When Monik Pamecha founded the start of AI Voice Volume At the beginning of 2024, he had not predicted to spend the summer months they were paid to Bible car representatives. He and co -founder Anthony Krivonos were still focusing on banking and healthcare customers when the delegates came to hit.
“As soon as they called us and said” we drown in phone calls “,” Pamecha described this initial contact in an interview with TechCrunch.
Seeing an opportunity to rotate in a much less regulated space than banking or healthcare, Pamecha and Krivonos created a test: they decided to call their vocal agent essentially every car dealership in the country many times. During a few weeks they found that these calls only took 45% of the time.
Co -founders pack their bags. And as well as some contemporary performance of the movie “Tommy Boy”, they began to navigate twelve car dealers in Oklahoma and Mississippi to better understand how these businesses operate. They took their hands dirty both virtual and literally. Pamecha said his wife was surprised by the fat stains on his clothes when he returned home.
This commitment has attributed. Not only did they win the customers, they got the full charm of the delegates. The founders shared homemade meals-a sometimes embarrassing but-Funny case that gave Pamecha vegetarianism, and were invited to browse the Corvette Museum. At least one representative still asked the founders of Toma to be highlighted in a width of shooting.
Seema Amble, a partner at the A16Z who drove the $ 17 million to date the $ 17 million that Toma said the couple “lived in these delegations effectively, going to these representatives’ family barbecue, realizing how they work.”
“We are investing in many of the next AI General Companies, many of the best founders as soon as they lived and breathe with these customers to understand what is happening under the hood,” he told TechCrunch. “There is no pun.”
Ideas from this trip helped Pamecha and Krivonos sharpen Toma Voice Agent on a tool already used in more than 100 dealerships across the country. AI helps customers plan an service appointment, handle parts orders, answer sales questions, and much more.
Along with the A16Z, Pamecha and Krivonos attracted investments from Y Combinator (created Toma in YC in January 2024), the Angels Angels Angels Fund and the influence of the Yossi Levi automaker, also known as the type of car dealerships.
Levi told TechCrunch that delegates are partially struggling because it is difficult to predict the volume.
“It enriches and flows, sometimes you are overwhelmed by demand. AI” gave representatives the opportunity to really standardize this process and offer a richer experience of customers that are consistent. ”
Pamecha said Toma’s boarding process involves training to a customer of delegates for a call for a week or two to give AI a frame. This is important because, while delegates do the same things, there may be a great deal of variation in the details. Some delegates may serve more diesel engines, for example. Representatives also make many custom offers for both sales and services.
After this initial explosion of training, Toma AI begins to receive calls, delivering to human employees if and when it gets stuck. These transfer calls are also analyzed in order to reinforce the AI model to help that dealership better. From the business side, Toma exploits a subscription model. As AI agents can handle more parts of a delegation’s activities, these delegates will have to pay for these additional opportunities.
Series A “comes in a wonderful time” for Toma, according to Pamecha. The start has only hired the first real sales employee in recent weeks. Before that, it was still largely Pamecha and Krivonos Hustling as they did throughout the country last summer.
Without this trip, however, Pamecha said he was not sure that Toma would have reached this point.
“It was one of the best experiences of my life,” he said. “I feel we all have become friends and I think everything comes from one place, feeling their pain. I think they see that we feel the pain too.”
