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Quests, token leaderboards, and a skills marketplace: The elite AI adoption playbook | John Kim (Sendbird)

Sendbird co-founder and CEO John Kim transformed his company into an AI-native organization by building an internal platform called Automators, where non-technical teams built a fully functional e-commerce swag store with Stripe integration in days and automated their own CRM and recruiting workflows. The company tracks AI adoption through a token usage dashboard with five tiers from beginner to "AI God," treating internal AI usage as a product to be measured and gamified rather than mandated. Kim rewrote job descriptions to prioritize curiosity and agency over years of experience, signaling that the shift to AI-first operations requires cultural change as much as technical infrastructure.

read2 min publishedMay 6, 2026

John Kim is the co-founder and CEO of Delight.ai, a customer experience platform that’s transforming how companies deploy AI. But what makes John’s story fascinating isn’t just his product; it’s how he’s turned his entire company into an AI-native organization. His marketing team built a fully functional e-commerce swag store with Stripe integration in days. His sales team built their own CRM tools. His recruiting team automated their entire workflow. And it’s all tracked, measured, and celebrated through an internal platform called Automators.

Listen or watch on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts

What you’ll learn:

How Sendbird’s marketing team built a fully functional swag store with Stripe integration in a day (with no engineering support)

How the Automators platform works—an internal marketplace where anyone can request AI tools and engineers (or AI agents) can build them

How to create secure, compliant templates so non-technical teams can ship to production safely

How Sendbird built a token usage dashboard with five tiers (beginner through AI God) and why tracking the smoothness of the curve matters more than the total

Why visible leadership usage is the most powerful adoption signal

Why Sendbird rewrote job descriptions to prioritize curiosity, agency, and energy over years of experience

How John uses AI for his own learning

Brought to you by:

** WorkOS**—Make your app enterprise-ready today

** ThoughtSpot**—Build AI-powered analytics into your product

In this episode, we cover:

([00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH39OZ-KnkY)) Introduction to John Kim

([02:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH39OZ-KnkY&t=165s)) The Delight.ai swag store built by marketing in two days

([05:51](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH39OZ-KnkY&t=351s)) The before times: when fun had to earn its place on the roadmap

([07:55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH39OZ-KnkY&t=475s)) Demo: The Automators platform and quest system

([13:47](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH39OZ-KnkY&t=827s)) The AI Engineer for Internal Operations role

([16:06](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH39OZ-KnkY&t=966s)) Demo: The company-wide skills marketplace

([17:19](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH39OZ-KnkY&t=1039s)) Treating AI adoption as a product

([18:43](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH39OZ-KnkY&t=1123s)) Real wins: team-level and campaign examples

([21:51](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH39OZ-KnkY&t=1311s)) Why SaaS isn’t dead—it’s being rebuilt internally

([23:46](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH39OZ-KnkY&t=1426s)) Demo: The token tracking dashboard

([26:32](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH39OZ-KnkY&t=1592s)) Measuring without fear: setting expectations, not punishments

([28:54](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH39OZ-KnkY&t=1734s)) Quick recap

([30:51](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH39OZ-KnkY&t=1851s)) Personal AI use cases: endless knowledge at your fingertips

([36:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH39OZ-KnkY&t=2175s)) Lightning round and final thoughts

Tools referenced:

• Claude Code: [https://claude.ai/code](https://claude.ai/code)

• Codex (OpenAI): [https://openai.com/codex](https://openai.com/codex)

• Obsidian: [https://obsidian.md](https://obsidian.md)

• GitHub: [https://github.com](https://github.com)

• Stripe: [https://stripe.com](https://stripe.com)

Other references:

• Jason Levin (CEO of Memelord) on How I AI: [https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/from-a-690-newsletter-to-3m-api-how](https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/from-a-690-newsletter-to-3m-api-how)

• Konami Code: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konami_Code](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konami_Code)

• Andrew Huberman’s podcast: [https://hubermanlab.com/](https://hubermanlab.com/)

• Y Combinator: [https://www.ycombinator.com/](https://www.ycombinator.com/)

Where to find John Kim:

Instagram: [https://instagram.com/dosh](https://instagram.com/dosh)

LinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/doshkim/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/doshkim/)

Company: [https://delight.ai](https://delight.ai)

Delight.ai Spark Conference (May 7, SF): [https://delight.ai/spark](https://delight.ai/spark)

Where to find Claire Vo:

ChatPRD: [https://www.chatprd.ai/](https://www.chatprd.ai/)

Website: [https://clairevo.com/](https://clairevo.com/)

LinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairevo/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairevo/)

Production and marketing by [https://penname.co/](https://penname.co/). For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [[email protected]](/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection).
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