Podcast appearances and mentions of des traynor

Ryan Singer is one of the earliest employees and the former Head of Strategy at 37signals (the makers of Basecamp), where he spent nearly two decades refining a product development approach that helped the company build super-successful products with small teams. Based on these lessons, he wrote "Shape Up: Stop Running in Circles and Ship Work that Matters," and Ryan now works with companies of all sizes to them them escape the cycle of endless sprints, missed deadlines, and dragging projects.What you'll learn:1. Why traditional Agile and Scrum methods often lead teams into endless cycles of work without meaningful shipping milestones.2. The “appetite-driven” approach to product development where teams set fixed timeboxes (usually six weeks maximum) and vary the scope instead of expanding timelines.3. The exact process for running effective “shaping” sessions that collaboratively define projects before committing resources.4. Why most teams struggle with too little detail in their planning, not too much.5. Why a 30-to-50-person team size is the critical breaking point when growing startups need to adopt more structured processes.6. Practical techniques for bridging the engineering-design divide by bringing technical and product perspectives together earlier in the process.7. The powerful “breadboarding” and “fat marker sketching” techniques that help teams align on solutions without getting lost in high-fidelity details.8. The clear warning signs that your current development process is failing before it's too late to change course.9. Proven strategies to implement Shape Up methods, whether you're working in a startup or enterprise environment.10. A step-by-step approach to transitioning from Scrum to Shape Up by piloting the methodology with a single team before broader implementation.11. Why the PM role shifts upstream in Shape Up, focusing more on problem definition than project management.12. How to adapt Shape Up principles to your company's unique context, even if it's nothing like Basecamp.—Brought to you by:• WorkOS—Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUs• Merge—A single API to add hundreds of integrations into your app• Airtable ProductCentral—Launch to new heights with a unified system for product development—Where to find Ryan Singer:• X: https://x.com/rjs• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/feltpresence/• Website: https://www.ryansinger.co/• Course: https://www.ryansinger.co/srl/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Ryan's background(04:38) The origins of Shape Up(07:40) Implementing Shape Up in different companies(09:56) How Shape Up is different(19:02) The core elements of Shape Up(26:29) Shaping sessions and timeboxing(37:23) Flexible sprint planning(38:56) The output of a shaping session(46:57) Balancing detail and flexibility(53:50) A deep dive into shaping sessions(01:01:32) Fat marker sketches(01:02:48) Getting started using Shape Up(01:13:20) Signs it's time to try the Shape Up method(01:18:25) Feature factories(01:25:59) The role of the PM in Shape Up(01:28:26) What makes Basecamp unique(01:35:55) The second edition of the book(01:38:30) Linking product strategy and shaping(01:41:53) Conclusion and final thoughts—Referenced:• Basecamp: https://basecamp.com/• David Heinemeier Hansson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-heinemeier-hansson-374b18221/• Jason Fried on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-fried/• Jason Fried challenges your thinking on fundraising, goals, growth, and more: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/jason-fried-challenges-your-thinking• Des Traynor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/destraynor/• Intercom: https://www.intercom.com/• The ultimate guide to JTBD | Bob Moesta (co-creator of the framework): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ultimate-guide-to-jtbd-bob-moesta• How to find work you love | Bob Moesta (Jobs-to-be-Done co-creator, author of “Job Moves”): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-find-work-you-love-bob-moesta• Scrum: https://www.scrum.org/• 37signals: https://37signals.com/• Jobs to Be Done Theory: https://www.christenseninstitute.org/theory/jobs-to-be-done/—Recommended books:• Shape Up: Stop Running in Circles and Ship Work That Matters: https://basecamp.com/shapeup• Demand-Side Sales 101: Stop Selling and Help Your Customers Make Progress: https://www.amazon.com/Demand-Side-Sales-101-Customers-Progress/dp/1544509987/• Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice: https://www.amazon.com/Competing-Against-Luck-Innovation-Customer/dp/0062435612/• Job Moves: 9 Steps for Making Progress in Your Career: https://www.amazon.com/Job-Moves-Making-Progress-Career/dp/0063283581—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Hear from Des Traynor, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Intercom, about the revolutionary impact of AI on customer service. Traynor shares insights into Intercom's AI journey, including the recent launch of their advanced AI agent, and discusses how their product management philosophy of "starting with the problem" has shaped their strategy. The episode offers valuable perspectives on fostering innovation, the current state and future of AI in customer support, and provides actionable advice for executives aiming to improve customer experience in the AI era.

The open questions raised by the rise of generative AI are now gradually getting answers. Intercom's Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Des Traynor walks us through how AI went from just about possible to seemingly inevitable over the course of two years. People speculate that AI will be as big as the internet or cloud or mobile, but as Des puts it, perhaps we should be thinking of this moment as a modern version of the dawn of electricity.Watch this episode here: https://events.intercom.com/on-demand/509d896b-f6c6-4139-975d-d55c689a2ff8/?referrer_page=de35aee1-a86c-48bb-8967-f5620d766eabTo check out all the sessions in full, check out: https://events.intercom.com/pioneer-2024/Newsletters:Sign up for The Ticket: A twice-monthly newsletter bursting with all the insights, trends, tips, and assets your team needs to embrace the future of customer service. https://www.intercom.com/blog/newsletterSign up for Intercom on Product: a monthly newsletter sharing our latest thinking on building and designing great products, and how that's changing in the age of AI.https://inter.com/productpodcastSay hi on

This Week in Startups is brought to you by… LinkedIn Ads - To redeem a $100 LinkedIn ad credit and launch your first campaign, go to http://www.linkedin.com/thisweekinstartups .Tech Domains - Don't miss our “Jam with JCal” contest! To apply and get more details go to https://www.jamwithjcal.tech brought to you by .tech domains. Northwest Registered Agent - Northwest Registered Agent will form your business quickly and easily. In just 10 clicks and 10 minutes, set up your entire business identity—name, address, mail service, phone, email, website, and domain. For just $39 plus state fees, Northwest will handle your complete business identity. Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist today. * Todays show: Intercom's Eoghan McCabe joins Jason to discuss: the state of the business at Intercom and his return as CEO (8:33), the future of customer service with AI (24:28), what makes a great manager (59:36), and more! * Timestamps: (0:00) Intercom's Eoghan McCabe joins Jason. (1:50) Family history of the two McCabe's: Jason and Eoghan. (5:49) The kindness and dedication of Intercom's co-founder Des Traynor. (8:33) What Intercom is, the state of the business and Eoghan's return as CEO. (10:41) LinkedIn Ads - Get a $100 LinkedIn ad credit at http://www.linkedin.com/thisweekinstartups (12:37) Looking at overlap and adjacencies when you are building SaaS products. (16:36) The brilliance of the pre-seed pricing model, and is it broken? (19:47) .Tech Domains - Apply for the “Jam with JCal” contest today at https://www.jamwithjcal.tech (22:16) What is next for companies with. SaaS-based pricing. (24:28) The future of customer service and AI. (30:30) Northwest Registered Agent - For just $39 plus state fees, Northwest will handle your complete business identity. Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist today. (36:09) Expectations from AI one year from now. (45:23) Breaking down the negative press and social reaction to the Humane Pin. (52:34) What the world will look like as conversational AI develops. (59:36) What makes a great manager and the “return of the king” at Intercom. * Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp * Check out Intercom: https://www.intercom.com/ * Follow Eoghan: X: https://x.com/eoghan LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eoghanmccabe/ * Follow Jason: X: https://twitter.com/Jason LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis * Thank you to our partners: (10:41) LinkedIn Ads - Get a $100 LinkedIn ad credit at http://www.linkedin.com/thisweekinstartups (19:47) .Tech Domains - Apply for the “Jam with JCal” contest today at https://www.jamwithjcal.tech (30:30) Northwest Registered Agent - For just $39 plus state fees, Northwest will handle your complete business identity. Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist today. * Great 2023 interviews: Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland * Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis * Follow TWiST: Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups * Subscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.founder.university/podcast

Sam Altman is the CEO @ OpenAI, the company on a mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. OpenAI is one of the fastest-scaling companies in history with a valuation of $90BN and $2BN+ in revenue. Brad Lightcap is the COO @ OpenAI and the man responsible for the incredible scaling of sales, GTM, partnerships and business to today being over $2BN in revenue. Arthur Mensch is the Co-Founder and CEO of Mistral AI. Since its inception in May 2023, Mistral has raised over $520M in funding from investors like Andreeseen Horowitz, General Catalyst, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Microsoft with a current valuation of $2 billion.  Des Traynor is a Co-Founder of Intercom, and has built and led many teams within the company, including Product, Marketing, and Customer Support. Today Des leads all of Intercom's R&D efforts, and parts of Intercom's marketing. Tom Hulme is a Managing Partner of GV (Google Ventures), and leads the European team. Today, GV has over $10BN in AUM and Tom has led investments in Lemonade.com (IPO), Snyk, Secret Escapes, Blockchain.com, GoCardless, and Currency Cloud (exited to Visa). Tomasz Tunguz is the Founder and General Partner @ Theory Ventures, just announced last week, Theory is a $230M fund that invests $1-25m in early-stage companies that leverage technology discontinuities into go-to-market advantages. Sarah Tavel is a General Partner @ Benchmark, one of the most successful and renowned venture firms in the world. At Benchmark, Sarah has led rounds in Chainalysis, Hipcamp, Medely, Rekki, Glide, Cambly and more. In Today's Episode We Discuss: Will foundation models be commoditised? What is the end state for the foundation model landscape in 10 years? How will large cloud provider incumbents approach M&A with smaller foundation model providers? When will we see marginal revenue exceed marginal cost in the foundation model business model? Where is the value: the application layer or the infrastructure layer? How can startups know whether they will be threatened by OpenAI? What are good tests/questions to know if you are in the path of one of the large foundation models? How does the business model of SaaS fundamentally change in a world of AI? Will we see the end of per-seat pricing in a new world of AI? What is the right way to approach pricing in a world of AI? Consumption? Tokens?  

This week on The Ticket we're bringing you the first episode of "Off Script", a new series of candid conversations with Intercom leadership about the extraordinary AI-driven transformation we're currently experiencing.In this episode, Intercom Co-Founder Des Traynor talks about the generative AI revolution that startups and all of technology – and very, very soon all of society at large – will certainly be going through.You can watch this episode on YouTube and don't forget to subscribe to our channel to be the first to see new episodes: https://youtu.be/qiWV0T0qbeY?si=jpRYLrP24KrllXjvFollow the people:https://www.linkedin.com/in/eoghanmccabe/https://www.linkedin.com/in/destraynor/Say hi

This week on Intercom On Product we're bringing you the first episode of "Off Script", a new series of candid conversations with Intercom leadership about the extraordinary AI-driven transformation we're currently experiencing.In this episode, Intercom Co-Founder Des Traynor talks about the generative AI revolution that startups and all of technology – and very, very soon all of society at large – will certainly be going through.You can watch this episode on YouTube and don't forget to subscribe to our channel to be the first to see new episodes: https://youtu.be/qiWV0T0qbeY?si=jpRYLrP24KrllXjvFollow the people:https://www.linkedin.com/in/eoghanmccabe/https://www.linkedin.com/in/destraynor/Say hi

In this episode, we sat down with Des Traynor, co-founder of Intercom, to explore the seismic shift towards Artificial Intelligence in customer service software. Intercom has gone all-in to embrace AI as people's expectations of what chatbots can do started growing with the release of ChatGPT. Des shares the pivotal moments and strategic decisions that led to this transition, highlighting the urgency and vision that propelled Intercom to integrate AI into their core offerings. Des also delves into the challenges of building a bicontinental startup and the strategic pivot towards becoming an AI-first company. Tune in for an enlightening discussion on the strategy and journey of adapting AI. INTERCOM Website - https://www.intercom.com Twitter - https://twitter.com/intercom Des Traynor LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/destraynor/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/destraynor FIRSTMARK Website - https://firstmark.com Twitter - https://twitter.com/FirstMarkCap Matt Turck (Managing Director) LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/turck/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/mattturck (00:00) Intro (01:16) How did Intercom make a transition to a generative AI product (Fin)? (05:34) Did the Intercom manifesto play a role in the transition? (07:16) What was the Intercom before Fin? (09:01) How much development effort did you spend on AI? (12:31) UX (15:20) People used to hate chatbots (17:51) GPT and building layers around it (20:50) The future of customer service (23:57) GPT-4/Llama/Mistral/Claude (25:58) Are multimodal AI-bots the future? (27:08) AI-hallucination (30:11) Customization (34:34) Will Fin get a voice? (36:26) Customer support cost and impact on profitability (39:58) How much should you charge? (45:26) AI-bot resolution rate (46:43) Can bots take action? (48:40) AI-adoption (51:14) How the Intercom team evolve (53:38) How did 4 Irish guys create a bi-continental startup? (56:17) Work distribution (58:38) Tech in Europe vs tech in the US

Intercom is one of the earliest adopters of AI - its AI product Fin has generated over two million answers and been used by thousands of users since it was launched last March. On this week's episode of Unsupervised Learning, we sat down with Intercom Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer Des Traynor to talk about how AI is incorporated into Intercom, structuring its AI team, using RAG vs. fine-tuning techniques, where we are in the AI adoption curve, and his advice for startups building on top of AI.  (0:00) intro (0:31) Intercom reaction to ChatGBT (3:18) how AI is incorporated into Intercom products (6:33) guardrails preventing hallucinations 9:49 exploration versus optimizing cost (19:00) structuring AI teams (31:17) fine-tuning for customers vs RAG (37:03) solving the 'actions' problem (38:38) lessons learned from transitioning into AI (44:28) over-hyped/under-hyped (45:53) companies that have implemented AI well/poorly (48:27) Jacob and Jordan debrief With your co-hosts: @jacobeffron - Partner at Redpoint, Former PM Flatiron Health @patrickachase - Partner at Redpoint, Former ML Engineer LinkedIn @ericabrescia - Former COO Github, Founder Bitnami (acq'd by VMWare) @jordan_segall - Partner at Redpoint

Intercom Co-founder Des Traynor sat down with Paul Adams, our Chief Product Officer, and Emmet Connolly, our VP of Design for a conversation on the good, the bad and the ugly of 2023 and our expectations and predictions for the year ahead.Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLix8mAp5k8Read a transcript: https://www.intercom.com/blog/videos/intercom-on-product-riding-the-ai-wave-in-2024Subscribe to our sister podcast, Intercom on Product wherever you're listening to this episode.Say hi on

Intercom Co-founder Des Traynor sat down with Paul Adams, our Chief Product Officer, and Emmet Connolly, our VP of Design for a conversation on the good, the bad and the ugly of 2023 and our expectations and predictions for the year ahead.Watch the video: https://youtu.be/bLix8mAp5k8?si=rhPJ5ZnNn8TRpt11Read a transcript: https://www.intercom.com/blog/videos/intercom-on-product-riding-the-ai-wave-in-2024Say hi on

Synthesia CEO Victor Riparbelli joins Intercom co-founder Des Traynor for an engaging conversation on Synthesia, the future of video, and the transformations that lie ahead.Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa61Pn_mWXkRead a transcript: https://www.intercom.com/blog/videos/synthesia-ceo-victor-riparbelli-generative-ai-videowww.intercom.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Des Traynor is a Co-Founder of Intercom, and has built and led many teams within the company, including Product, Marketing, and Customer Support. Yann LeCun is VP & Chief AI Scientist at Meta and Silver Professor at NYU affiliated with the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences & the Center for Data Science. He was the founding Director of FAIR and of the NYU Center for Data Science.  Emad Mostaque is the Co-Founder and CEO @ StabilityAI, the parent company of Stable Diffusion. Stability are building the foundation to activate humanity's potential. Jeff Seibert is the Founder & CEO @ Digits, building the future of AI-powered accounting. Digits have raised funding from the likes of Peter Fenton @ Benchmark and 20VC. Tomasz Tunguz is the Founder and General Partner @ Theory Ventures, just announced last week, Theory is a $230M fund that invests $1-25m in early-stage companies that leverage technology discontinuities into go-to-market advantages. Douwe Kiela is the CEO of Contextual AI, building the contextual language model to power the future of businesses. Cris Valenzuela is the CEO and co-founder of Runway, the company that trains and builds generative AI models for content creation.  Richard Socher is the founder and CEO of You.com. Richard previously served as the Chief Scientist and EVP at Salesforce. Before that, Richard was the CEO/CTO of AI startup MetaMind, acquired by Salesforce in 2016. In Today's Episode We Discuss: Foundational Models: Analysis Will foundational models become commoditized? Who are the major players? What are their different strengths? Who will win? Who will lose? How important is the size of the model vs the quality of the data? 2. Open vs Closed: What are the biggest pros and cons of an open ecosystem for LLMs? Why is it naive to think that open-source LLMs will prevail? What will determine which method wins? 3. An Analysis of the Incumbents: Why is Google the most vulnerable? What can they do to regain ground? Why is Apple the sleeping giant? How could they win the next wave of AI? What should Amazon do today to compete with Microsoft? 4. The Future: Doom and Gloom? Why is it ridiculous to assume AI systems want to dominate? Why will AI create a renaissance of creativity and human freedom? What role should regulation play in the advancement and progression of AI?

Where are startups better suited to challenge established players? Can they transform mature categories with an AI-first lens? How do these risks play out in horizontal and vertical markets?Intercom Co-founder Des Traynor caught up with Christoph Janz, Partner at Point Nine Capital, to pick his brain on the implications of generative AI for SaaS companies and early-stage SaaS investors, and where those golden opportunities lie.Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/9gAbPEUrz4Y?si=xoJj1BlUUT7_o1siTranscript: https://www.intercom.com/blog/videos/angel-investor-christoph-janz-on-opportunities-in-aiRead Christoph's "mental map" here: https://medium.com/point-nine-news/where-are-the-opportunities-for-new-startups-in-generative-ai-f48068b5f8f9Follow the people:https://twitter.com/destraynorhttps://twitter.com/chrijaFollow our podcast:Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/intercom-on-product/id1462264923Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/6d9s4PBzvdESARqUadlCpoYouTube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlCIldMZCaFrcO10XuO7JtPpsZ7EyK0fgRSS Feed https://rss.art19.com/intercom-on-productSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This weeks episode: The OpenAI board and CEO debacle. 20VC episode with Des Traynor, Co-Founder of Intercom. Australia's place on the global innovation map. Australia's tech unicorns are defying the global odds. Technology One's full-year profits up 16%. hello@tribeglobal.vc 

Des Traynor is a Co-Founder of Intercom, and has built and led many teams within the company, including Product, Marketing, and Customer Support. Today Des leads all Intercom's R&D efforts, and parts of Intercom's marketing. In Today's Episode with Des We Discuss: 1. From Consultancy to Founding a Unicorn: What was the founding a-ha moment for Des and the team with Intercom? Why does Des believe that most startup advice is BS and outdated in 5 years? What does Des know now that he wishes he had known when he started? 2. LLMs: The World is Not Equal: What does Des mean when he says the world of LLMs is not equal? How do the different LLMs very in quality, price and speciality? Does Des agree with Alex @ Nabla, "the best companies in the future will work with many LLMs at the same time and switch between them for different things"? To what extent does Des believe LLMs will be commoditised and it will be a race to the bottom? Would Des be a buyer of OpenAI at a $90BN price? Why not? 3. How to Survive in a World of OpenAI: What two simple questions will determine if Open AI will kill your existing business? What 3 criteria will determine if there is a new business to be built on top of OpenAI? What is the different between a thin layer on top of an LLM and a thick wrapper with real value? Which traditional incumbents are most vulnerable? What should they do in this new world? How long does it take for incumbents to really be impacted? 4. The Titans of Tech: Who Wins: Why does Des believe that Apple could be a massive winner in the next wave of AI? Why does Des believe that Google have not been impressive and failed to keep pace? Why does Des think OpenAI should be wary of Amazon? What could they do to threaten them? What opportunity does Facebook have here? How could Instagram and Whatsapp win? 5. Startup and Investing 101: Why does Des believe that every founder should write a blog post per week? Why does Des believe that most B2B marketing sucks? What makes great B2B marketing? What are Des' biggest lessons from the Hopin journey? How has Des' angel investing changed in the last year with the rise of AI?

In this archive episode of Intercom on Product from 2019, Des Traynor and Paul Adams discuss 6 key ingredients for product strategy and aligning this with company strategy. Click here to read the Michael Porter paper, What Is Strategy mentioned in the episode.Transcript: https://www.intercom.com/blog/podcasts/intercom-on-product-ep07/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Brought to you by Sidebar—Catalyze your career with a Personal Board of Directors | Merge—A single API to add hundreds of integrations into your app | Eppo—Run reliable, impactful experiments—Bob Moesta is the co-creator of the Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) framework, a close collaborator of Clay Christensen, and CEO and founder of The Re-Wired Group. He has helped launch more than 3,500 new products, services, and businesses and built and sold several startups himself. He is also a fellow at the Clayton Christensen Institute and a guest lecturer at the Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan School of Entrepreneurship, and Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. In this episode, we discuss:• What Snickers and Milky Way can teach us about JTBD• The various flavors of the JTBD framework• Best practices for implementing the framework• Advice on conducting interviews for B2B vs. B2C customers• Common mistakes people make when implementing JTBD• When not to use it—Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-jtbd-bob-moesta-co-creator-of-the-framework/#transcript—Where to find Bob Moesta:• Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/bmoesta• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobmoesta/• Website: http://www.therewiredgroup.com/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Bob's background(04:04) A simple explanation of the Jobs To Be Done framework(07:29) Struggling moments and demand(09:51) Understanding the context behind pain points(11:14) Reducing friction in the sales process(14:46) How Autobooks improved their buying process and 4x'ed conversion(16:52) The six phases of the buying process(18:30) The JTBD interview process(21:55) How Bob's TBI affected his reading/writing and how he is able to write books(22:02) Why people switch companies(27:18) Tips for JTBD interviewing(30:07) Why you should not have a discussion guide(32:48) The danger of looking at the customer through the product(33:53) First steps in applying the JTBD framework(36:25) Signs people are ready for a change(37:43) Bob's “layers of language”(40:15) Examples of companies with a broad adoption of JTBD(43:59) The different flavors of JTBD and common mistakes to avoid when implementing it(48:19) Bob's work with Clay Christensen on JTBD theory(51:05) When not to use JTBD(53:40) Common misconceptions about the framework(55:55) What compelled Bob to spend so much of his life on JTBD(58:07) Three big takeaways(59:07) Lightning round—Referenced:• Jason Fried on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-fried/• Des Traynor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/destraynor• Southern New Hampshire University: https://degrees.snhu.edu/• Paul LeBlanc on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-j-leblanc-6a17749/• Demand-Side Sales 101: Stop Selling and Help Your Customers Make Progress: https://www.amazon.com/Demand-Side-Sales-101-Customers-Progress/dp/1544509987• Autobooks: https://www.autobooks.co/• Intercom: https://www.intercom.com/• Zendesk: https://www.zendesk.com/• HubSpot: https://www.hubspot.com/• The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University: https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/• Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/• Michael Horn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelbhorn/• Ethan Bernstein on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanbernstein/• Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as If Your Life Depended on It: https://www.amazon.com/Never-Split-Difference-Negotiating-Depended/dp/0062407805• William Edwards Deming on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming• Basecamp: https://basecamp.com/• Sriram and Aarthi on Lenny's Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/hot-takes-and-techno-optimism-from-techs-top-power-couple-sriram-and-aarthi/• Genichi Taguchi: https://www.qualitygurus.com/genichi-taguchi/• Tony Ulwick on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonyulwick/• The Clayton Christensen Institute on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/clayton-christensen-institute/• Shape Up: https://basecamp.com/shapeup• The End of Average: Unlocking Our Potential by Embracing What Makes Us Different: https://www.amazon.com/End-Average-Unlocking-Potential-Embracing/dp/0062358375• The Big Bang Theory on TBS: https://www.tbs.com/shows/the-big-bang-theory/watch-now• Oppenheimer: https://www.oppenheimermovie.com/• Kyota massage chairs at Costco: https://www.costco.com/massage-chairs-cushions.html?brand=Kyota&refine=%7C%7CBrand_attr-Kyota• Paul Adams on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pauladams/• Matt Hodges on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattnhodges/• Andrew Glaser on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glaserandrew/—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

My guest today is Des Traynor. Des is the co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Intercom - a customer service solution that helps businesses answer product questions, offer instant support, and automate sales. The business was founded in 2011 and its products operate within 25,000 businesses, including the likes of Amazon, Lyft and Atlassian. Our conversation is roughly split in half. First, we talk about AI and how it's actually changing businesses like Intercom through products such as their OpenAI powered bot called Fin. We then talk about Des's views as an investor, which includes an answer about software that I'll remember for a long time. Please enjoy my conversation with Des Traynor. Listen to Founders Podcast Founders Episode 311: James Cameron For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors, and provider of Canalyst. Tired of calculating fully-diluted shares outstanding? Access every publicly-reported datapoint and industry-specific KPI through their database of over 4,000 drivable global models hand-built by a team of sector-focused analysts, 35+ industry comp sheets, and Excel add-ins that let you use their industry-leading data in your own spreadsheets. Tegus' models automatically update each quarter, including hard to calculate KPIs like stock-based compensation and organic growth rates, empowering investors to bypass the friction of sourcing, building and updating models. Make efficiency your competitive advantage and take back your time today. As a listener, you can trial Canalyst by Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:42) - (First question) - Des's high level thoughts on Open AI and new technology (00:07:07) - Advanced AI tech for existing businesses versus start-ups ventures  (00:11:14) - Where Intercom falls on the spectrum of existing and new AI technology  (00:13:16) - Training AI to be tailored to specific fields of work (00:18:25) - The natural end point is for Intercom incorporating AI   (00:22:25) - Des's product philosophy behind this technology (00:24:03) - Choosing an AI provider that best suited his customer service industry needs (00:26:55) - The value comparison between using AI-led customer service versus human (00:29:18) - Why outsourcing automated data is not for everyone (00:31:15) - Des's advice for other companies beginning to integrate AI into their operations   (00:36:33) - What he is excited for as an investor in this area (00:37:50) - The most common discussions he's having about this technology (00:41:21) - The inherent risks of using AI models that are not 100% accurate  (00:45:10) - Des's evolution as an investor (00:48:25) - How Intercom solved it's AI execution problems (00:50:46) - Combating other companies that are trying to overtake the field  (00:53:44) - Counter arguments for using AI technology   (00:57:22) - His view on the best software out there (01:03:00) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him 

Patch, the youth accelerator supported by Stripe, NDRC, and Dogpatch Labs, is set to announce its latest cohort for 2023. The accelerator, which began on July 5th, is made up of 16-21-year olds, with females making up 46% of this year's 31-strong cohort, marking the highest number in the programme's five-year history. Patch has also witnessed an increase in participation from across the country this year, with over 60% of participants coming from outside the Dublin Area, and Munster-natives accounting for one-quarter of the cohort. Patch has attracted renowned speakers and mentors to this year's programme, offering invaluable insights and guidance to the cohort, including fireside talks and Q&A sessions from Loyal founder, Celine Halioua, President of Product and Business at Stripe, Will Gaybrick, and Intercom founder, Des Traynor. The seven week accelerator will culminate with Demo Day in Dublin's Dogpatch Labs on August 17th, providing an opportunity for participants to present their remarkable projects and progress over the summer months. This year's cohort showcases projects that prioritise social impact, healthcare innovation, and sustainable solutions. It stands out as the most globally diverse and inclusive group to date with a range of projects building on the latest technology to drive change and innovation. Patch mentor Andreea Wade, Vice President of enterprise recruiting software iCIMS said, "Being part of this extraordinary programme that cultivates young minds to instigate enduring social change is truly incredible. The opportunity to witness firsthand the passion and talent that these young participants exhibit at such a pivotal point in their lives is deeply inspiring. As a mentor, I've realised it's more than just guiding them - it's about giving back, investing in the future, fostering new leaders". The cohort will also travel to London to learn about the fields of AI, venture capital and financial services. While there, they will visit the offices of industry giants such as Stability AI and Jane Street Capital to learn more about their work and how they can apply these skills to their own projects. Patch alumni also achieved remarkable success at this year's BT Young Scientist competition, securing eight prizes. Previous alumni include Mícheal McLaughlan, co-founder of Agtech firm CropSafe which recently raised $3m, and Diana Hrisovescu, who received the O'Shaughnessy Fellowship Grant worth $100,000 to develop Script - software which enables individuals to access government forms in their native language. "We are proud to operate as a non-profit organisation, generously supported by donors who recognise the significance of investing in the next generation of innovators. This backing allows Patch to provide invaluable resources, mentorship, and guidance to young talent who are keen to make a difference in their communities and beyond," shared Jack O'Regan Kenny, Managing Director of Patch. "As someone who has participated in Patch myself, I know first-hand the dedication required and world-class support you get as a young entrepreneur - it's invaluable to growing an idea in your phone notes, to something impactful". See more stories here. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience. You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.

An experienced startup founder who understands the value of personal connection and customer discovery. Successfully acquired the first 100 customers through handcrafted emails and tailored pitches. Believes in hard work and learning during the early stages of business growth.  Join to watch his full podcast - https://bit.ly/3pUgQpX

How do you balance your company's strategy when dealing with competition and copycats?

We're talking Big Tech, small start-ups and how they scale, disrupt and sometimes become one. Our special guest is Stripe CTO David Singleton, who we nabbed for an exclusive interview during his recent visit to Dublin.  David has been a fintech whizz ever since he built some invoicing software for his parents when he was a kid. But before he was the technical lead of a global financial services and software company, he spent many years in engineering at Google.  Google was once among the born-on-the-internet companies disrupting industry incumbents, but now it's one the Big Tech behemoths eating up small businesses that threaten their dominance.  We explored this dynamic between big and small, and asked David about the scaling journey in between. He explained what makes crafty software businesses so nimble, and shared his own top tips for managing fast-growing software projects. You can follow David over on Twitter, @dps, and check out these links for a bit more background on this conversation: — Stripe is a multibillion-dollar company founded by Irish brothers John and Patrick Collison. For more on what it's about, check out this recent article on Silicon Republic: https://www.siliconrepublic.com/enterprise/stripe-david-singleton-payments-engineering-dublin  — Eileen O'Mara, head of EMEA revenue and growth at Stripe wrote this piece on scaling start-ups in Europe: https://www.siliconrepublic.com/start-ups/stripe-research-europe-startup-ecosystem — Check out this earlier interview with David on Silicon Republic, when he had just joined Stripe as CTO: https://www.siliconrepublic.com/enterprise/stripe-david-singleton-payments-engineering-dublin — At the top of the ep, we mention the controversy surrounding Tesla's autonomous driving claims. HeadStuff Podcast Network members can hear more on this in v1.7_bonus: You drive me lazy (originally released 18 January 2022) — And at the end, we mention this great discussion on building and scaling a start-up with Intercom's Des Traynor at Future Human 2022: https://www.siliconrepublic.com/start-ups/des-traynor-intercom-future-human-entrepreneurship We'll release David's interview in its entirety for HeadStuff Podcast Network members next week, and we'll be back in a fortnight with an all-new episode.  For Tech's Sake is a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network, hosted by Elaine Burke and Jenny Darmody. Thank you to Megan Fox for production, Matt Mahon and Dall-E for our graphics, Claudia Grandez for her social media support, and all at the HeadStuff team. If you want to support The HeadStuff Podcast Network, for our sake, for tech's sake and for many more great podcasts, visit HeadStuffPodcasts.com. And follow us @fortechssakepod on your platform of choice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you're a business owner, the last thing you want to see is another company copying what your company does. Copycats are an especially common problem when it comes to SaaS.We caught up with Intercom's co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Des Traynor at the Web Summit where he talked about how you can you deal with copycats.To see the entire episode when it releases, pre-register here: https://bit.ly/3VNZOV7

Generative AI is all the rage these days. There are thousands of generative AI tools swarming the market, and VC funding for this vertical hit two and a half billion last year.Regardless of the hype, generative AI has the power to transform the way we do business and reshape the entire customer journey.On this episode, Des Traynor, Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer at Intercom, breaks down the hype. Specifically, Des covers:– Use cases of generative AI. – How the entire industry will change with AI's involvement.– Intercom's approach to AI.– How to deploy at scale.– How the future of generative AI will evolve in the business world.– How to get started without extensive technical expertise.– Potential risks and downsides.– Advice for founders.Learn more at https://tractionconf.ioLearn more about Intercom at https://www.intercom.com/This episode is brought to you by:Intercom enables businesses to connect with their customers at exactly the right moment using powerful messaging and automation. Scale your customer service without additional investment while still providing efficient and personal customer experiences. Eligible startups get advanced Intercom features at a 95% discount. Visit https://Intercom.com/tractionEach year the U.S. and Canadian governments provide more than $20 billion in R&D tax credits and innovation incentives to fund businesses. But the application process is cumbersome, prone to costly audits, and receiving the money can take as long as 16 months. Boast automates this process, enabling companies to get more money faster without the paperwork and audit risk. We don't get paid until you do! Find out if you qualify today at https://Boast.AILaunch Academy is one of the top global tech hubs for international entrepreneurs and a designated organization for Canada's Startup Visa. Since 2012, Launch has worked with more than 6,000 entrepreneurs from over 100 countries, of which 300 have grown their startups to seed and Series A stage and raised over $2 billion in funding. To learn more about Launch's programs or the Canadian Startup Visa, visit https://LaunchAcademy.caContent Allies helps B2B companies build revenue-generating podcasts. We recommend them to any B2B company that is looking to launch or streamline its podcast production. Learn more at https://contentallies.com#product #marketing #innovation #startup #generativeai #AI

Like most people in tech, Des Traynor is talking too loud about AI. But special shout-outs also go to two articles — Harvard Business Review's The Half-Truth of First-Mover Advantage and Farnam Street's Habits vs. Goals: A Look at the Benefits of a Systematic Approach to Life.Links to learn more about Des:Des's LinkedInFollow us:twitter.com/wistiaSubscribe:wistia.com/series/talking-too-loudLove what you heard? Leave us a review!We want to hear from you!Write in and let us know what you think about the show, who you'd want us to interview on future episodes, and any feedback you have for our team.

How do you balance your company's strategy when dealing with competition and copycats?

Interview with Des Traynor - Chief Strategy Officer & Co-founder of Intercom Des Traynor is a Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Intercom, as well as a member of the company's board of directors. Des has led various teams inside the firm, including Product, Marketing, Customer Support, and Content, and has been personally responsible for the development of even more Intercom functionalities. Des now manages Intercom's R&D team, which is situated in Dublin and London. Join us for the latest episode of Technologist of the Month as we dive deep into Intercom's innovative functionalities and explore the new paradigms of success in the SaaS industry. On the Menu: 1. The importance of understanding and reacting to competition 2. Coping with copycats - staying focused and making adjustments 3. Acquiring the first customers - personalized approach for effective customer discovery 4. Growth strategy - virality, content marketing, and cohesive storytelling 5. Complexity of the SaaS - communicating a simple, believable narrative 6. Bundling and unbundling of software - consolidation and preference for all-in-one solutions.

Des Traynor, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Intercom sat down with Paul Adams, our Chief Product Officer, to talk about the transformative impact of AI, evolving landscape of customer service, and how humans and AI will work together in the future.Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0iTFjenUbQTranscript: https://www.intercom.com/blog/videos/intercom-on-product-ep20/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode of Intercom on Product, Des Traynor, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer sat down with Paul Adams, our Chief Product Officer, to talk about the transformative impact of AI, evolving landscape of customer service, and how humans and AI will work together in the future.Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0iTFjenUbQTranscript: https://www.intercom.com/blog/videos/intercom-on-product-ep20/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Time for a deep dive on the journey to Fin! Des Traynor, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Intercom, talks with Rati Zvirawa, Senior Group Product Manager, and Brian Donohue, VP of Product, about the whole process - from building Fin and launching the beta to what it takes to build product in the era of AI.Transcript: https://www.intercom.com/blog/videos/building-fin-ai-chatbot-for-customer-service/You can watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwL1iCYQzSYSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Last week we decided to host a webinar to answer all your burning questions about Fin - our new ChatGPT-powered bot: Does it really work? Will it replace customer service reps? And how should support teams prepare to incorporate this new technology?On today's show you'll be hearing the answers to those questions by Des Traynor, Intercom Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Fergal Reid, Director of Machine Learning and Emmet Connolly, VP of Product Design.If you'd like to watch the full webinar complete with live demo and Q&A, you'll find that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c86pJWtU7r4&t=2075sToday's episode is hosted by Catherine Brodigan, Senior Manager of Global Partnerships.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today's interview is with Sue Duris, Principal Consultant of M4 Communications, a global CX consulting firm. Sue joins me today to talk about customer understanding, internal customers, being curious enough to care and why we can't be digital-first and that we have to be customer first. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Tool time, task time and how ChatGPT will change everything in customer support – Interview with Des Traynor of Intercom – and is number 459 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees. NOTE: A big thank you goes out to the folks at TextExpander for sponsoring this episode of my podcast. TextExpander is an auto-complete tool that allows your team to eliminate repetitive typing and stay on the same page with just a few keystrokes allowing you to delight more customers in less time. Click here or on the banner image above to find out more and to get a 20% discount for the first 12 months of TextExpander if you use the code: SWINSCOE

Today's interview is with Des Traynor, Chief Strategy Officer and Co-founder at Intercom. Des joins me today to talk about some research they recently conducted around customers' communication preferences and what that means. We then go on to talk about ChatGPT and how they believe it will change everything, particularly in the world of customer service, support and experience. This interview follows on from my recent interview – Let your people be the humans they've spent all their life training to be – Interview with John Sills of The Foundation – and is number 458 in the series of interviews with authors and business leaders that are doing great things, providing valuable insights, helping businesses innovate and delivering great service and experience to both their customers and their employees.

Des Traynor is the cofounder of Intercom which creates modern Customer Service software that redefines how businesses support their customers. The company has raised over $241 million from top tier investors such as Kleiner Perkins, Bessemer Venture Partners, or Index Ventures to name a few.

Interview mit Gero Keil, CEO und Co-Founder von Levity In der Mittagsfolge sprechen wir heute mit Gero Keil, CEO und Co-Founder von Levity, über die erfolgreich abgeschlossene Seed-Finanzierungsrunde in Höhe von 8,3 Millionen US-Dollar. Levity hat eine No-Code-KI-Automatisierungsplattform entwickelt, die es Unternehmen ermöglicht, Prozesse zu beschleunigen, Kosten zu senken und Mitarbeitende von alltäglichen, zeitaufwändigen Aufgaben zu befreien. Die Plattform kombiniert eine Reihe von Tools für maschinelles Lernen mit einem einfachen, benutzerfreundlichen AI Block Builder und Vorlagen. Das Technologie-Startup hat es sich zur Aufgabe gemacht, Unternehmen aller Größenordnungen die Verarbeitung unstrukturierter Daten zu erleichtern und die Leistung von maßgeschneiderter KI zu nutzen. Dabei werden fortschrittliche Technologien wie natürliche Sprachverarbeitung und Computer Vision kombiniert, um den Usern mit nur einer Plattform zu ermöglichen, eine breite Palette von Prozessen zu automatisieren. Das Besondere an diesem Ansatz ist, dass die Lösung auch auf unstrukturierte Datentypen wie Bilder, Texte und Dokumente angewendet werden kann. Der gesamte Einführungsprozess, einschließlich der Anmeldung, der Erstellung eines KI-Blocks und der ersten Vorhersagen, kann in nur fünf Minuten abgeschlossen werden. Levity wurde im Jahr 2020 von Gero Keil und Thilo Hüllmann in Berlin gegründet und hat seine offene Beta-Version nun live geschaltet. Die Kunden des Jungunternehmens reichen von der Mode- und Immobilienbranche bis hin zur Schifffahrt, dem Marketing, den sozialen Medien, der wissenschaftlichen Forschung und mehr. In einer Seed-Finanzierungsrunde hat das Berliner Technologie-Startup nun 8,3 Millionen US-Dollar unter der Führung von Balderton Capital und Chalfen Ventures eingesammelt. Balderton Capital ist ein Londoner Risikokapitalgeber, der neben dem Kapital auch in jeder Phase seine europäischen Portfoliounternehmen strategisch unterstützt. Chalfen Ventures ist das Unternehmen des Solo-VCs Mike Chalfen, mit dem er Software-Startups bis zur Serie A unterstützt. Die bestehenden Investoren wie u.a. Angular Ventures, System.One, Scott Belsky, Des Traynor und Kevin Gidney haben sich ebenfalls an der Runde beteiligt. Das frische Kapital soll für den weiteren Ausbau des Teams und die Beschleunigung der Produktentwicklung verwendet werden.

Intercom co-founder Des Traynor talks to Tony Ulwick, the inventor of outcome-driven innovation and a decades-long champion of jobs-to-be-done as a method for product design.Read a full transcript here: https://www.intercom.com/blog/podcasts/podcast-tony-ulwick-on-jobs-to-be-done/This episode was originally published on 12/10/15See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today's guest is Enzo, the founder of June - a tool to visualize and measure the metrics for subscription businesses. In this episode, we'll discover how they're growing 10% month-over-month and why you should monetize as quickly as you can. Sponsor of today's episode: Grain - Record, transcribe, clip, and share the most important moments from your video meetings: https://grain.com/saaspirates Join the FB community group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/saaspirates. Follow Mike: https://twitter.com/mikeslaats/, https://instagram.com/mikeslaats, https://youtube.com/mikedotsaas [DISCOUNT OFFER] User feedback tool: https://upvoty.com (10% off with code 'PIRATES'). Named in this episode: Sergio Mattei (Founder of Makerlog), Slack, June, Pieter Levels (aka Levels io), Spotify, Intercom, Rework the book, Des Traynor.

In today's episode of Intercom on Product, Des Traynor, Co founder and Chief Strategy Officer, and Paul Adams, Chief Product Officer, sit down with our Director of Machine Learning, Fergal Reid to talk about the recent buzz surrounding neural networks, how machine learning is powering businesses, and what we can expect from the technology in the next few years.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's episode of Intercom on Product, Des Traynor, Co founder and Chief Strategy Officer, and Paul Adams, Chief Product Officer, sit down with our Director of Machine Learning, Fergal Reid to talk about the recent buzz surrounding neural networks, how machine learning is powering businesses, and what we can expect from the technology in the next few years.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Des Traynor is a Co-founder and the Chief Strategy Officer of Intercom, the modern customer communications platform that unifies every aspect of the customer journey. To date, Intercom has raised over $238M from some of the best including Index, ICONIQ, Kleiner, GV, and Bessemer. As for Des, before co-founding Intercom, he was a UX consultant, a university lecturer in computer science, and also a Ph.D. researcher. Des is also a prolific angel investor with a portfolio including the likes of Stripe, Algolia, Notion, Miro, and many more. In Today's Episode We Discuss: 1.) Origins of Intercom: How did Des make his way into the world of startups and come to co-found Intercom? When did they realize they really had something with Intercom and had to focus on it? What does Des know now that he wishes he had known at the start of Intercom? 2. Two of the Biggest Myths in Startups: Being First and Defensibility Why does Des believe that being the first does not matter? Why is it not an advantage? Why does Des believe that no company has defensibility on day 1? How does Des believe defensibility is built? What does Des mean when he says, when investing in companies he looks for a "long road to the starting line"? 3.) Product 101: A Masterclass on Product: How does Des answer the question of when to release a second product? How should the second product be resourced? MVP and lean or full budget and committed? What are the biggest mistakes people make when releasing a second product? What mistakes have Des and Intercom made when releasing new products? How does Des advise founders on when to stop working on a product? How do you know when it is not working? How does Des determine between a feature and a product both when building and when investing? 4.) Moving to Enterprise: What does Des believe are the three core things all companies need to scale into the enterprise effectively? Which should they do first? Which is most challenging? How does Des advise founders on when is the right time to move into the enterprise? How does the product need to change to meet enterprise needs and requirements? 5.) The Makings of Great Product Marketing: What does Des believe makes truly great product marketing? Who does it well today? How does your product marketing need to change as you scale from SMB to enterprise? If product marketing to both an end user and a separate buyer, which persona should one prioritise their messaging towards? How does Des advise founders on product marketing when they have a horizontal product with a very broad customer base? 6.) Angel Investing 101: From Stripe to Miro to Notion: Why does Des believe it is beneficial for operators to also be investing? What are the biggest lessons Des has learned from angel investing? How does Des approach both market sizing and outcome scenario planning today? How price sensitive is Des today? How has that changed over time? Item's Mentioned in Today's Episode with Des Traynor: Des' Favourite Book: How Will You Measure Your Life by Clayton Christensen

In der Rubrik “Investments & Exits” begrüßen wir heute Dorothea Gotthardt, Investment Manager bei Capnamic. Dorothea hat die Runde von Graswald und Papercup analysiert: Papercup aus Großbritannien konnte 20 Millionen US-Dollar für seine KI, die Videos automatisch synchronisiert, einsammeln. Mit der jüngsten Series-A-Finanzierung hat Papercup nun insgesamt 30,5 Millionen Dollar eingeworben. Octopus Ventures führte die Investition an, gefolgt von Local Globe, Sands Capital, Sky und Guardian Media Ventures, Entrepreneur First, BDMI und einer Reihe von Angel-Investoren, darunter Des Traynor, Mitbegründer von Intercom und John Collison, Mitbegründer von Stripe. Zu den bestehenden Angel-Investoren gehören William Tunstall-Pedoe, Gründer von Evi (jetzt Amazons Alexa) und Zoubin Ghahramani, Senior Research Director bei Google Brain und ehemaliger Chefwissenschaftler bei Uber. Das Unternehmen wurde 2017 von Shemen und Jiameng Gao gegründet und bietet eine KI-gestützte Synchronisationslösung, die menschliche Stimmen in einem Film oder Sendung identifiziert und Synchronisationen in einer neuen Sprache erzeugt. Sky News, Discovery und Business Insider haben die Technologie bereits genutzt. Das Hannover Startup Graswald konnte in einer Seed-Runde 1,25 Millionen Euro Kapital einsammeln. Der High-Tech Gründerfonds, Lakestar sowie Business Angels investieren in das Unternehmen, welches mit dem frischen Kapital seine 3D-Content-Plattform für fotorealistische Virtualisierung von Natur schneller weiterentwickeln möchte. Zudem soll weiterer Content geschaffen und Graswald zu einer Plattform entwickelt werden. Die Vision des Startups ist es, fotorealistische 3D-Ökosysteme für das Metaverse Leben bereitzustellen. Gegründete wurde Graswald im Jahr 2021 von Julius Harling.

In the face of what's expected to be an economic downturn, projected growth has slowed, investment has shrunken, and the tech industry has taken a hit. It's time to pause, regroup, and devise a new game plan. Des Traynor and Paul Adams reflect on the tech slowdown and what it means for product teams.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In the face of what's expected to be an economic downturn, projected growth has slowed, investment has shrunken, and the tech industry has taken a hit. It's time to pause, regroup, and devise a new game plan. Des Traynor and Paul Adams reflect on the tech slowdown and what it means for product teams.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today, we speak to Des Traynor of Intercom about problem selection, pricing, using principles to scale yourself as a leader, and maintaining alignment as an organisation grows. Des is one of the most succinct communicators in European tech. He didn't disappoint on the episode. Throughout it, you'll come across surprising, unique principles and heuristics that have helped Des propel Intercom into €1B+ business it is today.

Cette semaine je reçois Stan Massueras, VP sales EMEA et partnership chez Intercom. Stan a un parcours très complet, après un passage chez Xerox et HP, il rejoint Facebook pour l'ouverture de leur premier bureau européen. Après un peu plus de 4 ans, il décide de rejoindre twitter. En 2015, avec deux associés, il lance Pulp, un réseau social basé sur la musique. Le réseau social ne parviendra pas à avoir la même traction que son concurrent direct musical.ly (qui deviendra Tik Tok par la suite). Après l'abandon d'un de ses cofondateurs et un pivot raté, Stan et son associé Alex, décident de rejoindre la startup du moment : Intercom. Intercom c'est aujourd'hui plus de 35000 clients à travers le monde, 700 personnes principalement réparties entre Dublin et San Francisco, plus de 241M€ levés et une IPO en approche ! Durant cet épisode, nous avons parlé du parcours de Stan, de son rôle chez Intercom, comment il a structuré son équipe sales EMEA mais aussi de l'organisation des partenariats. Bonne écoute ! Vous pouvez suivre Stan sur LinkedIn et sur Twitter ou lui envoyer un email sur stan@intercom.com. Mentionnés pendant l'épisode : L'épisode de SaaS Connection avec Enzo Avigo de June Le podcast d'Intercom Intercom on product management, Des Traynor et John Collins Delivering Happiness, Tony Hsieh ___ Bon plan SendInBlue ✉️

As the founder of a 300+ software company, Des talks about the silence cost to being nice, the pitfalls of transparency as a leader, and the power of consistency. Claire Lew: Hi everyone, I'm Claire and I'm the CEO of Know Your Company. I'm really excited today to have a special guest with me, Des Traynor, the founder of Intercom. Des… Read the full article

Jenna and Des Traynor discuss how online companies can cultivate human relationships with their customers.