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ElevenLabs: Building an AI Sales Machine & Why We Set a 20x Sales Quota

Carles Reina is VP of Sales at ElevenLabs, where he was the first investor and fourth employee. Carles has scaled the revenue org from Day 1 to over $330M in just 3 years. Carles is also an active investor with investments in ElevenLabs, Revolut, Happy Robot and more. ----------------------------------------------- In this episode: 00:00 Intro 02:05 The new CRO playbook: how go-to-market has fundamentally changed 02:55 Why AI outbound tools don't work — and what ElevenLabs built instead 05:46 Will AI agents shrink sales teams? Carles' 50% productivity goal 06:41 Commission structures: ElevenLabs' 20x quota model explained 11:27 Hunters vs farmers, customer success as a revenue function 14:23 The myth of "one market at a time" & hiring experienced sellers 19:52 What didn't work: failed bets, the India reset & going back to zero 38:24 Does brand reduce enterprise sales cycles? 44:55 Hiring obsessed salespeople: spotting top talent in 20 minutes 59:41 Partner ecosystems: the biggest mistakes and how to do it right 01:09:22 Should operators also be investors? 01:20:06 Quick-Fire Round ----------------------------------------------- Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3j2KMcZTtgTNBKwtZBMHvl?si=85bc9196860e4466 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twenty-minute-vc-20vc-venture-capital-startup/id958230465 Follow Harry Stebbings on X: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Carles Reina on X: https://twitter.com/Carles_Reina Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vchq Follow 20VC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok Visit our Website: https://www.20vc.com Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/contact #20vc #harrystebbings #sales #elevenlabs

Carles ReinaguestHarry Stebbingshost
Apr 10, 20261h 25mWatch on YouTube ↗

At a glance

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

ElevenLabs CRO on AI-driven sales, comp design, and scaling playbooks

  1. Reina argues the CRO role has shifted from closing individual deals to architecting distribution systems that embed AI and enable “more with less.”
  2. He explains why most AI outbound/SDR tools fail (they’re transactional and spammy) and contrasts that with ElevenLabs’ internally-built AI agents that augment inbound, proposals/RFP work, and customer success.
  3. He details ElevenLabs’ compensation philosophy—high quotas (20x), strong accelerators, and commissions tied to real ARR (not pilots)—to drive elite performance without misaligned behavior.
  4. He frames go-to-market as portfolio construction: run many parallel experiments across markets and channels, accept failures quickly (e.g., India verticalization reset), and place bets for “revenues of tomorrow.”
  5. He highlights practical scaling lessons on brand’s impact on enterprise cycles, disciplined partner ecosystems (including CVC-led distribution), and hiring “obsessed” sellers with transparent performance visibility.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Most AI outbound fails because it optimizes transactions, not relationships.

Reina says generic AI SDR outreach treats everyone the same and is now easily detected and ignored, driving reply rates to near-zero; outbound only works “with humans or humanly,” tailored to how each prospect prefers to engage.

Build AI agents that augment workflows with context, not replace judgment.

ElevenLabs’ AI drafts customer-specific emails, scans RFPs/RFIs, and supports inbound handling; humans approve/edit, and outputs are stored for iterative fine-tuning, producing “human” specificity that can close deals.

Plan for a smaller, better-paid sales org by targeting ~50% productivity gains.

Rather than scaling headcount linearly, Reina wants fewer, more elite reps supported by AI—while still paying commissions on AI-assisted closes to keep incentives aligned with outcomes.

Use hard quotas plus accelerators, but avoid comp that creates perverse behavior.

ElevenLabs starts commissions around 5% and adds accelerators above quota, but warns that too many spiffs push reps to “sell the incentive” instead of the right deal; notably, they don’t pay commission on pilots.

Tie variable pay to valuation-driving revenue and expansion, not activity theater.

Reina frames $1M of revenue as massive valuation uplift and pays on signed annual (or longer) contracts and on retention/expansion (including longer windows for strategic accounts), aligning seller behavior with durable ARR.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

Outbound is dead unless you do it with humans or unless you do it humanly.

— Carles Reina

Customer success needs to be a money generation function for the business.

— Carles Reina

It’s impossible. It’s just impossible.

— Carles Reina

Traditional VCs… ‘one market at a time’… that’s the bullshit advice.

— Carles Reina

It takes fucking long time… if you think partners will be 20% of revenue in two quarters, you’re wrong.

— Carles Reina

Why AI outbound tools fail; “humanly” outboundInternal AI agents for inbound, proposals, and customer success50% sales productivity goal; smaller, higher-talent teams20x quota and commission/accelerator design; no commission on pilotsHunters vs farmers; CS as a revenue functionParallel market expansion vs “one market at a time”India reset: verticalization too early; pipeline constructionBrand as a sales-cycle reducer; blue-chip AI vendorsEnterprise dinners vs conferences; building owned eventsPartner ecosystems and CVCs as distributionHiring signals: obsession, energy, sharpness; 20-minute readOperators as investors; being helpful over check size

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