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Ben Congleton: Zendesk Hasn't Evolved Its Chat Product in Four Years

Ben Congleton · 1467 Olark Founded 2007, $14.4M+ in ARR, So Why Did New Live Chat Players Get All The Love? · Jul 31, 2019 · at 14:53

Ben Congleton, CEO of Olark, compares Olark's dedicated chat software to native offerings from major platforms like HubSpot and Zendesk.

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“Our chat is far superior to these bolt on chat products, like say HubSpot or, you know, Zendesk hasn't evolved their chat in like four years since they bought Zopim.”

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