As email has become a more congested mode of communication, businesses seeking more direct channels to communicate with B2B consumers have turned to Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord, and other channels. However, it is difficult for businesses to monitor these conversations and ensure that they are directed to the correct individuals.
This is where Pylon, a startup in its early stages, comes in. It assists businesses in managing, prioritizing, and directing messages from these channels to the appropriate individuals, working with tools such as Zendesk to generate tickets when appropriate.
Today, Pylon announced a capital investment of $3.2 million. The November-launched company was also a part of the Winter 2023 Y Combinator cohort.
Marty Kausas, Robert Eng, and Advith Chelikani, co-founders of the company, say they noticed in their previous positions that B2B conversations were shifting from email to Slack for more direct and intimate discussions. Moreover, they observed their companies’ struggles to manage these conversations.
“Imagine I am a support or sales representative attempting to manage all of these conversations. Slack is incapable of monitoring anything. According to TechCrunch’s Kausas, Pylon is “essentially the data unlocking tool for all your customer conversations taking place across chat tools.”
The company initially supports Slack because it has the most external conversations to manage, but in the near future, it plans to begin integrating Microsoft Teams and other channels.
Pylon cannot access internal business conversations because it cannot read direct messages (DMs) and only has access to the channels that you, the customer, designate for monitoring. According to Kausas, one early customer, Hightouch, is using Pylon to monitor over 300 shared consumer channels.
The company closed the funding deal in March and has since added two employees for a total of five, including the company’s founders, with intentions to reach close to ten by year’s end. In the coming months, they intend to add a few more engineering and business development positions.
According to him, diversity is a top priority, and the company is seeking the most qualified candidates for each open position.
Despite launching during a period of economic uncertainty, Kausas is confident that his company will be successful because he is addressing a real issue that customers face when monitoring this type of activity. In fact, he reports that his company is already profitable despite only being eight months old.
“The positive news is that we are making money and have satisfied, paying customers. Therefore, we are not burning anything at this juncture,” he said.
General Catalyst led today’s $3.2 million seed investment, with participation from Y Combinator, Horizon VC, AirAngels, and CC.
