BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech: Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand & Malaysia Startups, Founders & Venture Capital VC (English) Jingjing Zhong: AI Impact on Service Businesses, CRM vs. RAG Reality, Founder Productivity Lifestyle - E532
JingJing Zhong, the Co-founder and CEO of Superbench and Jeremy Au discussed:
AI Impact on Service Businesses: JingJing explained how AI advancements have transformed traditional service industries. Previously, AI struggled with logic and calculations, making it unreliable for tasks like generating service quotes. Now, improved reasoning allows AI to think through multi-step processes, reducing human workload and increasing efficiency. Superbench helps businesses like cleaning and plumbing services scale without needing more employees. She shared how her former company, Helpling, reduced its sales team from five agents to one while increasing conversion rates from 30% to 70%.
CRM vs. RAG Reality: JingJing pointed out that traditional CRM systems don't integrate well with AI-driven customer support. She introduced Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) as a way to improve AI accuracy by linking responses to verified business knowledge before generating answers. Many AI chatbots still struggle with anything beyond FAQs and simple transactions, particularly in handling complaints. She predicts AI will advance even faster in the next two years, further reshaping service industries. Customers now assume AI agents are human because AI responses feel more natural than scripted templates used by actual employees.
Founder Productivity Lifestyle: JingJing reflected on how managing stress as a founder led her to restructure her daily habits. She quit alcohol, shifted to a healthier diet with more vegetarian meals, and committed to consistent journaling. She noted that these changes had a direct impact on her business performance, saying that after quitting alcohol, her sales "went crazy." She emphasized the importance of therapy for founders, citing YC President Gary Tan’s advice: “Do therapy before you start a company.” She believes founders should address their fears and anxieties early to avoid making poor decisions under pressure.
Jeremy and JingJing also talked about startup fraud cases like eFishery, the effects of investor ghosting in Southeast Asia, and cultural differences in venture capital practices between the U.S. and Southeast Asia.
Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/service-industry-ai-transformation
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