Mike Murchison

Mike Murchison is co-founder and CEO of Ada, the customer-service AI platform built to resolve real support conversations rather than deflect them. A University of Toronto alumnus, he started Ada with David Hariri after living inside the ticket queue themselves — and after learning that customers would keep paying when the bot quietly did the work.

University of Toronto into the ticket queue

Murchison and Hariri began by working as customer-service agents so they would feel the pain before automating it. Early Ada answered questions for clients who sometimes did not realize a bot was on the other end. In founder retellings of that period, Murchison has said they knew the technology was working "when they continued to pay us and didn't realize that it wasn't we ourselves who were responding." The company's public mission line is to "make customer service extraordinary for everyone."

Building Ada for resolution, not deflection

Ada grew into an enterprise platform for automated support across chat and emerging voice channels, with brand voice, integrations into helpdesks and CRMs, and analytics on containment and resolution. Under Murchison the product story stayed on ending the ticket — not maximizing deflection metrics that leave customers circling. Generative models expanded what agents could draft and decide, but the company kept governance and brand controls in view for regulated buyers.

CX leaders as engagement quarterbacks

In interviews with CX writers he talks about customer-experience leaders becoming "engagement quarterbacks" who orchestrate AI and human teams rather than watching a queue. Ada's go-to-market followed that buyer: support and digital leaders measured on CSAT and cost-to-serve, not novelty demos.

On authenticity while scaling AI

On founder podcasts he returns to navigating risk and authenticity while scaling — staying close to the original insight that great support feels human even when software carries the load. The through-line is extraordinary service as the product, with AI as the way to deliver it at volume without burning out agents.