Charanya “CK” Kannan, the chief product officer of AI customer service startup Talkdesk, highlighted the challenges enterprises face when attempting to automate various workflows. Many find it increasingly difficult to implement AI solutions due to outdated software systems lacking APIs, placing these initiatives low on the priority list for their IT teams.
“Every organization we’ve spoken to has had between 50 to 1,000 automation requests from various departments that remain unaddressed,” Kannan (image above right) shared with TechCrunch. “This is simply not acceptable. In today’s fast-paced environment, there shouldn’t be a backlog of 1,000 automation requests. Processes should be expedited.”
This awareness led to the founding of Kannan’s latest venture, Pinkfish, which assists enterprise clients in creating AI agents and automated workflows using natural language prompts. The platform boasts over 200 integrations, including Salesforce and Zendesk, and emphasizes deterministic execution, meaning consistent output for the same user prompt every time.
Kannan explained that Pinkfish employs a unique sales strategy compared to its competitors. Instead of marketing its platform as an all-in-one solution for automating every workflow, Pinkfish encourages companies to start by automating just one or two workflows. “That’s the initial step, then they can expand from two to four, four to ten, and so forth, with the goal of reaching 1,000 automations via Pinkfish,” she stated.
This strategy has proven effective. Pinkfish stealthily launched in January 2024, with Kannan serving as CEO and co-founder Ben Rigby as chief product and technology officer (CPTO). The company concentrates on specific sectors like retail and services, securing hundreds of users and enterprise clients, including Ipsy, Elevate, and Talkdesk.
Kannan noted that while many automation startups focus on eliminating non-essential tasks such as market research or identifying sales leads, Pinkfish is dedicated to enhancing mission-critical workflows.
For instance, Ipsy, a popular makeup subscription service, used Pinkfish to automate its price inquiry feature, previously managed by a three-person team. This team was responsible for handling requests manually, regardless of the time they came in, whether it was during the night or on weekends. Now, this entire process is efficiently handled through Pinkfish.
“This is absolutely mission-critical,” Kannan remarked. “If there’s a malfunction with Pinkfish, your prices aren’t displayed on your website, leading to potential revenue loss.”
Pinkfish recently announced its exit from stealth mode, having successfully raised $7.6 million in a pre-seed funding round, led by Norwest Venture Partners, with contributions from Storm Ventures and various angel investors.
Scott Beechuk, a partner at Norwest who will join Pinkfish’s board, expressed his enthusiasm in supporting the company due to his longstanding relationship with Kannan during her time at Talkdesk and his trust in her expertise with Norwest’s portfolio companies.
Beechuk mentioned he was eager to invest in Pinkfish because he believes that Kannan and Rigby possess the perfect blend of technical knowledge and customer insight that will allow them to differentiate themselves in a saturated market for AI agents.
“They’re launching with several notable brands and paying clients who are actually observing substantial ROI. Supporting seed-stage companies often takes years to yield real returns,” Beechuk added.
Kannan further emphasized that Pinkfish distinguishes itself from competitors by allowing users to prompt the system using natural language while relying on comprehensive coding in the background to develop these AI workflows. She argued that although low-code solutions have been prominent in recent years, they can be restrictive and are, in her view, “effectively obsolete.”
She reiterated that companies prefer full-code back-end access alongside a user-friendly interface rather than being limited to a selection of pre-determined building blocks. With the AI agent market becoming increasingly crowded, she trusts that this distinctive message will resonate with potential clients.
“Our aim is to deliver real value to complex, mission-critical use cases by positioning our agents and leveraging determinism, all within a singular platform that provides appropriate safeguards for each connection,” Kannan concluded. “These are the two areas where we are taking a different approach.”
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