While You Sleep, My AI Agents Close Deals in China | Pactum | Kaspar Korjus | EP 105

As startups race to adopt AI, many enterprise leaders quietly admit they’re overwhelmed, underprepared, and unsure how to avoid becoming part of the 95% of failed AI initiatives. Kaspar Korjus isn’t one of them. In this conversation, he breaks down how his company scaled AI negotiation agents from an idea to an engine trusted by Walmart, BMW, Rolls-Royce, and global enterprises moving hundreds of billions through automated procurement. You'll hear the real story behind landing Walmart as an early customer, how founders should think about ICP discipline, the mechanics of scaling a global org across Estonia, Europe, and the US, and why freeing up mental bandwidth may be the most underrated executive skill in the AI era. Kaspar also opens up about fatherhood, burnout-proof leadership, and the unexpected truth about work-life performance when you’re running a 100M-funded scale-up. KEY DISCUSSION POINTS 00:00 — Welcome to Scaling Without Breaking 00:39 — The Walmart pitch that changed everything 01:12 — Building AI negotiation agents before it was cool 02:05 — Why 95% of AI initiatives fail—and why it doesn’t worry Kaspar 03:26 — Digital workforces + leveling the supplier playing field 05:16 — How AI is reshaping procurement at scale 06:26 — Founding story: from e-Residency to AI negotiations 08:15 — The Walmart negotiation—and what founders get wrong 10:10 — Non-linear negotiations & the myth of zero-sum deals 12:12 — Managing thousands of parallel negotiations 13:05 — Go-to-market strategy & landing enterprise early 14:45 — ICP discipline and the psychology of sales teams 16:02 — Hunters vs. farmers—when to split the sales org 17:12 — The shocking size of Factum’s marketing team 18:40 — Why the founder still needs to meet customers 20:05 — Avoiding “founder escalation chaos” 21:11 — Product vision: when (and how) to hire a CPO 23:18 — Europe vs. US founders—go-to-market mindsets 24:44 — How much should founders pre-sell? 26:19 — Driving internal AI adoption 27:46 — Creating a culture where people embrace agents 29:08 — The surprising internal use cases 30:03 — Estonia vs. US: building globally 31:22 — Remote culture done right 32:55 — Energy, trust, and the 90-day reset 33:19 — Childhood, Estonia, and early entrepreneurial patterns 35:19 — Family bankruptcy, tech, and resilience 36:28 — Fatherhood, Ironman training & CEO performance 38:11 — Creativity, mental space & leadership 39:56 — Books and influences 40:43 — How to reach Kaspar 41:23 — Closing thoughts A masterclass for founders, operators, and anyone trying to scale without breaking. Don’t forget to: 👍 Like if the conversation sparked new ideas 🔔 Subscribe for more high-caliber founder stories 🔗 Share this with a founder or operator who needs to hear it #AIProcurement #EnterpriseAI #StartupLeadership #ScalingCompanies #Automation #DigitalWorkforce #FounderStories #GoToMarketStrategy #ProcurementTech #AITransformation #LeadershipDevelopment #B2BTech #FutureOfWork