At the age of 23, Cristina Fonseca co-founded Talkdesk, and by 29, she had seen another of her startups, Cleverly, acquired by Zendesk, where she is now a VP Product. During Relate 2026, she shared her journey from being a Portuguese founder to her transition into the corporate sphere, and her experiences navigating the blend of American and European tech cultures with BDM.
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Launching Talkdesk at 23: What drove you to start so early, and what advice would you give your younger self?
With a background in computer science, the rapid rise of American tech companies was a great source of inspiration for me. It was incredibly compelling to see developers create something in their bedrooms, upload it online, and suddenly, a new business was born.
I wasn’t ready, I didn’t feel qualified, but I decided to try because I wanted to make an impact, and it seemed like a better vehicle than joining a multinational corporation.
I thought, it’s now or never. The year before launching Talkdesk, we experimented with many ideas that failed. We learned a lot from those experiences.
To the Cristina of 2011, I would say: tackle one problem at a time. This has been my guiding principle. Being naive was actually beneficial; we started because we didn’t fully grasp the complexities of starting a business. So, stay naive, believe you can build something, and address problems as they come, one by one.
Choosing Europe over San Francisco: What motivated this decision, and how does it affect your work?
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I initially moved to the United States with my co-founder, who chose to stay there, while I returned to Portugal. I believe we successfully managed to get the best of both worlds: leveraging the US for its investors, connections, and sales and marketing teams, while maintaining a strong operations base in Portugal for tech and product development. I returned because the company needed me back, but it was also a personal choice. I have no regrets about that decision.
If you play a significant role in a company whose headquarters are not in the US, your work might not be as visible. You may receive less recognition and feel the FOMO (fear of missing out) because you’re not at the decision-making center. It requires you to stay focused on your mission, maintain your motivation, and keep those around you motivated, which can sometimes be challenging. However, what we’ve built with Talkdesk, Cleverly, and now at Zendesk, has created incredible opportunities for local talent to work on cutting-edge problems with the best technology. It’s very fulfilling.
I love leading a local operation that might fly under the radar but performs at a global level.
Joining Zendesk through the acquisition of Cleverly: Describe your role today as VP Product with a focus on AI and GTM Acceleration?
When I joined Zendesk, I never imagined I would still be here over four and a half years later. The industry is evolving so rapidly. AI is a groundbreaking technology, and customer experience is a natural fit for AI applications. This journey has been incredibly exciting: developing the product, seeing our clients adopt it, and facing the challenge of implementing AI effectively.
The transition from selling traditional SaaS to AI, where multiple products are involved and success metrics are based on ROI, changed the game completely. This journey has been challenging but thrilling. I relish being part of this shift towards an AI-first approach.
Zendesk is your first corporate job after founding two startups. What surprised you most about transitioning from founder to VP Product at a major tech company?
Here, my job is focused. I handle the product. Sales, HR, and marketing are not my concerns. It’s fascinating to concentrate solely on one aspect and strive to excel in it.
As a founder, it’s quite different: your main job is to recruit experienced leaders in all areas and empower them to succeed. You do this as a VP Product too, but on a much smaller scale. I’ve always prioritized a product-first approach, so product management is definitely my comfort zone. However, these roles are quite distinct from each other.
With the AI Act now in force in Europe and the EU’s requirements becoming clearer, how does this impact product development and affect your teams?
Indeed, I’m European within an American company. However, it’s not always apparent that a significant portion of Zendesk’s AI is also developed in Europe. Our European teams have been aware of the regulatory boundaries from day one, especially in quality assurance, a sensitive area under the AI Act. We regularly discuss how many signals we collect to assess agents and what kind of human-related information we extract for evaluations.
The issue of data locality, ensuring data doesn’t leave its region, is also critical. Zendesk has built the necessary infrastructure to offer clients choices regarding their data. This has been our approach from the beginning. We sometimes have internal discussions about balancing the democratization of AI with being privacy-first, regulation-first, and giving clients choices. We try to find the right balance. Many of the features we now launch are enabled by default, but we’ve spent months telling clients, “This is our default option. If you don’t want to enable it, let us know, and we’ll turn it off.”
Do you maintain a European mindset towards data protection personally?
I retain a European perspective, but I recognize that to benefit from the best, I must give up something. So, I’m generally okay with that. However, I pay for services and don’t use default settings; I look for more stringent security and privacy options. Nevertheless, I accept that we’re so exposed that it’s almost inescapable.
Has being a woman made it more challenging to achieve your current position? Have you felt the need to work harder, prove more?
Now, I mostly experience positive discrimination, honestly. But ten to fifteen years ago, it was much tougher. Ultimately, it’s also a choice to focus on what you can control because there are many things beyond our control: others’ perceptions, how they judge us. What we can control is our reaction, where we put our energy.
I chose not to dwell on situations where I might have been taken less seriously because I was a woman. Especially as a young Portuguese woman arriving in the U.S. with a technical background, trying to solve complex technical problems.
People would look at me and wonder, “What is this, can she handle it?” I always chose to focus on what I could control.
I wouldn’t say it was easy, but I don’t think that part was difficult because I was a woman. It was difficult because building companies and solving problems is inherently hard work. So, I’d say that just comes with the job and the path I chose.
You wear many hats: VP Product at Zendesk, Venture Partner at Indico Capital, board member at Galp and Rows, advisor at the University of Lisbon. How do you describe yourself to someone new, and what energizes you the most today?
The best description of myself will always be: entrepreneur and investor. Many of these roles stem from the intersection of my entrepreneurial journey and my role as an investor. In my career, I play various roles between founding companies, helping them grow, and investing. The corporate aspect might be a bit of an outlier, but I’ve truly loved my journey at Zendesk.
What energizes me the most is working with smart people trying to solve hard problems.
This can be found in very different environments. When you have the means to tackle a challenging problem and you’re working with incredible people as a team to achieve it, that’s where I find my energy.
What advice would you give to young people who want to follow in your footsteps?
This is always a tough question. I would say: just try. That’s the first step. In recent years, the cult of the founder has become something of a trend. Previously, founders were seen as superstars. Now, not so much.
Understand that you can’t do great things alone; it’s impossible.
The companies we see succeeding are always the result of teamwork, always a group of people. So, if you start a company, in your entrepreneurial journey, you will need to recruit people who are better than you to help you get where you want to go. The same applies in the corporate world. Your success depends on your ability to recruit better people to work as a team and accomplish great things. Few people realize this. Many still think, “I’m the leader, I know everything.” That’s the wrong approach.
If you make a hiring mistake or any other error, correct it quickly. Failing to promptly correct your own mistakes wastes a lot of time and can ultimately make or break a company or a strategy.
Cristina Fonseca, VP Product, Zendesk
Cristina Fonseca co-founded Talkdesk in 2011 at the age of 23 from Lisbon, turning it into the third Portuguese unicorn. In 2017, she launched Cleverly.ai, an AI automation startup for customer service, which was acquired by Zendesk in 2021. Today, she serves as VP Product at Zendesk and co-leads the vendor’s agent transition. A co-founder of Indico Capital Partners and recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2021, she remains based in Lisbon.
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Jordan Park writes in-depth reviews and editorial opinion pieces for Touch Reviews. With a background in UI/UX design, Jordan offers a unique perspective on device usability and user experience across smartphones, tablets, and mobile software.