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Long Dinh is the CFO at Ada, the world’s leading AI-native customer service automation company. Ada’s AI-powered customer service automation platform makes it easy for businesses to automatically resolve the greatest number of customer service conversations — across channels and languages – with the least amount of effort.
Dinh is an expert in developing early-stage firms (Pre-Seed to Series C) and a generalist in finance with experience on both sides of the table, as an operator and investor. He has raised more than $250 million in capital (equity and debt). He has a strong passion for team building, tackling challenging issues, and developing cutting-edge company plans that successfully cross uncharted territory.
At Ada, Dinh has successfully leveraged his acquired skills and experience to scale the company from its early stages to a Series C funding round. He has led fundraising efforts that have generated over $250 million in equity and debt,and he has built Ada’s financial structure from the ground up, establishing specialized departments including Legal, Taxes, and Revenue Operations.
Dinh is an angel investor and a member of the operator and angel network. He serves as an advisor and part-time CFO for various firms that he fervently supports. His ultimate objective is to help as many entrepreneurs as he can on their journeys to achieve their aspirations.
The Inspiring Journey: From Hanoi to Canada
Born and raised in Hanoi, Vietnam, Dinh had the unique opportunity to study and live in various countries and continents, including Vietnam, Russia and Australia, prior to immigrating to Canada, thanks to his father who was a diplomat. As a result of these varied experiences, he gained an immense appreciation for cultural variety as it relates to how business is done and decisions. Dinh’s capacity to establish new connections, work with others to solve problems, and adjust to ever-changing corporate environments was largely molded by this understanding.
The visionary leader further shared, “I identify as a builder, having been fortunate enough to garner experience from both sides of the business table — as an investor and an operator. My professional journey began by directly collaborating with a variety of businesses in my neighborhood and assisting them in developing their business plans. I was exposed to the venture capitalist sector as a result, and both industries taught me a lot. I’ve developed the ability to recognize the features and practices that successful businesses frequently employ, which has allowed me to more accurately forecast which projects are likely to succeed and, as a result, make more educated investment selections.”
Ada: A World Where Every Customer Interaction is Resolved by AI
Since 2016, Ada has powered over 4 billion automated customer interactions for brands like Meta, Verizon, AirAsia, Yeti, and Square.
Their products, developed utilizing cutting-edge generative AI technology like GPT-3 and GPT-4, enable brands to provide a modern customer experience, empower the people behind the AI, and drive cost effective automated resolutions. Ada contends that customer complaints need to be resolved and that containment is merely one metric of success. Ada is the solution to this broken system, providing a platform that powers the shift from agent-first to AI-first customer service and focuses on Automated Resolutions, commiting to delivering quality conversations where customers receive the answers they need without escalation to human agents.
The Key Differentiating Factors
Ease of deployment
Resolve inquiries – from simple FAQ to complex – without IT dependencies.
Industry-leading AI
Generate helpful, truthful and safe conversations at scale.
Extensible platform
Trigger actions & automations with the most integrations into existing business systems & agent platforms.
Continuous improvement
Build, measure and improve your CX over time with AI-powered guidance and reporting tools.
Leadership Approach
It’s like steering a ship through rough seas to navigate leadership in the dynamic business environment they are in today. Dinh is the CFO of Ada, and his strategy is based on the following ideas:
- Deep understanding of the business landscape
- Control the controllable
- Clear communication and goal setting
- Embrace adaptability and foster continuous learning
- Calmness in crisis
- Lead with empathy
“An inspiring leader, in my view, is not just someone who leads by example, but someone who uplifts others on their journey,” Dinh says.
Upholding a Healthy Work Environment
Motivating creativity and innovation while maintaining a healthy work environment is a delicate balance. Here’s how Dinh approaches it:
First and foremost, it’s important to establish an environment where the team feels safe to make decisions. The magnificent man encourages creative thinking and risk-taking within clear boundaries.
The team is empowered to see and seize possibilities for growth, and they are encouraged to celebrate their victories.
Being part of a remote-first company, Dinh leverages an unlimited vacation policy and company-wide “days off” to ensure everyone gets the downtime they need.
“In my experience, fostering this blend of creativity, innovation, and wellness is key to building a high-performing team that’s not just effective but also happy, motivated, and prepared for the challenges ahead,” says Dinh.
Addressing the Industry’s Hurdles Smartly
Human-first customer service has created a slow, disjointed, and frustrating experience for customers and agents alike. Today, customer service experiences are far from great.
- Agent attrition is higher than ever (38%)
- Wait times have tripled since 2020
- 64% of customers can’t get help or solve their problems
In the past ten years, chatbots have been developed, but their performance has fallen far short of that of a human. This problem Ada’s AI-powered automated customer service platform addresses. Ada connects with an organization’s current business processes to quickly and accurately handle complicated client questions across additional channels and languages, with little to no technical resources required. Its resolution engine gathers pertinent conversation and customer information from many channels, processes and accurately interprets consumer intent using AI, and automatically takes applicable actions with prebuilt workflows or generative AI.
Industry Evolutions and Latest Innovations: A Quick Overview
Ada places a lot of emphasis on Automated Resolution rate, a distinctive industry statistic. An Automated Resolution is a conversation between a customer and a company that is relevant, accurate, safe and does not involve a human.
This entails assessing each answer flow to determine its purpose and whether it genuinely resolves the client’s issue. Ada can provide companies with greater direction on how to design the automated customer care experience from the viewpoint and needs of the customers if we have a comprehensive understanding of this statistic.
In addition to making chatbots smarter, cutting-edge technologies like Large Language Models (LLMs) and generative AI allow them to be “headless” in terms of the channel in which a service is provided; one can build interfaces upon the same framework across different channels to enable a true omnichannel experience.
The customer service automation technology from Ada moves labor skills from original content creation to content editing and verification.
The Future Outlook
Using cutting-edge technology and innovation, Ada is poised to establish itself as a preeminent leader in AI-powered customer service automation. The company wants to create a platform that efficiently handles a wide range of customer support contacts, independent of the communication method or language employed. Ada is on a path to becoming the top option for companies looking to streamline their customer service operations and provide amazing experiences to their consumers thanks to its unwavering dedication to excellence and customer happiness.
Words of Wisdom
Starting a business is a grand endeavor. For entrepreneurs embarking on this journey, Dinh shares his three pieces of advice:
- Building a company is a colossal undertaking. As a founder, it’s crucial to understand your strengths and weaknesses early on. Look for teammates who can complement your weaknesses.
- There is never a “right” time to seek assistance. Don’t be afraid to ask your friends, family, and community for advice and resources.
- The path of entrepreneurship is strewn with challenges and setbacks. Don’t be disheartened by them. Instead, use these experiences to learn and adapt.
