Life at a startup

Certainly, startup work is not the life and death situation that Admiral Farragut faced in battle. However, too cautious an approach has contributed to the death of more than one startup. Plus, the ability to make decisions rapidly is a big part of what makes a startup fun.

Moving fast — a great example

As part of our recent rebranding, we published a number of details related to our packaging, pricing, and offerings that had previously been private. Amongst these were solution support policies segmented into four tiers with the desired intent of providing customers with granular choices. While well-intentioned, it quickly became clear that our segmentation and policies were confusing.

Rapid response

Sales relayed their concerns to the support organization, who empathized with the points discussed. After a quick check with finance for unintended consequences and consultation with marketing, a new three-tiered support model was adopted.

Total time from initial sales/services collaboration to having a new program in place and live on our site was less than two hours.

Results

Now, our program is more intuitive, more consistent with industry norms, simpler to administer, and has better nomenclature. You can see if for yourself on our support page. The prospects and customers that had expressed concerns were delighted to see the rapid response.

Summing it up

Having worked at a company that grew ten-fold, I know that this type of customer-centric agility is simply not possible at a larger company. (Some of this is due to a natural risk aversion that success breeds. But mostly, the same decision in a larger firm impacts many more people, and the structures to approve and communicate simply take more time.)

Startups by contrast can quickly adapt to their customer, community, and partner’s requirements. It’s always fun to be a part of making these rapid decisions and seeing the outcomes.

Please check out our new support options and let us know if they work for you. We’re always interested in hearing your input on how we can improve. And, if you enjoy going fast, we’re always interested in meeting new potential teammates. Full speed ahead!