PODCAST · business
For Starters
by Unfiltered Perspectives on AI, CX, and Startups
Let's get real. Most advice on AI, CX, and startups is just noise—hype, clichés, and fluff. For Starters cuts through it all with raw takes, real strategies, and contrarian insights you can actually use. Sometimes we’ll go deeper with guests who bring the heat. No hype, just where we're headed. chriscrosby.cx
Episodes
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Announcing, the Great Contact Center Rewrite
Well, today's a big day. It's a big day for me personally. It's a big day for EndeavorCX, our company, and I believe for the contact center industry at large. I've been fortunate enough in my 30-ish year career now to have seen and played a part of multiple market transitions. Twenty years ago…
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Just Make It Easy (J-M-I-E)
Today, my advice to startups is to tattoo the following acronym somewhere where you will see it every single day: J-M-I-E, which means Just Make It Easy. I came up with this several years ago when I was traveling relentlessly and found myself flying Southwest a lot—not because they were always…
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The M&A Drought: Understanding the Current Market Shift
Last week, I did a post about how I felt that AI in the contact center industry had plateaued rather than seen a bubble. We'd run out of innovation, effectively. And the result of that was a lot of companies that look alike. There was a comment made to that post, which was quite insightful—part…
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Market Bubbles, Plateaus, and Gray Swans
Today, let's talk about market bubbles, plateaus, and gray swans. For the last six months or so, I've been looking at AI in the context of the market, and it has felt pretty bubblicious—like we were hitting a bubble with a ton of companies jumping in. Some of them couldn’t even spell "contact...
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The Currency of Trust
Few things can be more important to an early-stage company's success—or any company's success, really—than your ability to build trust with the market, with your customers, with your employees, the folks that you're recruiting, and partners in the industry. Exercising that leadership and…
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Knowledge-AI Readiness in Contact Centers
Today, let's tackle AI readiness and “agentic” readiness, which I guess is the new buzzword in the contact center. There's a lot of, I think, misguided but well-intended advice that the very first thing you need to do is figure out knowledge management or a knowledge base. And while that is a...
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The Future of Conversational AI: Margins, Saturation, and Strategic Niches
The following is an snippet from my conversation with John Walter on 1/15/2025 The current conversational AI vendors are doing quite well and are maintaining healthy profit margins. I've heard one mention an 80% profit margin number before. I'm just curious about your perspective on 10 to 15…
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Lessons in Losing $$: Market Timing, Pivots, and Scaling GTM
In this interview, John Walter posed the question: “What if we make it an incentive so that if a company is willing to adopt this tool, they are also making these AI assistants more valuable? These AI assistants are becoming more useful to the consumer because they’re able to do more real-world...
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Stop Screwing-up Your Customer Onboarding
Good morning, everyone, and welcome back to For Starters. Today, I want to drop a quick note on not screwing up your pre-sales and post-sales onboarding process. You all spend a lot of money acquiring new customers, burn a lot of calories on LinkedIn talking about acquiring new customers—only to...
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Reimagining the Future of BPO: Scaling Excellence with AI and Innovation
Today I'll wade into the waters and talk about a hot topic these days, which is the future of the BPO industry. There's a lot of varying opinions and thoughts on it, from, "It's the end of the world; everything's gonna be automated," to, "Business as usual," and a whole lot in between. I'm going…
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Evaluating the Channel: Rethinking Go-to-Market Strategy
Good morning and welcome back to For Starters today. Let's talk about distribution, go-to-market, and the fabled channel, which, for channel, I'm defining as mostly sales agents, technology distributors—aka referral agents. First, as any company coming to market, one of the key things you...
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Apprenticeship and Mentorship: Why Being in the Right Environment Matters
Working closely with seasoned professionals has a way of sharpening our business instincts, teaching us how to handle finances, and ultimately boosting our confidence to start and lead companies. This post revisits the power of in-person mentorship, how it shaped my first venture, and why…
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Leadership in Startups: Level Setting the Myth of Founder Mode
Leadership in startups is messy. Founders are expected to scale their vision, align teams, deliver value to customers, and pace industry transformation—all while navigating constant uncertainty. Yet leadership itself remains one of the least explored topics in startup culture. Last fall, Paul...
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The Grind Isn’t Special, and Neither Are You
Welcome back to For Starters. This week is all about tough love for my fellow entrepreneurs, and today we’re taking on hustle culture. Many of you post daily about grinding, sacrificing, and working 20-hour days to make the world a better place. Let’s be honest—that’s your ego talking. It’s…
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Unlocking Ecosystem Growth and Interconnected Systems
Chris Crosby discusses the importance of ecosystem-wide growth and unlocking exponential potential. He highlights the limitations of traditional hub and spoke models in partnerships and ecosystems, where applications or products create new silos and require integration. Instead, he advocates for...
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Welcome to Day One
Hi everyone, and welcome to Day One of For Starters: Unfiltered Perspectives on AI, CX, and Startups. This is a mostly daily podcast, starting today, where we’ll cut through the noise and jargon surrounding these topics and focus on what’s real. I’m Chris Crosby—entrepreneur, builder, and someone...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Let's get real. Most advice on AI, CX, and startups is just noise—hype, clichés, and fluff. For Starters cuts through it all with raw takes, real strategies, and contrarian insights you can actually use. Sometimes we’ll go deeper with guests who bring the heat. No hype, just where we're headed.
chriscrosby.cx
HOSTED BY
Unfiltered Perspectives on AI, CX, and Startups
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does For Starters have?
For Starters currently has 16 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is For Starters about?
Let's get real. Most advice on AI, CX, and startups is just noise—hype, clichés, and fluff. For Starters cuts through it all with raw takes, real strategies, and contrarian insights you can actually use. Sometimes we’ll go deeper with guests who bring the heat. No hype, just where we're headed....
How often does For Starters release new episodes?
For Starters has 16 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to For Starters?
You can listen to For Starters on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts For Starters?
For Starters is created and hosted by Unfiltered Perspectives on AI, CX, and Startups.
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