Eoghan McCabe is the CEO and cofounder at Intercom, an AI customer service platform. Intercom has raised over $240M, and was last valued at $1.3B in 2018. After spending 9 years building the company, Eoghan left Intercom in 2020, but he’s since returned, reshaping Intercom and pioneering its pivot to an AI-first service. This episode highlights his unabashed takes on leaning into your intuition as a founder, and his perspectives on the critical junctures in company building.

In today’s episode, we also discuss:
• Eoghan's reflections since leaving Intercom
• The value of intuition and first-principles thinking
• The changes Eoghan made upon returning to Intercom
• How Eoghan increased Intercom's productivity by 41%
• Tactical advice on hiring top talent
• Why you can't make small improvements in big categories
• Crafting a culture of ruthless honesty and transparency
• Why software branding is in crisis

Referenced:
• 37signals: https://37signals.com/
• Basecamp: https://basecamp.com/
• Brian Halligan (HubSpot):   / brianhalligan  
• David Heinemeier Hansson (37signals, Basecamp):   / david-heinemeier-hansson-374b18221  
• Intercom: https://www.intercom.com/
• Jason Fried (37signals, Basecamp):   / jason-fried  
• Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/
• Marc Benioff (Salesforce):   / marcbenioff  
• Zendesk: https://www.zendesk.com/

Where to find Eoghan:
• LinkedIn:   / eoghanmccabe  
• Twitter/X: https://x.com/eoghan

Where to find Brett Berson:
• LinkedIn:   / brett-berson-9986094  
• Twitter/X:   / brettberson  

Where to find First Round Capital:
• Website: https://firstround.com/
• First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/
• Twitter/X:   / firstround  
• YouTube:    / @firstroundcapital  
• This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast

Timestamps
0:00:00 - Founder intuition vs. standard practice
0:25:00 - Silicon Valley knowledge loops
0:28:13 - Building an executive team
0:36:38 - Eoghan’s return to Intercom
0:42:02 - Transparent and honest leadership
0:46:42 - Changing Intercom’s strategy
0:54:22 - AI and category disruption
1:03:17 - How Intercom thinks about brand
1:10:40 - Eoghan’s inspirations