Most of this book is the story of how we founded Zendesk—how we got the idea and built it into a company; how we upended our lives and achieved our dream. It's our story.
But our story is such a small part of the story of Zendesk. The story of any startup is actually the story of its customers. It's about real-life relationships with people who bought what the company was selling. Sure, there is also the colorful story of the founders and the team, and the sometimes surprising story of building the product and shipping it, but none of those stories would mean anything without the customers. Companies are like Tinkerbell in this way; they need the support and belief of others just to exist. Zendesk is no different.
We would never have made it out of Alex's kitchen in Copenhagen without our very first customers, the ones who recognized what we were doing when no one else did. These people were the first to walk through our door, the ones who listened to our ideas and didn't call us crazy. Or even if they thought we were crazy, they agreed to be crazy with us.
We didn't build the original Zendesk product for our customers. Or founded the company for them. In many ways we just wanted to build a better product and a better tool. We were product nerds.
But once we worked together with our customers, got to know them, and learned from them, we began to understand the true value of the customer relationship. We succeeded because of our customers. We are where we are today because of our customers—those who started with us when they were small, and then grew as we grew. (A special thanks to the ones who grew really fast and forced us to be agile, to think on our feet and learn on the job. They are our siblings, and we are proud to be growing up alongside them.)
I should note that not every customer liked us. Early on, some customers left us for our competitors, and we learned about our weaknesses. But when those same customers came back two years later, we learned even more about our strengths.
We also learned from the customers who never came back. Not all relationships work out, and it is silly to think your business is the best for everyone. Customers who leave teach you about who you are, but also who you are not.
We are perhaps most grateful to the customers who told us to be better. They held us to a higher standard than we sometimes held ourselves. Running a company is hard work, and the truth is that sometimes you just want to say “that's good enough.” But these customers didn't let us. They needed the business to be there, they needed us to keep going so they could keep going. And so we turned the lights back on and we turned to that thing we knew could do better and we made it better.
What we have learned from our customers is what we knew all along. But they showed us. They showed us that building genuine relationships matters. The traditional notion of just “having” customers doesn't make any sense today. Businesses must invest in real relationships with their customers. A good relationship has to be earned every day, by building trust and authentic connections between people. Our customers—the ones who always liked us and the ones who didn't—have taught us that it is not always easy, but it is always worthwhile.
In Silicon Valley there's a lot of talk of iterating, seeing how the market embraces your product or service and then being agile and open enough to change everything to respond to real needs. On a scale that's on steroids we call this the pivot—a massive change or turnaround, sometimes in an entirely new direction.
At Zendesk we're always iterating—we always strive to be better—but we have not changed course. We have pretty much stayed true to our original vision of providing a beautifully simple customer service desk product that people love. That's what we did seven years ago, and that's what we still do today. But we have had a fundamental iteration, a lesson learned from experience, and one that did change everything.
Seven years ago we were just focused on building a product for an industry we believed needed a better product. It was only along the way that we discovered that it wasn't just about the product. The best product would be worth nothing without the right relationships.
That had a ripple effect throughout our business. It increasingly defined our product roadmap and what we were all about. This understanding has enabled us to build a company. It has inspired us to foster real relationships not only with our customers, but with everyone who created our story. It's affected how we connect to our investors, our employees, and our neighbors.
It also gave us a better understanding of business beyond our own—and that understanding made us more connected to others. We realized that what we had seen and experienced was the situation for many customers that used technology and the Internet to scale to a global audience. While this once was a subset of business, it will ultimately be all businesses. Technology and the Internet allow us to build a new type of business that can grow faster, scale faster, and “change the world” faster. But in the middle of all of this, it's easy to forget about the people in the mix—the actual customers. By coincidence—by having the right product at the right time—we have helped a new generation of businesses scale their customers relationships as they scaled their businesses.
But this is not a product pitch; it's a clue to what will happen in the future and, I hope, an inspiration of what's possible. Successful modern businesses put their customers at the center of their companies and ensure they stay in that priority position. If you are building a company or thinking about building a company, never forget that relationships are the most important building block. Care about your customers, your employees, your investors, and your community, and build lasting relationships with them. That's more important than ever, and it's the only way to build a lasting business—and a fantastic life.