Undoubtedly, the smart phone has become our primary tool of communication. Whether it's through a phone call, text message, or email, the fact is that many of us rely on our smart phone devices to communicate not just simple messages, but also complex themes, ideas and directives. The ease of text messaging and the pervasiveness of email mean that we are often attempting to communicate context specific, heavily nuanced material within the confines and limits of our smartphone's keyboard. Unfortunately, as we all know, there are times when no combination of alpha numeric symbols and emoticons can adequately capture our intended tone and meaning. The bottom line is that often, text message or email conversations can not only seem impersonal, but also leave much lost in translation.
Recognizing the limiting and impersonal nature of many of our modern digital communications, San Francisco based Chime has set out to revolutionize mobile communications. The brainchild of tech entrepreneur and visionary Jared Morgenstern, Chime seeks to combine the facility of mobile communication with the personal nature of sharing a communication face to face. Using video, Chime allows users to carry on private conversations just as you would with a text message, the key difference being that when you send your friend a "chime" or reply to a "chime", you are doing so using your phone's camera to record and send a video.
Chime's founder, Jared Morgenstern has had a long and storied career in technology. In 2004, he co-founded and sold metails.com to buy.com. Thereafter, Jared joined Facebook, and as the company's third product designer helped pioneer, develop, and launch some of Facebook's most well known features, including likes, social ads, payments, virtual gifts, and real gifts.
Recently, I had the opportunity to interview Jared Morgenstern to discuss his most recent venture as well his views on entrepreneurship.
CG: Chime, has the potential to revolutionize the way people communicate over mobile. What led you to come up with the idea?
JM: The short answer is that I missed my friends. I was travelling in Israel a year ago and I was having a "love my life" moment at the end of a great day and reflecting on the new friends I had made on the far side of the globe and I just wanted to share my happiness with the people closest in the world to me back in San Francisco. I didn't think any medium could capture my happiness except for video- so I recorded 30 seconds of love, gratitude, and excitement -- punctuated by smiles. Then I posted it in a small group of my close friends in San Francisco. And in my mind's eye I expected to get 11 videos back, portals into the minds, places, settings, and conversations of my best friends.
And I waited... and instead of a shared outpouring of emotion, I got 8 likes and 3 comments making fun of me on my post. Ironic, since I was the product manager who launched the like button. Back then, I was trying to make sure we'd preserve the thoughtfulness of comments in the wake of the more convenient one click like button. Now I thought that both comments and likes fell short and left me feeling stupid about the vulnerability that I expressed. #FAIL.
After that moment, I began focusing on why this failed - was it because I chose to share it in a private group on Facebook? I tried sending videos on the messaging services, but the anticipation of a video back was always met with disappointment when someone just wrote back "LOL." I started to think that the existing scaled communications platforms don't do a very good job at strengthening relationships. The one to many publication platforms may even make you feel more alone as you peer outwardly into the world studying everyone's best moments. Directed communication platforms like texting and messaging may seem like good enough replacements because of their convenience and immediacy, but they have taken a step back by stripping much of the important context present in voice and facial expression and replacing it with text plus 256 emoji characters. And Facetime is great - but only when it works, when two people are available - and willing - to video chat at the same time.
I started to think, can we do better? What would we build if we wanted to bring you closer to the people that you care about? What would we build if we were optimizing for the smiles and emotions and tears that deepen your relationships? How could we create a space and a dynamic where you felt safe being vulnerable and taking the time to share your expression, tone, and thoughts in conversations?
We came up with Chime, which is designed with this vision as our north star: to strengthen the relationships that matter. Our hypothesis is that video is the best medium to do this, and that by recording and then sending our thoughts and feelings to the people or groups who matter most, we can get the scheduling convenience of text, but the emotional benefits of real, in person sharing.
CG: Can you run me through how Chime works?
JM: Chimes are video conversations where each message in a conversation is a 20 second or less video that is recorded and then uploaded to Chime's server where it is stored and then a push notification is sent to everyone who is in that conversation. When people in that private conversation come back to the app, they see a thumbnail from that new message and can tap the conversation to watch the new videos uploaded. They can give one tap feedback, like hearts or sadness to express emotion, but they are encouraged to reply by recording their own video. Video messages stick around and can be rewatched, but at any time can be deleted by the person who recorded them.
Most users of the application have between 2 and 5 conversations, typically one with family, one with a close friend, and one with a close group of friends (e.g. a fantasy football league). These conversations are private to those who are in them. If any of people in a conversation want to download a video message, they can save them to their camera roll.
The application is free to use and requires a phone number to sign up. To send a message to another individual, you simply record one using the app and then select them from your list of friends on the app or your phone contacts. If the friend is not on the app, they are invited via a text message and the video is waiting for them when they join. To find people on the app, you can also connect your Instagram, Facebook, sync your phone contacts to connect or search for them on the app and send them a request to be able to send videos back and forth.
CG: What has been the response and what do you think will drive Chime's success?
JM: The response so far has been overwhelming. People love Chime and the magical moments that they share are usually around family and loved ones - people with whom they want to share to, are willing to share themselves to, but heretofore haven't had a tool to do so. About 50% of the users who join, upload their first video and invite someone to the service. When two people are in a Chime together, there's a 93% chance they will reply to the other with a video with a video of themselves within 3 days. We are incredibly proud of this stat. This mirrors my own story - my favorite Chime is the one I have with my mother and sister. I used to talk to them once a week for a hurried phone call - now we see each other every day, our lives are weaved together, despite the distance.
I think sharing these success stories will be key to our success. Chime provides a great solution to having people feel closer to the people that they care about - but it's not immediately clear that you need a special video tool to see your high school friends or your grandma or let your father know you landed safely in Miami, until you see the power of it first hand. Luckily, this is our strategy, organic growth of people who see the power creating chimes for the people in their life who are important to them.
CG: What led you to jump back into entrepreneurship?
JM: [Laughing] This is a long story. Suffice it to say that I was unhappy not creating in the world. My experience at Facebook humbled me, but it also scared me into thinking that nothing I would ever do would have as large an impact - so why try. Except, when I stopped working - I became incredibly depressed and it took me a while to realize that it was because I wasn't working with a team everyday, towards a goal that all drove us forward together. This came to a head when I was working as an entrepreneur in residence at Kleiner Perkins, meeting talented entrepreneurs everyday, but secretly envying them and wanting to be on the other side of the table again. Having always cared deeply about connecting with people, Chime was the perfect match for me personally and creatively, so I told the great folks at Kleiner Perkins that I had the itch again.
CG: You've been an entrepreneur, developed products for one of the most innovative companies in the world, and you were an entrepreneur in residence at Silicon Valley Venture Capital Firm Kleiner Perkins. What is your advice for someone hoping to follow in your footsteps?
JM: When I started at Facebook in 2006, it was a hard decision for me. I had launched my own social network right after college - two months before Facebook even existed. I did not want to admit that I had been beaten. That humility, that decision to join a team that challenged me, that was better than me, that was also chasing a similar vision, was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Surrender your ego toward a larger vision - even if it's not you at the helm - and great things can happen. I've been chasing bridging human connection using the internet for almost half my life now. Haven't looked back.
Entrepreneurship carries a significant amount of risk. How do you mitigate such risks and what are some key lessons you've learned along the way about launching a successful startup?
One of my favorite Zuck quotes is "Nothing is riskier than not taking risks." Before I graduated from college and joined Facebook, I remember feeling a strong pressure to take risks early - not coming home on holidays to work on website ideas (keeping my pizza cold by leaving it out the window since I didn't have a freezer). Selling candy at lunch from my sister's Kit N' Caboodle in elementary school. Even selling my notes in high school. Perhaps this is why Zuck was such a great inspiration to me. I remember one night when he was at the office late debating with a board member whether or not we should open up to high schools or expand internationally to colleges and he looked over at me and asked if we wanted to dominate colleges around the world or be relevant to everyone - at any age - in the world, but have a greater risk of failure. It was a leading question. I knew the answer he wanted. Let's take the risk.
Running my own startup, I see this all the time. From convincing a stellar key hire that she'll have all the options she has open to her - and more - no matter what the outcome is at Chime. But, if she joins that mature company her risk profile may advance beyond her ability to take risks that may have opened up many more possibilities for her. We also see it in the projects we choose to invest our time into. Incremental iterative winning is not something we subscribe to here. If something's not working, we pick the biggest thing we can do that's aligned with the vision and we head straight for it.
We also are very honest. From letting people go to the metrics we need to hit. Brutally honest with the business, playfully nice to each other socially. That balance grows us as a family fighting a war.
CG: Any parting words?
JM: Add me on Chime - Jared Morgenstern - and let's have a real conversation :) Oh, and here's the Chime office and team.
