Andy Kurtzig of JustAnswer: How We Leveraged AI To Take Our Company To The Next Level
An Interview With Chad Silverstein
The Pearl chatbot: This is a virtual assistant that can answer simple questions and qualify leads for the site’s roster of experts. It uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze the user’s query and ask follow-up questions to determine the best expert to connect with. For example, if a user asks about an issue with their cat, the Pearl chatbot will ask for the necessary details like the cat’s age, the type of cat and the urgency of the matter, and then match the user with a qualified Veterinarian who can help. The Pearl chatbot helps improve the efficiency and quality of the service, as well as the satisfaction and engagement of the customers.
In the ever-evolving and never-ending landscape of business, staying ahead of the curve is a prerequisite for success. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has gone from being a futuristic concept to a daily business tool that executives can’t ignore. In this interview series, we would like to talk with business leaders who’ve successfully integrated A.I. into their operations, transforming their companies in the process. I had the pleasure of interviewing Andy Kurtzig, Founder & CEO of JustAnswer
Andy Kurtzig is the founder and CEO of JustAnswer, a platform that connects people with experts such as doctors, accountants, lawyers and veterinarians for immediate online help. Prior to founding JustAnswer in 2003, Kurtzig founded and later sold eBenefits, a cloud-based Human Resources application. Before that, Kurtzig developed and sold ANSER, a software program for the newspaper industry, while still in college. Kurtzig is also an angel investor, with successful investments including StubHub (acquired by eBay) and iLike (acquired by MySpace), and an active philanthropist, running non-profit JAX Fund (JAXfund.org) to support Ukraine. Kurtzig holds a B.S. in Business Administration from UC Berkeley.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! To set the stage, tell us briefly about your childhood and background.
I’m a third-generation technology entrepreneur. My mother, Sandra Kurtzig, was a pioneer in the software industry and the founder of ASK Group, and my dad was an engineer at Hewlett Packard. Through my parents, I grew up in a household where Silicon Valley luminaries like Steve Jobs, who taught me Pascal programming, were frequent visitors.
From an early age, I enjoyed and seemed to have a knack for business, selling balloons at a park after getting them from a party hosted by Robert Noyce, the co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor. Later, while still a student at UC Berkeley, I started my first company, Anser, a software company that automated newspaper classifieds. I later co-founded eBenefits, an online human resource service, with my mom and brother, Ken. In 2003, I created JustAnswer as a platform connecting verified and vetted experts with consumers seeking online professional help. The business was originally inspired by my wife’s many questions during her pregnancy with our first child. We wondered why there was no way to easily connect with a doctor at any time of day or night, from anywhere to answer these questions that would arise. I decided to build a business that could solve that problem, and today, more than 20 years later, we have thousands of experts in 150+ categories helping people around the world, 24/7, 365 days a year.
What were the early challenges you faced in your career, and how did they shape your approach to leadership?
Some of the early challenges I faced in my career were:
- Starting my first company, Anser, while I was still in college and balancing his academic and entrepreneurial responsibilities
- Co-founding eBenefits with his my mother and brother, and dealing with the family dynamics and expectations of working together
- Raising outside capital for JustAnswer after eight years of bootstrapping, and facing the pressure and scrutiny of investors and competitors for the first time.
These challenges shaped my approach to leadership in several ways, such as:
- Being quick to understand and adapt to changing situations and needs, as I have learned to apply most recently in leading JustAnswer through the war in Ukraine.
- Listening constantly to my employees, customers, and experts, and reacting appropriately to their feedback and suggestions.
- Being innovative and creative in finding solutions to problems, such as deploying artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve JustAnswer’s service quality and efficiency.
We often learn the most from our mistakes. Can you share one mistake that turned out to be one of the most valuable lessons you’ve learned?
Probably the biggest mistake I’ve ever made in business that turned into an invaluable learning opportunity was changing the direction of JustAnswer too quickly and aggressively after raising outside capital for the first time back in 2013. I hired a lot of new staff, expanded into new markets, and rebranded the company as Pearl.com, without testing the assumptions and validating the demand for these changes. This resulted in a loss of focus, identity, and revenue for the company, and put it at risk of going out of business..
What I learned from this — after several years working hard to right the ship and turn things around again — was the value of staying focused on customer. I also learned to be more transparent and communicative with my team, customers, and investors, and to listen to their feedback and concerns1. In this case, we ultimately reverted the company back to JustAnswer, and restored its growth and profitability by doubling down on its core strength of connecting people with live experts.. We also leveraged artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve the quality and efficiency of the service.
A.I. is a big leap for many businesses. When and what first sparked your interest in incorporating it into your operations?
We were early adopters of AI here at JustAnswer, creating our first Pearl chatbot during a hackathon in 2014. The Pearl chatbot is a virtual assistant that can answer simple questions and gather information for the site’s roster of experts. It uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze the user’s query and ask follow-up questions to determine the best expert to connect with. The Pearl chatbot helped improve the efficiency and quality of the service, as well as the satisfaction and conversion of the customers. It is one of the ways that JustAnswer leverages the combination of human experts and AI to provide online professional services.
AI can be a game-changer for individuals and their responsibilities. Can you share how you personally use AI and what are your go-to resources or tools?
I regularly use AI tools like Bing Chat, ChatGPT (including various GPT’s), and Google Bard in my daily professional and personal routine. These tools have become integral in enhancing my productivity and creativity in several ways, such as:
1. Research Tool: When it comes to research, these AI platforms are invaluable. Whether I’m looking for the latest trends in AI, understanding complex technical concepts, or gathering market intelligence, these tools provide quick and comprehensive insights. The depth and breadth of knowledge available through Bing Chat and Google Bard, for instance, help me stay informed and make data-driven decisions.
2. Improving Communications: In my role, clear and effective communication is key. I often use ChatGPT and similar tools to refine my emails, presentations, and other forms of communication. These AI models help in suggesting more impactful phrasing, ensuring clarity, and even tailoring the tone to suit different audiences. This results in more effective, engaging, and professional communications.
3. Brainstorming Buddy: One of the more creative uses of these AI tools is as a brainstorming partner. When I’m conceptualizing new projects, strategies, or solutions to problems, I turn to these AI tools for ideas and inspiration. They are excellent at providing diverse perspectives and suggestions, which often leads to innovative ideas and solutions that I might not have considered on my own.
4. Efficient Task Management: For managing my day-to-day tasks, these AI tools assist in organizing my schedule, setting reminders, and even helping draft to-do lists. Their ability to process natural language allows me to interact with them as I would with a human assistant, making task management more intuitive and efficient.
5. Learning and Development: I also use these AI platforms for personal growth and learning. They are great for exploring new topics, learning about emerging technologies, and keeping up with industry news. The ease with which I can query these tools and the quality of responses makes them ideal for continuous learning.
6. Content Creation Aid: In creating content for JustAnswer or for public speaking engagements, AI tools like ChatGPT help in generating initial drafts, suggesting content structures, and even coming up with creative ways to present information. This greatly speeds up the content creation process and enhances the quality of the final output.
Overall, I view Bing Chat, ChatGPT, and Google Bard as not just technological novelties, but instead as practical, versatile tools that significantly contribute to efficiency, decision-making, and creativity in my role as CEO. They serve as excellent assistants, advisors, and creative partners in a variety of scenarios.
On the flip side, what challenges or setbacks have you encountered while implementing A.I. into your company?
One of the challenges I have encountered while implementing AI into my company is AI quality/hallucinations. AI can sometimes generate responses that are not accurate or relevant to the user’s query. This can lead to confusion and frustration for the user. To address this issue, we have implemented a rigorous testing process to ensure that our AI models are generating accurate and relevant responses. We also have a team of experts who monitor the performance of our AI models and make adjustments as needed. We believe that it is important to be transparent with our users about the limitations of AI and to provide them with the best possible experience.
Let’s dig into this further. Can you share the top 5 A.I. tools or different ways you’re integrating AI into your business? What specific functions do they serve and what kind of result have you seen so far?
1 . The Pearl chatbot: This is a virtual assistant that can answer simple questions and qualify leads for the site’s roster of experts. It uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze the user’s query and ask follow-up questions to determine the best expert to connect with. For example, if a user asks about an issue with their cat, the Pearl chatbot will ask for the necessary details like the cat’s age, the type of cat and the urgency of the matter, and then match the user with a qualified Veterinarian who can help. The Pearl chatbot helps improve the efficiency and quality of the service, as well as the satisfaction and engagement of the customers.
2. More recently, JustAnswer launched a custom Pearl for Pets GPT, which uses live, vetted human veterinarians on the JustAnswer platform to fact-check AI-generated responses to pet-related queries. Anyone with a ChatGPT Plus subscription can use the Pearl for Pets GPT to ask questions about their furry family members’ health, behavior or more and have the AI-generated answers vetted by a live, verified veterinarian for free. Essentially, you’ll get a rating of answers on a “Trust Score” ranging from 1 (lowest level of confidence in its accuracy) to 5 (highest rating of accuracy) from a live JustAnswer Veterinarian. If you’re concerned about your low-rated ChatGPT answer, you can continue via a link to JustAnswer to speak one-on-one with a live veterinarian online for more detailed, personalized information about their specific query for a fee. Within the next month or so, we will be expanding this concept to launch custom Pearl GPTs for other JustAnswer expert categories.
3. The Expert Conversation Wizard, which helps experts improve the quality of their writing. The wizard uses natural language processing (NLP) to analyze the language used in a customer’s question and assist the Expert just like AI helps me in my day-to-day life as CEO. (See my answer to that above)
There’s concern about A.I. taking over jobs. How do you balance A.I. tools with your human workforce and have you already replaced any positions using technology?
I believe that A.I. is a complement and an enabler of human potential. A.I. tools help my human workforce to be more productive, efficient, and creative, by automating repetitive and mundane tasks, and providing insights and recommendations. A.I. tools cannot replace the human wisdom, judgment, and empathy that JustAnswer, through our field of verified and vetted experts, offers to our customers.
We have not replaced any JustAnswer positions with AI, but rather created new ones, such as data scientists, conversational designers, and A.I. engineers. We also invest in training and upskilling the experts and our employees to leverage the A.I. tools and adapt to the changing needs of the market.
My ultimate vision is to create a hybrid model of human experts and A.I. tools, where they coexist to provide the best online professional service possible. We see this “human + AI” model as not only beneficial for the business, but also for customers, employees, and society at large.
Looking ahead, what’s on the horizon in the world of AI that people should know about? What do you see happening in the next 3–5 years? I would love to hear your best prediction.
In the short term, we can expect to see more AI tools that help automate routine tasks and improve efficiency. For example, it’s widely expected that chatbots will become more prevalent and will be able to handle a wider range of inquiries, freeing up human experts to focus on more complex issues.
In the medium term, we can expect to see more AI tools that are designed to work alongside humans, rather than replace them. For example, AI-powered assistants will become more common in the workplace, helping employees manage their schedules, prioritize tasks, and stay organized. We can also expect to see more AI-powered tools that help humans make better decisions, such as predictive analytics and recommendation engines.
In the longer term, I expect to see more advanced AI systems that are capable of learning and adapting on their own. These systems will be able to perform tasks that are currently beyond the capabilities of human workers, such as complex data analysis and decision-making. However, it’s important to note that these systems will still require human oversight and intervention to ensure that they are being used ethically and responsibly.
Overall, the future of AI and humans is one of collaboration and coexistence. As AI continues to evolve, we can expect to see more personalized and customized services, as well as more ethical and responsible use of this powerful technology.
If you had to pick just one AI tool that you feel is essential, one that you haven’t mentioned yet, which would it be and why?
ChatGPT’s GPT Store. I can say that it represents a significant advancement in the field of AI and its applications in business. The GPT Store is a platform that offers various specialized versions of the Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) models, each tailored for different tasks or industries. This customization makes the GPT Store an invaluable resource for a business like JustAnswer.
The utility of the GPT Store lies in its ability to provide access to a range of GPT models that are fine-tuned for specific functions. This specialization ensures that the responses and interactions are not just generic but highly relevant and accurate for the given context.
Overall, the GPT Store represents a move towards more customizable and industry-specific AI solutions, which is a significant boon for businesses looking to leverage AI for various specialized tasks.
For the uninitiated, what advice would you give someone looking to integrate AI into their business and doesn’t know where to start?
If you’re looking to integrate AI into your business and don’t know where to start, my advice would be to start small and focus on a specific problem or use case. Identify a specific area of your business where AI could help improve efficiency or provide better insights, and then work on developing a solution that addresses that specific need.
It’s also important to have a clear understanding of the data you’re working with and the problem you’re trying to solve. This will help you identify the right tools and techniques to use, and will help ensure that your AI solution is effective and accurate.
Finally, it’s important to have the right team in place to develop and implement your AI solution. This includes data scientists, software engineers, and other experts who can help you build and deploy your AI solution effectively.
Overall, integrating AI into your business can be a complex process, but it can also be incredibly rewarding. By starting small, focusing on specific problems, and having the right team in place, you can develop AI solutions that help improve efficiency, provide better insights, and drive growth for your business.
Where can our readers follow you to learn more about leveraging A.I. in the business world?
You can follow me on LinkedIn to stay up-to-date on the latest developments in AI and how it’s being leveraged in the business world. I also recommend checking out the JustAnswer blog (https://www.justanswer.com/blog/), where we regularly post updates on our use of AI and other technologies.
This was great. Thanks for taking time for us to learn more about you and your business. We wish you continued success!
About the Interviewer: Chad Silverstein, a seasoned entrepreneur with over two decades of experience as the Founder and CEO of multiple companies. He launched Choice Recovery, Inc., a healthcare collection agency, while going to The Ohio State University, His team earned national recognition, twice being ranked as the #1 business to work for in Central Ohio. In 2018, Chad launched [re]start, a career development platform connecting thousands of individuals in collections with meaningful employment opportunities, He sold Choice Recovery on his 25th anniversary and in 2023, sold the majority interest in [re]start so he can focus his transition to Built to Lead as an Executive Leadership Coach. Learn more at www.chadsilverstein.com
