Businesses and media organizations want to be where their users are. In the past, they’d often do this by building a website or an
app, but there are big problems with both of these approaches: With websites, re-engagement with users is very difficult; and there is so much friction around app
installation it’s difficult to acquire users. So today, many companies are realizing that bots on messaging
platforms are the fastest and simplest way to engage with users.

Chatfuel is a company in our Winter 2016 class that has built a self-service platform that lets companies create these kinds of chatbots in minutes. 

Jon Russell of TechCrunch recently wrote a story about Chatfuel:

“Chat has become the center of the smartphone universe, so it makes
sense that bots are being used to deliver information in a
convenient and engaging manner. But how do brands or media companies get
started and create a bot? That’s where Chatfuel, a company that’s currently going through Y Combinator, is looking to make its mark.

The company is currently focused primarily on Telegram, which is the
only chat app to open its bots to all. It has created bots for the likes
of Forbes and TechCrunch — hey, that’s us!
— but, beyond focusing on media, it has a self-service platform anyone
can use. Thus far, that’s been used to make over 120,000 bots which
serve over five million users.

It’s more than just basic bots that simply send information to users
based on offering them two kinds of responses. Chatfuel is a little more
intelligent. Its bots serve up news, lets users narrow down on topics,
and even just ask questions about items or people in the news.”

Read the full story here.