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For Sebastian Jimenez (CAS ‘18), the most valuable business insights aren’t written on a whiteboard — they’re spoken in the field. As the founder and CEO of Rilla, Sebastian is on a mission to transform how companies understand and improve their frontline sales conversations. His journey from NYU undergraduate to startup founder and industry innovator reflects the power of listening — not just to customers, but to your own instincts as an entrepreneur.
From NYU Classrooms to Startup Dreams
As a student in NYU CAS, Sebastian studied economics and philosophy, two disciplines that fueled his fascination with human behavior and decision-making. But it wasn’t just theory that captured his attention. Sebastian had a deep curiosity about how businesses work in the real world — how they scale, sell, and serve customers.
That curiosity eventually led him to the NYU Summer Launchpad accelerator. There, Sebastian began turning his ideas into action. During the program, he developed the early vision for what would become Rilla: a platform built to unlock the “black box” of in-person sales interactions. Through intensive mentorship, customer discovery, and early-stage experimentation, SLP helped Sebastian validate his idea and lay the groundwork for growth.
Rilla: Speech Analytics for the Real World
Sebastian noticed a critical blind spot in many organizations: they had no scalable way of understanding what was happening in face-to-face sales conversations — the interactions that ultimately drive revenue.
Unlike call centers or digital platforms, field sales teams — those who sell in-person in homes, stores, or job sites — have historically been invisible to data. Managers couldn’t track what was being said in customer interactions, which made coaching and performance improvement guesswork at best.
Rilla changes that.
The platform uses AI-powered speech analytics to automatically capture, transcribe, and analyze sales conversations conducted face-to-face — using just a smartphone. This enables sales managers to hear what top performers are saying, identify patterns across teams, and coach reps with real data. Rilla’s software not only helps teams close more deals, it also saves time and increases transparency across the sales process.
(L-R) Rilla Co-Founders Michael Castellanos and Sebastian Jimenez (CAS '18)
Backed by Investors, Built for Scale
Rilla’s potential has caught the attention of the venture capital world. In 2022, the company raised a $3.7 million seed found round led by Crew Capital, a firm co-founded by the creators of Klarna. The funding has helped Rilla expand its engineering team, deepen its AI capabilities, and scale its reach across industries like home services, retail, and energy.
With customers across the country and growing demand for tools that empower frontline teams, Rilla is poised to redefine how companies support and scale in-person sales operations.
Giving Back to NYU's Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
Despite the demands of running a fast-growing startup, Sebastian remains closely connected to the NYU entrepreneurial ecosystem that helped launch his journey. This summer, he returns once again as a guest speaker for the Summer Launchpad accelerator to share his wisdom with a new generation of founders.
In candid Ask-Me-Anything sessions, he shares the highs, lows, and lessons of building a company from scratch.
Turning Conversations Into Innovation
Sebastian's story — from philosophy student to Forbes-featured founder — is a reminder that listening is a superpower. With Rilla, he’s giving companies the ability to listen to what matters most: the conversations their teams are having every day, face-to-face with customers.
And by mentoring NYU founders, Sebastian is making sure more great ideas get heard — and built — from the ground up.
To stay up to date on Rilla, follow them on LinkedIn!
