Dear Kale Community,
I hope this letter finds you well and thriving! As a long hard year draws to a close, Kishore and I are reaching out with both excitement and gratitude, eager to share a pivotal moment in our startup journey.
Over the past year, we embarked on a mission to revolutionize the world of buyer engagement, building a tool tailored for Account Executives and sales teams. The initial response was incredible, and we were humbled by the positive feedback from our trailblazing customers. However, as we delved deeper into the dynamics of the sales landscape, a sobering realisation dawned upon us.
Despite the enthusiasm and promise our product showed, the demands on sales teams were formidable. The reality was that adding yet another tool to their already-packed arsenal was akin to asking them to move mountains. It became apparent that even with an exceptional solution, our timing and focus weren’t aligning with the needs of our intended audience and that the alchemy of PMF eluded us!
In the spirit of introspection and adaptability, we took a step back to reevaluate our journey. It was dark, hard, confusing times for me and Kishore. We put our MVP in cold storage, bid a tearful goodbye and headed back to the drawing board to draw insights from customer conversations.
It was during this process that we uncovered a profound insight — a silver lining within the realm of challenges we were trying to solve. Beyond the realm of sales, we discovered a chasm of unmet needs within customer success teams, particularly in the battle against reactive churn and the bigger looming shadow of customer retention.
Customer success teams, armed with the knowledge that customers were leaving, faced a daunting challenge. The ‘why’ remained elusive, strategies for reactivation were uncertain, and the overall process lacked direction.
It was at this juncture that we decided to pivot, not out of defeat, but out of a burning passion to address a pervasive industry pain point combined with a clear indication that there was a critical gap in the CS tool landscape unable to address this niche.
In the State of Customer Churn 2023, we discovered that 72.9% of customer success professionals don’t have a win-back campaign in place with their customers! Once you’ve gone to the expense of acquiring a customer, you don’t want to lose them — especially when it costs 7 times more to replace them.
With retention seeming to be on everyone’s mind, we feel this is where Kale as a product can add most value!
Today, we arethrilled to introduce you to the evolution of Kale. We are no longer a sales tool; we are now an AI-powered Customer Retention Stack. Our new vision for Kale is a platform that will supercharge all aspects of customer retention for you. With a key focus to become an ally for customer success teams, navigating the complexities of reactive churn with finesse.
Our journey has taken an unexpected turn, but it is one we embrace wholeheartedly. We’re excited about the new horizons that lie ahead, and we invite you to join us on this transformative path.
Thank you for being an integral part of the Kale community. Your trust and support have been our guiding lights, and we can’t wait to embark on this new chapter together.
To the future,
Jahnavee & Kishore
Founding team, Kale
