gozmike

One of the first places we showed our product was at a support software conference in vegas where we were invited to share a booth with a few other startups as part of an innovation thing.

I had feeld (then called 3nder) running as a demo in the booth to showcase how our platform could create really cool mobile help experiences. One of the people I demo'd too went full fundamentalist Christian on me and asked why I would show him an application based on the devil's work, that it was sick and disgusting that I would be proud of 3nder's patronage of our services, and a bunch of other nonsense...

I wonder sometimes if that man was actually on the app and worried his profile would show up due to the proximity :)

Dimo and Ana were the first paying clients of the last startup I co-founded, Smooch.io, that would go on to be acquired by Zendesk. I even had a chance to meet Dimo on a trip to London.

Unlike many of the hundreds of other brash founders that we sold our platform to, this team was different. The level of maturity, emotionally and otherwise, that the pair demonstrated was astounding. They poured themselves into this product and its very much an artistic creation first and foremost. Using the app, you can sense that real people, with real feelings, expressed thoughtfulness and empathy like few other builders of the era.

They've since moved on from Smooch/Zendesk, and I've moved on from it as well, but seeing their work covered here leaves me feeling really nostalgic for those days gone by. They (and their love for one another) really built one of the few remaining places left in the digital world that are delightfully special.