Beginner's Guide to Building a Chatbot: with some help from Leighton Cusack

Previously, I wrote about my experience with Len, a bot created to deliver daily encouragement and reflection during the season of Lent. Rarely has a simple product caused so much reflection, excitement, and forward-thinking. Shortly after using Len I started researching, and eventually experimenting with bots -- nothing serious, just dabbling here and there -- and was quickly overwhelmed with its complexity and constant evolution. Every week, new articles are released with the latest tips for bot creation, case studies, statistics, recommendations on platforms, and features. To make sense of it all, I turned to Leighton Cusack, a good friend and creator of Len, the first bot I used. I've synthesized a few points from our conversation to capture the essence of his experience with chatbot creation and recommendations for others entering this space.