The Future of Digital Workers

In this episode of AI + a16z, a16z Partner Joe Schmidt sits down with 11x CTO Prabhav Jain for an inside look at how AI-powered digital workers are reshaping sales and revenue operations. They discuss the evolution of agentic AI, the trade-offs between orchestration and autonomy, and the technical innovations driving 11x’s products, Alice and Mike.

Prabhav breaks down the challenges of real-time voice AI, the complexities of multimodal agent interactions, and why the future of enterprise AI is about delivering measurable customer outcomes—not just automation. They also dive into the fast-moving landscape of model providers, the impact of open-source AI, and how startups can stay ahead in an environment of constant technological change.

Plus, they explore 11x’s bold decision to re-architect its platform from the ground up, the lessons learned from scaling AI-powered sales automation, and what it takes to build truly effective digital workers.

Key Takeaways:
The difference between true AI agents and complex orchestrations—and why it matters.
How 11x built Alice and Mike to deliver human-like sales performance at scale.
The cutting-edge advancements shaping AI voice assistants and real-time multimodal interactions.
Lessons from rebuilding an AI platform while supporting a fast-growing customer base.
How AI startups can balance rapid iteration with long-term strategic bets.
For anyone interested in AI-powered automation, enterprise sales, or the future of digital work, this episode offers a front-row seat to the latest innovations pushing the boundaries of AI agents.

Learn more:

11x - https://www.11x.ai/

Follow everybody on X:

Prabhav Jain - https://x.com/prabhavjain

Joe Schmidt - https://x.com/joeschmidtiv?lang=en

Check out everything a16z is doing with artificial intelligence, including articles, projects, and more podcasts, here: https://a16z.com/ai/

Chapters:
0:00 - 00:14 | Intro
00:15 - 01:26 | 11x CTO Prabhav Jain Describes What AI Agentic Products Mean To Him
01:27 - 02:12 | Are AI Agentics More Effective Than Humans?
02:13 - 04:17 | 11x And What Products They’re Building Today
04:18 - 05:15| Where Do These Products Live?
05:16 - 08:13 | Market Evolutions, And The Decisions 11x Has Made Over The Last Year
08:14 - 11:01 | Product Rebuilds To Scale And The Challenges
11:02 - 12:40 | Architecting And Testing When Building New Products
12:41 - 13:50 | Performance And Data Determines Customer Outcome
13:51 - 16:46 | Staying On The Cutting Edge
16:47 - 17:56 | Building For Scale VS New Tools
17:57 - 19:08 | Solving Customer Pain Points And Feature Requests
19:09 - 20:29 | Multi Product Strategy And Validating PMF
20:30 - 21:14 | What He Would Have Changed When Determining PMF
21:15 - 23:37 | Design Decisions and The User Journey
23:38 - 25:49 | Hiring And Talent