
(800) 511-8544 -- Speak with the CEO -- 7 days a week 12:00-4:00PM - staunch
http://www.wesabe.com/page/talk_to_jason
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precipice
I'm Marc Hedlund, one of the founders of the company.

We have eight employees total, and yes, we have a real support line
(support@wesabe.com). I usually answer, but you can talk to any of us through
it. You can also write me directly at marc@wesabe.com if you want to.

The 800 number has been great, and I'd recommend it to any startup. We put it
up there since we're handling privacy-sensitive information, and we wanted
people to be able to talk to an actual person about what we do. I figured the
absolute worst case was that Jason would spend a lot of time talking to
customers and potential customers. Seems like a great worst case to me. (The
second-worst case, that no one calls, has a pretty low cost associated with
it.)

Anyway, it's worth doing for any startup, I think. People love talking to
people, and an anonymous web site isn't as friendly as a phone number you can
call. Doug is right that it won't scale, but for now, all the possible
outcomes are good.

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dougw
This sounds like a wonderful idea. Not entirely new, but a great way to keep
one ear to the ground during the critical phase of business development where
you want to get a solid product core out to users.

However, this could never scale with growth. I don't think this is a problem
as the early adoption gives way to regular customers and viral growth, but
they need to plan for proper customer support after directly calling the CEO
is no longer viable.

~~~
danielha
I don't think anyone believes this to be their proper customer support line in
the short or long term.

This is a popular way to become personable to your customers. This is
exemplified further in smaller mom-and-pop shops where intimacy is a selling
factor.

Few people will call, but many will feel good knowing that their calls will be
answered by the main man.

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Nate
This is just another company offering to "help" you with your credit card
debt.

Probably, the only reason that you can talk to the CEO is because there aren't
any other employees to talk to. It's likely the company doesn't have many
customers either.

