Earley AI Podcast Episode 79: Scaling from 3 Customers to 300,000 with AI

In this episode of the Earley AI Podcast, host Seth Earley sits down with Forrest Zeisler, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Jobber. With years of experience building technology for service professionals, Forrest Zeisler has played a pivotal role in empowering small businesses—from landscapers and plumbers to cleaners and contractors—to harness AI and automation for streamlined operations and growth.

Discover how Forrest Zeisler and his team scaled Jobber from three customers to over 300,000, delivering more than $100 billion in services, and learn how their journey demonstrates the transformative impact AI can have on businesses of all sizes.

Key Takeaways:
Small businesses can benefit enormously from AI, especially for reducing administrative tasks and boosting productivity.

Adopting new technology isn't just about features—it's about building trust and reliability for the end user.

Jobber’s growth began with direct customer conversations, leading to a highly configurable platform supporting over 55 industry verticals.
The journey from manual onboarding and white-glove service to sophisticated self-serve and AI-driven automations took years of iteration and customer feedback.

Integrating AI isn’t just about chatbots or flashy features; the real impact comes from making technology disappear in the background, allowing users to focus on their craft.

Reliable automation, rooted in real customer behavior and best practices, is key to driving widespread adoption of AI across industries.

Building trust with AI systems should mirror how you onboard new employees: review, supervise, and gradually increase autonomy as reliability is proven.

Orchestrating multiple AI models and agents allows platforms like Jobber to deliver context-aware, intelligent assistance that feels human and personalized.

Insightful Quotes:
"AI is beginning to simplify that work and reduce administrative overhead and reduce those efforts and help small companies provide more consistent and more efficient and more reliable results." - Seth Earley

“Our goal is not to stick a lot of chatbots in front of our customers. It's to make Jobber just magically always seem like it knows what you need when you need it. We want to measure our success by how little we're sticking in front of our customers.”-  Forrest Zeisler

Tune in for a behind-the-scenes look at building scalable, reliable AI for small business—and the lessons you can apply whether you're an entrepreneur or driving digital transformation in a larger enterprise.

Links
LinkedIn:   / forrestzeisler  
Website: https://www.getjobber.com