The Exchanges

Q Well, I mean, at your scale, that's pretty impressive, right? Who are you, who are you, I mean, I can only think of a couple other private B-to-B SaaS CEOs with your scale of revenues, right? So Reggie at Cvent comes to mind, and there's maybe only two or three others. Who do you talk to to brainstorm with?

A You know, the Sequoia portfolio is a very good portfolio, so we have events and other structured, you know, time, and I also spend time with other Sequoia partners, not just Mike Moritz, because they're all helping enterprise companies, so you kind of, like, you know, lean on them to get advice and inputs as to, you know, what goes on, and I have my own network of CEOs here that I spend time with, so, you know, like you said, You pick the right person for the right type of problem, because some, uh, folks that I talk to are very good with people issues. Some are good with, uh, customer issues. Some are good with talent issues, like what kind of talent do you hire? Because, you know, as you grow the company for every stage, you need the right management team and the right people underneath. Uh, to help scale the company. And we've seen it with, whether it's Facebook or Uber, you see that, you know, as it matures, different types of leaders, different types of leadership styles start coming into effect.

AI assessment note: “the Sequoia portfolio is a very good portfolio, so we have events”

Q Okay, cool. We'll get into that more later. Give me the backstory though. When'd you launch? What year?

A We launched the company in 2000. And it's evolved over a period of time. My background is my first company in the nineties developed chat as a customer service vehicle, right? And went through the dot-com boom. And then I had an opportunity to visit contact centers, you know, all around the U S and was just blown away by a number of people who We're servicing, you know, the U.S. economy. So I started asking myself in this new age of digital, is there a better way to do this? You know, because I, what I noticed in the contact centers is chat is still being treated like a phone call, right? They'll say, how can I help you? And then, you know, go through the same script that they did if you were on the phone. But if you think about the 800 number system, it was really designed for the eighties when nothing else existed, right? Today, customers are on web, on apps. They're like well-informed. So the old paradigm of how can I help you is kind of almost obsolete. The new paradigm is you should already know what the customers are doing, leveraging AI in the back end in real time, be able to predict what they're attempting to do, right? And then be, you know, supportive of what they're trying to do online, not like trying to do the task for them. And, you know, customers love Wanting to control the experience and do it themselves. So, and especially when you talk about 2019, everything…

AI assessment note: “We launched the company in 2000. And it's evolved over a period of time.”

Q Okay, cool. We'll get into that more later. Give me the backstory though. When'd you launch? What year?

A We launched the company in 2000. And it's evolved over a period of time. My background is my first company in the nineties developed chat as a customer service vehicle, right? And went through the dot-com boom. And then I had an opportunity to visit contact centers, you know, all around the U S and was just blown away by a number of people who We're servicing, you know, the U.S. economy. So I started asking myself in this new age of digital, is there a better way to do this? You know, because I, what I noticed in the contact centers is chat is still being treated like a phone call, right? They'll say, how can I help you? And then, you know, go through the same script that they did if you were on the phone. But if you think about the 800 number system, it was really designed for the eighties when nothing else existed, right? Today, customers are on web, on apps. They're like well-informed. So the old paradigm of how can I help you is kind of almost obsolete. The new paradigm is you should already know what the customers are doing, leveraging AI in the back end in real time, be able to predict what they're attempting to do, right? And then be, you know, supportive of what they're trying to do online, not like trying to do the task for them. And, you know, customers love Wanting to control the experience and do it themselves. So, and especially when you talk about 2019, everything…

AI assessment note: “We launched the company in 2000.”

Q York on. It's like we've raised one hundred eighty million and their revenue is like thirty million. I like a founder where their AR to funding ratio is like six, right? Your, your revenue is way more than what you've raised. The question then back at you is why raise the money at all? It sounds like you're on a rocket ship. Why couldn't you fuel this with customer revenue?

A You know, it's a good question. We were actually profitable when we raised the money. What I think in Silicon Valley especially is whether you like it or not, the type of venture firm you partner with kind of sets up your brand, right? So with a thousand companies, startups around, and like you said, now it's even more, you know, frustrating because there were a thousand companies who are all funded, you know, a 100,000,200 1,000,300 million. So when you're competing, it cannot be that you're only competing with, uh, you know, salaries and Benefits is the only thing. It has to be great, interesting work, and that you belong to, you know, a venture community where, you know, you're treated special. It's like having the right producer for a movie. So, you know, we viewed that as, you know, edge in talent, and that's why, you know, we have this partnership with Sequoia, and it's been a great partnership, by the way.

AI assessment note: “we viewed that as, you know, edge in talent, and that's why”

Q It's like, we've raised one hundred eighty million and their revenue is like thirty million. I like a founder where their AR to funding ratio is like six, right? Your, your revenue is way more than what you've raised. So the question then back at you is, um, why raise the money at all? It sounds like you're on a rocket ship. Why couldn't you fuel this with customer revenue?

A You know, it's a good question. We were actually profitable when we raised the money. Uh, what I think in Silicon Valley especially is, uh, whether you like it or not, uh, the type of venture firm you partner with, uh, kind of sets up your brand, right? So with a thousand companies, startups around, and like you said, now it's even more, you know, frustrating because there were a thousand companies who are all funded, you know, a 100,000,200 1,000,300 million. So when you're competing, it cannot be that you're only competing with, uh, you know, salaries and benefits as the only thing. It has to be great, interesting work, and that you belong to, you know, uh, you know, a venture community where, you know, you're treated special.

AI assessment note: “the type of venture firm you partner with, uh, kind of sets up your brand”