# Tenor

> Tenor is a San Francisco AI platform that helps managers get better at the human part of the job. Through hyper-realistic voice AI role-play simulations trained on a company's own leadership approach, managers rehearse high-stakes conversations - performance reviews, layoffs, conflict, feedback - in a safe space and get instant, coaching-style feedback. Founded in 2023 by former Workday leaders Charlie Stigler and James Cross, Tenor raised a $5.4M seed round led by Base10 Partners in December 2024.

- **Founded:** 2023
- **Headquarters:** San Francisco, United States
- **Founders:** Charlie Stigler (Co-Founder (led engineering teams at Workday building learning experiences)), James Cross (Co-Founder (former VP of Product Strategy at Workday))
- **Team size:** ~27 employees
- **Products:** Custom AI Simulations (AI Leadership Simulations), Personalized AI Coaching
- **Notable:** Raised $5.4M seed round led by Base10 Partners (Dec 2024), SOC 2 Type II certified, 84% of practice sessions result in increased employee confidence

## Products & services

- **Custom AI Simulations (AI Leadership Simulations)** — Hyper-realistic voice AI role-play scenarios where managers practice high-stakes conversations - performance issues, compensation decisions, terminations, layoffs, conflict, change - with dynamic characters that react with real emotion. Trained on a company's own leadership approach, with 150+ pre-built scenarios plus fully custom ones, and instant coaching-style feedback.
- **Personalized AI Coaching** — An on-demand situational AI coach available via voice, chat, Slack, and Microsoft Teams, giving every employee tactical, real-time guidance for difficult conversations, decisions, and team dynamics - without the cost of a human executive coach.

## Achievements

- Raised $5.4M seed round led by Base10 Partners (Dec 2024)
- SOC 2 Type II certified
- 84% of practice sessions result in increased employee confidence
- 150+ pre-built leadership scenarios plus fully custom ones
- Multi-language support across 10+ languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Japanese and Hindi
- Adopted by enterprises including CarMax, HubSpot, Klaviyo, Guild, and Fanatics
- Founded by former Workday leaders behind Workday Learning

## Latest updates

- **2024-12** — Emerged from stealth and announced a $5.4M seed round led by Base10 Partners with participation from Reach Capital.
- **2025-01** — Welcomed future-of-work expert Al Dea as a strategic advisor.
- **2025-01** — Expanded named enterprise customer roster including CarMax, HubSpot, Klaviyo, Guild, Giant Eagle and Fanatics.

## Links

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

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/tenor
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-02