Superhuman AI: Decoding the Future

Learn more about AssemblyAI here.In this episode of Superhuman AI: Decoding the Future, Zain and Hassan sit down with Elias Torres, co-founder and CEO of Agency, to learn about his remarkable career and vision for AI’s transformative role in customer success.Elias discusses the motivations behind his entrepreneurial endeavors (founding Performable and co-founding Drift) and the challenges he faced while building innovative companies. He explains why recruiting top talent, fostering strong company culture, and maintaining a customer-centric approach are so important when it comes to scaling, and he explores the potential of AI and large language models (LLMs) in revolutionizing customer success. Plus, Elias offers his insights on private equity and M&A and gives us his practical advice for founders, stressing the value of transparency, decisiveness, and direct customer interaction. We’ll also hear about Elias’ podcast The American Dream and he shares his aspirations for Agency to redefine customer engagement with small, agile teams. What we talk about:2:24 – Why is Elias creating another company?3:52 – What was Elias’ dream before becoming an entrepreneur?5:30 – What were some of the key moments on Elias’ journey to becoming an entrepreneur?8:05 – What is it about “The Valley” that lends itself to startup success?8:48 – What was it that drove Elias to keep pushing after selling Performable?10:16 – What are the top three lessons learned from HubSpot?12:01 – What makes software suck?12:56 – What makes a company special?15:27 – Lessons learned from M&A.19:10 – How hard is it to build a big company?21:53 – What problems does Agency aim to solve?24:14 – How does the AI wave differ from the other technology waves from the last 20 years?26:44 – Where would Elias be today if Drift had failed?30:51 – What does Agency mean for businesses?See more from Elias here:American Dream on YouTubeAmerican Dream on AppleAmerican Dream on Spotify

Learn more about AssemblyAI here.In this episode of Superhuman AI: Decoding the Future, Zain and Hassan sit down with Mike Murchison, co-founder and CEO of Ada, an AI-powered customer service platform. Mike takes us through the journey of Ada’s creation, detailing its early roots and the experiences that shaped its mission to revolutionize customer service through AI. He discusses the transformative impact of AI on customer service roles and how it’s reshaping the industry.Drawing from his firsthand experience as a contact center representative, Mike explains how Ada’s development was deeply informed by the challenges he faced in the field. Plus, he explains how this hands-on insight helped Ada secure its first clients, who quickly became advocates for the platform.Mike also shares key moments in Ada's development, including a strategic pivot to focus solely on customer service and the re-architecture of their platform around language models. He highlights the rapid advancements in AI, particularly in language and voice technology, and underscores the importance of staying agile and continuously learning to remain at the cutting edge of AI applications in customer service.What we talk about:1:24 – What is Ada?4:01 – What does AI mean for the future of customer service?6:53 – How did Mike build Ada and find his audience?9:50 – What does Ada get right when it comes to customer service?11:20 – What were some of the make-or-break points for Ada?17:41 – Is Ada going to utilize voice models?19:53 – What gives Ada its unfair advantage over the competition?22:55 – What are Mike’s thoughts on Perplexity AI?24:47 – How else is Mike using Ada in the office?26:35 – How is the Ada team tackling AI hallucinations?28:20 – What is the market like right now for AI entrepreneurs?32:14 – Which industries will become the first to bring in wider adoption of AI tools?34:04 – What should first-time founders be thinking about?

Learn More about AssemblyAI here.In this episode of Superhuman AI: Decoding the Future, Zain and Hassan speak with Luke Kim, co-founder and CEO of Liner, to explore the journey of building a successful AI search tool. Luke recounts Liner’s beginnings as a simple highlighter extension and its evolution into a specialized AI-powered search tool. Plus, Luke gives us a look into the strategic choices behind developing an AI-driven academic tool and the lessons learned along the way.We hear about the company’s relocation to Silicon Valley and how the team fuelled Liner’s early growth. And Luke shares his experience of angel investments and a Series A round led by Korean venture capitalists, drawn to Liner’s strong international user base. We also learn about Liner’s technical and competitive strategies, focusing on providing verified, reliable sources perfect for higher education users and setting it apart in a crowded AI space. Luke also shares his insights on utilizing a blend of large language models—such as Lama, GPT, and Claude—to ensures both cost efficiency and superior search capabilities. What we talk about:What we talk about:(1:14) - Who is Luke and what is Liner?(4:15) - How did Liner secure its first (of 10 million) customers?(6:37) - How did the move to Silicon Valley improve Liner?(7:30) - How did Luke develop his network when he arrived in Silicon Valley?(8:22) - How was Liner funded in the early days?(11:56) - What did the journey from 1,000 to 10 million users look like?(15:05) - How is Liner utilizing different LLMs?(17:40) - How does Liner fact-check in order to deliver reliable results?(20:23) - How does Liner rank results for its users?(21:43) - What is the 10-year vision for Liner?(24:58) - What advice does Luke have for entrepreneurs starting out in the AI space?(27:01) - What are investors looking for in applied companies?(29:16) - What is Luke most excited about in the AI space in the next 12 months?

To find out more about today’s sponsor, Assembly AI, follow the link: https://www.assemblyai.com/?utm_source=superhuman&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=linkIn this episode of Superhuman AI: Decoding the Future, Zain and Hassan are joined by Steve Woods, Partner and CTO of iNovia Capital. Steve shares his unique path from academia to founding startups and scaling Google Canada from a small team of 10 to 2,000 employees. Steve reflects on his early work with Quack.com in the late 90s, and shares the importance of adding a human touch to technology.Steve also discusses his years at Google, where he focused on nurturing internal talent over external hires, fostering a team-oriented culture and identifying key drivers within the organization, which he believes was essential for scalable growth and innovation, underscoring the value of team investment in building strong company foundations.We also learn about Steve’s venture capital work and his investments in foundational AI models like Cohere and applications like Spellbook. Plus, Steve offers his advice to founders, encouraging openness, adaptability, and focus on team dynamics. What we talk about:(1:28) – What’s it like working with Nobel Prize winner, Geoff Hinton?(3:20) – What made Steve swap academia for entrepreneurship?(5:22) – How did Steve develop the idea for Quack.com?(9:12) – What have been some similarities between the dot com, cloud and AI waves?(11:44) – Why Steve hired a Hollywood director.(14:08) – The importance of intensity.(17:55) – Why did Steve swap working on startups for working at Google?(21:18) – What are some tips Steve has for founders looking to scale aggressively?(24:48) – How does Steve manage working with different founders with different approaches?(27:46) – Can the app layer retain value, or will model builders dominate instead?(30:26) – Has product lost value to brand and distribution in app growth?(32:12) – What advice does Steve have for new founders and what industries is he excited by?