Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Saturday, December 13th.

Today on Forbes, this 28-year-old AI founder thinks his customer service startup can beat

out companies 10 times his size.

On a Friday afternoon in late October, Jesse Zhang, the 28-year-old co-founder and CEO of AI customer service

startup, Decagon, strides through the lush greenery of San Francisco's Salesforce Park,

a sprawling rooftop garden in the shadow of the 1,070-feet Salesforce Tower, named for one of his

biggest rivals. But he's nonchalant in the face of stiff competition from public giants 10 times the size of his

tiny upstart. He said, quote, what's there to be intimidated about? We like competing. We enjoy

winning. That's evident. A few moments ago in his south of market office, Zhang and co-founder Ashwin Shrnevis' team of

200 erupted in hoots and cheers after a team lead rang a sales gong, touting a freshly signed

deal.

Blinds manufacturing giant Hunter Douglas had agreed to use Decagon's AI software for customer

support tasks.

That's nothing compared to how the company commemorated a win last year.

Excel partner and early investor Ivan Zhou, who promised to go bald if the company increased

its revenue tenfold, recalls, quote, I sat in a chair in the middle of the office, and

Ashwin and Jesse shaved my head.

Now, after hitting yet another revenue milestone, Zhang is taking his employees on a trip to Hawaii in early 2026.

He said, quote, it's going to be expensive.

Decagon has cause for celebration. Founded just two years ago, the startup's AI-powered customer

service agents are used by more than 100 companies, including Notion, Built, Duolingo, Substack,

and Rippling, to answer questions about how a product works, process refunds, order replacements,

...