Knock Revolutionizing Notification Workflows

Notifications are ubiquitous in today’s digital landscape, but according to Sam Seely and Chris Bell, the co-founders of Knock, there’s still room for improvement. While services like Twilio and SendGrid offer developer-friendly APIs for notification delivery, Knock aims to provide a more comprehensive solution. This solution integrates notification delivery with a robust workflow engine and observability tools, addressing the complexities beyond the “last-mile delivery problem.”

Funding and Growth

Founded in 2021, Knock recently announced a $12 million funding round led by Craft Ventures, following a previously undisclosed $6 million seed round led by Afore Capital. Other investors include Preface Ventures, Worklife, Expa Ventures, CoFound Partners, Tokyo Black, as well as notable angel investors like Guillermo Rauch (co-founder and CEO of Vercel) and Scott Belsky (co-founder of Behance). With this funding, Knock aims to scale its operations and deepen its impact on the notification workflow landscape.

Reimagining Notification Systems

Seely and Bell recognized the need for reimagining notification systems, focusing on modernizing the primitives required to build a comprehensive solution. Knock doesn’t just facilitate notification delivery; it integrates data from third-party tools to trigger workflow logic tailored to specific use cases. This approach enables developers to streamline their development workflows, ultimately enhancing productivity.

Workflow Engine

At the heart of Knock lies its powerful workflow engine. This engine allows developers to define triggers, batch messages, throttle notifications, and customize communication across multiple channels seamlessly. Whether accessed through a user-friendly web interface or programmatically, Knock’s workflow engine empowers developers to drive cross-channel engagement effectively.

Future Vision

Looking ahead, Knock aims to expand its presence in the customer engagement space by delivering native in-app experiences that drive value and retention. Seely emphasized the importance of developer experience in driving meaningful user engagement. Leveraging its innovative approach and technology stack, Knock aims to disrupt the traditional notification market and differentiate itself by focusing on native product experiences.

Technology Stack

Notably, Knock’s tech stack is built using the Elixir language, a choice driven by its co-founder Chris Bell’s deep involvement in the Elixir community. Elixir’s concurrency and fault-tolerance capabilities align perfectly with Knock’s requirements for handling notification workflows efficiently. Bell highlighted Elixir’s suitability for the task, citing its foundation in telephony systems.

Growth Plans

With the new funding, Knock plans to expand its go-to-market efforts and bolster its engineering team. Current customers include prominent names like Vercel, Amplitude, Hiive, and Betterworks. By continuing to innovate and refine its notification workflow solution, Knock aims to revolutionize how companies engage with their users across various channels, driving enhanced user experiences and retention.