Mobile Phones have become an inseparable part of our life. No doubt they keep us connected with the world,but at times, they can get on one’s nerves and invade our privacy. On any given day, there are about three to four spam and marketing calls we do not want to attend and dozens of messages that we can do without. CallApp is one company with an app to manage such avoidable and unnecessary calls and their idea now reverberates across the world with millions of people using the app to block such intrusion of privacy.
In an interview with Insights Success, Amit On, Founder and CEO of CallApp narrates the story of the app that has found its way into millions of mobile phones bringing peace and privacy.
1. Kindly brief us about the company. Enlighten us with the foundation story and a brief detail of the initial days of the company.
CallApp Founder and CEO, Amit On, was inspired to start the company after facing a common scenario experienced by most everyone at some point. In an important meeting, his mobile rang with an unknown number. Amit found himself on the end of a spam call. It was then that he decided that in the 21st century, with caller information already publically available, it made no sense to be ignorant as to who was calling. This pivotal moment led Amit to launch CallApp, using smart data to create proprietary algorithms which are now the backbone of CallApp. Now every contact and number in your phone is identified and you can carry on with your business without the hassle of spam calls.
2. Brief us about the Founder/CEO of the company? Share with us the struggle or hardship story that worked as the strength behind the success of the company.
Amit started his journey at a young age, starting his first tech company, a popular BBS, at age 14. A few years later at 16, the internet arrived changed his life forever. While still in high school, Amit worked for two different startups, both later acquired by larger companies. At 18, Amit’s passion and leadership qualities landed him a position in the IDF’s Special Intelligence Technology Unit. After the IDF, Amit joined a startup called Followap as a developer. Once again, Amit excelled in his work and climbed the ladder to become Chief Architect. Followap was then acquired for approximately $140M by US company Neustar. Following his successes at Followap, he joined the startup Amobee as the company’s CTO for four years. After years of hard work, Amobee was acquired by Singtel for approximately $340M. When Amit decided to create CallApp, it was out of a profound desire to empower people with more caller contact information, all in one easy place.
3. Please tell us about the business model you follow and the service you provide that makes the company unique in the mid of the cut-throat competition.
What makes CallApp unique is that we truly provide the best Caller ID service on the market. CallApp is the whole package, providing a full-blown communication ID including phone call, text message, WhatsApp message identification among others. CallApp is a fully personalized experience that lets you see exactly who is calling, displaying their name, mutual friends and photos. It’s a unique experience for each person, with details customized to the user. We are constantly improving our service, enhancing the app to offer users the best possible CallerID experience alongside multiple new features including our latest, Incognito Calls – a revolutionary new privacy measure.
4. Tell us about the services you provide through your venture.
The CallApp Platform connects each phone to its universal social contact book of over three billion phone numbers using algorithms to identify people and businesses. The CallApp community defends one another by reporting spam calls, so these reported numbers are instantly blocked for other users. CallApp can recognize any number that goes through your messaging apps. You can put a name, profile and context to those nameless numbers. The most advanced and highest quality Call Recorder on the market for free is available within our app.
CallApp recently launched Incognito Calls, which tackles the pressing concern of privacy issues in the call space. With the ability to easily switch to Incognito, callers can make private calls with total security, having the confidence to call and speak securely with no call tracking data captured. This is just one example of CallApp’s constant strive towards improvement.
5. Is your company part of any philanthropic service?
CallApp has long been involved in an international internship program that gives graduates a taste of the start-up ecosystem. CallApp prides itself on providing young people with invaluable skills in all areas of the high-tech field. The company welcomes and nurtures young talent from all over the world. From the outset, CallApp has hosted interns from diverse countries and backgrounds and fostered invaluable opportunities to learn and grow in their careers. Interns leave CallApp with abundant opportunities and many go on to have successful careers in the industry. Our current Product Marketing Manager started as an intern with CallApp, learning about the industry from the ground up, only to assume the position of manager within half a year.
6. Where is this company different than others in terms of everyday work culture?
We are not just a team of average developers. The leads of our Research and Development team have all had lead roles in their country’s Special Intelligence Technology Units. They bring a wealth of experience combined with a shared vision to constantly deliver the best product to the market. As a company, we also have a fun, relaxed workplace including our beloved office dog, Shakira.
7. Brief us about the future of the company or the goal it has set to mark its exceptionality in future.
CallApp has helped revolutionize the communication experience. We have helped further mobile technology and have established ourselves as a strong leader in the Industry. We see ourselves as pioneers in shaping mobile communication in this new era of innovation we are experiencing. From our start as simply a Caller ID app, we have been able to tap in and greatly expand into the vast communication categories including contacts, spam blocking, call recording, social dialer, amongst others. Our dedicated team is endlessly working on way to increase the UX and value for each user.
8. Advise for the budding entrepreneurs who are trying to embark in the same field.
Our advice for young and aspiring leaders is simple – never give up. According to CEO and Founder, Amit On, “There are times when you will fail, but this is a learning curve. You need to get back on your feet and give it another shot. Nothing perfect is done on the first try”. Amit also believes that since every industry is growing at an exceptional rate, being able to adapt to any circumstance is a must for leaders in the 21st century. Also, he mentioned that reliability is essential, “You need to say what you mean and mean what you say”. Amit believes that in the workplace, as with anything in life, you need to be confident in yourself in order to prosper.
9. The accomplishments and acknowledgements of the company.
CallApp was selected as one of the Top 20 World’s Most Promising Start-Ups by TechCrunch. CallApp was also a finalist at TechCrunch Disrupt NYC and selected by Microsoft, IBM & Qualcomm as one of the most innovative & promising Israeli companies. CallApp is currently the most liked Caller ID app in the world. We greatly appreciate our over 50 million users and our community as a whole. The amount of innovation we are preparing to release in the upcoming quarters is going to be industry changing. The communication industry has room for infinite growth and we see ourselves as a company paving the way for the future.
CallApp: The Most Liked Caller ID App
