Pinkfish Assists Companies in Developing AI Agents with NLP

# ai # Talkdesk

As the chief product officer at AI customer service startup Talkdesk, Charanya "CK" Kannan pointed out that enterprises often express a desire to automate various workflows, but the reality of implementing AI is tough. Many of these companies are stuck with outdated, clunky software that lacks APIs, making the task of automation a low priority for their IT teams. "Every company we spoke with had between 50 to 1,000 automation requests sitting in their backlog, just gathering dust," Kannan (seen on the right in the picture above) shared with TechCrunch. "It's ridiculous. In today's world, you shouldn't be stuck with a backlog of 1,000 automation items. You should be able to tackle them quickly." This insight sparked the creation of Kannan's new venture, Pinkfish, which helps enterprises create AI agents and other AI-powered workflows using simple natural language prompts. The software integrates with over 200 systems, including Salesforce and Zendesk, and emphasizes deterministic execution, ensuring consistent results from the same user prompt. Kannan explained that Pinkfish takes a unique approach when selling to enterprises. Rather than promising to automate all workflows at once, Pinkfish encourages companies to start small, automating just one or two processes initially. "They begin with one or two, then expand to four, then ten, then twenty, and ideally, they'll reach 1,000 automations through Pinkfish," she said. This strategy has proven effective. Pinkfish quietly launched in January 2024 with Kannan as CEO and Ben Rigby as chief product and technology officer (CPTO). The company targets sectors like retail and services and has already attracted hundreds of users and enterprise clients, including Ipsy, Elevate, and Talkdesk. Kannan emphasized that while many automation startups aim to streamline less critical tasks like market research or lead generation, Pinkfish focuses on essential, mission-critical workflows. She cited Ipsy, a makeup subscription service, as an example. Ipsy used Pinkfish to automate its price request feature, which previously required a three-person team to handle manually, even during off-hours. Now, Pinkfish manages the entire process. "It's absolutely critical," Kannan stated. "If Pinkfish messes up, your prices won't be on your website, and you'll miss out on sales." Pinkfish recently announced it's coming out of stealth mode and has secured a $7.6 million pre-seed round, led by Norwest Venture Partners, with contributions from Storm Ventures and angel investors. Scott Beechuk, a partner at Norwest who will join Pinkfish's board, told TechCrunch he's known Kannan since her days at Talkdesk and often sought her advice for various Norwest portfolio companies. Beechuk is excited to invest in Pinkfish because he believes Kannan and Rigby have a solid grasp of both the technology and their target market, setting them apart in the competitive AI agent field. "They're launching with major clients and paying customers who are seeing real returns on their investment," Beechuk said. "With seed-stage companies, it can take years to see tangible ROI." Kannan believes Pinkfish stands out from competitors by allowing customers to use natural language prompts while leveraging full code in the background to build AI workflows. She noted that while low-code solutions were popular and still used by some competitors, she considers them outdated and restrictive in today's fast-paced environment. "Companies don't want to be limited to pre-coded options," she said. "They want a solution that provides full-code capabilities with a user-friendly interface." As the AI agent market becomes increasingly saturated, Kannan hopes this approach will resonate with businesses. "How can we deliver real value to mission-critical, complex use cases? By anchoring our solution with agents and determinism, and offering a single platform with the necessary safeguards for all these integrations," Kannan explained. "These are the areas where we're thinking differently." *TechCrunch has an AI-focused newsletter! Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Wednesday.*

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