How to Drive Innovation & Democratize AI as a CS Leader ft. David Karp (Disqo)

[Un]Churned – The No. 1 Podcast for Customer Retention

How Disqo Sparked an AI Movement With a Company-Wide Hackathon

When everyone was talking about AI but few knew where to start, Disqo took a bold step: they cleared two full days and ran a company-wide AI hackathon. The result? 70 people, 15 teams, and a wave of innovation that’s still driving value today.

In this episode, David Karp, Chief Customer Officer at Disqo, shares the inside story of how they achieved this and how it transformed their culture. From creating starter ideas and cross-functional teams to sustaining momentum with office hours and grassroots initiatives, David lays out the exact playbook you can use to kickstart AI adoption in your own org.

What you’ll learn:

- How to design an AI hackathon that drives real business outcomes.

- Why constraints and scoring criteria make or break innovation.

- How to spark bottom-up energy with top-down support.

- Ways to sustain momentum with AI office hours and team-led mini-hackathons.

- Why AI adoption starts with leaders using the tools themselves.

Check out the Key Takeaways & Transcripts: https://www.gainsight.com/presents/series/unchurned/

Where to Find David:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidalankarp/

Where to Find Josh:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jschachter/

In this episode, we cover:

0:00 – Preview & Introduction

1:56 – Meet David Karp, CCO of Disqo

2:50 – Disqo’s AI Journey: Where It All Began

4:00 – Seeding Ideas: Building the Hackathon Foundation

7:09 – The Secret Sauce: Rules, Constraints & Incentives

11:40 – Behind the Scenes: Planning Hackathon Logistics

16:22 – Scoring, Evaluation & The Prize That Motivated Teams

19:19 – How Disqo Ran an Internal CS Hackathon

21:35 – Keeping Momentum Alive After the Event

23:28 – Outcomes: The Lasting Impact of the Hackathon

24:00 – Key Lessons for CS Leaders & SaaS Executives