Work Anywhere Pioneer Needle Raises $10.5 Million
Needle provides client companies with the tools and experts to support online chats with uber expert/fans of the brand and current or prospective customers. Today Shasta Ventures and Rembrandt Venture Partners co-lead a $10.5 Million B round to support Needle’s expansion.
This is affirmation of their “Fan Sourcing” model. Needle works with client companies (from electronics to cosmetics) to identify, recruit, and train “Needlers” who come online when a client customer clicks on the offered chat button on the client’s site.
Needle is ground breaking both in terms of this fan/expert sourcing model (Needle reports that their clients have Net Promoter Scores, a measure of customer loyalty, higher than 72 percent, as compared to the industry average of 47 percent), and in terms of their work anywhere approach.
Morgan Lynch, Needle’s founder and CEO, has built the Needle platform to be “work anywhere” friendly. Needlers can work from anywhere they can get a moderately good Internet connection. Needlers have worked from plane wifi connections, coffee shops, and while staying in youth hostels. The Needle webclient the Needlers use is lightweight and tuned to their mobile workforce.
Morgan offers: "The most passionate brand advocates and fans are often not in the same physical location as a call center, nor would they work in such an environment. If you want to access the best talent, you need to provide a platform that allows them to work when and where they want."
Real-time View of Visitor & Needler connections for Norton by Symantec
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