Three Cork-based teenage entrepreneurs have launched Kríos, an AI-powered platform enabling sales representatives to practise customer conversations and receive instant coaching feedback, as reported by Think Business, with pilot programmes already under way with initial customers in the solar, telecommunications and home security sectors.

Kríos was founded by Ahroon Santhosh and Abraham Kurian, both 17, and Michael Sweeney, 18, who serves as CTO. The company plans to expand into the UK and US markets, where high-volume outbound sales models remain common.

The platform emerged from the founders' own experience selling products door to door during Ireland's Student Enterprise Mini Company programme. Their previous venture, Tie Towel, generated €4,000 in sales and won Best Innovation, Best Sales, first place regionally and third place nationally, also earning the team an all-expenses-paid trip to Colorado State University through the Global Business Academy programme.

Santhosh said the idea for Kríos arose from reflecting on the gap between their commercial results and the quality of their sales training. "Even with those wins, we weren't happy with how bad we actually were at door-to-door sales, our conversion rate was low," he said. "We were walking through one of the estates we used to sell in, reminiscing, and that's where the idea for Kríos started: how do we actually train people to do this well?"

The platform allows sales representatives to engage in conversations with customised AI personas replicating real customer interactions. Its AI coaching assistant, Nyx, provides a detailed debrief after each session, identifying areas for improvement. Managers can create bespoke customer personas, adjust objections to mirror real-world scenarios and access call analysis dashboards without sitting in on individual calls.

Kríos integrates with CRM platforms including HubSpot and Salesforce, allowing training exercises to reflect company-specific sales environments. Nyx can also analyse live sales calls and provide coaching feedback based on real customer interactions.

The company is supported by Republic of Work, the Cork-based entrepreneurship hub, the Tech Industry Alliance and its Local Enterprise Office. It has also received a US$4,500 (€3,780) ElevenLabs Start-up Grant to develop its voice models and roleplay capabilities.

Despite interest from venture capitalists, the team is focused on customer development and product refinement rather than pursuing an investment round. Santhosh said the founders are concentrating on proving their technology before expanding beyond Ireland.