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Front (YC S14) Raises $66M
21–30 of 86 posts
Re: Front (YC S14) Raises $66M
#22You can’t just “replace Outlook”, you need to replace Office 365, which is a much steeper hill to climb.
I was thinking this as well. If they're fully focused on email right now their best case outcomes are getting acquired by somebody who offers a full suite (email, spreadsheets, presentations, etc.), or using email as their proof of concept to raise more money and expand their offerings.
Re: Front (YC S14) Raises $66M
#23We used Front at Wheelys (YC S15), and I consider it absolutely essential for good email teamwork. Definitely 10x’d our email and support productivity. Congrats on raising such a huge round, Mathilde! I just wish they had the front.com domain, everyone around the office always called the product "Front App" because their domain is frontapp.com
Your email and support productivity was increased 10x, really?
Definitely. Replying to emails as a team, handing off customers, reviewing contracts, all sorts of team discussions - it was happening all over the place before, and giving us a central place to go where conversations about an email thread can take place right underneath the thread was fantastic. You go from getting a reply from your boss about an email to actually sending that info to the customer in a matter of seconds.
Re: Front (YC S14) Raises $66M
#24Android app screenshot looks very similar to Outlook. The main problem with Outlook is the desktop app. Everything else is good enough for me.
Re: Front (YC S14) Raises $66M
#25Yikes. At ~60/u/mo for enterprise email & collaboration I would drop the "Replace Microsoft Outlook" line... unless you want people to start looking at what else they get beyond Outlook/Skype for Business from Microsoft for $20-$35/u/mo (E3 or E5 O365 license).
Re: Front (YC S14) Raises $66M
#26Heh. I hope they can make a dent. I was driving my son somewhere, and pulled up to a light on the left side of a police cruiser. In it, there was a laptop mounted high in the passenger area, and the officer was clicking on Outlook. This caused me to launch into a several-minute-long tirade about how awful the interface is. Buttons EVERYwhere. DOZENS of pages of options. USELESS search. I'm content with Mail on my Mac…
They already have "Outlook lite", it's called the Outlook Web App and it has what you want.
I don't think Microsoft would be threatened by this at all. Nobody chooses to use Outlook, it's what you get if you work for a big corporation or if you purchase Office 365. It's not a standalone product, I can't just use Outlook.
I think it's not doing Front any favours to compare themselves to Outlook. Outlook is an enterprise product, my company has customized the crap out of it and it's hooked up to our global credential/access system. That's not even close to what Front is offering (a better multi-inbox tool).
Re: Front (YC S14) Raises $66M
#27Sorry for my low quality post but Outlook is just fine. It's crappy, crashy and bloated...but it's just fine.
This outfit and app won't exist 365 days from now, I guarantee it.
Re: Front (YC S14) Raises $66M
#28I remember this product from the early inception. If anyone was in London back in 2014 - Front was even pitched at the Don't Pitch Me Bro event.
Having used Front in the early days it was a breath of fresh air. Being able to handle support/sales inboxes, as a team, like a boss!
I haven't used Front since 2015, but I wish the best of luck to everyone involved - not sure about that replace Outlook, more like get acquired by a big co that works in support-first with heavy email workflows. (zendesk and all the alternatives used by big telcos etc )
Re: Front (YC S14) Raises $66M
#29Heh. I hope they can make a dent. I was driving my son somewhere, and pulled up to a light on the left side of a police cruiser. In it, there was a laptop mounted high in the passenger area, and the officer was clicking on Outlook. This caused me to launch into a several-minute-long tirade about how awful the interface is. Buttons EVERYwhere. DOZENS of pages of options. USELESS search. I'm content with Mail on my Mac…
They already have "Outlook lite", it's called the Outlook Web App and it has what you want. I don't think Microsoft would be threatened by this at all. Nobody chooses to use Outlook, it's what you get if you work for a big corporation or if you purchase Office 365. It's not a standalone product, I can't just use Outlook. I think it's not doing Front any favours to compare themselves to Outlook. Outlook is an enterpri…
Seconding the outlook web interface. It's not perfect, but it's pretty dang good. That plus all else you get with office 365 and I don't think anyone is going to put a serious dent in Microsoft's enterprise office dominance for quite some time.
Re: Front (YC S14) Raises $66M
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your email and support productivity was increased 10x, really?
Definitely. Replying to emails as a team, handing off customers, reviewing contracts, all sorts of team discussions - it was happening all over the place before, and giving us a central place to go where conversations about an email thread can take place right underneath the thread was fantastic. You go from getting a reply from your boss about an email to actually sending that info to the customer in a matter of sec…
So you cut your staff by 90%? Or did you devote their time to other activities?