How I Did It, From Stealth to $100M - Jesse Zhang (Decagon) & Ivan Zhou (Accel)

Ivan Zhou, a partner at Excel, interviews Jesse Zhang, CEO and co-founder of Decagon, a company that develops AI customer service agents. Jesse shares his background, including his previous startup, Loki, which was acquired by Niantic, and discusses the differences in his approach to building Decagon. He emphasizes the importance of selecting the right projects and markets, noting that his experience with Loki taught him to be more deliberate in decision-making and customer engagement. Jesse highlights the significance of aggressive customer conversations to identify market needs and validate ideas, which ultimately led to Decagon's success in a competitive space. He reflects on the challenges of early-stage company building, the evolution of team dynamics as the company grows, and the necessity of maintaining clear communication and alignment within the team. Jesse concludes by advising founders to focus on being in the right market and to leverage their skills effectively to accelerate their company's growth.

This was filmed at our annual flagship Startup Grind Conference in Silicon Valley. Next year’s event will take place April 29-30, 2026. Visit https://www.startupgrind.tech and https://www.startupgrind.com for more info.

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