Origami, a San Francisco-based startup backed by Y Combinator, has launched a conversational AI prospecting product that generates sales lead lists from plain-English prompts and sells access via a flat monthly subscription.
Positioned as an alternative to spreadsheet-heavy workflows and database-led sales intelligence tools, the product offers a chat-style interface. Users type requests for specific company and contact profiles and receive a list of leads, according to the product description.
Pricing starts at USD $80 per month with a flat plan rather than a per-seat fee. Output is described as a "ready-to-work lead list" delivered within minutes.
Chat-led workflow
Origami presents the product as a replacement for early-stage sales development tasks such as finding target accounts, enriching records with contact details, and filtering prospects based on fit and signals. The interface is designed to feel more like consumer messaging than traditional sales software.
The pitch targets a market that has expanded quickly over the past two years as sales teams adopt tools for prospect research and enrichment. Clay, Apollo, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and ZoomInfo are among the established names. Clay is widely used for enrichment workflows that combine multiple data sources, while Apollo and ZoomInfo are often used as large databases of contacts and companies.
Origami argues that database-led systems work well in some segments but fall short when companies have limited digital footprints or when users want more signal-based prospecting. It says Apollo and ZoomInfo rely on indexed corporate profiles and LinkedIn-derived contact data, which can produce limited results for local businesses, small and medium-sized companies, and niche verticals.
According to its product outline, Origami takes a different approach, conducting real-time research across more than 15 data sources. These include permits, job postings, review sites, local directories, LinkedIn, and "tech stack signals." It also highlights built-in signal prospecting based on funding, hiring, and news.
Early uptake
Origami reported organic growth in January and February 2026 and said it had no paid marketing spend during that period. It said it surpassed 1,000 signups in February after ranking as "Product of the Day" on Product Hunt.
The company also reported "multiple unsolicited enterprise inquiries" within the first weeks after launch and said some free users converted to paid plans during onboarding.
Origami pointed to anecdotal feedback from early adopters comparing the product favourably with existing prospecting tools. "We were previously using Clay to generate lead lists - this is wayyyyy easier to use," said Venkat Arun, Co-founder of Datafruit.
Others framed it in terms of Clay's perceived complexity. "It's like if Clay didn't need a whole university course to use," said Iskander, creator of CreateWithPlay.
Another quote positioned it as a category shift. "Origami is what happens when you take Clay's power and remove the university degree it requires to use it - and early users are already calling it the end of spreadsheet-based prospecting," the press brief said.
Competitive claims
Several quotes included direct comparisons with rivals and claims about data coverage. "Man this has to be one of the coolest pieces of GTM tech I've used. Zero issues so far and pulling a lot more people than ZoomInfo was, even with same filters," said Lewis Starrett, business development at Matey.Ai.
One user cited a use case involving employment-status searches. "Tried both Sales Navigator and Apify for finding people with 'open to work' but couldn't - Origami was able to," said Bilal Yousuf, Co-founder and CEO of LineSight.
Origami also highlighted user claims of direct commercial impact. "We just closed a partnership from a lead we got from Origami," said Joseph Risi of MDRC.
Another quote suggested potential scale of return, though it was not independently verified. "Probably unlocked a few million in spend via that list made from Origami. So yeah, that's some good return on it," said Osiris, Founding Sales and Growth at Affiniti.
The company said it has seen product-led virality inside teams, with trial users inviting colleagues. "Can't tell you how Origami has blown my mind since I started looking into it last night. I have 3-4 other colleagues that will be signing up soon for the trial," said Kevin Brown, VP/GM of the QP Hydraulics Division at Prince Industries.
Founders and build
Origami was founded by Finn Mallery (Co-founder and CEO), Kenson Chung (Co-founder and President), and Rahul Chandler (CTO). The founding engineering team includes Austin Kennedy, Bram Lebovitz, Sunny Chung, Charlie Mallery, and Anders Groeschel, according to the company.
The product's "conversational prospecting" framing focuses on reducing the need for complex tables and filter logic in early sales research. The company is betting that many sales teams will prefer asking for leads in plain language rather than managing a multi-step enrichment workflow across several tools.
"The founders call it 'conversational prospecting' - the spreadsheet is still there, but the AI does the work," the company said.
Origami said it is receiving enterprise interest early in its launch cycle and expects more evaluations against incumbent prospecting and enrichment products as adoption grows.