How Lemlist, €42M ARR, 100% bootstrapped, uses AI across its products and operations to scale

Lemlist now serves more than 20,000 customers worldwide, generates €42 million in annual recurring revenue, grows at around 50% year over year, and operates as a fully bootstrapped, profitable company with close to 30% operating margin.

In this context, the question is not whether AI is interesting, but how to use it realistically to keep scaling without breaking what already works.

“There is a real gap between the noise around AI and what we actually see inside teams.”

A deliberately pragmatic stance on AI

Charles uses AI every day, both in his role as a CEO and within Lemlist’s products. But he remains cautious about overly spectacular narratives.

“There are a lot of fantasies about what AI is supposed to do, especially in sales.”

Sales teams being replaced, fully automated AI SDRs, pricing entirely driven by models. These promises generate attention, but according to Charles, they quickly collide with execution reality.

“The problem is not whether it solves problems. The problem is whether it solves them well and sustainably.”

This distinction shapes Lemlist’s entire approach to AI, both in its products and in its internal operations.

The real challenge: adoption, not technology

While preparing a conference, Charles spoke with around twenty of the most advanced sales and marketing companies in Europe and the US. One observation stood out.

“There is a huge gap between the people who design AI products and the people who actually use them.”

In many organizations, operations teams build powerful tools, but sales teams barely adopt them.

“Salespeople often say they were given an AI tool, but they barely use it.”

Yet for Charles, the promise of AI is clear.

“AI is first and foremost a new interface to interact with software.”

For that promise to materialize, however, one fundamental issue must be addressed: context.

Why context is critical

Even the most powerful general model does not know the company, its customers, or what actually works in the field.

“AI needs context. If you don’t give it the context of your company, your customers, and your rules, the results won’t be good.”

That is why Lemlist does not believe in fully decentralized approaches where everyone writes their own prompts without structure, nor in fully automated solutions that promise to do everything on behalf of teams.

“You can’t expect a salesperson to design an AI product. That’s not their job.”

The key lies in finding the right balance between centralization and decentralization.

“The companies that succeed are the ones that find the right middle ground.”

Injecting AI into Lemlist’s products, without magic

On the product side, Lemlist chose a progressive and iterative integration of AI, guided by real customer usage.

“We didn’t throw everything away to become AI-first.”

AI is first used as a guide. It helps users structure their outbound campaigns by asking the right questions, much like a product marketing expert would.

“It’s like a ChatGPT specialized for sales, directly embedded in our product.”

AI is also used to structure, clean, and enrich data. For example, transforming unstructured descriptions into usable industries, or recreating typologies that do not exist in traditional databases.

“AI is extremely strong at restoring data quality.”

Finally, Lemlist enables users to build their own AI variables, to enrich prospects, fetch information from the web, or better contextualize their sales actions.

Quality over mass automation

In a market saturated with messages, Charles emphasizes a key point: outbound still works, if done properly.

“When you send generic emails by the thousands, response rates are now below 1%.”

By contrast, a more qualitative, human-led approach delivers radically different results.

“When you work your accounts well, you can reach 5%, 7%, sometimes even 10% response rates.”

For Lemlist, AI should enhance this quality, not sacrifice it in the name of simplicity.

“AI can do a large part of the work, but the last few percentages that really make the difference remain human.”

Scaling internal operations with AI

Lemlist also injects AI into its own internal operations, again with pragmatism. With around 150 employees, the company does not think in terms of job cuts or theoretical productivity gains.

“Measuring a developer’s productivity is extremely difficult.”

The goal is instead to increase the impact of existing teams. Some roles already use AI intensively, especially in internal prospecting, where one person can generate significantly more value by automating repetitive tasks.

“Maybe one person today does the work of one and a half or two people.”

Centralizing change to drive real adoption

For AI to work effectively inside the organization, Lemlist made a clear organizational choice: creating a dedicated role.

“If you don’t create at least some centralized ownership, it becomes very difficult to move projects forward.”

Lemlist hired a person fully responsible for internal AI, with a role close to that of an internal product manager. Their mission is to structure use cases, document them, ensure output quality, and support teams in adoption.

“That’s not the job of support teams or managers on top of everything else they already do.”

This role makes it possible to align overall vision with concrete, day-to-day usage.

A strong conviction going forward

When it comes to the future, Charles remains cautious, but one belief stands firm.

“Sales remains a human profession.”

AI will not replace salespeople, but it can profoundly transform how they work, provided it is designed with them and for them.

“The real challenge is making sure teams feel that the tools belong to them.”

Conclusion

At Lemlist, AI is neither a marketing gimmick nor a promise of radical disruption. It is a structural lever, used methodically to strengthen products, improve operations, and support the growth of a bootstrapped company.

“We’re not trying to automate everything. We’re trying to make what really works simpler.”

A clear-eyed approach, fully aligned with Lemlist’s DNA, and designed to last.