I didn't know about this and yeah that's not good, I was prepared to agree but....7 years ago, if my Googling is correct? Idk, hard to lean into my jaundice on this one.
This announcement makes sense to me because I listened to this interview between the cofounder and one of the Collison brothers awhile back. https://cheekypint.transistor.fm/11
I recommend it if you’d enjoy a couple of Irishmen going back and forth about tech and business.
In short, Fin is their agent. They charge a dollar per successful customer session so they’re incentivized to make it helpful.
At the time of the interview, it sounded like Fin was still smaller than the help desk software but they saw it as having more potential. I guess it’s big enough now to justify renaming the company.
> Sometimes you see a corporate announcement that’s so obvious and so late, it’s almost an admission of failure.
...is this one of those times? Where does "Fin" come from?
I have a lot of mindshare built-up for Intercom based on integrating it, being a customer at one point, and using it on every SaaS landing page from 2010 to 2020. Ditching that sort of brand awareness for a new name seems like an odd choice.
It's not weird. I suspect a lot of us have no idea, and the author shouldn't assume the average readers know this. It would help to introduce "Fin" before making the claim that it's obvious.
I have no idea what this is or what they do, and reading it made me realize that I still don’t - but for goodness sake can we stop naming things with dictionary words‽
And intercom is a thing, and Fin means fish or end. At least call it Fintercom or something.
So Intercom has increasing market share, and they're increasing investment in it, but it is henceforth to be considered "baggage" and a past to be destroyed? Is this Innovator's Dilemma or Osborne Effect? Either way I'm glad I don't manage the Intercom team with my CEO writing stuff like this.
<s> On the other hand, look how well this same argument worked out for Block. </s>
Zendesk: "AI-powered service platform"
Freshdesk: "AI-powered platform for modern customer service"
Where are the companies that are proudly promoting "human powered" customer support?
I recommend it if you’d enjoy a couple of Irishmen going back and forth about tech and business.
In short, Fin is their agent. They charge a dollar per successful customer session so they’re incentivized to make it helpful.
At the time of the interview, it sounded like Fin was still smaller than the help desk software but they saw it as having more potential. I guess it’s big enough now to justify renaming the company.
...is this one of those times? Where does "Fin" come from?
I have a lot of mindshare built-up for Intercom based on integrating it, being a customer at one point, and using it on every SaaS landing page from 2010 to 2020. Ditching that sort of brand awareness for a new name seems like an odd choice.
And intercom is a thing, and Fin means fish or end. At least call it Fintercom or something.
<s> On the other hand, look how well this same argument worked out for Block. </s>