1mind with Amanda Kahlow

In this episode of AI've Got Questions, Stacey Epstein interviews Amanda Kahlow, founder of 1mind, discussing her journey as an entrepreneur, the innovative AI technology she's developing to enhance sales and marketing processes, and the implications of AI on the workforce. Amanda shares her mission to empower women, the importance of empathetic communication in sales, and the future of AI in transforming the buying experience.

Transcript

Stacey Epstein:
Hello, everybody! Welcome back to AI’ve Got Questions—the podcast for marketers who want to understand and win with all the amazing new technology coming to market. I’m especially excited today because I have my good friend Amanda Kahlow on the show.

Amanda was actually the first person I thought of when I had the idea to start this podcast. I don’t know if you remember this, Amanda, but we first met when I interviewed with you way back in the early days of 6sense. I think we had an instant sister vibe over lunch—and it’s just been fun knowing you and following your journey ever since.

But let’s rewind a little. I know a lot of listeners already know who you are, but tell us your story—who are you and how did you get here?

Amanda Kahlow:
Thank you, Stacey! It’s so good to be here. And yes, I remember that lunch! There are a few interviews that stick with me—and even when I couldn’t afford to hire someone amazing like you at the time, I still walked away with this sense of sisterhood. I had the same experience with Carrie Liu from Atlassian. And a decade later, we’re still connected.

So yeah, that’s part of who I am. I describe myself as a passionate, positive, spiritual warrior, here to empower women and girls. That mission is at the heart of everything I do. Of course, I love and support men too—but I’m especially committed to lifting women up.

I’m a serial entrepreneur. I started my first company when I was 21 and ran it for 16 years. I’m the former CEO and founder of 6sense. I eventually brought in a phenomenal leader to scale it further. Since then, I’ve had two daughters—I'm a single mom. My oldest is adopted and my youngest is what I like to call my little “Petri dish baby”—a designer baby of sorts! And now, I’m back at it, building something new and balancing all of that with motherhood.

Stacey Epstein:
I’ve seen you with your girls—they’re amazing. You’re such a beautiful family. And I love that your mission extends to the next generation. I feel the same way about my own daughters.

Okay, let’s talk about OneMind. I follow you on LinkedIn and see the enthusiasm from your team and your community. There’s such a buzz around it. So tell us—what is OneMind?

Amanda Kahlow:
We’re building what we call go-to-market superhumans. These are photorealistic AI agents—though they don’t have to be visual. You can use voice-only if you prefer. But essentially, they’re AI-powered faces and voices, with a go-to-market brain that can do what a human does across sales and marketing.

They qualify leads—but not like a chatbot. They can pitch, answer technical questions, share slides, book meetings, and even close deals. For example, with our customer HubSpot, she’s helping increase conversion rates in their SMB PLG motion.

She can also act as a ride-along sales engineer—there to support your AE with technical answers, especially in segments where you can't afford to put an SE on every call. Our belief is this: buying and selling happens in the conversation, not around it. So we focus on the moment of interaction. AI tools that help summarize or forecast are great, but we’re helping teams move the needle in real time, in conversation.

Stacey Epstein:
And that improves the experience for the buyer, too—because they get the right info, right when they need it.

Amanda Kahlow:
Exactly. It’s not just about speed or cost efficiency. We want to give buyers answers, context, and clarity—on their terms, the first time they ask. It’s about empathy and empowerment.

Stacey Epstein:
Okay, so walk me through it. If I’m a buyer—say I’m on HubSpot’s site—and I want to learn more, am I hopping on a Zoom with a robot?

Amanda Kahlow:
Kind of! Today, most buyers hit a wall: they fill out a form, wait for a meeting, or talk to a chatbot that can’t really help them. It’s a dead end for most. Our goal is to engage the 90% who bounce by giving them a real conversation when they’re ready.

It looks like a Zoom call—two faces on screen. She shares slides, plays videos, and soon, she’ll be able to walk through clickable demos and even see your screen to guide you.

And she has infinite patience. She’s never rushed, never annoyed by repeated questions. She’s just… there to help.

Stacey Epstein:
It’s such a massive shift. Most tools improve pieces of the funnel—but this? You’re reinventing the front end of the entire go-to-market function. How did you even build this?

Amanda Kahlow:
I love this question. You’re right—most companies are using AI to make existing processes more efficient. But we asked: What if we started from scratch?

If I had a beginner’s mindset and today’s tools, how would I rethink B2B buying and selling? I wouldn’t build 17 layers of middle management, or manual forecasting tools, or endless enablement systems. I’d start with the conversation.

So—here’s how we got here: A company that had developed this tech in a lab approached me. They’d done some wild things—cloning Barack Obama, Deepak Chopra—and even built AI caregivers for dementia patients. That struck a chord with me because I lost my mom to dementia.

But I told them, “This isn’t my lane. I’m B2B sales and marketing.” I almost walked away. Then I had this moment: What if this could be a salesperson? I came back, wrote a massive spec document, and we spun it off into a new company.

I now own all the IP. We raised $9 million a year ago and we’ve been sprinting ever since—building go-to-market superhumans, not generic ones.

Stacey Epstein:
Incredible. That mindset—rethinking everything—is what drives real innovation. I’m so impressed.

Amanda Kahlow:
Thank you! And yeah—it’s working. We just wrapped our first full year, only six months into actually selling, and we blew past our best-case board forecast by 120%. So yes, I’m smiling today. It’s been a good quarter.

Stacey Epstein:
Okay, the big question: What about the people who say you’re taking jobs away from SDRs and salespeople?

Amanda Kahlow:
That’s a fair concern—and I won’t sugarcoat it. Yes, jobs are being replaced. We’re doing people a disservice by pretending otherwise.

But just like every industrial revolution, we need to reskill. We need to adapt. There will always be jobs—but they’ll be different.

I’ll give you a personal example: My neighbor’s son is a data scientist and couldn’t find a job. I introduced him to our Gen AI lead, and now he’s a prompt engineer with us. These roles are exploding—and they’re fun. They require creativity and imagination.

I also think we may eventually live in a world where we don’t all need to grind 40+ hours a week. AI could shift societal structures in profound ways. What if people like my brother—who’s a caregiver—could do that full-time without worrying about income? We just have to stay open to what’s possible.

Stacey Epstein:
I couldn’t agree more. There’s still plenty of need for human intelligence and care—it’s just going to look different.

Okay, another one you probably get a lot: “People want to talk to real humans—not robots.”

Amanda Kahlow:
Ha—my favorite. Let me ask your listeners: When’s the last time you were excited to talk to a salesperson? No one says that.

We want information. We want to feel heard. We want accurate answers. And funnily enough, we trust AI less even though it hallucinates less than humans!

People forget—humans get things wrong all the time. AI can be corrected once and never repeat the mistake. The bar is just unfairly higher.

Stacey Epstein:
And Mindy—your superhuman—can ask all the tough qualifying questions without awkwardness, right?

Amanda Kahlow:
Exactly. She’s great at qualifying, better than many reps. She can ask about budget, timing, decision makers—no hesitation. And she can triage: if you’re the CEO, she’ll book you straight to my calendar. If not, she follows the process. And she only gets smarter.

Stacey Epstein:
So how long does it take to set one up?

Amanda Kahlow:
Surprisingly fast. I built Mindy in a weekend with one deck and 150 FAQs. We haven’t even updated her in six months and she’s still killing it.

For enterprise customers like HubSpot, it’s six to eight weeks. Most of that is gathering content, defining goals, integrating systems. The tech setup itself is quick. You can go live with an MVP and iterate from there.

Stacey Epstein:
That’s faster than onboarding a single sales rep! And she never forgets anything, never gets sick, and is always learning.

Amanda Kahlow:
Exactly. Every day you meet her is her worst day—because she only improves from there.

Stacey Epstein:
Last question—what’s it like doing this all over again, post-6sense?

Amanda Kahlow:
It’s totally different. I’ve got two kids now, I have more perspective, and I ask for help more often. I made plenty of mistakes the first time around. I’ve learned a lot.

Now, I focus more on people, culture, and process—not just product. My head of sales now, Katie, is phenomenal. Curious, humble, collaborative—just the perfect fit. I’m so grateful to be doing it again, and I truly believe OneMind is going to be my legacy.

Stacey Epstein:
I love it. I’ve been cheering you on from the sidelines, and it’s so fun to see your joy, your energy, and your success. I’ll definitely share ways for listeners to connect with you—and thank you so much for being one of my very first guests!

Amanda Kahlow:
Thank you! This was so much fun—and the admiration goes both ways. I’m here anytime.

Stacey Epstein:
Thanks, Amanda. Talk soon!