Yes, everyone should do customer support
14 Sep 2017I started at a new company in the last 2 weeks. They’re a “fintech” platform company in Boulder (I’ll refer to them as “BootFar”). I first heard about them in 2015, signed up as a user, invested heavily with them, and then lost interest in them during 2016.
A good friend who I’ve worked alongside for 2 of the last 4 years joined them as the CTO and invited to come aboard. How could I say no? Working alongside a buddy to restore a product I care about in “fintech” was an easy decision.
During the first 2 weeks, I’ve been tasked with solving user facing issues and achieving platform stability. One of the most helpful things has been being tied directly into Customer Support Requests and answering a few. I feel like I have a pulse our a users’ pain and what needs to be fixed.
Somewhere I once read that everyone should do customer support (either DHH or the groove help desk blog). I used to disagree, and 99% of would argue that it depends on your company, team, and motivations. After this week, I believe answering customer support is invaluable. My stance is that if your product is so disconnected from your org chart that individual contributors cannot see & feel the impact on users then it’s time to redo the org chart to get closer to your customer.
Edit 10/14/2017. Saw this and had to add it … Fred Wilson’s input on CEOs doing support,
So many CEOs tell me that this is a game changer for them and their companies https://t.co/tlgW7gv2Os
— Fred Wilson (@fredwilson) October 14, 2017