Founders in Arms Building an AI Business Beyond the Hype with Jesse Zhang from Decagon
Sep 19, 2025
Jesse Zhang, CEO and co-founder of Decagon.ai, discusses the challenges of building a sustainable AI business amidst the hype. He reveals how AI can evolve beyond chatbots into a true 'system of intelligence' for enterprises. The conversation dives into effective AI implementations, the realities of enterprise sales, and strategies to create defensible business models. Jesse also shares insights on credible growth metrics, adoption timelines, and the risks in fundraising, providing invaluable guidance for tech founders and customer experience leaders.
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AI As A System Of Intelligence
- Decagon frames successful AI agents as a "system of intelligence" that encodes business logic, not just ticket storage.
- That system becomes the company's record of how agents should behave and creates durable advantage.
Experience Over Pure Headcount Cuts
- Most companies deploy AI agents to improve customer experience and metrics like NPS, not solely to cut headcount.
- Efficiency gains are often secondary to improving retention, revenue, and satisfaction.
Prefer AI Over BPO For Scale And Consistency
- Compare AI agents to BPOs: AI avoids repeated training, churn, and inconsistency inherent in outsourced human teams.
- Choose AI when you want scalable, consistent handling of high-volume, repetitive tasks.