Guidde is on a mission to Reimagine Software Adoption With AI Video. We sat down with our CEO and Co-Founder, Yoav Einav, for a quick Q&A around Guidde and the funding announcement.
1. How do you feel now that the round is officially closed?
I feel absolutely thrilled and incredibly proud that we've successfully closed our series A of funding, securing $11.6 million to help us drive our growth. It's a significant milestone for Guidde, and it validates the hard work and dedication of our entire team.
Raising funds in today's macroeconomic climate has undoubtedly been a challenging journey, but that's also what makes it so rewarding. In this environment, you're truly put to the test. It's not just about telling a compelling story; it's about demonstrating real growth, delivering on your promises, and providing solid evidence of your company’s potential and vision.
This funding will fuel our growth, allowing us to expand our platform and reach even more users - we're excited about the journey ahead.
2. Why did you decide to start Guidde and take this crazy role - CEO of a startup?
Starting Guidde and taking on the role of CEO was a natural choice for me. I've had a passion for startups since I was 14, always getting involved in the early stages because of the immense impact you can have.
When Dan and I founded Guidde during the COVID era, we saw a glaring gap in the remote-first workplace. People were spending too much time on repetitive tasks, answering the same questions over email, slack and in Zoom calls. That's where Guidde comes in, using AI-powered video to make knowledge sharing more efficient.
As a CEO, I thrive on the challenges and opportunities that come with the role. It's a journey filled with ups and downs, but it only fuels my determination to make Guidde a transformative force in the way we work and share knowledge.
3. Give us a glimpse into the daily life at Guidde. What's the weirdest or most amusing thing that has happened in the office recently?
At Guidde, we embrace hybrid work, with team members spanning Israel, Eastern Europe, and California. We live and breathe our own product, using Guidde for communication and knowledge sharing, making it both efficient and enjoyable.Our company culture centers around a "customers first" mindset, and everyone understands their role in Guidde's growth. To keep our high-paced work environment balanced, we have weekly mindfulness sessions led by our VP of Customer Success. We also love team activities. From drumming classes to carpentry workshops where we build furniture for schools, these experiences bring our global team together and keep our workplace dynamic and engaging.
4. With the new funding in place, what strategic moves do you foresee for Guidde in the coming months, and how will it shape the future direction of the product?
With our new funding, we have exciting strategic plans for Guidde in the coming months that will shape the future of our product. Our primary goal is to empower SaaS companies to boost engagement, as we recognize that engagement is a pivotal factor for both conversion and retention.
As we continue to grow, we envision Guidde evolving into something akin to "Waze for Software." We want to enable each user to achieve their unique goals within an application, tailoring a personalized journey based on their individual needs and interactions. This approach draws inspiration from successful concepts in the B2C world, such as the recommendation engines used by platforms like Netflix and TikTok.
In essence, we're focused on bringing the best practices and personalization techniques from the consumer space to the B2B realm, providing a more tailored and engaging experience for software users. This strategic direction will shape the future of Guidde and enhance its value proposition in the market.
5. Having been in the market for close to a year, what surprising-insights have you gained about your users or the industry that you didn't anticipate when you started?
Our journey in the market has been eye-opening, with some surprising insights about our users and the industry that we didn't anticipate when we started. Initially, we assumed our primary audience would be focused on Customer Support and Customer Success teams, given their roles in customer onboarding, feature adoption, and FAQ handling. However, over the past year, we've seen our product embraced by a diverse range of teams, including Product, Marketing, Learning and Development, and IT. It's become clear that Guidde has broad horizontal applicability across organizations.
Furthermore, it's fascinating to see the tangible ROI that our users are experiencing with video communication. We've witnessed a reduction of more than 20% in support tickets, a significant increase in the speed of issue resolution (from hours to minutes), and the ability to save hours of weekly Zoom sessions for onboarding. This has enabled reps to handle twice as many accounts, just to name a few of the benefits. These unexpected insights have reinforced our belief in the value and versatility of Guidde in transforming the way businesses communicate and engage with their customers.
6. How has user feedback influenced the evolution of your product, and are there any specific user stories that stood out during this journey?
User feedback has been instrumental in shaping the evolution of our product at Guidde. We've adopted the wisdom of Sir Alex Ferguson, who said, "There's a reason that God gave us two ears, two eyes, and one mouth. It's so you can listen and watch twice as much as you talk." Listening to our users' needs and requests has been an ongoing practice for us, and it directly informs our product roadmap.
Both Dan and I as co-founders and our management team actively participates in handling support tickets to get first hand understanding of the voice of our customers - both the good and the bad - this expedites the learnings that we can then incorporate into the solution.
As an example of a recurring theme we've heard from many of our users is the desire for Guidde to seamlessly integrate into their daily workflows. This feedback has spurred us to develop deep integrations with platforms like Confluence, Zendesk, HubSpot, Slack, and more. We want to ensure that our users can access and utilize Guidde as part of their existing tools and processes.
Additionally, we heard from users about the frustration of videos getting stuck in internal queues, awaiting marketing approval. In response, we introduced our brand kit feature. This feature automatically applies a company's branding elements, such as fonts and colors, to generative videos. It's a prime example of how user feedback has driven us to develop solutions that directly address their pain points and enhance their experience with Guidde.
7. As you continue to grow, how do you plan to navigate the competitive landscape, and what sets Guidde apart in the market?
As we expand, we're doubling down on the key elements that set Guidde apart in the market. We're positioned at the intersection of video and AI, enabling the rapid auto-generation of how-to videos in under 2 seconds, complete with essential video elements like music, animation, storyline, and voiceovers.
What distinguishes Guidde from traditional screen capture tools like Loom or video editors like Camtasia is the significant difference in the time, effort, and skill required to produce customer-facing content. Traditional methods often demand extensive manual editing, precise timing adjustments, and a learning curve to master the software. In contrast, the beauty of Guidde is that it requires zero video editing or visual skills, making it truly "videos for dummies".
This ease of use and time-saving efficiency make Guidde a game-changer in the video creation landscape, setting us apart for small businesses and large organizations alike.
What further makes us stand out is our ability to adapt concepts from platforms like TikTok and apply them in the B2B world. We empower users to effortlessly follow brand guidelines, generate content in multiple languages, and seamlessly embed videos anywhere they need them. Our native integrations with daily workflow tools, such as Zendesk for support tickets, Slack and Gmail for answering questions, and CRM for tracking analytics, make Guidde a comprehensive and indispensable solution in the market. Our unique blend of AI, simplicity, and integration capabilities is what truly sets us apart and positions Guidde for continued success.
8. Scaling a startup comes with its own set of challenges. What obstacles have you encountered during this phase, and how did you overcome them?
Scaling a startup like Guidde has certainly brought its fair share of challenges, but we've developed a methodical approach to overcome them. Our scaling strategy involves recruiting in areas where we need to streamline operations, such as Customer Experience, or generate more revenue, mostly Sales and Marketing.
One significant challenge has been growing our core team while preserving our unwavering commitment to customer obsession. Cultural fit is a top priority during the hiring process. Before any professional considerations, we ensure that a new prospect aligns with our company culture. As the CEO, I personally meet with prospective employees, especially in the first 50-100 hires.
Another unique challenge stems from scaling the team across different locations, including Israel, the US, and Eastern Europe, each with its own culture and time zones.
To address all these challenges, we've established clear business KPIs to guide our team expansion. This allows us to grow in a responsive manner, aligning with the growth pace of the business and ensuring that our culture remains intact as we continue to scale.
9.For those entrepreneurs who are still navigating the early stages, what piece of advice would you give them based on your own experiences so far?
For fellow entrepreneurs navigating the early stages, I'd offer this piece of advice based on our own experiences: Find the right partners. The strong communication and relationship that Dan and I have cultivated over the years have been invaluable in making sound decisions, whether in challenging or prosperous times.
Additionally, listening closely to your early customers and making decisions based on data are crucial. Founders often have a strong vision, but it's important not to become too entrenched in that vision to the point where it steers you off course. Keeping a pulse on customer feedback and data can help you refine your product and strategy effectively, ensuring that you stay on the right path to success.
10. They say you learn more from your failures than successes. Any memorable missteps or hilarious hiccups that turned out to be valuable lessons in this journey?
Absolutely, one valuable lesson we've learned is the importance of choosing the right design partners early on in the journey. These partners play a pivotal role in helping you find your Product-Market Fit (PMF) and in shaping your Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy.
One memorable hiccup was not selecting the ideal initial design partners in the early days. It's crucial to have common characteristics among your first 5-10 design partners, considering factors like enterprise or SMB, geography, roles, tech stacks, and more. Having this similarity helps you gain a clear understanding of your PMF. Once you've identified that fit, you can double down and tailor your GTM strategy accordingly.
This process also provides insights into your ideal customer profile decision process and where to find them, how they search for new solutions, and how to quantify their ROI.
11. Let's channel our inner fortune teller. Where do you see Guidde in three years, and what wild predictions can you make about the tech landscape by then?
In three years, I envision Guidde as the "Waze for Software," where thousands of SaaS companies worldwide will rely on it to guide their users, making it a household name synonymous with assistance. Users will simply say, "Send me a 'Guidde,'" to get the help they need.
As for my predictions about the tech landscape by then, we might see a significant shift towards what I call "text to actions." Instead of asking for help and guidance, we could instruct bots to carry out actions on our behalf. Guidde will play a pivotal role in this evolution because it hinges on data. Guidde has amassed a vast dataset, having mapped and labeled over 10,000 applications. It's akin to creating the "Waze" of software applications, and this data-driven approach will be integral to the future of tech assistance and automation.
12. If the office had a theme song for the recent funding round, what would it be?
As an Israeli startup, our theme song for the recent funding round would undoubtedly be "Hall of Fame" by The Script featuring will.i.am." which not only symbolizes our journey but also reflects the vibrant startup culture in Israel. Speaking of which, Israel has earned its reputation as the "Startup Nation" with an impressive track record of innovation. Israelis have founded numerous unicorns, adding to the global tech landscape. In fact, Israel boasts over 30 startups valued at $1 billion or more
