Yoodli AI Roleplaying is Rewriting the GTM Playbook

Co-authored with Peter Kim, Head of GTM, WestBridge Capital

I’ve always loved role playing…in a professional context.

From the early days of my professional career, I’ve found role playing to be an invaluable tool to prepare, improve, and get comfortable talking about something new, even if most people dread it. It’s awkward, it’s exposing, and can sometimes be cringey, too. But that discomfort is where real learning happens. I still use role play today as part of my management playbook to help myself or others improve competence around a specific topic or situation.

When I ran sales, training usually followed a predictable pattern: big classroom sessions to roll out new messaging, followed by small-group breakouts to role play the talk track. If you’ve worked on a sales team anytime in the last 20 years, you’ve probably experienced this same framework. The problem is that the model hasn’t evolved very much, and it’s often a one-time enablement push with very little reinforcement afterward.

My best managers were exceptional coaches, but ongoing 1:1 development is hard to scale. It’s time-intensive, inconsistently delivered, and often gets deprioritized in favor of competing priorities. That’s why I find what’s happening with AI so exciting.

AI is already reshaping how GTM teams train and build skills. When I logged into Yoodli and ran my first AI role play, I was floored. It was clear to me how big a game changer this is going to be.  The role play agents were dynamic, realistic, and credible.  The response latency is so low that you can carry on a very natural conversation. It all felt surprisingly normal. Once I got past my surprise, I slipped right into flow just like any other role play session.

And here’s the unexpected part: I felt less self-conscious being judged by an AI agent versus a colleague. Vulnerability in the workplace is not something most people embrace. Practicing with AI removes the usual fear of judgment, nurturing a new psychological safety that allows people to be more open, try new things, make mistakes, and ultimately learn faster.

For enablement and L&D teams, I could see this being even more transformative. These teams play a critical role in preparing organizations for the future, but they’re often constrained by time, resources, and bandwidth. An AI platform like Yoodli allows them to deliver more consistent and scalable training without these traditional limitations.

And for managers, the leverage is enormous. Great managers coach, but coaching takes time that’s often consumed by other priorities. Offloading parts of the practice to AI gives managers the space to focus on the high-value work: reinforcing insights, developing talent, and raising the bar for the entire team. AI won’t replace great managers. It will finally give them the bandwidth to be great more often!

AI role play isn’t just another enablement tool. It’s becoming a new layer of the GTM tech stack, and I think it’s one that enables real behavioral change across the org.

We’re early…but the implications are massive. Soon, practicing with AI won’t feel novel. It’ll just be how high-performing teams get better. I’m excited by what I see today powering what will be possible tomorrow. Buckle up!

–Peter Kim, Head of GTM, WestBridge Capital