How do you scale a company from zero to $100 million in 18 months without losing quality, clarity, or control?
In this episode, Matt Price shares the remarkable story of building Crescendo, one of the fastest-growing companies ever featured on the show, by reimagining customer experience through advanced AI and deeply trained specialists. Matt’s journey has come full circle: from a technical support rep early in his career, to scaling Zendesk, to now creating an entirely new model for enterprise-grade customer care.
Matt opens up about assembling an elite leadership team in record time, creating a vertically integrated product-and-operations engine, and designing a culture anchored around accountability, curiosity, and constant communication. He also explains why outcome-based pricing changes everything, how General Catalyst’s creation model gave Crescendo an unfair advantage, and why traditional BPOs simply aren’t positioned for the AI era. This is a masterclass in speed, focus, and operational excellence.
Takeaways:
- Building a Stellar Team: Matt emphasized the importance of assembling a high-quality team quickly. He discussed how bringing in top talent, especially those with experience in related fields, has been crucial for Crescendo's rapid growth.
- Curiosity and Vision as Key Attributes: When recruiting for a fast-growth environment, Matt values curiosity and passion for the company's vision. These attributes, combined with relevant experience, are critical for innovation and progress.
- Prioritizing Outcomes Over Traditional Models: Crescendo has embraced outcome-based pricing, aligning the company’s success with customer satisfaction. This model contrasts with traditional seat-based pricing and encourages the entire organization to focus on end-to-end service quality.
- Integrating AI Thoughtfully: Matt spoke about the evolution of AI in customer care and its potential to transform the industry. By integrating AI with human expertise, Crescendo offers enhanced support experiences.
- Strategic Acquisition for Growth: The strategic acquisition of traditional BPOs has allowed Crescendo to expand its distribution and offer scalable AI solutions. Matt's approach underscores the power of mergers and acquisitions in achieving rapid growth.
- Creating a Culture of Accountability: Matt stressed the significance of having someone accountable for leading every project or initiative. In a fast-paced environment, clarity in roles and responsibilities is vital for efficiency and progress.
- Fostering Open Communication: Maintaining open communication channels, even in remote settings, is a priority for Crescendo's leadership. Matt ensures his team stays connected through regular meetings and an open-door policy.
Quote of the Show:
- “Customer care was constrained by the economics. In order to deliver customer care up to now, you have to put humans in, a lot of people in… and AI now changes that, AI puts us into a world of abundance. And we need to shift our mindsets now as CX leaders… we’re moving from being deflectors to creators and innovators." - Matt Price
Links:
Ways to Tune In:
#NotAnotherCEO #BusinessSuccess #Crescendo
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:32 Building a High-Impact Team
03:40 The Role of AI in Customer Service
06:03 Rapid Growth and Company Evolution
07:58 Leadership and Team Dynamics
11:03 AI Integration and Product Development
21:53 Founding Crescendo and Market Opportunities
28:10 Challenges and Focus as a CEO
31:08 The CEO's Influence on Team Dynamics
35:00 Outcome-Based Pricing in SaaS
36:22 Challenges and Benefits of Outcome-Based Models
41:25 Strategic Growth Through Acquisitions
47:04 The Future Vision for Crescendo
48:34 Personal Journey and Early Career
58:33 Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
59:29 Outro
