Inside Linktree’s Approach to AI Adoption with Alex Zaccaria

Inside Linktree’s Approach to AI Adoption with Alex Zaccaria, co-founder & CEO of Linktree 

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With so much noise around AI, leaders are being asked to make big decisions — about tools, culture, capability, and how work actually gets done to move the needle. 

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At Think & Grow, we see this tension every day. Many teams are experimenting with AI, but fewer are seeing meaningful impact from their efforts.

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That’s why we were excited to host a conversation with Linktree co-founder & CEO Alex Zaccaria, who joined Taryn Williams, AI Partner at Think & Grow, in the hot seat last week. Together, they unpacked how organizations can turn AI ambition into tangible business results.

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The impact so far for Linktree

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Alex shared the tangible outcomes the Linktree team has already achieved: 

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- Cut $2.5M in tooling costs
- Faster, more consistent customer service responses
- Increased product development velocity
- Employees who feel confident and capable using AI in their day-to-day work

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These results come from deliberate choices about how AI is used and measured across the business. Such as… 

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Embedding AI into the company culture and daily work  

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- Teams are encouraged to test and break ideas, with KPIs attached to experiments
- Ongoing AI education through regular lunch-and-learns

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“We don’t care if you’re an AI expert; we care that you’re curious and using it to make yourself and your team more productive.” – Alex Zaccaria 

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Building internal tools for better time and cost efficiency 

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- Custom roadmap system that reads Linear tickets and using AI to surface project delays, burnout signals, and early warnings for missed deadlines
- Around 92 percent of support tickets are now answered by AI
- A shift away from off-the-shelf SaaS toward in-house tools built for their needs

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“We’ve cut millions in SaaS spend by building what we need ourselves and using AI to spot delays and burnout before they blow up.” – Alex Zaccaria 

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Creating differentiated, defensible products and revenue

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- AI applied to customer analytics, localization, SMB agents, and trust and safety models
- A strong focus on market positioning, including a three-hour AI build-time advantage and a move toward outcome-led messaging like “digital presence,” rather than leading with “AI” as a feature

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“The goal isn’t to shout ‘AI’. It’s to quietly make our product so smart and defensible that a generic AI can’t replicate the value.” – Alex Zaccaria 

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The takeaway: AI adoption is more than just chasing the latest tools 

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Leaders must design the right environment for people to use AI well and with impact. When AI is embedded into culture, supported with education, and tied to real business outcomes, it stops being a costly and wasteful endeavor and starts becoming a competitive advantage.

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At Think & Grow, we love bringing curious leaders together to share what’s working, what’s not, and what they’re learning along the way. These conversations go beyond surface-level trends and help leaders build stronger, more resilient companies.

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Want to join us for the next AI-focused event in Australia? Get in touch with Taryn Williams or Anneliese Urquhart to be added to the guest list.

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This article has been written by a human and edited by an LLM.

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