Sit Down Startup

Wavy aims to bring simplicity to hair and beauty salons. It’s a simplified cash register app and booking app solution that gets to the heart of what counts: saving time. Join Victor Lebeau, CPO & Co-Founder in conversation with Prelini Udayan-Chiechi, Zendesk’s VP of Marketing for EMEA on:

• Why agility is vital in order to respond to shifts in customer sentiment 
• All the ways Wavy prioritizes customer relationships 
• Supporting remote teams during tough times

LeaseQuery is a cloud-based lease accounting software. Its CEO and Founder, George Azih, took the idea from a one-person startup to a thriving company with 180 employees—in less than six years. The entrepreneur talks with Zendesk for Startups whiz, Brad Bowery, on

• The rollercoaster journey towards record-breaking growth
• Getting to the heart of understanding your customers 
• How a 3-year subscription model proved to be a recipe for success

Freshly is a meal delivery service that not only provides nutritious meals, but cares about reducing the food waste caused by the grocery supply chain. In this episode, CEO and Co-Founder, Michael Wystrach, chats with Zendesk’s Chief Marketing Officer, Jeff Titterton, on Freshly’s unique journey hacking the food industry. Together, they dish insights on:

• The power of identifying your core customer  
• How to scale a food business 
• Freshly’s approach to reducing environmental footprints

TravelNest is on a mission to reinvent the way hosts market their rental properties. The Edinburgh-based startup solves the problem of low occupancy by improving visibility and boosting bookings. From one Chief Operating Officer to another, TravelNest’s Rebecca Moore and Zendesk’s Peter Lorant get together (virtually) to chat:

• The fast-growth journey of a company that bridges tech and travel 
• How COVID-19 is impacting the travel industry
• Robust and inspirational leadership amid uncertainty

In 2020, a couple of bright and compassionate Yale students decided to do something about the captive $1.2B prisons telecommunications industry. They founded technology nonprofit, Ameelio, to provide free communication tools for incarcerated people to connect with their families and loved ones. Learn from Co-Founder, Uzoma Orchingwa, on:

• How Ameelio is decoupling incarceration and profit
• Overcoming technical hurdles of providing free communications
• The value of human connection

In the United States, 93% of people who experienced police brutality, but did not report it. The independent service, Raheem, is working to change that. Raheem builds tools for communities to report and track police, and leverages open complaint data to find ways to respond to conflict with care. In this episode, learn important insights from Founder, Brandon D. Anderson, on:

• Ending policy terror against Black people in the United States
• Building a team of incredible organizers, policy experts, and data science 
• Using tools like AI to create better customer experience

Michael Rangel, Founder and CEO of Novo, believes all founders are a little outrageous. But that didn't stop him from creating Novo, a powerfully simple banking platform built for the modern entrepreneur. Since its founding, Novo has experienced fast growth and continues to do so, even during a pandemic. It’s a big credit to their laser focus on customer experience. Learn about:

• The process behind Michel founding Novo
• Why Novo chose to become a B2B vs. B2C banking platform
• The challenges of building a Fintech that puts customers at the heart of business

Code for America believes the two biggest levers for improving people’s lives at scale are technology and government. Since 2011, the non-profit organization has been helping state and local governments serve communities better to ensure that technology is simple, fast, and effective. In this episode, CEO, Amanda Renteria, shares how their team of techies and social justice activists do just that. Listen to learn:

• How to solve problems with human-centric systems and processes
• What's needed to build a diverse and equitable organization
• The unique value of applying startup principles to government 

Sit Down Startup is made by us, Zendesk. We were once a scrappy startup (and we’ve got the kitchen bench we were born on to prove it). Now, we help all kinds of startups, baby to big, build the best customer experiences. Support, sales, or something in between, let us lend a hand in providing a solution that’s mightiest for you.

In 2020, Forbes Cloud 100 list is at its most impressive, with a record 87 companies valued at $1 billion or more. In this episode, we sit down (virtually) for a candid chat with two Cloud 100 leaders. Hear Archana Agrawal, Chief Marketing Officer at Airtable, and JD Peterson, Chief Growth Officer at Culture Amp in conversation with Zendesk CFO, Elena Gomez. Get lessons on:

The unexpected acceleration of the cloud and SaaS in 2020

Challenges of building a high growth cloud company

How investment in customer experience plays an important role in achieving growth