Jay Lagarde

🔆 Robert Cabral 🔆 is in the Spotlight today! Robert leads Support & Enterprise Education at Runway. Over the past 10 years, he's built post-sales teams from the ground up at multiple startups, including scaling companies from $5M to $100M+ ARR. He shares insights on support leadership, operations, AI, and more in his newsletter, "Beyond the Queue." 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿? When I started, support was seen mostly as a reactive function. While I worked with many talented individuals, there wasn't much room for strategic work. It was about fixing the issue, closing the ticket, and moving on. Today, it has evolved into a key part of the customer journey. The best teams act as partners. They surface insights that influence product, marketing, and revenue. That shift from helping customers to helping the business understand customers is where I've focused most of my career growth. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁-𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗜? We’re living this evolution right now. The real question isn't whether to use AI, but where the handoff between automation and human judgment should happen. Get that wrong, and you create a faster path to frustrated customers. Get it right, and your team can focus on the complex problems that actually require human insight: account health analysis, strategic implementation planning, and turning at-risk customers into advocates. AI is already changing how we work, but the real opportunity is in what it frees us to do. The more we automate repetitive tasks, the more space we create for deep customer conversations, proactive retention work, and relationship building. There's a concern that AI will make customer interactions distant and cold. But I see the opposite happening. Teams will be able to focus on uncovering opportunities that build customer trust and expand revenue. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀? Many still view support or success as a necessary cost center. But great support is a growth channel. Every customer conversation is a data point, a retention lever, and an early signal of churn or expansion. When your success team notices a customer's usage dropping off or support spots repeated friction with a specific workflow, those aren't just service issues, they're retention and revenue signals. Address them proactively, and you prevent churn. Ignore them, and you're leaving money on the table. When teams are set up right, aligned with operations, product, and revenue, support can be one of the most strategically valuable parts of a business. That mindset shift is what transforms post-sales from a service function into a competitive advantage. (continued in comments!)

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Today, Gloo launched Gloo AI Studio, a production-grade development platform designed specifically for developers serving churches, ministries, nonprofits and mission-driven enterprises. Gloo AI Studio enables teams to move fast without cutting corners, because values-alignment cannot be bolted on after deployment. It must be embedded at the model and infrastructure layer. AI infrastructure decisions made today will shape how intelligence is distributed and trusted for decades. https://lnkd.in/gSNDHKDf

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Driving to Venture Atlanta Conference, here’s how I make conferences count Most founders waste conferences. Not because they don’t meet people, but because they meet everyone. Here’s how to focus where it matters 1. Skip the business cards. They get lost. You don’t. Lead investors straight to your Capwave profile so they can see real-time engagement, traction, and know if you’re a fit. It also helps you track who’s showing real interest and who’s just being polite. Quick "how-to" here: https://lnkd.in/eANKnixj 2. Prioritize depth over volume. You don’t need 100 new contacts. You need 5 right investors who actually write checks for your stage and sector. Do the homework before you land, if they don’t fit your raise, skip the pitch. 3. Follow up fast. Within 24 hours, send: Your deck or Capwave link and a clear next step (“Would love to explore fit / investor alignment”) 4. Protect your energy. Conference mode burns people out. Hydrate. Sleep. Take 15-minute resets. 5. Keep momentum after. The real work starts after the event. Track your investor convos, send updates, and keep “too early” investors in the loop, they often convert later. At Capwave AI, we built tools for exactly this: finding the right investors, tracking engagement, and automating your follow-ups, so you can spend less time chasing and more time closing. Heading to Venture Atlanta? Let's meet :) Staying in SF? I'll see you at TC Disrupt.

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Many state governments have invested heavily in custom development projects to solve their child care woes, only to face blown budgets, delayed timelines, and poor user adoption. More communities are recognizing the benefits of SaaS (software-as-a-service) models over custom builds because of the ease of implementation and cost-effective pricing. The data says:  SaaS platforms are designed for ongoing updates and enhancements, avoiding the need for costly legacy system overhauls. SaaS solutions often provide better user experiences for families, providers, and agency staff out of the box. As state and local leaders seek to modernize their early childhood systems, take a look at SaaS versus custom development for a stronger return on the public's investment: https://lnkd.in/eCndEhvn

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"Don't listen to the ecosystem. Listen to the founders." I've worked to get more capital flowing to founders for the last 15 years -- seven years at Kiva, and eight years at Wefunder. I've seen thousands of people and organizations ("ESOs" -- I have always hated the acronym) try to empower entrepreneurs and build thriving local startup ecosystems. Most "practitioners" get it horribly wrong. Zap ⚡️ gets it right. If you're working to build your local startup ecosystem, I would highly recommend watching this discussion, which I had with her last year. A big part of her success -- listening to what *founders* want, and trying to serve them. A customer-centric approach to her mission. It's not rocket science, but it's sadly far too rare in this field. https://lnkd.in/ervE8UHS

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Thank you Angel Garcia of BAM Ventures for having me on your podcast New BAM BizTalk Episode is live! Listen now: https://lnkd.in/gc7_TcH9 In Episode #80, Angel Garcia sits down with Scott Kelly of Black Dog Venture Partners to break down what it really takes to raise capital, adapt with AI, and build a business that can scale in today’s competitive landscape. Scott shares practical insights from decades of experience working with startups, investors, and tech innovators — from mastering your pitch to building the kind of resilience that keeps your company moving forward. If you're growing a business or preparing for funding conversations, this episode gives you the clarity, direction, and mindset shift you need to take the next step. hashtag #BAMBizTalk #ScottKelly #BlackDogVenturePartners #BlackDogCEO #StartupFunding #AIinBusiness #Entrepreneurship #Leadership #BusinessGrowth #VentureCapital #StartupStrategy #BAMVentures

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What makes Alabama uniquely positioned to become the next breakout hub for tech innovation in the U.S.?... Bella Tylicki of PERITUS public relations helps startups craft clear, compelling stories—and she believes Alabama holds untapped potential for founders ready to build. Here’s why she sees it as the next big opportunity.

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