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Founders Outlook Podcast. Episode 25. Richard Blank Moved to Costa Rica at 27 and Built a 150-Person Company

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What happens when you leave everything familiar behind to build a life and business on your own terms?

In this episode of FoundersOutlook, Juliet Ochu sits down with Richard Blank, CEO of Costa Rica's Call Center, for a conversation about bold decisions, reinvention, and the courage to follow an unconventional path.

At 27, Richard left Philadelphia for Costa Rica with nothing but a vision. Today, he leads a 150-person company, has trained more than 10,000 telemarketers, and has spent nearly 25 years building a business centered on culture, human connection, and excellence.

But this conversation goes far beyond entrepreneurship

Richard shares the mindset that helped him overcome family expectations, societal pressure, and the fear that comes with choosing a different path. He opens up about building a thriving company in a foreign country, creating a workplace people are proud to be part of, and what founders often misunderstand about leadership, culture, and AI.

We also explore the personal side of his journey, from his passion for restoring American pinball machines and antique jukeboxes, to funding scholarships for language students, to the unforgettable story of producing a rock video with INXS bassist Garry Gary Beers.

https://youtu.be/C7OQ9JnkFZ8
Transcript
00:00Okay, drawing you back into today's world, you listed AI as both a pro and a con in your world.
00:09From where you sit, running a call center built on human connection,
00:14what do founders need to understand about AI that they are probably getting wrong?
00:21Self-checkout at the grocery store, the kiosk at the airport, or even the ATM machine to get your cash.
00:30Because, Juliet, imagine if you and I had to wait in line to get it at the bank all the
00:33time.
00:33That would be a pain.
00:34And so I can't force people to be inconvenient.
00:40And I also believe that when you have a level one support where you're just confirming information,
00:47where it's not too complicated, where you have to put in too many letters or speak too long where I
00:52can't catch it,
00:53but it's an excellent way to gather and to organize for a second and third level individual.
00:59And so it will be reducing certain areas of my industry, but also kind of like a concierge or a
01:07first-class service,
01:08that will only be expanded for older individuals or those that didn't get a resolution,
01:15which is someone that wants to talk to somebody.
01:17But they haven't mastered it yet.
01:21Juliet, I still receive calls, robocalls, and it might sound like Judy offering something, but the timing is off.
01:31There's something called the uncanny valley.
01:34As much as mannequins might look like humans, there's still something a little different in the store.
01:39And the same thing with the voice.
01:41It might sound just like me or you, but it's that human timing.
01:45They still haven't mastered it yet.
01:46And the one thing they're really not going to master, Juliet, I mentioned it before, it's empathy.
01:53AI, a thousand years from now, could be the greatest thing in the world, but it will never replace human
01:58compassion between two people.
02:01There could be a thousand people at an event, and I see you across the room, and I wave my
02:06hand, and you wave back at me.
02:08You can't hear me.
02:09I can't hear you.
02:10But we connected.
02:11There was the smile.
02:12There was the what's up and everything like that.
02:14It spoke volumes.
02:17And so AI will never be able to do that between two humans.
02:22And so am I okay with it?
02:25It depends on what you want to do.
02:26I don't want to swim against the current.
02:29There was a movie called Zorba the Greek with Anthony Quinn.
02:32I'm willing to put my arms out on the beach, dance back and forth while the ship goes down.
02:35I mean, it's just how it goes.
02:36But I'm not done yet.
02:38That's why I always believe there are some individuals that do want that interpersonal high-class experience.
02:46And do you think AI has taken over the call center and telemarketing job?
02:51Or do you think there is still that opportunity or gap in the market?
02:57It's large enough to notice it.
03:00So it's not like a very special thing like when you go to the restaurant and they have the robot
03:04come out and bring you the food.
03:06I mean, that's a novelty.
03:08Not now.
03:10It's almost there.
03:11It's almost there.
03:14And as I say before, AI with their gathering and with the repetition, they'll get it.
03:21And some people might be willing to take a bland robotic answer if it's the correct answer compared to someone
03:28giving you flowers and not the real answer.
03:31And so it really all depends on your sense of urgency, the question that you're asking, how it's being responded
03:38to you.
03:38That's all fine.
03:39I don't mind.
03:41But don't think, and I'm going to say it for the third time, that if somebody's calling for insurance, a
03:50law firm, a doctor's office, a psychiatrist's office,
03:54areas where there might be a heightened sense of emotion or instability, where your best friend might need to be
04:04that shoulder for you.
04:05It would be highly insulting to have a robot comfort me if I'm crying because I need to call the
04:11funeral parlor or I got in a car accident.
04:14I'm on the phone with my insurance company nervous because someone got hurt.
04:19That's the only thing that I get, I guess, passionate about because I think it wouldn't be very respectful to
04:26somebody that would try to incorporate soothing vocabulary or something
04:31when it really would be, in my mind, just another additional question to get you off the phone.
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