It was March 2020.
COVID-19 just started and changed not only the way we work but also what we need to operate a successful business.
As almost everyone switched to remote work, one of the things we needed was successful remote communication.
But, the market of business messaging apps offered fewer choices than today — and their offer wasn’t ideal:
- Almost none of the apps with free plans had all the features one might need, and
- The paid plans were either too expensive or underequipped and unable to handle the needs of remote communication in turbulent times.
These 2 problems — or rather the desire to solve them — essentially inspired Pumble.
Table of Contents
The (not so) humble beginnings
The beginning of our adventure wasn’t as hard as many might imagine.
We’ve done it before.
So, we just applied what we learned while building Clockify — now a world-famous team time tracker app.
First, we identified a market gap — one we realized was there because we wanted and needed to use a particular type of business messaging app, and we couldn’t find it in the existing selection.
Next, we harnessed user feedback. And, we were the first users.
We used our own needs as a reference point — while developing Pumble, we tested everything by using the app to collaborate ourselves. It was easy to know what to fix — if something wasn’t good enough for us, we definitely wouldn’t offer it to others. Whatever we noticed while using the app, we shared it in our feedback channels.
And, throughout the building and testing process, we focused on providing value and quality — the pillars of a truly useful and reliable product.
The whole process of developing the app went smoothly — as mentioned, we had used other team communication apps before, and we knew exactly why we found them lacking — for one, they were missing a comprehensive free plan offering unlimited users and an entirely accessible messaging history.
We also wanted our users to be able to access Pumble from all the platforms they might use.
Hence, we actually had to cater to 3 clients at the same time — Android, iOS, and web.
In October 2020, after a lot of work, testing, and enthusiasm, Pumble went live.
And, we weren’t the only users for long — soon, others started pouring in.
💡 Pumble Pro Tip
We use Pumble for many reasons, such as its efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
To see other benefits that inspire teams worldwide to use Pumble, check out the following article:
Responsibility increases as the number of users grows (and so does the number of features)
Our #1 priority in Pumble was always to make the app reliable.
In line with that, we’re always looking for ways to improve the app and to have it align with the customers’ needs.
That’s how it was from the very beginning.
First, we offered some rudimentary features such as DMs and channels, without which we cannot imagine an efficient team communication app.
Moving forward, we’ve always known that having all your messages at your fingertips forever is crucial for smooth communication and collaboration. Hence, we decided to offer free unlimited message history — all the messages and files in conversations are and always will be available.
And, since we have learned from our experience that conversations in channels or even DMs can get clogged, we also enabled thread communication.
It keeps our conversations neat and structured.
In August 2021, we introduced our first paid plan — Pro plan — which included benefits such as more integrations and larger storage space.
But, the biggest change happened in April 2022. It brought a vital addition — Pumble started offering the much-anticipated options of video conferencing and audio calls.
We can also share our screen during video calls so other participants can follow our presentations.
And, as before, we’re testing everything on ourselves.
For example, we hold video calls with as many of our teammates as possible, to see if recent additions function properly.
Also, we have always paid special attention to the security of our data — we learn from the mistakes of other companies to prevent anything similar from happening to us and our users.
All these additions and positive changes have led to the introduction of our Business and Enterprise paid plans in September 2023.
With steady monthly growth and more and more new users joining us — as of May 2024, 196,822 teams use Pumble — it seems that our efforts have paid off and that businesses worldwide have recognized us as one of the most reliable solutions on the market.
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Challenges (and overcoming them) make the app better
Once Pumble was launched, there were some turbulences and challenges to overcome.
They were mostly related to making everything run as smoothly as possible, which is a challenge encountered in the beginnings of any app.
Although demanding, these situations helped and motivated Pumble creators to always find the cause and prevent it from happening again.
Nowadays, Pumble faces smaller and much more achievable challenges, such as making sure the new features work well on all platforms — Android, iOS, web, and the desktop app, introduced in January 2021.
The fact that fine-tuning additional features has become the Pumble creators’ main headache tells us enough about the long way the app has come.
Pumble will continue to evolve
Pumble has come a long way since October 2020 — but that’s not all we have in store. On the contrary, many new things are coming in the future — we are thrilled to say this is just the beginning.
According to our roadmap, coming up next on our agenda are integrations with Gmail and Zoom that would allow us to send emails to Pumble or to start a video call via Zoom from Pumble.
And that’s just scratching the surface — so stay tuned and see how Pumble evolves!
If you like what you have read and want to try Pumble yourself — sign up for Pumble today!
And if you would like to try our other apps and see why they are packed with value, try the CAKE.com Productivity Bundle today!
