Elias Torres has been building AI systems since 1999, from chatbots at IBM to co-founding Drift and now Agency. He believes businesses are caught in an expectation mismatch—demanding AI while rejecting it due to imperfection anxiety. Drawing from his experience scaling HubSpot, Elias explains why human-led customer experience doesn’t scale and how Agency is building AI-first solutions that work autonomously. His contrarian approach focuses on the back-end customer experience rather than front-end AI SDRs, aiming to “deprogram the entire business world” from inefficient human-dependent processes.
Hosted by: Sonya Huang and Pat Grady, Sequoia Capital
Mentioned in the episode:
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Lookery: David Cancel’s first startup that Elias joined after IBM; shut down in 2009
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Performable: Elias and David’s second startup, acquired by HubSpot in 2011
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Drift: Elias and David Cancel’s third startup, merged with Salesloft in 2024
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Klaviyo: B2C CRM company started by Andrew Bialecki after working with Elias at HubSpot
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Secret: Short-lived anonymous messaging app that inspired one of Drift’s early iterations
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Tatajuba: Kitesurfing destination in Jericoacoara, Brazil where Elias (briefly) considered retirement
00:00 Introduction
01:50 AI and Customer Expectations
03:36 Managing Emails with AI
07:21 Elias' Personal Journey
11:27 Early Career
14:28 Joining HubSpot and Scaling Challenges
16:31 Hiring Exceptional Talent
18:53 Founding Drift
20:27 Pivoting to Success with Drift
21:41 Drift's Chatbot Innovation
22:09 Challenges and Limitations of Drift
22:37 The Struggle with Customer Knowledge
23:09 Scaling Challenges and Lessons Learned
25:58 Rediscovering Purpose Post-Drift
28:55 The Birth of Agency
29:42 AI's Role in Customer Experience
35:13 Building a Sustainable Business Model
37:06 The Vision for Agency
38:22 Challenges and Opportunities with AI
41:22 Deprogramming and Embracing Change
43:23 Optimism for the AI Future
44:15 Closing Thoughts
