# Pinnacle - AI Coaching

> Pinnacle is a New York-based HR-tech startup building scalable AI coaching that lives inside the tools employees already use. Its AI coach, Pascal, embeds in Slack, Microsoft Teams, and video meetings to give managers and employees personalized, real-time guidance drawn from their actual work context - performance reviews, 360 feedback, company competency frameworks, and day-to-day communication patterns. Founded by former accelerator CEO and executive coach Alexei Dunaway, Pinnacle raised a $2.5M seed round in March 2025 to bring executive-grade coaching to every employee, not just the C-suite.

- **Founded:** 2023
- **Headquarters:** New York, New York, United States
- **Founders:** Alexei Dunaway (Founder & CEO)
- **Team size:** ~28 employees
- **Products:** Pascal, Pinnacle Coaching Platform, Manager Development Tools
- **Notable:** Raised $2.5M seed round in March 2025 led by eLab Ventures, Backed by notable operator-angels including a 3x CHRO (Bloomberg, Pearson, GLG), the CEO of Radical Candor, the CTO of OpenTable, and an ex-Google Cloud AI leader, Reported 94% monthly retention and ~2.3 coaching sessions per user per week among active users

## Products & services

- **Pascal** — An AI performance and career coach that operates inside Slack, Microsoft Teams, and video meetings, delivering real-time, proactive, and personalized coaching 24/7 via text or voice.
- **Pinnacle Coaching Platform** — The enterprise platform behind Pascal - integrates with HR systems, competency frameworks, performance reviews, and 360 feedback to provide contextual coaching, plus anonymized aggregate insights for HR and L&D leaders.
- **Manager Development Tools** — Automated, in-the-flow-of-work manager coaching and training that helps new and mid-level managers build leadership skills without formal workshops.

## Achievements

- Raised $2.5M seed round in March 2025 led by eLab Ventures
- Backed by notable operator-angels including a 3x CHRO (Bloomberg, Pearson, GLG), the CEO of Radical Candor, the CTO of OpenTable, and an ex-Google Cloud AI leader
- Reported 94% monthly retention and ~2.3 coaching sessions per user per week among active users
- Reported 83% of users' colleagues observing measurable improvement and a 20% increase in manager NPS among active users
- Adopted by recognizable enterprises including HubSpot, Verkada, Semgrep, and Ripple

## Latest updates

- **2025-08** — Most recent recorded funding activity (seed capital), per aggregated startup databases.
- **2025-03** — Announced $2.5M seed round to make AI coaching available to all and expand Pascal's real-time meeting and HR-insights capabilities.

## Links

- Website: https://www.heypinnacle.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/heypinnacle

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/pinnacle-ai-coaching
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-03