She got rejected by 22 VCs—then built 6sense to $100M+ in revenue. Now she's back for AI. | Amanda Kahlow, Founder of 1mind

She got rejected by 22 VCs—then built 6sense to $100M+ in revenue. Now she's back for AI. | Amanda Kahlow, Founder of 1mind

From A Product Market Fit Show | Startup Podcast for Founders by Mistral.vc

April 6, 2026 · 52 min · Season 5 · Episode 29

About this episode

Amanda Kahlow shares her journey from being rejected by VCs to building a successful AI startup.

Amanda spent 16 years running a services business for Cisco and Intel. When she tried to productize her business, 22 VCs rejected her. That became 6sense, a $200M ARR company. After stepping aside as CEO and taking five years off, she's back with an AI startup called 1 mind. In this episode, Amanda breaks down why she always goes enterprise-first when everyone tells her to start small, how she used an AI clone of herself to pitch 60 VCs and raise 1mind's Series A in three days, and why ...

People in this episode

Guest: Amanda Kahlow

Topics covered

  • venture capital
  • AI startups
  • entrepreneurship
  • business strategy
  • product development

Keywords

  • venture capital
  • AI
  • 6sense
  • 1mind
  • entrepreneurship
  • business strategy
  • productization

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Cisco, Intel, 6sense, 1mind

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