DCM Ventures invests in UJET
Jason Krikorian gives you a look behind the deal and how the company inspired him to invest
Today, I am happy to announce our seed and Series A investments into UJET. As is usually the case with any of my investments, my interest in UJET is equal parts excitement about an entrepreneur and a solution to a significant, unsolved problem.
During my first meeting with Anand (cofounder and CEO of UJET) last year, it was clear to me that he possessed a maniacal focus on product and the little details which elevate a offering from intriguing to truly compelling. (I have since discovered that this is a trait he shares with his cofounder Hisun Kim.) What really sold me on Anand and UJET, however, was the genuine passion and enthusiasm he extolled while demonstrating an early version of the UJET platform.
I generally don’t get too excited about enterprise plays. Of course I can appreciate the value of companies which improve enterprise efficiency or productivity — but it rarely moves me enough emotionally to invest my time and our firm’s capital. And make no mistake about it, UJET is an enterprise play. What turned me on in this case; and I believe what underlies Anand’s passion, is the opportunity to provide a solution that allows companies to delight their consumers in an area usually defined by frustration and anguish — Customer Support. The fact that it does so while providing a dramatic improvement in customer support efficiency and lowering costs is secondary in my mind.
Anand and I share a history of bringing consumer products to market. We also share a feeling that customer support is a critical part of any consumer experience and is key to building loyalty, yet is not given enough weight in product organizations of consumer companies. Product leaders spend countless cycles refining the desired user experience and “flow,” but when users need help it’s as though they are lifted off the product track and dropped into an unpleasant, inefficient parallel world of support.
We were guilty of this at Sling. The Slingbox user on-boarding process tended to be either incredibly smooth and delightful, or a complete nightmare, usually depending on make, model, and firmware version of your router. The problems were always resolved, but often only after multiple calls and emails exchanging error logs or perhaps photos of screenshots that we thought might give us valuable insights. We experimented with technologies that were advertised to improve efficiency, but in the end we never found a solution that allowed us to support a customer as quickly and as well as we would have liked.
It seems as if today’s customer support scripts are dominated by expressions of gratitude. (“We appreciate your patience.” “We value you as a customer.”) That’s nice, but what people really want is a quick solution to their problem. When you deliver that, you’ve created a massive opportunity for customer loyalty and repeat sales.
Consumers have never been more demanding and impatient, increasingly accustomed to on-demand, mobile oriented services that deliver convenience as their primary offering. The reward for meeting the exacting standards of today’s consumer, or the penalty for falling short, have never been as high. Individual reactions are magnified through social media, where brands can be built or demolished.
In building the UJET solution, Anand and team have impressively leveraged the data and sensors present in a person’s mobile phone to create a customer support solution truly worthy of the outstanding products that UJET’s customers are producing. The result is a streamlined experience that will delight consumers and deliver financial benefits to UJET’s customers.
Congratulations Anand, Hisun, Eli, and the entire UJET team! DCM Ventures and I are excited to continue this journey with you.
Jason
