Talkdesk Helps Small Businesses Struggling with Customer Service Calls

Kira M. Newman January 26, 2012 Tweet

One of the 500 Startups companies launching this week, Talkdesk turns your browser into a call center – a way to provide quality customer support without throwing away half your company budget.

Based on Twilio’s technology, Talkdesk lets you make and receive calls, record and transcribe them, and integrate with services like SalesForce and Zendesk to provide real-time information about the caller. The service is aimed at sales and support, but current users also include a real estate company keeping track of potential buyers.

Hailing from Portugal, cofounders Tiago Paiva and Cristina Fonseca previously worked together on Bouncely, for tracking Amazon SES bounces, and education startup Veep. They won a Twilio contest last year with Talkdesk and decided to move to the United States and pursue their idea full-time.

“Being from Portugal, just being in the US changes everything and being part of the 500 Startups makes it more intense and stressful. We have to do a lot of work in a short amount of time. Fortunately we can meet some of the brightest minds in the Valley and get to work with other companies that are starting just as we do. Relationships are the most valuable part of being here. Being in the US allows us to get the funds and connections needed to make a huge business, something we weren’t able [to do] in Portugal,” says Paiva.

Talkdesk will be heading back to Portugal in April, but Paiva and Fonseca hope to secure work visas to return to the United States. They are targeting small businesses now, but eventually want to expand to large enterprises and other countries like Brazil.