Outbound AI uses Trelliswork to improve cross-team collaboration

Navigating Startup Growth at Outbound AI

After completing its seed funding in June 2023, Outbound AI was poised for rapid growth, which Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Jonathan Wiggs, knew would require more sophisticated tools and processes across the engineering and product teams. “We were planning to increase our headcount quite significantly and we had very aggressive goals, which meant our productivity and efficiency had to be optimized,” said Wiggs. As is typical of an early-stage tech startup, Outbound AI needed to meet the expectations of many different stakeholders, including investors, Board members, customers and partners. They turned to Trelliswork as a means for elevating collaboration, establishing clear accountabilities and tracking performance.

Before Trelliswork: The Challenge of Scaling

Before Trelliswork, the onus fell on Outbound AI’s team leaders to remember everything that needed attention, which in a fast-paced startup environment meant some items inevitably fell through the cracks. Alyse Luedke, Director of Product Management, could see the writing on the wall in terms of scalability. “Meetings can quickly overwhelm a work day, and seeing invitations land on your calendar with no information other than a non-descript title can be distressing,” said Luedke. The difficulties associated with multiple meetings was compounded when objectives weren’t clear on the front end and action items weren’t well established on the back end.

Creating a Foundation for Team Operations with Trelliswork

The first phase of implementing Trelliswork at Outbound AI involved one-on-one sessions between team leaders and their direct reports. “The one-on-ones were very well received and quite frictionless,” said Mitch Rawlins, Director of Engineering. Trelliswork brought an elevated level of structure and created a space where team leaders and their direct reports could add topics, review previous meetings and assign action items at any time. Team members arrived prepared and in sync and left feeling like their voices were heard and their needs addressed. “In startup mode, finding time to learn a new tool can be difficult, but Trelliswork easily fit into our operations,” said Rawlins.