How Yoodli is Turning Communications into Every Worker’s Superpower, with AI Roleplay
Great public speakers, salespeople, and organizational leaders know that their ability to communicate effectively with confidence and charisma gives them an edge. Whether it is delivering a powerful speech to a large audience, smashing a job interview, pitching a potential buyer persuasively, or effectively training team members at work, communications skills can make all the difference between winning and losing.
Historically, there weren’t many great ways to develop communication superpowers before putting them to the test in real life. The vital combination of message, content structure, body language, and pacing could only be nurtured with the help of a private coach or perhaps by joining a public speaking club. The strategy for most people, therefore, was confined to “practicing in front of a mirror” or worse yet—just ”winging it.”
Former Google and Apple product leaders Varun Puri and Esha Joshi asked “why?” We have batting cages for baseball players and flight simulators for pilots. Why isn’t there an accessible way for business people to develop the world-class skills they need to excel at high-stakes business communications? And just like that, Yoodli was born.
Yoodli introduces an entirely new category of workplace learning it calls AI Roleplay. The platform is built around hyper-realistic, generative AI-powered simulations of sales pitches, manager training, media interviews, and much more. In contrast to passive formats like slide decks and training videos that are used in most workplace learning scenarios today, each Yoodli role-play session is a real-time, fully customizable, and judgment-free opportunity for learners to perfect their pitch content, overcome objections, and improve their delivery. Learners can customize the persona they’re speaking to in order to develop conversational “muscle memory” for every imaginable scenario—“a nuanced sales conversation with a health care executive who champions innovation but needs data-driven assurance before advocating to the CFO,” for example.
The AI Roleplay approach offers a repeatable, consistent, and scalable way for organizations to elevate their workforce’s high-stakes conversations skills. Use cases range from enterprise tech to education to healthcare. And the need for such an effective, scalable solution has led to its adoption by thousands of users at Google, Databricks, RingCentral, BDO, Snowflake, Sandler, Toastmasters, and many more.
We are excited to work with the Yoodli team. Our connection with Varun goes back nearly a decade to our time together at Google, where he led special projects for Sergey Brin. Varun is driven by a profound vision for transformative communications. His high integrity, radical candor, and personal resilience make him a stand-out leader. Esha brings a passionate “why” to the table—to help women speak with confidence across industries and use cases. Her combined background of software development and public speaking (including a role at TedX) give her unique competencies for Yoodli’s mission.
The opportunity here is unlimited. Sales enablement and go-to-market use cases alone are a multi-billion dollar opportunity. But we all know someone who could benefit from Yoodli. As inherently human as is the art of communication, most of us struggle frequently to communicate confidently and effectively. By changing the way that organizations approach workplace learning, Yoodli is empowering a much-needed evolution in how human beings communicate worldwide.
Please join us in welcoming Yoodli to the tribe!