eric richard, the birth of tally

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

The Birth of TallyOr, how I stopped worrying and

learned to love autonomous

teams

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

It All Started With a Button

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

It All Started With a Button

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

What if…

We gave customers the ability to provide support-like interactions for their users via their websites?

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

We already had existing use cases

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

We already had existing use cases I

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

“Just like we have built tools

that allow small/medium

sized businesses to

compete with the

enterprises of the world in

Marketing, let’s give them

the tools to do the same in

Customer Service”

And insightful advice from execs

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

What’s the MVP?

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

An embeddable button

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

That triggers a widget/form

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

That collects information on a request

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

And how should we go to market?

Use the same playbook that has been wildly successful with

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

If we provide value to individual support reps we can get support management to adopt software and eventually pay.

Hypothesis

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

Experiment

Loads of Customer interviews across different company sizes

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

• Most companies don’t provide support reps with budget for software

• Most companies don't empower customer support reps to make decisions or even influence decisions about software

Results

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

It will be very difficult to create a sustainable growth business in the Customer Support space.

Conclusion

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

Act II: Pivot Time

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

“Nope”

“Do you know how many of your customers are your evangelists?”

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

“Do you know how many of your customers are at risk of canceling/returning your product?”

“Nope”

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

“YES!!! SIGN ME UP NOW!!!!”

“Would you like to get a list of these two groups so that you could email and nurture them?”

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

Act III: Introducing Tally

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

David HuntKnowledge Base AdminHubSpot

Using Tally over the past few months does not feel like using software to respond to customer feedback…

It feels like having a balanced and non-disruptive conversation, where the software gets out of your way and let's you focus on the person in front of you.

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

Angela DeFrancoContent Product ManagerHubSpot

Tally gives me instant access to the pulse of what people are feeing about our products in general, but also the details of why they're feeling that way.

I not only love Tally, but I feel like Tally loves me right back.

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

With Tally I’ve heard from beta group testers in the first few days that I normally don’t hear from in weeks.

Molly WolfbergUX ResearcherHubSpot

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

Conclusion

This is why we believe in highly autonomous teams who are free to iterate on their own to discover market fit.

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

Conclusion

“What happens when the leader is wrong in a top-down culture? Everyone

goes off a cliff.”

“Great leaders give control, they don’t take control.”

-Capt. David Marquet

Eric Richard (@ericrrichard), VP Engineering, @HubSpot

To talk more about HubSpot’s culture:erichard@hubspot.com

@ericrrichard

Oh, and BTW, we are hiring:www.hubspot.com/jobs