Today on BILLIONS, I'm sitting down with Des Traynor, co-founder of Intercom.

In 2023, his company was stuck at 10% growth. Customer service teams were shrinking. The old model was dying.

So he did something radical: he launched an AI agent priced at $0.99 per resolved conversation. Not per seat. Per outcome.

The result? Growth doubled to 25%. $343M in revenue.

And a complete reinvention of a $1.3B company in 18 months.

TIMELINE :

00:00:00 - 00:01:02 : Des Traynor - Intercom

00:01:02 - 00:05:22 : The $1.3 billion bet on AI : moving 15 days after ChatGPT launched

00:05:22 - 00:09:08 : Why building AI is not building SaaS

00:09:08 - 00:12:51 : The "torture test" for engineering reliability

00:12:51 - 00:20:14 : Developing the "white smoke" moment for product

00:20:14 - 00:25:16 : Defining what "good" looks like in AI

00:25:16 - 00:34:53 : The Blockbuster warning: Adapt or die

00:34:53 - 00:40:27 : Killing hallucinations with actor-critic logic

00:40:27 - 00:48:55 : Outcome-based pricing and the future of CRM

00:48:55 - 00:55:56 : The end of frontline customer service jobs

REFERENCES :

Instrumentalizing Religion and Jihad

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