{"id":9439,"date":"2021-09-02T12:29:18","date_gmt":"2021-09-02T12:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/helpcrunch.com\/blog\/?p=9439"},"modified":"2023-08-29T11:27:48","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T11:27:48","slug":"helpcrunch-honest-story-how-to-grow-in-a-highly-competitive-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helpcrunch.com\/blog\/helpcrunch-honest-story-how-to-grow-in-a-highly-competitive-market\/","title":{"rendered":"HelpCrunch Honest Story: How to Grow in a Highly Competitive Market"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201c<\/em>It’s your birthday! We gon’ party like it’s your birthday! We gon’ sip Bacardi like it’s your birthday!\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On September 3, 2016, HelpCrunch was born! \ud83e\udd73 On the occasion of our birthday, we would like to share with you the honest story of the company foundation. Since we believe that any content should bring certain value to the readers, we will also talk about tips on how to grow in a highly competitive market in this article. Because that\u2019s exactly what we\u2019ve been doing for the past five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let the story begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Why live chat in the first place?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At that time, three of the four HelpCrunch “founding fathers” already had several successful projects in their portfolio. They worked mainly in mobile application development back then. While building apps for clients, the guys realized what piece was missing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While real-time customer support on websites (aka, live chat<\/a>) was gaining popularity, mobile apps lacked this solution totally. It was the equilibrium moment when the guys came up with the idea to create an innovative solution – live chat for mobile applications. They hoped that this feature can help businesses become more customer-centric and improve their communication with apps\u2019 users thus increasing the LTV. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was then that the company founders realized they needed a fourth member to their squad. Someone with expertise in customer service and product delivery, someone who knows how to build the communication tool clients will appreciate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around that time their paths crossed with Pavel Pavlenko who was casually looking for new business challenges. \u201cBy that moment, I\u2019d worked as a Head of Customer Success and \u0421hief Product Officer at different companies for more than 8 years in total. But I have always strived to lead my own project that will have a positive impact on people\u201d, says Pavel. During the first meeting, the entrepreneurs realized that their values and visions of the product coincide. That was a 100% match. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, current HelpCrunch CEO, Pavel Pavlenko has built his way up starting from a customer support agent position. He used to be there on the front line talking with clients on a daily basis. That\u2019s how he seized the value of a single client and the importance of the customer success<\/a> approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And just like that, on September 3, 2016, the four “founding fathers” launched the HelpCrunch company \u2013 a one-stop customer communication platform for building strong customer relationships \u2013 as we know it today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Easy start? Not really<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As is usually the case, it all started with building a minimum viable product (MVP), that the team was eager to test. In five months, it was ready for release. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the launch, the first customers began to knock at our door. As HelpCrunch is a SaaS (software as a service) product, people were signing up for the trial and showing interest in the tool. Some of them even bought an annual subscription from the start. After another 5 months, mobile phone operator Halebop Locall<\/a>, a subsidiary company of the huge telecom enterprise Telia Company<\/a>, became our client as well. Pavel personally worked with and onboarded this very first enterprise-level customer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything seemed to be going nice… However, it wasn\u2019t perfect. There were very few clients compared to what the founders expected. The stable revenue growth level was yet to achieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you come up with some innovative solution, you assume that you will just enter the market and win it immediately. You think the customers will love your product at first sight because it\u2019s so unique and useful. But in reality, people don\u2019t give a damn about your innovation. That\u2019s why you need to invest a huge amount of money in prospects\u2019 education and explain what your product is and why they need it,\u201d Pavel clarified to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What now seems obvious used to be puzzling to people. Five years ago, mobile developers did not yet understand why they needed to add a live chat to applications. The company, in turn, didn\u2019t have enough funds to put them into training, provide marketing materials, offline performances at business schools, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The founders ended up with a product that wasn\u2019t bringing the expected value and enough money to educate customers. So, the team gathered around the table to come up with the next step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"HelpCrunch<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The pivotal moment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Having studied the market more thoroughly, the founders realized that the tendency will move towards all-in-one platforms. And shortly companies will begin to combine different tools (live chat, email automation<\/a>, CRM, and whatnot) into one platform.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a pivotal moment when the team decided to build a one-stop customer communication platform that encompasses features for support, marketing, and sales. They also decided to provide this solution not only for mobile apps but also for websites and web applications. It seemed like the right thing to do. Back then businesses were much more familiar with live chat usage on the web. Hence, this new tactic allowed growing more rapidly and saving money on client education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, the HelpCrunch software was relaunched as a web and mobile all-in-one customer communication platform. It meant going to the highly competitive market and battling with titans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Small fish in a big ocean<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To illustrate what we were facing, let me turn to the marine theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each startup at the very beginning has two ways of development: <\/p>\n\n\n\n