14.ai Dispatch #7
Halfway to 14. Basically our half birthday.
The agents are getting smarter. So are our events.
Typing competitions. Sushi salons. MCP deep-dives before breakfast.
All in a week’s work.
We threw a typing competition for engineers
Yes, it was as cool as it sounds.
Nothing brings engineers together like competitive finger movement and a little light carpal tunnel.
Watch the chaos unfold and check out Michael’s post for the cramps, the crown, and the questionable typing form.
Workshop: Agentic MCP – make your agent actually do things
Your AI agent can say “Let me check on that.”
Now it’s time to make it actually check.
We’re teaming up with Golf.dev (YC X25) CEO Wojciech Błaszak for a deep dive into Model Context Protocol (MCP): how it works, how companies are using it, and what it means for agentic support systems.
📆 July 23 @ 9 AM PT
Prompting for support agents
The only thing sharper than the sushi is the prompting advice.
Join us in the Lower Haight for sushi bowls, matcha mocktails, and unfiltered stories from the support trenches.
We’re bringing together 15 support leads, founders, and AI builders to talk prompt strategy, agent fails, and what actually works when you're scaling AI in customer support.
Expect good food, better ideas, and maybe a few keyboard scream confessions.
📆 July 30 @ 6 PM PT
Building AI agents using AI agents
We almost called it Claude & Curry.
Come hang with us in the Lower Haight for Thai food, tea, and real talk on scaling LLM products without hiring an army.
We’ll show you how we’re building production-ready agents with Effect, Cursor, Claude Code, and fewer devs than you’d think.
📆 July 28 @ 6 PM PT
In case you missed it:
Michael showed how to turn a Zoom call into a conversion channel using a demo-playing hat.
Our customer Mux featured us in their blog: All the Wrong Ways to Think About AI Support.
Fyre Festival
Yeah your job is rough, but at least you didn’t run customer support for Fyre Festival.
I had to refresh myself just how crazy it was...
1. The Setup:
Fyre Festival was billed as a luxury music festival in the Bahamas with top-tier artists, gourmet food, influencer villas, and private jets.
Customer support was handled almost entirely through social and email by a handful of junior staffers and freelancers in the U.S., most of whom had never set foot on the island. They had no direct line to operations on the ground.
2. The Early Red Flags
By March 2017, support was getting nervous emails:
“Where’s my villa assignment?”
“I paid $12,000. Can I get a receipt?”
“Is Blink-182 really coming?”
Blink-182 would later drop out via Instagram, but support was told to keep spirits high.
“Just keep reassuring them. Don’t say anything that could cause panic.” - A real internal slack
3. Canned Response Hell
Support was told to use templated replies only:
“We’re so excited to welcome you to paradise! Final details coming soon.”
Even as footage started leaking of FEMA tents, feral dogs, and no infrastructure.
“The support Slack channel was a nightmare. Just meltdown tweets and people yelling ‘What do we do?’” - Freelance PR staffer
4. The Collapse (April 27, 2017)
As guests landed and chaos unfolded, the team received hundreds of tweets and emails per hour.
“There’s no one here. No artists. No food. No water. We’re in danger.”
- Attendee tweet
Support was instructed to stay upbeat:
“Due to unforeseen weather conditions, we are adjusting some accommodations.”
- Official Fyre tweet
(It had not rained.)
5. No Help, No Refunds
Support staff asked to escalate emergency requests. They were told:
“Don’t offer refunds.”
In fact, some were told to promote Fyre Festival 2018 while customers were still stranded on the island.
“The wifi cut out and I couldn’t reach anyone. I had no idea what was happening.” - Customer support contractor
6. The Aftermath
Customer support reps were:
Threatened on social
Working 18-hour days
Unpaid (many were contractors)
Ghosted by management
So yeah, your inbox is a mess.
But no one’s tagging you in photos of a cheese sandwich and demanding $12,000 back.
Cool jobs at 14.ai (and friends)
Looking for a new role? Or just need a new tab to keep open while you pretend to job hunt?
🛠️ Founding Engineer @ 14.ai (San Francisco)
🧑💻Customer Success Engineer @ Hightouch (Remote, North America)
💬 Technical Support Specialist @ Attio (Remote)
Need an intro? We got you.
What we’re reading & listening to this week:
Maya - Asymmetry of verification and verifier's law, Jason Wei
Marie - Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It, Chriss Voss and Tahl Raz
Ugo - Founding Sales: The Early Stage Go-to-Market Handbook, Pete Kazanjy
Michael - Context Rot, Kelly Hong, Anton Troynikov, and Jeff Huber
🫡 That’s all for now
Thanks for scrolling past the QA rubrics, sea moss clafoutis, and competitive finger movement.
Until next time: prompt boldly, type fast, and if your agent hallucinates, make sure it does so on brand.
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