Our Story
Work today has no limits. Our success depends less on where we are and more on having impact wherever we are — and these days that’s often through video communications.
The trouble is, we all have blind spots that keep us from showing our full professional selves on video calls.
That’s why we started Virtual Sapiens. Our suite of AI solutions empower entire teams to uplevel their presence and communication. We show the “you” others see through the screen. Through our industry-leading expertise in non-verbal, verbal and vocal elements of communication, we leverage cutting-edge computer vision to reveal what’s hidden and help entire teams rewire behavior for stronger presence on screen, and off.
Our Vision
A world fueled by real human connection, on screen, and off.
Our Mission
To help teams uplevel communication skills through personalized feedback at scale.
We believe:
- What’s not said, is as important as what is
- All levels of employees deserve to feel competent as communicators
- Revealing communication blindspots is essential to building trust, confidence and impact
Leadership Team
Rachel Cossar
CO-FOUNDER & CEO
Rachel Cossar is a leader in the field of nonverbal communication and leadership presence facilitation. As a former nationally ranked athlete and professional ballet dancer, Rachel has a knack of translating unique skills into relatable business skills and competencies.
Virtual Sapiens comes as an evolution of Rachel’s combined work as founder of Choreography for Business, a nonverbal communication consulting firm as well as a faculty member with Mobius Executive Leadership and as a leadership presence facilitator with Ariel Group. Rachel has worked with leaders from GE, BCG, Pfizer, Accenture, McKinsey, HBS and more.
With the increased dependency of video events as a way to connect and drive impact across organizations, Rachel and her team at Virtual Sapiens are excited to open up a world of access when it comes to one of the most human, and most important skills in business – communication.
Check out more of Rachel’s work:
Neal Kaiser
CO-FOUNDER & CTO
Neal Kaiser is a seasoned technology entrepreneur. He brings over 20 years of experience as a leader, advisor, and mentor. He has a passion for product development, strategy, team building, and culture.
Previously, Neal was the Founder and CEO of Upshot Commerce. He designed and developed one of the first enterprise-scale eCommerce platforms which is in use by hundreds of mid-market and Fortune 500 customers. After a successful acquisition, his attention was focused on how to use machine learning to improve communication in the new digital world.
Neal is a strong believer that the most valuable skill, regardless of industry, is effective communication. He is passionate and excited about using AI/ML to help democratize access to communication coaching and to provide organizations with the platform necessary to bridge the gaps in our new hybrid workforce.
ADVISORY BOARD
Natalie Ledbetter
Natalie Ledbetter is a battle-tested, 3X startup People Operations and Talent Acquisition Leader and former Operating Partner at Boldstart Ventures. With over a decade in startup leadership (and 20 years of experience overall) and having advised 100+ early-stage founders, Ledbetter has had the privilege of experiencing the full startup ecosystem, from securing funding to achieving product-market fit to scaling through hypergrowth. Specializing in building People Operations functions (while scaling headcount) end-to-end, Ledbetter leans on pattern recognition from years as an Operator to help startups become proactive while managing risk.
David Landman
David Landman is a former Human Resources executive with a passion for making work more sustainable, fulfilling and inclusive. He recently concluded a distinguished 20-year career at Goldman Sachs where he played a pivotal role in shaping the firm’s talent strategy. Presently, David dedicates his time to supporting the innovators and investors who are redefining what it means to thrive in the workplace. He serves as community lead at PeopleTech Enterprise and as an advisor to a diverse range of HR technology companies and venture funds.
Dipankar Bandyopadhyay
Dipankar Bandyopadhyay is a global HR executive and board member with experience guiding multiple organizations through periods of growth and change. He is a seasoned executive with a demonstrated track record of enabling business growth and digital transformation through innovative strategies to manage talent and drive organizational change. Dipankar has rich and diverse leadership experience working across 65+ countries and 6 continents with reputed global companies such as Elevance Health / Anthem, Monsanto / Bayer, and Asian Paints across multiple industries like healthcare, agriculture biotechnology, chemicals, and consumer goods.
Abbie Marono, PhD
Dr. Abbie Maroño is the Director of Education at Social-Engineer, LLC, the Director of BRINC (Behavioural Research in Communications), an associate of JNForensics llc, and a lecturer in Psychology. Her research supports the advancement of behavioral science and nonverbal communication in particular.
Mary Shea, PhD
Mary Shea is an advocate for empowerment and innovation in the world of sales. As the Global Innovation Evangelist at Outreach, Mary comes to the table with immense expertise from her time as principal analyst at Forrester, an adjunct professor of marketing at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, and a chief revenue officer at various global technology companies. Mary’s work can be seen featured in various academic and commercial publications including Forbes, Business Insider, Selling Power, and others.
Clayton Kim
As COO at Fount, Clayton loves building teams to solve hard problems. He led AI/ML efforts at Digital Ventures, the corporate innovation and business building arm of Boston Consulting Group (BCG). At Wayfair as a Principal Data Scientist, he led efforts to modernize machine learning workflows to enable teams to solve new problems and move faster.
InVESTORS
