cut down on the wait time when trying to navigate to a customer service agent on the phone, Allen says. “Some companies, we’ve been unable to get through their customer service lines … in under two hours,” he says. “We’ve got our work cut out for us.”
In the meantime, GetHuman will expand its service the old-fashioned way—by hiring more humans. The team is currently about 10 full-time employees, but that could grow to at least 25 this year, Allen says.
The company’s expansion will depend on how well it can attract customers and keep them satisfied. Unlike most tech startups these days, GetHuman hasn’t raised any institutional venture capital. English and Allen have both put in some of their own money, and together they own the majority of the company, with the rest owned by the startup’s employees, Allen says. (English remains an advisor and sits on the board. Interestingly, he is also CEO of Lola, another startup whose product—in this case, a travel concierge app—is powered by a combination of human employees and artificial intelligence software.)
GetHuman has primarily made money by selling display ads next to content on its website, Allen says. It turned a profit in its first year and remains in the black, he says.
“I’m happy to say we’ve bootstrapped up until now,” Allen says, adding that the firm might consider raising venture capital at some point. “What we see in front of us is a future that we want to grow quickly. But to date we’ve been scrappy.”
