Sam Brickman
| Sam Brickman | |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur, software engineer |
|---|---|
| Known for | Co-founder and CEO of Ambral |
| Education | Cornell University (Computer Science) |
Sam Brickman is an American entrepreneur and software engineer who is the co-founder and CEO of Ambral, a startup developing AI-powered account management tools for businesses. Ambral was part of the Y Combinator Summer 2025 batch.[1]
Early life and education
Brickman studied Computer Science at Cornell University.[2]
While an undergraduate at Cornell in 2020, Brickman co-founded Quarantine Buddy (also known as QBuddy), a website designed to help people form connections and combat loneliness during COVID-19 quarantine. The platform fostered friendships across more than 120 countries and received coverage from media outlets including Time and CBS This Morning.[3]
Career
Before founding Ambral, Brickman served as a founding CTO at Suna, a food delivery business that was acquired during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also worked as an early product hire at Wonder, where he contributed to foundational algorithmic systems; Wonder has since grown to a valuation of approximately $7 billion. Brickman additionally led AI initiatives at Everlywell, a health testing company.[4]
Brickman co-founded Ambral with Jack Stettner, who serves as CTO. Stettner previously worked at SpaceX on Flight Software Special Projects, where he developed telemetry routing and analysis systems.[5] Brickman has described the motivation behind Ambral as stemming from his own experience of losing customer intimacy at scale in previous roles.
Ambral builds AI-powered account management software designed to help businesses prevent customer churn and drive revenue expansion. The platform integrates with a company's existing software tools, ingesting data from customer touchpoints to synthesize signals into AI-generated models of each account. It identifies which accounts need attention, determines the reasons, and autonomously recommends or executes next actions such as outreach to at-risk customers or expansion opportunities. The company positions the product as a solution for businesses whose account management teams can only focus on top accounts, leaving smaller accounts under-managed.[6]
Among Ambral's early enterprise customers is ShipBob, a global fulfilment and logistics company. Brickman announced the partnership publicly, noting that the product had grown significantly more capable since its initial launch and that ShipBob was using Ambral's platform for AI-powered customer management.[7]
References
- ↑ "Ambral – Y Combinator". 'Y Combinator}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
- ↑ "Sam Brickman – Co-Founder & CEO, Ambral (YC S25)". 'The Org}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
- ↑ "Students create site to foster connections during quarantine". 'Cornell Chronicle}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
- ↑ "Sam Brickman – Co-Founder & CEO, Ambral (YC S25)". 'The Org}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
- ↑ "Ambral – Y Combinator". 'Y Combinator}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
- ↑ "Ambral". 'Ambral}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
- ↑ Sam Brickman. "ShipBob Partners with Ambral for AI-Powered Customer Management". 'LinkedIn}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.