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 ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: September 22, 2026
Duration: 8m
Channel: YC Root Access
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

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

SPEAKERS

Diana Hu
host
Host on YC Root Access (Y Combinator) interviewing Confido’s founders.
Justin Hunter
guest
Cofounder of Confido, an AI “workforce” platform automating workflows for large CPG/consumer brands.
Kara Holinski
guest
Cofounder of Confido, speaking to the product/engineering-led approach and the company’s pivot and early workflow automation.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of YC Root Access, featuring Diana Hu and Justin Hunter, Automating Billion Dollar Brands explores confido sells AI agents to automate the operations of CPG giants Confido builds an AI agent “workforce” for consumer brands, automating workflows spanning accounting, sales planning, and operational planning using the brands’ retail data.

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