Issue No. 19Week ending Sunday, May 10, 2026539 episodes · 2375 articles
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How Sendbird became an AI-first company | John Kim (co-founder and CEO)

With Claire Vo, John Kim · Sunday, May 10, 2026

In this episode, Claire Vo interviews John Kim, co-founder and CEO of Sendbird, about their journey to becoming an AI-first company. They discuss Sendbird's innovative internal platforms like the 'Automator' for AI quests and a company-wide AI skills marketplace, along with their unique AI token consumption leaderboard that ranks employees from 'AI newbie' to 'AI god'. The conversation also touches on the importance of leadership buy-in and hiring for curiosity in the AI era.

Key takeaways

  • Sendbird's internal 'Automator' platform and 'AI skills marketplace' lets employees propose 'AI quests' and learn new AI tools. Read more →
  • Sendbird built an internal AI skills marketplace, akin to an app store, where employees create and share reusable 'plugins' and individual 'skills' to solve problems. Read more →
  • Forget generic notetaking; John Kim, CEO of Sendbird, uses an open-source AI assistant, 'The Gardener,' to actively enrich his personal notes stored in tools like Obsidian. Read more →
  • Sendbird’s 'Automator' platform creates an internal AI marketplace, letting any employee initiate 'quests' for AI automation tools. Read more →
  • Track AI usage, but don't tie it to performance: Sendbird actively measures company-wide AI token consumption, not for employee review, but to guide and enable AI adoption across teams. This nuance is critical for buy-in. Read more →

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