The problem Velho helps companies remove manual work, but reaching the right companies is difficult. The people Velho wants to reach, such as CEOs and CFOs, are very busy and receive sales messages every day. Most of these messages are generic, so they are ignored. To get a reply, a message must be about the reader's own company, and it must be true.
What we built We built Velho Hidden Hours, a web app for Velho's sales team. You type in the name of any Finnish company. In about three minutes, the app produces: - the manual work the company describes in its own job ads, with a link to each source - an estimate of how many hours per week this work takes and what it costs - a ranked list of where to start, with the payback time, measurable goals and risks - a personal web page made for that one company's CEO or CFO - a short email in English and Finnish that quotes the company's own words - a practice chat with a simulated version of that company's executive, so the salesperson can rehearse first
The app also shows when the CEO opens the page, uses the calculator or forwards it to a colleague. This tells Velho the best moment to follow up.
How it works, and what is AI about it Our idea is that companies already describe their manual work in public. When a job ad says "post bank statements and allocate customer payments", the company is telling everyone where its time goes.
First, the app checks the official Finnish trade register (PRH) for basic company facts. Next, an AI agent (Claude Opus 5.5) searches the web and reads job ads, news and stock exchange releases. It writes research notes and saves the link for every fact. Then a second AI step turns the notes into a structured report and writes the page and the email.
We were careful that the AI does not invent things. Every fact links to its source. The AI must mark whether a quote is exact or only a paraphrase, and paraphrases are shown without quotation marks. Nothing is sent automatically, so a person always checks the work first. This also follows the rule of not contacting real companies.
We tested it on real companies, including Fiskars, Ponsse and Lassila & Tikanoja. For Fiskars, it found a finance job ad, the new Group CFO and the ongoing turnaround programme, all from public sources.
What's next - Check every quote against its source page automatically and mark it as verified - Host the app online, so the personal pages can be opened from a real email link - Watch the companies in the pipeline every day and send an alert when a new job ad or "why now" signal appears - Test it with Velho's team on real prospects, with their permission
