Des Traynor
Co-Founder of Intercom
Dublin, County Dublin
Overview
Work Experience
Co-Founder
2011 - Current
Intercom is a AI-First Customer Service platform. Our flagship product Fin automatically resolves 50%+ of your support volume (often a lot higher!). Unlike all the nonsense you've seen from others, this thing actually works. Go to http://intercom.com/fin/gallery to see thousands of customers gush over a product that has resolved 15,000,000 answers automatically (and growing fast) At Intercom I lead R&D, am a board member, and often fill in gaps in other areas around the company, as you do.
Intercom is a software company that creates modern customer service software that redefines how businesses support their customers.
Raised $240,750,000.00 from ICONIQ Growth, Bessemer Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins, Google Ventures and Vulcan Capital.
User Experience Lead
2008 - 2011
Contrast is a small web application development agency. My role in Contrast is to design user experiences for web applications, both our own applications and the work we do for clients. As Contrast is a small agency I tend to take on the role of UX Lead, Project Manager, Clients relations, etc.
Lecturer in User Experience Design
2009 - 2010
I was an associate faculty member with NCI. My remit there included lecturing modules on User Experience in the Masters Course on Emerging Web Technologies, and also filling in other basic lecturing needs, (e.g. cs101 etc)
Senior Usability Analyst
2007 - 2008
I worked as a Usability Analyst for iQ Content. My work there ranged from interface design consultancy to report writing, training, speaking at events etc. At iQ I was design lead for several large projects, for large businesses and government agencies.
Lecturer / Research Assistant
2003 - 2007
Whilst undertaking my PhD, I also lecture courses on Web Development, GUI Design with Java, Algorithms and Data Structures and CS1 ~ Introduction to Programming. I work closely with other research groups in the CS Dept to guarantee a wide berth of knowledge about all areas of Computer Science, and perform contract based research occasionally.
Software Developer
2002 - 2002
As part of internal work placement I designed and developed a new front-end to the Java Compiler in an attempt to offer 1st year students an easier experience for their first compilation efforts. The compiler was written using Java + JSP and provided a web based front end to the IBM Jikes Compiler. This tool was used for 2 years before being replaced with a custom version of Gel, an educational IDE.
Education
PhD (incomplete)
2003 - 2007
Bsc Hons
1999 - 2003