Alya Abbott

Yeah, and one thing that's pretty cool is that we actually still have some of Zulop's 2013 beta customers using Zulop today continuously. So they still have all their chat history. We've kept that running for them throughout the years, and they're still there.

Yeah, and one thing that's pretty cool is that we actually still have some of Zulop's 2013 beta customers using Zulop today continuously. So they still have all their chat history. We've kept that running for them throughout the years, and they're still there.

Yeah, so like HipChat and IRC were around at the time, exactly.

Yeah, so like HipChat and IRC were around at the time, exactly.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that was a competitive landscape at the time.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that was a competitive landscape at the time.

Totally, yeah. So the big innovation in Zulop is how it organizes conversations. And the idea actually came from an older technology that was popular at MIT at the time for lots of students and folks were chatting there. But what's different about it is how conversations are organized. So in some of the tools folks may be familiar with, you probably have channels and within that channels,

Totally, yeah. So the big innovation in Zulop is how it organizes conversations. And the idea actually came from an older technology that was popular at MIT at the time for lots of students and folks were chatting there. But what's different about it is how conversations are organized. So in some of the tools folks may be familiar with, you probably have channels and within that channels,

A lot of discussion going on kind of like in that main channel feed. Maybe you have some threads on the side. Zulip is different in that when you start a conversation, you give that conversation a brief topic. So something similar to what you might do if you're sending an email and you write a quick subject line for your email.

A lot of discussion going on kind of like in that main channel feed. Maybe you have some threads on the side. Zulip is different in that when you start a conversation, you give that conversation a brief topic. So something similar to what you might do if you're sending an email and you write a quick subject line for your email.

And then when people respond to your messages, they respond within that topic. And so... it's a little bit of extra effort to start that conversation. You do need to give it a topic, but then it just makes a huge difference when you're reading your messages. So now instead of kind of everything being mixed up, you have these organized conversations labeled with our topic. And so it's,

And then when people respond to your messages, they respond within that topic. And so... it's a little bit of extra effort to start that conversation. You do need to give it a topic, but then it just makes a huge difference when you're reading your messages. So now instead of kind of everything being mixed up, you have these organized conversations labeled with our topic. And so it's,

You can come in and read your messages one conversation at a time. Rather than everything happening chronologically, you could say, okay, people are talking about this. Let me read about that. Okay, I'm done with that conversation. Let me move on to the next one. And so it doesn't matter if people are... And it's a busy channel. People are talking about 10 different things at once.

You can come in and read your messages one conversation at a time. Rather than everything happening chronologically, you could say, okay, people are talking about this. Let me read about that. Okay, I'm done with that conversation. Let me move on to the next one. And so it doesn't matter if people are... And it's a busy channel. People are talking about 10 different things at once.

It's just not a problem. You can...

It's just not a problem. You can...

read everything in its own context and you can have a conversation that's goes across time so you know maybe people are working async or just busy with meetings and so somebody comes in a few hours later or a day later and wants to comment on something that was going on rather than getting kind of like lost in the noise you have all that context in the same place

read everything in its own context and you can have a conversation that's goes across time so you know maybe people are working async or just busy with meetings and so somebody comes in a few hours later or a day later and wants to comment on something that was going on rather than getting kind of like lost in the noise you have all that context in the same place

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So, and then each topic is basically kind of a topic of conversation and that can be very ephemeral or it can be something that you come back to after a while and that, that, you know, both, both ways work.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So, and then each topic is basically kind of a topic of conversation and that can be very ephemeral or it can be something that you come back to after a while and that, that, you know, both, both ways work.