Welcome to GTM Vault, where 20,000+ founders and revenue leaders decode the playbooks behind B2B’s fastest-growing companies.
This week: I sat down with Jan Heimes and Onur Eken, co-founders of Needle-AI.com, to unpack how they raised $2.2M to help orgs become AI-enabled in just one day.
Their pitch?
AI that feels like an intern, not a chatbot.
Needle connects to your stack (HubSpot, Notion, Gmail, etc.) and executes real work — no prompt engineering required.
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🔦 This Week’s Spotlight
Needle AI is rethinking how work gets done. Instead of building another AI wrapper, they’re creating a fully-integrated execution layer — one that connects across your stack and just works.
Here’s how they’re pulling it off:
→ ⚡ Ready in a Day: OAuth into your tools. Ask questions. Execute actions. Done.
→ 🤝 Human Co-Pilot, Not Replacement: Augments ops, sales, and marketing — not strategy.
→ 🧱 Clean Code = Speed: Modular architecture = integrations in days, not weeks.
→ 🛠️ From RAG API to Platform: Started as infra, evolved into a “cursor for your business.”
→ 🧠 UX > Features: Shelfware is the enemy. They obsess over time-to-‘aha.’
🎯 5 Tactical Takeaways (Steal These)
1️⃣ Build the Intern, Not the Overlord
Needle handles work, not strategy. It’s your co-pilot — not your boss.
2️⃣ Execution Wins Funding
They didn’t pitch vision. They shipped product and showed momentum.
3️⃣ General Tool, Specific Value
It works across sales, ops, and marketing — with daily usage.
4️⃣ Price = Signal
They qualify real demand with paid POCs and sample users.
5️⃣ Bottom-Up Meets Top-Down
Free tier for grassroots pull. Outbound to decision-makers. Full-stack GTM.
📚 GTM Toolkit: This Week’s Top Reads
→ The GTM Debug Framework Every AI Startup Should Know
Use this first-principles framework to trace stalled growth back to its true source — and fix it before sales takes the blame.
Read now →
→ 100 AI Agents That Will Redefine Your GTM Strategy in 2025
Explore the frontier of AI agents reshaping sales, marketing, and product — including use cases that mirror Needle’s intern model.
Read now →
→ AI Is Rewriting the GTM Org
How AI changes roles, replaces manual processes, and rewires the org chart — a must-read if you're designing your future GTM stack.
Read now →
📲 Stay Connected:
YouTube | Instagram | Apple Podcasts | Spotify
“It’s not overhyped. AI is still underhyped — because we’re just scratching the surface.”
— Jan Heimes, CEO of Needle
Until next time,
— The GTM Vault Team
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