We had some failed deploys due to usability issues. We also felt like we were starting to converge to the same set of features similar to a bunch of other companies (Homebase, WhenIWork, Humanity/Shiftplanning, Deputy, etc). We decided that we needed to do a lot more user research in order to understand customer needs, and others' products. (We also started to realize that, to do algorithmic scheduling, we would need a portfolio of algorithms - not a generic one - which was a tough job for a two-engineer team).

Partly, we decided to try to just focus on a great scheduling experience rather than build lots of features quickly. So, the SMS came out of the user research and a need in the market.

Our strategy was going to be integrations. We had a slew of API integrations lined up for POS, payroll, and other providers.