40% of sellers won’t survive AI. How to be in the 60% who do?
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When you talk with Yoni Tserruya, cofounder and CEO of Lusha, you feel 2 things at once. First, he’s brutally honest about what’s coming for sales. Second, he’s strangely optimistic about it. In his eyes, AI is not the enemy. It’s the filter. It’s the force dividing sellers into 2 clear groups: the 40% who will fall behind, and the 60% who will become more powerful than ever.
This conversation is not theoretical. Lusha has more than 100K+ users and has lived through the evolution of sales from manual hunting to AI-driven prospecting. Yoni has seen exactly where sellers succeed, where they fail and what the future looks like.
Below is the full story.
From Developer to Sales Builder: How Lusha Started
Yoni didn’t come from sales. He started as a developer. The first version of Lusha was built for recruiters, not SDRs. It was a simple idea: help people connect with the right person instantly.
But then something unexpected happened.
Sales teams rushed in.
Within months, Lusha became one of the most used tools for direct dials and prospecting. Yoni suddenly found himself learning sales not from books but from thousands of real users.
That transition shaped everything Lusha is today.
The Evolution: From Contact Info to AI-Driven Signals
In 2018, the challenge was access. Sellers needed direct dials, emails, a way to reach someone fast.
By 2025, that problem was solved.
Anyone can reach anyone. Data, dialers, LinkedIn, email–they’re all easy now. Which created a different challenge:
If you can reach everyone, who should you reach first?
That’s where Lusha shifted from “contact details” to “real-time signals.” Because your real advantage today is not reaching a person. It’s knowing when they’re ready.
The next frontier is obvious:
turn static lead lists into live streams of prospects with intent signals arriving in real time.
AI Is Reshaping Sales Faster Than Teams Realize
Yoni is direct about it. AI is not a trend. It’s a compression engine. It shrinks workflows, automates routine tasks, and multiplies what a seller can do.
He believes each rep will soon have the equivalent of an Iron Man suit:
- AI cleaning CRM fields
- AI identifying the best accounts
- AI writing outreach
- AI summarizing calls
- AI prioritizing tasks
- AI predicting which leads are warming up
In that world, a single rep can perform at 2x–5x the output they do today.
This is exactly why many sellers won’t survive.
Not because they’re bad.
But because their workflow won’t keep up with those who adopt AI immediately.
Why 40% of Sellers Will Fail
Yoni says the failing group has the same habits:
- They avoid new tools
- They rely on old prospecting routines
- They wait for marketing to feed them leads
- They don’t experiment
- They see AI as a threat instead of a multiplier
These reps will fall behind because the market is moving faster than their behavior.
In contrast, the 60% who will win are the ones who learn fast, test fast and build their own workflows.
Even a single rep today can build mini-tools using agents, prompts, automations and no-code systems.
The Sellers Who Will Thrive
Yoni’s winning cohort — the 60% — share 3 traits:
1. Curiosity
They ask: “What can I automate today?” and start experimenting immediately.
2. Speed
They don’t wait for the perfect tool. They build, test, iterate and adjust weekly.
3. Adaptability
They follow AI-first companies, learn new workflows and embrace constant change.
The new sales skillset is not persuasion.
It’s learning speed.
Static Lists Are Dead. The Future Is Live Streams.
Lusha’s long-term vision is clear:
A streaming engine that sends you accounts in real time, sorted by relevance — like Spotify but for leads.
Not lists.
Not CSVs.
Not manual research.
You log in and see the top 20 accounts that deserve your attention today, based on:
- hiring trends
- content engagement
- leadership changes
- product usage signals
- news events
- AI pattern detection
That’s the world Lusha is building toward.
And it’s the world sellers must prepare for now.
The Role of the Human Seller
Yoni is adamant: AI can automate everything except trust.
Humans still close deals.
Humans still build relationships.
Humans still understand emotion, nuance and timing in ways AI doesn’t.
The real future is simple:
AI handles the non-selling work. Humans handle the trust.
When sellers combine both, they become unstoppable.
Mistakes Sales Teams Are Making Today
Yoni sees the same errors across thousands of orgs:
- Not investing early in RevOps
- Not building internal workflows
- Waiting too long to adopt AI tools
- Letting reps switch endlessly between 10–20 apps
- Relying on manual research instead of signals
The teams that will thrive are the ones already building internal systems, custom agents and automated GTM workflows.
How to Stay in the Winning 60%
Yoni’s advice is simple:
Experiment. Every week. No excuses.
Try new workflows.
Build small automations.
Test agent-based prospecting.
Start using prompt-driven intelligence.
If you’re not learning faster than the market, the market will replace you.
Final Thought
The AI era won’t eliminate the best sellers.
It will amplify them.
Yoni believes that in the next 12–24 months, the gap between those who adapt and those who don’t will be massive — and irreversible.
The good news?
Everyone has the chance to join the winning 60%.
The question is whether they start now.
