Kateryna Babenko · Media on Customer and User Operations

What OpenAI’s Support Openings Say About Getting Hired

Somewhere in San Francisco, a hiring manager at OpenAI wrote a job description that you’ll probably be measured against, wherever you apply next.

LinkedIn Top Content Topic Map

LinkedIn sorts its Top Content pages into 40 categories, 805 subcategories and about 16,000 topics. This map puts all of them in one place, so you can see where your next post fits before you write it.

What Support Tools Y Combinator Companies Use, by Stage

Seed-stage YC startups answer customers in Slack, then move to Pylon or Plain. YC unicorns run Zendesk or Salesforce and buy or build the AI.

How the LinkedIn Algorithm Decides What You’re an Expert In

LinkedIn keeps a file called Inferred Credibility Scores that rates your expertise topic by topic. Download your LinkedIn data for free and see why your posts reach the wrong people.

If Customer Service Tools Were…

Choose customer service platforms through quick comparisons instead of feature grids.

I Refuse to Sell. And Yes, I Know How That Sounds. Insights from the Marketing Camp

I came out of that camp thinking that most of the advice exists because most people selling expertise are selling the packaging, not the thing. I’d rather have the thing.

Where the CS money is moving

17 customer service segments, mapped by typical annual spend per deployment and long-term opportunity through 2028.

The AI Evaluation Scorecard for CS Leaders

Eight questions your vendor hopes you won't ask, and what the answers expose about operational fit.

Last 30 Years of Customer Service

Customer service has fewer new ideas than the market suggests, so the same ideas return every 7 to 10 years with new software attached.

The Customer Service Software Market Has the Shape of a Barbell

The customer service software market has the shape of a barbell. Two heavy ends, very little in the middle. Two ends are winning. The middle is getting squeezed.

Your customer service data is currency. Here's how to spend it

Your greatest assets are almost always hidden as outliers. I was taught to treat outliers as emerging trends, and it always allowed me to see something more.

Customer Service Impact Map

I mapped the full business impact of customer support to answer the question of why our role keeps getting stuck below the level it deserves.

What Famous Brands Really Use for Customer Support

The support platforms behind Spotify, Tesla, Coursera, Chanel and 24 more brands, sorted by industry.

The Ideal Customer Service Journey In An AI-Augmented Operation

How I Stay Current Without a Research Budget

Most of the paid research tools I’ve seen charge for things that are available free if you know where to look.

Customer Service in Luxury Fashion Was Never a Cost Center. What I Stole from LVMH

I went in expecting to learn about handbags and fashion weeks and came out thinking about customer service completely differently.