Podcast
The Squawk
Hosted by Lorikeet · EN
The customer experience space is changing fast. The Squawk is a short, sharp and focused deep dive on one guest and their one big idea about how CX is changing for the people involved. The conversation is deep, tactical and specific. Perfect for a quick commute and guaranteed to leave you with something new to think about – or implement – for your CX operation.
7episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
How Stream Built an AI Support Agent with One Part-Time Engineer | Nick Rogers
3w ago00:30:13Tap to summarizeStream's AI support agent resolves 80% of their customer tickets. It was built by one engineer, working part-time, inside a 60-person product and engineering team.In hundreds of conversations with CX leaders evaluating self-build, this is the exception. Most attempts stall between an impressive hackathon demo and a system reliable enough for production. Nick Rogers, Chief Product and Technology Officer at stream (formerly Wagestream), explains why his team is one of the few that crossed that gap.Nick walks through the test he'd give any leader weighing build versus buy (his answer: if you need to ask, partner), the "wait for the frontier" tempo of trying, failing, and coming back when a new model release shifts what's possible, and the results of stream's recent model bake-off, including the model that surprised the team for being worse than expected.Follow The Squawk podcast for hot takes and big ideas in CX. Perfect for a short commute and guaranteed to leave you with something new to think about, or implement, for your CX operation.Timestamps:00:00 - Cold open00:41 - Intro to Nick & stream01:55 - Nick's career path04:00 - Why stream's self-build is the exception05:07 - The chronological story: GPT-3.5 to Gemini 2.0 Flash07:50 - The culture that lets stream try and fail09:15 - Eval methodology: golden datasets and A/B testing in production11:30 - 70% to 80% deflection, a 33% reduction in tickets11:55 - The model bake-off and the Claude Opus surprise13:20 - Latency versus quality tradeoffs14:46 - "How many of your 60 engineers work on this?" - effectively one16:18 - Why talent matters (Joel on Software's "high notes")17:39 - The self-build vs buy test: "if you need to ask, just buy"19:30 - The "wait for the frontier" strategy20:58 - Risk: from wild hallucination to agentic actions24:41 - Knowledge management as the new CX job26:42 - Lightning round28:51 - Recommended reading: Hackers and Painters by Paul Graham29:48 - Wrap-upWhere to find Nick:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rogersnm/
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Why Every CX Hire at Granola Learns to Code I Vicky Firth
Apr 2800:29:55Tap to summarizeWhat if your support team didn't just answer tickets, but shipped code to the product?That's exactly what Vicky Firth, founding CX lead at Granola, has built. A team where every agent has Cursor open next to their inbox, makes small code changes themselves, and rebuilds the internal tools they use every day instead of waiting on engineering. In this episode, Vicky breaks down how to:- Equip a "non-technical" CX team to read, troubleshoot and ship code- Hand the keys back to support by letting them own their own internal tools- Turn the support function into the team that engineers actually want to collaborate withFollow The Squawk podcast for hot takes and big ideas in CX, perfect for your commute and packed with insights you can actually use.Timestamps:00:00 - Cold open & intro01:17 - Vicky's career: biology to support engineering to Accurax to Granola04:04 - Lessons from supporting NHS frontline workers through COVID06:17 - What Granola is and Vicky's goals as founding CX lead09:11 - Deep dive: how the CX team uses Cursor day-to-day13:16 - Working with engineering, reviews, pitfalls, and trust17:30 - Where to start if you're a CX leader19:13 - Career paths, recruiting, and the future of CX23:43 - Lightning round29:32 - Wrap-upWhere to find Vicky:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vicky-firth-505b15105/
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How Clay Turned Support Into a Talent Engine I George Dilthey
Nov 2500:26:02Tap to summarizeWhat if support wasn't just a cost center, but your company's best talent pipeline?That's exactly what George Dilthey, Head of Support at Clay, built - a system that recruits new grads into support, then rotates them across the business. In this episode, George breaks down how to:Turn support into a talent exporter that feeds product and GTM teamsDevelop expert generalists ready for an AI-driven workplaceBuild structured career pathways that retain top performersFollow The Squawk podcast for hot takes and big ideas in CX - perfect for your commute and packed with insights you can actually use.Timestamps:00:41 - Intro to George & Clay03:38 - Inside “The Wheel” rotational program08:02 - AI, new grads & the rise of the “expert generalist”12:00 - The Wheel as a talent engine for Clay22:05 - Lightning RoundWhere to find George:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-dilthey/
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Move Fast with Care: How Culture Amp Built AI That Customers Trust
Nov 400:24:18Tap to summarizeIn this episode of The Squawk, we sit down with Jared Ellis from Culture Amp. Jared shares his journey from being the first support specialist to leading an AI-first customer experience transformation. Key topics include shifting from productivity metrics to quality of experience, improving AI through frontline feedback, emerging career paths in support teams, and challenging the conventional wisdom of slow AI rollouts by moving quickly with well-planned "escape hatches."Follow The Squawk podcast for hot takes and big ideas in CX. Perfect for a short commute and guaranteed to leave you with actionable insights to implement in your CX operation.Timestamps:00:41 Introduction to Culture Amp and Jared's Role02:12 Jared's Journey and AI Adoption in Customer Support05:03 The Impact of AI on Customer Experience Measurement09:07 Metrics shift: from speed (FRT) to quality of experience in an AI-first model. 19:00 Lightning RoundWhere to find Jared:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredellis/
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Linear’s CX Playbook: Zero-Bug Policy with Alexandra Lapinsky Wilson
Oct 2100:24:55Tap to summarizeAll companies care about product quality, but Linear actually has a zero bug policy with teeth.We sat down with Alexandra Lapinsky Wilson, who leads Product Ops and CX at Linear.Linear wants to bring the magic back to software, and Alexandra's teams are making that real for users every day.Hear Alexandra's insights on how CX is critical to delivering on the zero bug promiseIf a user thinks something is broken, it's a bug. No "that's expected behavior" excuses allowedCX does real work before bugs hit engineering: troubleshooting, gathering logs, providing contextCX gets staffed on every product project from discovery through launchFollow The Squawk podcast for hot takes and big ideas in CX. Perfect for a short commute and guaranteed to leave you with actionable insights to implement in your CX operation.Read more about Linear's zero-bug policy here: https://linear.app/now/zero-bugs-policyTimestamps:0:54 - Retail to Software Career7:32 - Zero Bug Policy Explained10:24 - Identifying bugs for eng, collaborating with product16:38 - Hiring Philosophy, Org19:03 - Lightning Round Q&A (great support, favorite metrics)Where to find Alexandra:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandra-lapinsky-wilson/☝️Subscribe to this channel - New episodes in Season 1 are out every 2 weeks!
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Scaling Support at Google, Stripe, and Bridge: Lessons in Building World-Class Operations
Oct 700:25:41Tap to summarizeWe begin our very first episode on The Squawk with Bob van Winden. Bob shares his extensive experience in scaling customer support operations across major tech companies like Google and Stripe, and now at Bridge, a fintech startup. He reflects on how he accelerated his career thanks to unique professional opportunities available in Support and Operations, the importance of balancing anecdotes with data when it comes to CX, and the key lessons from hyper-scaling operations over the past decade.The customer experience space is changing fast. The Squawk is a short, sharp and focused deep dive on one guest and their one big idea about how CX is changing for the people involved. The conversation is deep, tactical and specific. Perfect for a quick commute and guaranteed to leave you with something new to think about – or implement – for your CX operation.Timestamps:00:00 Introduction to Bridge and Bob's Journey04:45 Transition from Google to Stripe and customer support06:26 Focusing on Customer Support and Managing Vendors instead of Product or Hyper Scaling at Stripe12:12 Counterintuitive Lessons from Growth: Anecdotes and Data13:57 Balancing Anecdotes and Data as Stripe Grew16:36 Balancing In-House and Outsourced Support Teams19:03 The Evolution of Operations in the AI Era20:28 The Cambrian Explosion of Operations Startups21:44 Lightning Round: Insights on Customer Support Metrics and ExperiencesWhere to find Bob:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobvanwinden/☝️Subscribe to this channel - New episodes in Season 1 is out every 2 weeks!
Transcribe →Hear from Stripe, Linear & Clay on the Future of CX | The Squawk Trailer
Oct 200:01:34Tap to summarizeWe’re launching a new podcast! The customer experience space is changing quickly. The Squawk is a short, sharp and focused deep dive on guests from leading companies. Hear Steve Hind speak to CX, Product and Operations Leaders at Clay, Linear, Stripe (to name a few), and their one big idea about how CX is changing for the people involved. Here’s a sneak peek. We can’t wait to share Season 1 with you—stay tuned!More about us:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lorikeetcx/ Website: https://www.lorikeetcx.ai/Blog: https://www.lorikeetcx.ai/blog
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