In an era where automation is rapidly taking over customer interactions, FullyRamped, a Silicon Valley startup, is taking a different approach. Instead of replacing sales representatives with AI, the company uses AI to upskill sales teams through interactive role-play sessions. With its unique offering, the startup has successfully raised $2.3 million in pre-seed funding, led by BoxGroup, MaC Venture Capital, and NOMO Ventures, with additional backing from Greylock and Sequoia’s scout funds. The funding will be used to expand the team, refine the product, and scale the company’s go-to-market strategy.
Practice Prospects: AI Role-Play for Sales Reps
At the heart of FullyRamped’s platform is its AI-powered “Practice Prospects”, a set of customizable personas designed to help sales representatives hone their skills in a simulated environment. These AI-driven personas mimic real sales conversations, allowing reps to practice their pitches and objection-handling techniques without the pressure of burning real leads. The platform uses real-time voice AI, offering natural conversations with minimal latency, giving companies a controlled and scalable way to integrate AI into their sales training processes.
By providing infinite practice opportunities, sales teams can quickly refine their skills, ensuring they are battle-ready when engaging with real customers. The system eliminates the need for time-consuming role-play sessions with managers or teammates, thus streamlining the training process and improving conversion rates when reps transition to real sales calls.
The Vision Behind FullyRamped
FullyRamped was founded by Aaron Marks, a Stanford engineer with expertise in Natural Language Processing (NLP). Before launching FullyRamped, Marks held senior positions at Skiff (acquired by Notion in 2024) and Verkada, where he gained insights into the challenges of sales training. His vision for FullyRamped began as a prototype that allowed sales reps to call live phone numbers to practice cold calling. This prototype laid the groundwork for the company’s AI-driven training platform.
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Reflecting on the platform’s development, Marks shared, “The best part was using it myself; I learned how to sell FullyRamped over the phone, by using my own product.”
Transforming Traditional Sales Training
Sales training is traditionally done through internal sales academies, which often require significant time and financial investment. FullyRamped introduces AI to this traditional process, reducing the ramp time for new sales representatives while minimizing the number of leads lost during training. The platform enhances key metrics, such as the conversation-to-meeting-booked ratios, by providing reps with more focused and effective practice sessions.
However, FullyRamped’s platform doesn’t aim to replace traditional methods. Instead, it complements role-play exercises conducted by managers, providing a comprehensive solution that equips junior sales teams with the skills they need to succeed in high-stakes B2B conversations.
“Our goal is to help companies develop their human capital,” Marks said. “We believe that AI is a tool that will be used by humans, not replace them. People still prefer talking to people, especially in high-stakes B2B sales conversations.”
Rapid Growth and Early Adoption
Despite launching just a few months ago, FullyRamped already has paying customers, particularly in the tech-sales sector. Technology companies with sales-led models have adopted the platform to onboard and train their Sales Development Representatives (SDRs), reporting strong results. The company has experienced promising growth and is positioning itself to expand into new industries and markets.
While FullyRamped’s current focus is on tech sales, Marks envisions the platform evolving to serve all customer-facing roles. “When you build software, you would never test in production,” Marks explained. “So, why don’t we give everyone with a ‘people-job’ a staging environment too?”
The Future of Sales Training and AI in Business
FullyRamped is poised to play a pivotal role in the future of AI-assisted business training, enabling companies to scale human interaction without sacrificing quality. As the company continues to grow, it aims to equip customer-facing employees with the tools and confidence they need to navigate high-pressure situations.
David Tisch, managing partner at BoxGroup, expressed excitement about FullyRamped’s future: “FullyRamped has identified a clear market need and built a solution with the potential to redefine the way we do business. We’re excited by Aaron and his vision for the future.”
Adrian Fenty, founding managing partner at MaC Venture Capital, added, “FullyRamped is poised to be one of the breakthrough voice-first agentic platforms. Aaron’s vision for AI role-play has great potential for augmenting, not replacing, a large share of human work.”
Conclusion
As FullyRamped continues to expand, the startup is set to revolutionize sales training and empower customer-facing employees across various industries. With its unique approach to AI role-play and a commitment to augmenting human work, FullyRamped is creating a new paradigm for developing skills in an increasingly automated world.
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