and trial evaluation (2-week pilot)
• GTM tools database cross-section analysis

Last Updated: March 2025 Profile Completeness: 15/15 sections ✅