The archive · Developer & Business Tools · Product decision · 2021–2026
Starnus bets one AI sales coworker replaces the 5-tool outbound stack; PH #1
TU/e roboticists Mansourizadeh and Golahmadi pivoted to an AI 'sales employee' that runs outbound end-to-end; PH #1 Feb 2026, €7K MRR by March.
Starnus (Starnus Technology)
What the business is
Starnus sells an AI outbound sales platform where an autonomous agent named Starny takes a goal in plain language and runs end-to-end prospecting, personalized outreach and follow-up across email and LinkedIn, with SaaS tiers from €20/month and a managed service.
Starting capital：$200K raised as of its February 2026 listing (per EveryDev); bootstrapped sales from €20/month SaaS plus a managed outbound service.
How it started
Starnus Technology started in 2021 as a modular-robotics company born from the TU/e Apeiron Smart Systems student team, led by Khashayar Mansourizadeh (Eng.D in Smart Systems) and Ayda Golahmadi (PDEng, ex-Schneider Electric). Roughly a year before August 2024 the team concluded the robotics market was not moving fast enough, put hardware on hold and pivoted to AI software for complex business workflows — a decision that won the Golden Lightbulb (het Gouden Peertje), the Gerard & Anton awards' prize for the most promising young startup in the Eindhoven region, with an early pilot at logistics firm Rhenus.
What happened
The outbound product matured through 2024-2025, and on 2026-02-12 Starnus launched on Product Hunt, finishing #1 Product of the Day with 584 upvotes and 118 comments and #4 Product of the Week. By March 2026 the company reported €7K MRR plus new managed-service clients, then rebuilt onboarding, design and features after founders admitted users were getting lost in the product. EveryDev's February 2026 listing described users finding 186,000+ leads, 24 specialized agents, integrations with Unipile and Smartlead, and SaaS tiers from €20/month up to a $900/month managed outbound service.
How it ended up
Live with early revenue as of April 2026: €7K MRR in March, a rebuilt product, managed-service clients who 'just show up to close,' and founders describing the Product Hunt win as validation for a small team.
Background
Starnus Technology began in 2021 as a modular-robotics company out of Eindhoven University of Technology's Apeiron Smart Systems team. Co-founders Khashayar Mansourizadeh and Ayda Golahmadi held engineering doctorates and had built robots, but around 2023 they concluded the robotics market was not ready, put hardware on hold and pivoted to AI software that automates complex business workflows.
The pivot earned early legitimacy — the Golden Lightbulb (het Gouden Peertje), the Gerard & Anton awards' prize for the most promising young startup in the Eindhoven region, awarded in August 2024 while the team was piloting with logistics firm Rhenus. The company then focused its workflow automation on the job founders hate most: outbound sales, where a typical operator juggles lead databases, enrichment, email and LinkedIn tools.
Starnus sells an AI 'sales employee' called Starny. A founder describes the goal in a chat window; Starny defines the ICP, sources and enriches leads, writes personalized emails and LinkedIn messages, manages campaigns and flags hot replies, with SaaS tiers from €20/month plus a managed service that runs a client's full outbound operation.
On 2026-02-12 Starnus hit #1 Product of the Day on Product Hunt with 584 upvotes and 118 comments, finishing #4 Product of the Week. By March 2026 it reported €7K MRR and new managed-service clients — then publicly admitted users were getting lost in the product and rebuilt onboarding, design and features. As of April 2026 the small Eindhoven team is live, with validation in hand and retention as the open test.
What has to be true
- Pivot honesty: the founders built robots, saw the market wasn't ready, and redirected to software — an early decision to follow demand rather than their original product.
- Category wedge: instead of another sales-intelligence suite, Starnus sold a single autonomous agent that collapses five outbound tools into one chat, aimed at founders doing their own outbound.
- Two revenue motions: self-serve SaaS from €20/month plus a managed outbound service let the company monetize users who wanted the outcome without operating the tool.
- Proof via platform: a #1 Product Hunt day with 584 upvotes gave external validation and a wave of users to test the retention loop.
What can be applied
A winning launch does not remove the retention problem: Starnus got validation and users from a #1 Product Hunt day, then had to rebuild onboarding because its own product was too hard to use.
Aftermath
As of April 2026 Starnus is live: €7K MRR reached in March, new managed-service clients where Starnus runs full outbound, and a rebuilt product with new onboarding, design and features shipped after the founders acknowledged users were getting lost. EveryDev's February 2026 listing showed $200K raised, users finding 186,000+ leads, 24 specialized agents and integrations with Unipile and Smartlead, with notable customers InnoScale and Junnect. The open question is whether the post-launch rebuild converts Product Hunt attention into durable retention against well-funded rivals like Artisan.
Sources
- Starnus — Product Hunt Launch Dashboard
- Starnus — AI Agent for Outbound Sales
- Starnus Technology — Leadership and founding story
- From hardware to software: Starnus Technology wins The Golden Lightbulb
- Starnus Hits €7K MRR
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