As email has become an increasingly congested communication method, businesses seeking more direct ways to interact with their customers in a B2B context have turned to platforms like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord, and other channels. However, it can be challenging for businesses to search through those conversations and ensure that they are directed to the appropriate recipients.
That’s where Pylon, an early-stage startup, comes in. It assists companies in managing, prioritizing, and directing messages from these channels to the right individuals. Additionally, it integrates with tools such as Zendesk to automatically create tickets when necessary.
Today, Pylon announced a $3.2 million seed investment. The company, which launched in November, was also part of the Winter 2023 Y Combinator cohort.
Marty Kausas, co-founder of the company along with Robert Eng and Advith Chelikani, explains that while working in their previous jobs, they noticed that companies were increasingly shifting B2B conversations from email to Slack for more direct and personal discussions. At the same time, they observed their companies struggling to manage these conversations effectively.
“Imagine I’m a support person or a salesperson trying to handle all these conversations. There’s no efficient way to search for information in Slack. That’s where Pylon comes in. It acts as the ultimate data unlocking tool for all customer conversations happening across different chat tools,” Kausas told TechCrunch.
Initially, the company focuses on supporting Slack because it has the most external conversations to manage. However, Pylon plans to expand to other channels like Microsoft Teams in the near future.
Pylon does not have access to individual business conversations as it cannot read direct messages (DMs). It only has access to the channels that customers designate for monitoring. According to Kausas, one of their early customers, Hightouch, utilizes Pylon to monitor over 300 shared customer channels.
The company closed its funding round in March and has since added two more employees, bringing the total to five, including the founders. Pylon plans to hire more engineering and business development professionals in the coming months, with a goal of reaching a team size of around 10 by the end of the year. Kausas emphasizes that diversity is a top priority, and they are actively seeking the best candidates to fill each open position.
Despite launching during a period of economic uncertainty, Kausas is confident that Pylon can succeed because they are solving a real problem that customers face in managing these types of conversations. In fact, he reports that the company is already generating revenue despite being only eight months old.
