פרוייקט היזמים - כתבה מס.2 - FixYa
מאת מאמר אורח | 2 תגובות 
Like any other frustrated consumer out there who often seek help for his tech problems, I often pulled my hair after wasting hours on unsuccessful attempts to get technical support for my products. Whether it was a wireless router, dishwasher, or even a printer – I never managed to find a solution for a tech problem fast and easy.
As I started researching this space, I realized there is an inherited conflict between consumer products manufacturers who constantly seek ways to lower their customers support costs and the average consumer who is in a growing need for efficient tech assistance. Since the products we use become more and more technologically advanced, and at the same time manufacturers are eager to push their products into the market before they are properly designed and tested, consumers often need to deal with a poorly designed product that is extremely sophisticated to operate.
Since most manufacturers are hiring inexpensive off shore facilities to handle their support, consumers ended up talking to reps that have very little knowledge and experience regarding these products and therefore in no position to successfully address their problem. The result is that many consumers are unable to get support and successfully operate their products.
Once I figured all that out, I realized there is a potential to harness the wisdom of the crowds regarding tech support matters, and leverage that towards helping new people who face these problems for the first time. My assumption was that most tech problems occur to most users, and it is enough that one dedicated user will be able to overcome a problem and will ultimately be willing to help others by sharing his solution. When I figured there is great monetization potential around post purchase support it was clear to me what should be our goal: to create the first and largest post purchase support destination site on the web.
To get started I raised some cash from angle investors, which was very challenging in early 2005, and created an environment that both laid out most of the relevant support information on any product in a single and easy to use location, and more importantly, offered users to collaborate and share their experience regarding these support matters.
Through the combination of generating relevant content in a space that was not heavily targeted by big companies, and having that content indexed in search engines, we were able to gradually drive significant streams of traffic to FixYa. At that point, the challenge was to encourage other users to answer these questions. Since I knew one of the most important rules of online user behavior (users do what you allow/ask them to), we simply optimized a process where we recruit potential answerers from our overall traffic and retained them.
One of the secrets of creating a scalable consumer internet experience is thinking like a user, and not compromising on searching and optimizing the most intuitive user experience. We humans are the laziest creatures alive, and we adore simple solutions that make our lives easier. Therefore, our sole focus in FixYa for as long as the company has been operating, is to create a site that will provide people with the best solution for any problem, fast and easy.
Especially in the Israeli internet scene, it was extremely challenging to find both talented and experienced professionals to make this idea into a company. Through a combination of courting people who I successfully worked with in the past and interviewing hundreds of new people, we slowly and gradually built a solid team. By all means, one additional (known) secret to building great companies is getting the right people, and assuring they are constantly motivated to invest their passion in their work
As the company got to a scale where it was obvious there is a great opportunity to build a big business around it, we decided to get VC funding and lay the foundation for a large business to come. After meeting several Israeli VC’s we realized we will have much better success (and value) by partnering with a leading US VC, who is in a better position to help us make this venture into a huge success.
At the same time, we also realized it would make a whole lot of difference if we relocate our presence to Silicon Valley. As much as FixYa is an internet venture, it’s still a people business at the end of the day. Our potential partners and even acquirers are lead by people, and therefore we should be near them in order to create the right relationship that can lead to those things. In addition, at some point there are also competitors. One of the elements of success is that it convinces others to jump in and try to get a piece. Although FixYa started a niche, after it started to position itself as the leader of this space, several players entered this market – most of which are located in the valley. One other reason for us to be here is to make sure we get at least the same opportunities to partner and grow the business as they do.
Today, FixYa manages to sustain a solid and aggressive growth pattern in its usage and monetization, and at the same time constantly dealing with challenges that are getting the company closer to become what’s it intended to – a brand that is synonymous with tech support as much as Google is with search and Ebay is with auctions.
Unlike the recent trend where it seems too easy to get funding and teams, I feel we made the longest and most difficult way to hit every goal with FixYa. From getting funded, to finding the right people – it was always in the 92nd minute (soccer time). I used to wonder why it was so hard, especially when it was faster for others. Now I know that there is only one way to build a great company – the hard way.
