Watchsend

Watchsend was a software analytics company founded in 2013 by Ishaan Gulrajani and Zain Shah, operating out of San Francisco. The firm was a participant in the Summer 2013 batch of the Y Combinator accelerator program, which marked a significant milestone in its early development. Following its time at YC, Watchsend secured an undisclosed amount of seed funding in June 2013 from investors including Y Combinator, Morado Ventures, and Rough Draft Ventures.

The company's core business was providing actionable insights into iOS application performance by recording user interaction videos. This service targeted app developers, helping them understand exactly how their applications were being used and where they were failing. The business model centered on an SDK that developers could integrate into their iOS apps. This SDK would then record the user's screen, and the videos would be uploaded, particularly in the event of a crash, to provide developers with a clear visual context of the issue. Watchsend's value proposition was its ability to deliver specific, actionable recommendations based on the analysis of real user behavior, moving beyond confusing charts and graphs. For example, it identified patterns where users struggled, such as repeatedly navigating between screens to perform a multi-step action, and suggested user interface improvements.

The service promised to deliver a report with user experience issues and recommendations within five days of integration. The team, which included individuals with experience from institutions like MIT and companies such as DuckDuckGo and Chegg, leveraged machine learning and data analysis to pinpoint user drop-off points, workarounds, and underutilized features. Despite attracting customers like Smugmug and Detectable, the company is now listed as inactive or deadpooled.

Keywords: mobile app analytics, user session recording, iOS SDK, app crash reporting, user behavior analysis, UI/UX insights, Y Combinator S13, developer tools, software analytics, mobile user experience, app performance monitoring, session replay, bug reporting, user interaction video, application diagnostics, developer feedback, mobile analytics, code analysis, usability testing, product analytics