Voxie is the Blazer winner of the Media/Entertainment/Marketing category category in the Atlanta Inno Fire Awards, a program highlighting the companies that showcase Atlanta's growth into a national tech hub.
Voxie is capitalizing on a trend CEO Bogdan Constantin thinks is transforming the marketing industry: personalized, automated texting.
The marketing technology startup raised $25 million in February to scale its product and expand its customers. One of Voxie’s most popular new features is “Shift-to-Text,” which allows customers who are on hold to transfer to a text message conversation instead. Its platform has reached 10,000 locations including restaurants, e-commerce companies and other retailers. In February, the company had plans to triple its workforce.
Atlanta Inno talked with Constantin about the company's growth.
How has your company navigated its operations during the economic climate when investors are pulling back and some are making layoffs?
We were fortunate to raise before the markets began to turn and have had success in that we're both a revenue driver and a cost saving for organizations. We have an automation platform that drives a 27 times return on investment on average each month with a third of the people. One of our core values or "Do's" is called "Do More With Less," so we've always been very diligent with our capital and investments. We plan to do more of that and continue finding opportunities.
Based on your experience, what would be your best advice to up-and-coming or aspiring entrepreneurs?
The only difference between entrepreneurs who succeed and those who fail is one word: grit. Incredible things happen if you don't give up. I have much to prove and build in this world, but the little shred of success I've had to date is because I possess an inability to surrender. It's the most critical thing an entrepreneur needs because this is really, really, really hard.
What are you doing to distinguish yourself from others in the same industry?
We talk with every single customer. Not once a year, not via automated email flows. But voice to voice or video to video. We learn who they are, their problems and then we help them solve them with our software. We listen, and we actually help. Magical things happen when you do that over and over. Those customers tell their peers and friends and as they grow — you do, too.
What was the toughest decision you ever had to make in order to accelerate growth for your company?
Sacrifice future product roadmap in adjacent verticals I know we will be in for features needed to win the here and now of big opportunities at our doorstep. This is often an unpopular thing to talk about. But as entrepreneurs, we make choices every day with future or present consequences — and in general — the future is always rosier.
What’s next for your company?
We think we're only getting started — our mission is to empower every business in the world to talk with all of their customers, at scale — so we're rapidly expanding our product functionalities to drive even more automated engagements.
