Des Traynor, co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Intercom, one of the most iconic SaaS companies to come out of Europe.
If you've ever messaged a company through a chat widget that actually worked, chances are you've used Intercom.
Des co-founded Intercom in 2011 in Dublin, and since then, the company has helped redefine how businesses talk to customers.
Today he leads Intercom's R&D team based in Dublin and London, but he's led many teams within the company including Product, Marketing, Customer Support, and Content. He is also a prolific investor in companies like Stripe, Miro, Notion and Hopin.
In this conversation, we dive into the moment when they realised the impact of AI on their business, the decision to build a new AI product even in the face of product Cannibalization and the importance of honest communication to the organization in face of high productivity gains, automations and potential job displacements.
Enjoy!
Venture Europe: Entrepreneurship | Technology | Venture Capital | Eu/Acc