Two years ago, we started building our sales team at lemlist.
We tested dozens of tools to record calls, get transcriptions, and coach the team.
Each had its strengths and weaknesses.
Then we tried Claap, and the product was years ahead.
- Fully self-service, no need to talk to sales
- Able to record meetings without a bot — completely invisible
- High-fidelity transcription that just worked
We started building use cases around it.
Automatically qualifying deals based on recordings.
Pre-filling the CRM with insights from calls.
When we discovered the team behind Claap was only seven people, we thought, “This is insane. More sales teams need to know about this.”
So I reached out to Robin, Claap’s CEO, to ask if he’d be open to joining forces.
He wasn’t planning to sell at the time.
But after a few conversations, we realized we shared the same vision, the same ambition, and that together, we could create the next global leader in sales technology.
This is our story.
Meet Claap, the challenger redefining AI sales conversations
Claap is an incredible AI-powered conversation intelligence platform.
It helps sales teams:
- Record any meeting, even without a bot
- Get ultra-accurate transcripts
- Automatically capture key insights with ready-made templates (like MEDDIC or SPICED)
- Fill the CRM automatically with the right qualification data — no manual input needed
- Ask any questions to AI to get ready-to-use insights about your customers, prospects or even competitors
In short, it does the heavy lifting after every sales conversation.
So sales reps can focus on what matters most: talking to prospects, booking meetings, and moving deals forward.
Not writing notes. Not filling out CRMs.
Which, let’s be honest, rarely do well; and I get why: it’s annoying and not where they create most value.
We chose Claap because we fell in love with the product and the team
Our first discussions with Robin started back in May.
By June, we knew there was something special.
A few months later, we signed the deal.
And there are three big reasons we made this move.
1. We fell in love with the product.
Two years ago, we started testing Claap to record our meetings.
We’d tried all the tools out there, but Claap just felt different.
Today, 130 people at lemlist use it, not because we asked them to, but because they love it.
From calls with users and prospects to interviews and partner meetings, it became part of our workflow naturally.
Fun fact: Claap’s product is so good that when we tell people Claap only has 7 employees, no one believes us.
2. We clicked with the founders.
Robin and Pierre built something remarkable with a tiny team.
They share the same ambition we have: to build the most loved and impactful sales product out there.
We also share the same belief: the future of sales is AI-powered, not AI-replaced.
They move fast, listen to users, and act on feedback.
They care deeply about value and execution, just like we do.
3. We saw a perfect fit.
Both lemlist and Claap serve the same audience: sales teams from 1 to 100 reps.
And both believe AI can make sales smarter, not colder.
We have the same ambition to create the next generation of tools for sales teams: modern, easy-to-use, connected and built for users not decision makers.
The result: an 8-digit, self-financed acquisition, proof that a bootstrapped company can still play big.
We even competed with a billion-dollar AI company to make this happen.
But in the end, it wasn’t about money.
It was about fit, vision, and trust.
Our long-term vision: move from “Spray & pray” Outbound to “Smartbound”
If you’ve worked in sales recently, you’ve seen it.
Prospecting has become a numbers game.
Thousands of emails. Endless sequences. Hoping something sticks.
The result?
Inboxes are flooded, reply rates drop, and everyone loses.
We believe that era is over.
The next generation of sales will be all about reaching out to the right person, at the right time, on the right channel.
We call it Smartbound.
To make that happen, you need signals: external and internal.
External signals like funding rounds or hiring trends.
Internal signals like past discussions, meeting notes, and objections your team heard months ago.
That’s where Claap comes in.
Claap captures every insight from your calls and meetings.
lemlist turns those insights into the perfect next step.
Imagine this:
You end a call, and the prospect says, “Call me back when you have this feature.”
Claap captures it.
lemlist automatically creates a follow-up task, no notes, no manual work.
Or before reaching out to a prospect, you instantly see every past conversation your company had with them.
You know who they spoke to, what they said, and when to re-engage.
Then AI helps you craft the perfect message to get a reply.
That’s Smartbound: sales action triggered by real signals, not guesswork.
Why context DOES matter in sales?
When I was COO at Skello, I managed 100 reps.
We were calling all day, but nobody updated the CRM. When someone left and a new rep called the same prospect again, it was like starting from zero.
With Claap, that context is never lost. You already know the person’s name. You know they co-own the business with someone else. You have a reminder from three months ago that says, “Call back in October, they’re closed for the off-season.”
Instead of another cold call, you start a real conversation, and that’s what makes the difference between losing and winning a deal.
Together with Claap, we’re building the European champion of AI for sales. A real alternative to the giants dominating our space.
Smartbound is our answer to the chaos of modern outreach. Less noise. More relevance. Sales teams powered by data, timing, and context, not volume.
We’re shaping a new standard for how B2B teams generate pipeline and close deals.
What’s in it for our customers tomorrow?
Merging two products takes R&D, and we want to do it the right way, step by step, guided by user feedback.
Here’s what’s coming first:
1. Claap access for lemlist users.
We’ll bring Claap’s recording and transcription features to our community, with preferred pricing.
That means you’ll:
- Stop losing context from past calls
- Save hours of manual note-taking
- Get AI-powered summaries and insights connected to your outreach
- Fill your CRM with key information automatically
2. Deeper product integration.
Soon, Claap and lemlist will connect directly. You’ll be able to:
- Automatically create follow-up tasks in lemlist from Claap conversations
- See context and AI recommendations for every prospect or company, based on past discussions
It’s one of the best sales recording tools out there, and now it’s part of your toolkit.
We’re starting a new chapter. Not just for lemlist, but for every sales team that wants to work smarter.
To everyone building, selling, and hustling out there: thank you for being part of this journey.
We can’t wait to show you what’s next.
Charles
