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Automating Billion Dollar Brands

Confido (YC S21) is building the AI workforce for consumer brands, automating everything from accounting to sales and demand planning. They work with brands like Olipop and Dude Wipes, as well as divisions of Mars and Unilever, and recently raised a $55 million Series B led by Insight. In this episode of Founder Firesides, Confido co-founders Justin Hunter and Kara Holinski join YC’s Diana Hu to discuss escaping pivot hell, landing their first customer with a Figma prototype, and winning seven-figure deals for AI that does the work. They also explain how they build without product managers. https://www.confidotech.com Chapters: 00:00 — Confido’s $55M Series B 00:27 — The AI Workforce for Consumer Brands 01:16 — A Year in Pivot Hell 02:26 — The Idea Hiding in Plain Sight 03:14 — Cold-Emailing the World’s Biggest Brands 04:11 — Landing the First Customer With Figma 04:39 — Why Consumer Brands Buy AI 05:27 — Letting Customers Drive the Roadmap 07:09 — The Value Behind Seven-Figure Deals 08:31 — The Vision for Confido 08:54 — Building Without Product Managers Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs

Diana HuhostJustin HunterguestKara Holinskiguest
Sep 22, 20268mWatch on YouTube ↗

At a glance

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Confido sells AI agents to automate the operations of CPG giants

  1. Confido builds an AI agent “workforce” for consumer brands, automating workflows spanning accounting, sales planning, and operational planning using the brands’ retail data.
  2. The company pivoted from a COVID-era fitness space concept to CPG automation after a prolonged “pivot hell,” prompted by strong validation from large brands responding rapidly to cold outreach.
  3. Early traction came from closing a first customer with a Figma prototype and expanding the product roadmap based on customer requests starting with data pulling and cash application automation.
  4. Confido wins deals by framing its product as replacing or augmenting labor—aligned with how CPGs already buy services—while delivering ROI across many P&L line items and improved reconciliation/forecasting outcomes.
  5. The team operates without product managers, emphasizing engineers who own customer-facing discovery through delivery, including onboarding and sales support.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Sell AI as work replacement, not as software, to unlock CPG budgets.

Confido positioned itself not as “new software,” but as an AI labor substitute/augmentation—matching how CPGs already buy help via BPOs, consultants, and brokers. That framing lowered adoption friction in a category perceived as “not tech-forward.”

A “plain sight” problem plus intense customer discovery can beat a flashier idea.

After abandoning “Outfit” (WeWork for fitness instructors), the founders spent roughly a year searching for direction until they recognized a problem they’d personally observed in consumer companies. The breakthrough came from validating quickly with large CPGs who were unusually eager to discuss their pain points.

Fast, high-engagement responses to cold outreach can be a strong market signal.

They cold-emailed major brands (e.g., Coca-Cola, Dr Pepper) and got rapid, long-form conversations, signaling severe operational pain and an underserved market. This de-risked the pivot before heavy building.

Prototype-to-contract is possible in enterprise if the pain is visceral.

Confido closed its first customer using a Figma prototype before writing code, proving willingness to pay and clarifying which workflows mattered first. Early scope started with portal-hopping data pulls and cash application/accounting automation, then expanded based on customer pull.

The moat is cross-workflow automation powered by unique retail data, not a better database.

They argue classic ERPs (and Excel/point tools) don’t create a cohesive, automated, agent-driven data flow across functions. Confido’s differentiation is using retail data to automate and drive decisions across accounting, sales planning, and operations in one platform.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

So we went through a long, long pivot hell.

— Kara Holinski

It was an idea that was hiding in plain sight.

— Justin Hunter

We sent them cold emails, and they responded within a couple of days.

— Justin Hunter

We actually closed our first customer with a Figma, so prior to writing a single line of code.

— Kara Holinski

So we can touch almost every line item on the P&L.

— Justin Hunter

$55M Series B and growth milestonePivot from Outfit to ConfidoCold-email customer discovery with major CPGsClosing first customer with a Figma prototypeAI agents for accounting and cash applicationSales/ops planning and forecasting modernizationSix- and seven-figure deal value tied to P&L impact and engineer-led product ownership

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