One of the first places we showed our product was at a support software conference in vegas where we were invited to share a booth with a few other startups as part of an innovation thing.
I had feeld (then called 3nder) running as a demo in the booth to showcase how our platform could create really cool mobile help experiences. One of the people I demo'd too went full fundamentalist Christian on me and asked why I would show him an application based on the devil's work, that it was sick and disgusting that I would be proud of 3nder's patronage of our services, and a bunch of other nonsense...
I wonder sometimes if that man was actually on the app and worried his profile would show up due to the proximity :)
This is the first article I read on feeld/3nder that really resonates with me.
Dimo and Ana were the first paying clients of the last startup I co-founded, Smooch.io, that would go on to be acquired by Zendesk. I even had a chance to meet Dimo on a trip to London.
Unlike many of the hundreds of other brash founders that we sold our platform to, this team was different. The level of maturity, emotionally and otherwise, that the pair demonstrated was astounding. They poured themselves into this product and its very much an artistic creation first and foremost. Using the app, you can sense that real people, with real feelings, expressed thoughtfulness and empathy like few other builders of the era.
They've since moved on from Smooch/Zendesk, and I've moved on from it as well, but seeing their work covered here leaves me feeling really nostalgic for those days gone by. They (and their love for one another) really built one of the few remaining places left in the digital world that are delightfully special.
I've been terrified of this chemical since watching a PBS show called "Ghostwriter" when I was a kid:
Synopsis: "The team is hard at work at the community garden center when a series of health problems arise: Gaby passes out, several other kids and adults get sick, and even some rabbits die. It's soon learned that a highly toxic chemical, tetrachloroethylene (commonly known as "perc") has been illegally dumped in the ground under the garden and is to blame. As the authorities cannot remove the barrels in a reasonable amount of time, unless the guilty party is tracked down, the team sets off to find the person responsible for such a dirty act. Investigation eventually leads to a local philanthropist named John Miller (Brian Reddy), who may not be the "Citizen of the Year" that he seems." [1]
Does anyone else remember this episode and have the same reaction as I do?
Thanks for asking for the clarification Eran. Definitely could use some here!
Essentially, we discovered that while in certain segments (like SaaS apps), using messaging to communicate with customers is commonplace, greatly due to companies like Intercom that provide great tools for these types of companies to successfully communicate.
However, the tools Intercom provides just don't exist in a format that works for most other businesses who use anything from traditional helpdesk software like Zendesk to full-blown contact center suites like those provided by Genesys and Oracle.
Since we believe in a future where every business is available over messaging channels, we needed to ensure that the systems they use can provide access to these channels. We had two choices:
1. Build middleware that a business could purchase that would allow them to connect a messaging channel (like a web messenger, Facebook or WeChat) to their existing software.
2. Open up our platform so that incumbent software providers could adopt it to add messaging capabilities to their product.
For a host of reasons, we quickly determined that option 2 was the best path towards making sure that a wide variety of businesses can communicate with users over messaging. We've been hard at work making sure that this happens ever since.
Really like what what you've built here, a lightweight and open source web messaging system is definitely a useful component that a lot of websites could leverage.
Wanted to clear up a common misconception that Smooch.io and Intercom are solving the same market need. Although Smooch began life as a mobile-focussed Intercom, as we've learned about our industry we've pivoted to address a need lower down in the stack.
Essentially, we've discovered that the biggest impediment to having more businesses taking advantage of messaging as a channel is the lack of software that can provide rich access to the channels coupled with a powerful CRM and deep integration capabilities. Most businesses didn't want to rip and replace their current CRM and contact center investments, nor did they want to invest in connector middleware. They expected messaging to be a first-class feature of the products they already use and have trained their support teams on.
That's why we now focus on selling our technology as an API that can be used by software vendors to add a complete messaging, customer profile and conversation orchestration stack to their products. It's been adopted by some of the biggest vendors in the customer-service space because it helps them focus on the differentiated features (like workflow) that help them succeed in market, while ensuring they can trust the "plumbing" to an enterprise-grade, highly reliable platform like Smooch.
So we don't view Minimalchat as an alternative to Smooch. We view it as another messaging channel to which Smooch can allow a business to connect. Similarly, we don't view Intercom as an alternative to Smooch - we view it as a (prospective) customer.
It sounds like this was tweeted to quiet the peanut gallery.
Over the last year, I've been exposed to a lot of the nitty gritty of the SMS and carrier world and I was surprised to learn how at scale competition for SMS volume is insane and extremely complex aggregators and the commercial arrangements seemingly incestuous.
The cost savings of easy integration and the appeal of a strong developer ecosystem are less and less attractive as the volume of SMS being managed make the marginal cost savings of going with a direct relationship with Amdocs, Syniverse etc....
My parents are from Sicily and we only recently found out that our ancestry is Ashkenazi. In fact, my family is even from a town right outside Siracusa which makes this article all the more interesting.
Although I know very little of my ancestors that would date back to the time of mandatory conversion to Catholicism, I do know that many of my family's traditions and dialect words blend together Greek, Egyptian, Jewish (passover traditions!) I'm always amazed over the rapid transformation s and upheavals people from that part of the world must have experienced.
Smooch.io (disclaimer: my company) has a really rich API for programming conversations.
You can use the API to converse with people on web chat, iOS/Android in-app chat, SMS, Facebook, Telegram, Viber, Twitter DM, WeChat, LINE+++ all through one single set of APIs. You can even send rich structured messages that are automatically translated into the best representation on each platform.
I speak 3 languages fluently (English, French and Italian)
My mother tongue is Italian, however it's since been superseded by the other languages.
How do you accomplish this? Travel.
You absolutely need to immerse yourself to be fluent. Save your money. Make hard choices. Pick up and commit to spending 2+ years in a new country, society and culture.
It will be hard, but you will get a perspective that is lost on so many: what is the immigrant experience really like? what does it feel like to be victimized or discriminated against (assuming here that you're a white, English speaking American)? what does it feel like the first time you can successfully tell a joke? the first time you can give a presentation? the first time you can seduce a partner?
Funny, the older I get, and the more businesses I become involved with - the more I realize that even the silliest, most trivial problem on the outside takes relentless execution and talent to make successful.
With age, came the wisdom that I am best when supported by a team of people who take up the fight alongside me. The challenge then, becomes to inspire, reward and treat my collaborators with the respect and dignity that they deserve.
Last year I wrote Ethanifier (http://gozman.github.io/ethanifier/) and helped hundreds of people build their own single purpose apps like Ask HIV and KPCB Edge.
Today, one of my friends has brought Ethanifier to Android and added in some pretty cool features like Slack presence indicators. I think you'll get a kick out of it - I'm certainly happy to share it with you. Hope you enjoy!
4-stripe white belt here, train 3-4x per week and completely hooked. If anyone trains in Montreal, you're free to come visit our startup's office, we have mats!
