To celebrate 15 years of being the champions of customer service, we’ve made an interactive timeline of collectable cards to celebrate all our greatest hits.
Keep your eyes peeled for easter eggs and special packs of shiny cards hidden around the site.
Scroll down to get started.
Explore our history
2006
This year marked the beginning of two amazing companies. Both would go on to completely transform how businesses interact with customers. One of them was Twitter…
2007
This was the year Zendesk formally started, and was also the year Apple released the first ever iPhone. Coincidence? Yes.
2007
Coding in Copenhagen
No. 002
DESCRIPTION◆
The trio spent the next year building, perfecting, and consulting on the side—they had to feed their families somehow. By September, Zendesk 1.0 was ready for launch at TechCrunch. They were denied, but didn’t let it stop them.
ZENDESK VALUE: Purpose
2007
Zendesk goes live
No. 003
DESCRIPTION◆
Not to be deterred by lack of funding—or a real office—our founders put the software online and recruited friends and family to give it a try. Almost immediately, 1,000 companies signed up for a free trial.
ZENDESK VALUE: Purpose
2008
As Dev Patel was stealing our hearts in Slumdog Millionaire, we were lawfully receiving a number of sound investments from savvy backers.
2008
A surprise investor has fresh ideas
No. 004
DESCRIPTION◆
Our seed round was closing when German angel investor Christoph Janz emailed. Mikkel and Christoph met—nonchalant, impulsive vs. moderate, precise. Janz was in for $500K. “We’d gone so far on a tenth of that. We’d gone so far on zero.”
ZENDESK VALUE: Purpose
2008
Zendesk gains speed on fertile soil
No. 005
DESCRIPTION◆
Before SF, before Boston: There was Mikkel’s in-laws’ farm in Jutland, Denmark. It’s the home of chickens, ducks, geese, and turkey—and that’s where Mikkel was, struggling to get online, when MSNBC, our first marquee customer, signed.
ZENDESK VALUE: Humblidence
2008
We really transcended phone support
No. 006
DESCRIPTION◆
The Buddha Machine was a music player by Beijing duo FM3, inspired by Buddhist temples. The Buddha Machine Wall was a site we made with 21 virtual Buddha Machines—any or all could play at once. The New Yorker’s Sasha Frere-Jones raved.
ZENDESK VALUE: Community
2009
Taylor Swift might have been getting interrupted at the Grammys, but nothing could interrupt our early successes—we were on a winning streak at this point with investments rolling in.
2009
A rolling stone gathers 1K
No. 007
DESCRIPTION◆
Momentum was building. Christoph Janz had made a key $500K investment. MSNBC was our first big name. And now we surpassed 1,000 customers, which included culture site and hosting service Laughing Squid, San Antonio’s TETCO, and WebExpenses.
ZENDESK VALUE: Purpose
2009
A phone # on the site has perks
No. 008
DESCRIPTION◆
When Devdutt Yellurkar of Charles River Ventures called, Mikkel’s cell was on Zendesk.com. He figured it was some rando. Not quite! Their first meeting took place at Alex’s 5th-floor SF walkup. A twisty road led to Series A funding.
ZENDESK VALUE: Purpose
2009
Gettin’ outta Dodge—i.e. Denmark
No. 009
DESCRIPTION◆
The VC funding meant a move to Boston. Alex and Morten were not thrilled. No Red Sox hate—they knew nothing about the city. It’s not forever, said Mikkel. “We just have to get the f*** out of Copenhagen.” The Boston office opened May 9.
ZENDESK VALUE: Purpose
2009
Buddhy cozies up to the bird app
No. 010
DESCRIPTION◆
TechCrunch once surprise-interviewed us. Afterward, Jason Calacanis said: So basically it’s a help desk with some RSS and a blog. Ow.
ZENDESK VALUE: Purpose
2009
Don’t call it Frisco
No. 011
DESCRIPTION◆
Seeking startups, talent, and sunshine, Zendesk headed west. 410 Townsend was home to Twitter, Dropbox, and former Buddhist center—fate. Zendesk moved in but Morten and Alex didn’t like it. First yelling, then mediation.
ZENDESK VALUE: Humblidence
2010
As the Burj Khalifa was being unveiled in Dubai, another building opened in San Francisco: our new offices. The Burj may have been physically taller, but our building was much greater in terms of the quality customer service it could provide.
2010
Chat enters the chat
No. 012
DESCRIPTION◆
We hammer on omnichannel because social and chat support are crucial. But they didn’t always exist. Our ears ringing from TechCrunch’s 'basically a help desk with some RSS and a blog' line, we debuted bells and whistles. Enter chat support.
ZENDESK VALUE: Purpose
2010
5,000 customers is a lot
No. 013
DESCRIPTION◆
We had a successful seed round, our first U.S. office, our first big-name customer—MSNBC—and the innovation of tweets to tickets. Now we hit 5,000 customers. It would take another three years for Mikkel to reach 5,000 followers on Twitter.
ZENDESK VALUE: Purpose
2010
An XL mea culpa on poly-cotton
No. 014
DESCRIPTION◆
When we screwed up a pricing change and enraged customers, we apologized. And made T-shirts of the apoplectic tweets. Think: You guys are ASSH*LES stop justifying your BULLSH*T. Mikkel also sent out an email…apologizing.
ZENDESK VALUE: Humblidence
2011
While Rihanna was finding love in a hopeless place, we were finding people around the world to provide great customer service to by adding multi-language capabilities.
2011
A new semester begins
No. 015
DESCRIPTION◆
Our top FAQ was: “How do I get the most out of Zendesk?” With the launch of Zendesk University, we offered courses, from 101 to advanced, on how to set up and run a help desk smoothly. Students also shared best practices with each other. A+
ZENDESK VALUE: Community
2011
Zendesk down under
No. 016
DESCRIPTION◆
Zendesk went international with the opening of the Melbourne, Australia, office. We teamed up with design firm Blitz to keep the Edwardian elements of the building intact, while filling the space with warm Danish wood and light fixtures.
ZENDESK VALUE: Community
2011
Watch your language
No. 017
DESCRIPTION◆
Same great support, now in 10 languages. As our customer base grew, we stepped up our global product game—Zendesk offered in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and simplified and traditional Chinese.
ZENDESK VALUE: Inclusivity
2011
London calling
No. 018
DESCRIPTION◆
We crossed the pond for our third office, settling in Paddington, London. A refresh in 2016 brought more collaboration stations into the space, taking inspiration from East London cafes and Scandinavian hospitality.
ZENDESK VALUE: Community
2011
Expansion as a full circle
No. 019
DESCRIPTION◆
Mikkel says early Zendesk was arguing about everything and trying to turn an idea into a reality. The three worked in Alex’s tiny loft in Copenhagen, a city of a million. Now, it was time to go back—and this time, a real office.
ZENDESK VALUE: Community
2012
Even though this was the year the world ended, we were just getting started—passing our 25,000th customer milestone.
2012
Agents say the darndest things
No. 020
DESCRIPTION◆
In a classic of CX cinematography, Zendesk’s Matt Latkiewicz, headset on, deadpans agent standards: Can I get the last four of your social? Wait, your password is password? Do we integrate with a fax machine? The answer is still no.
ZENDESK VALUE: Community
2012
Customer No. 25,000 was noteworthy
No. 021
DESCRIPTION◆
Just five years after going live, we hit a milestone. Our 25,000th customer was transformational ideas organizer Evernote, which first used Support and Chat to support its 200+ million customers. Zendesk and Evernote—what a great idea.
ZENDESK VALUE: Community
2012
Customer Service Hero Tour
No. 022
DESCRIPTION◆
In a series of half-day events in Denver, Austin, and Chicago, bestselling author Micah Solomon helped us spread the gospel of customer service best practices. Sessions covered secret CSAT formulas and key factors in being customer focused.
ZENDESK VALUE: Humblidence
2012
Looking for a Zendesk alternative?
No. 023
DESCRIPTION◆
We made a mockumentary on a grunge band, pissed that Mikkel stole its name—thus making ‘Zendesk alternative’ do our SEO bidding. The band, with boomerang Jake Meltzer, debuted at a holiday party. Mikkel played cowbell. The site is still up.
ZENDESK VALUE: Inclusivity
2012
Loud and proud on Market Street
No. 024
DESCRIPTION◆
In June, Zendesk joined the SF Pride parade, the 42nd annual, for our first time. Thousands thronged Market Street, and the day ended with a 6-hour party at Civic Center. Daddies, drag queens, and Zendesk: the colors of the rainbow.
ZENDESK VALUE: Inclusivity
2013
We hit the TechCrunch Awards like a wrecking ball this year, winning ‘sexiest startup’.
2013
No, we didn’t win a ‘scrunchie’
No. 025
DESCRIPTION◆
Once a TechCrunch 20 reject, we had 500 employees when we finally made Sexiest Enterprise Startup. Asked post–Crunchies Awards about the key to success, Mikkel said “build beautifully simple applications.” The IPO question? Mikkel demurred.
ZENDESK VALUE: Humblidence
2013
LATAM, represent
No. 026
DESCRIPTION◆
Our first foray into Latin America, the São Paulo, Brazil, office, might be the most colorful of all the Zendesk workplaces. No surprise for a country known for its love of vivid hues.
ZENDESK VALUE: Community
2014
Pharrel’s ‘Happy’ was everywhere. We were pretty happy too, as this was the year we reached 40,000 customers, went public, and made our first acquisition.
2014
Zendesk goes public
No. 027
DESCRIPTION◆
Tech was getting pummeled. FUD clouded our IPO like Karl the Fog. But Mikkel decided to push ahead. Press circus, $9 initial offering, the symbol $ZEN. Mikkel woke up with a face rash and Matt Hicks bought him makeup. The rest is history.
ZENDESK VALUE: Purpose
2014
Zendesk Day of Service
No. 028
DESCRIPTION◆
What better way to celebrate our IPO milestone than to serve the community that gave Zendesk a home. This company-wide volunteer day consisted of serving meals, cleaning the streets, and beautifying the neighborhood.
ZENDESK VALUE: Community
2014
Catching Zs
No. 029
DESCRIPTION◆
Zendesk and Zopim—the start of a beautiful friendship. In April, we announced the purchase of the live chat app, which beefed up our messaging with a slew of new widgets and features.
ZENDESK VALUE: Purpose
2014
Time to grow
No. 030
DESCRIPTION◆
In seven years, three guys from Copenhagen built a company that grew to 40,000 customers around the world. Those customers served 300 million people—the 2014 population size of the United States.
ZENDESK VALUE: Purpose
2014
A forsaken carpet store becomes HQ
No. 031
DESCRIPTION◆
In 1909, 1019 Market was a furniture emporium. Renovation lent airiness with cozy nooks, original pine beams and 400 work areas. Dave Dyson once strolled smack into an unfrosted wall near Mikkel's office. Neither nose nor glass was broken.
ZENDESK VALUE: Purpose
2015
NASA found water on Mars while thousands of customers and businesses were discovering the seamless customer service solutions Zendesk could provide.
2015
Won’t you be our neighbor?
No. 032
DESCRIPTION◆
We put our money where our community is. After going public, we took $1 million from our IPO and gave it to nonprofits in our neighborhoods—focusing on healthcare, technical literacy, alleviating poverty, and workforce development.
ZENDESK VALUE: Community
2015
A star-studded conference in NYC
No. 033
DESCRIPTION◆
With buzzy headliners from media and CX, Relate Live was inspirational, educating on storytelling, management philosophy, and even public shaming. A competitor showed up to give away donuts. So Zendesk’s fine roughnecks ran ’em off. Scram!
ZENDESK VALUE: Humblidence
2015
No train, no gain
No. 034
DESCRIPTION◆
Zendesk teamed up with the nonprofit Bay Area Video Coalition to start a job training program that taught job-seekers to use Zendesk. The courses were hands-on and trained SF residents in the fine art of being helpful.
ZENDESK VALUE: Trust
2015
Sights set on conscious startups
No. 035
DESCRIPTION◆
Be My Eyes is a Danish startup that connects blind and sighted people using video software. Zendesk is a Danish software company with a heart for social impact—and the funding and mentorship to back it up, starting with Be My Eyes.
ZENDESK VALUE: Community
2016
This was a leap year, and not just because Zendesk was making leaps in the field in customer service.
2016
Every exit is an entrance!
No. 036
DESCRIPTION◆
Buddhy, our mascot and logo, melded mindfulness with technology, but the time came to retire the Buddha in a headset and rebrand. Melbourne took it hard. The Aussies made him a depressing Spotify playlist and threw him a going-away bash.
ZENDESK VALUE: Community
2016
“Don’t do it”
No. 037
DESCRIPTION◆
This was the advice former Chief Creative Officer Toke Nygaard received when pondering a rebrand in 2016. Shocker: We did it anyway. With a leap of faith (and lots of caffeine) the Relationshapes, our new product logos, were born.
ZENDESK VALUE: Purpose
2016
No, we aren’t a dating app
No. 038
DESCRIPTION◆
Relationships are complicated. And so are taglines, apparently. When we launched our famous diver and astronaut advertisements there was only one thing on everyone's mind, and it wasn’t customer service. It was romance. Awkward.
ZENDESK VALUE: Humblidence
2017
This year might have seen a solar eclipse, but nothing could eclipse the good vibes emanating from Zendesk. This was the year we launched our prolific volunteer portal and formalized our Global Diversity Equity and Inclusion program.
2017
A central hub for lending a hand
No. 039
DESCRIPTION◆
Volunteering is core to our company culture. Employees came together and built the volunteer portal we all know and love. With this tool, opportunities to help others are centralized, visible, easy to manage and join. Doing good, made easier.
ZENDESK VALUE: Community
2017
DEI made official
No. 040
DESCRIPTION◆
After years of grassroots employee groups and extensive social impact efforts, we created a bona fide Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion team. There’s always more work to be done, but we want Zendesk to be a welcoming space to all.
ZENDESK VALUE: Inclusivity
2018
Though this was a year of rap feuds and international soccer rivalries, the good feelings didn’t stop over at Zendesk—2018 saw us launch multiple volunteering events, nonprofits, campaigns, and programs.
2018
Doing good one pitch at a time
No. 041
DESCRIPTION◆
Practice makes perfect. That’s why our Hustle and Heart program connected nonprofits with our sales team to help them refine fundraising pitches. After some rehearsal, our nonprofit partners presented in a pitch competition.
ZENDESK VALUE: Community
2018
Using our powers for good
No. 042
DESCRIPTION◆
Generosity has always been part of the Zendesk ethos, but Tech for Good took things to another level. Since 2018, we’ve donated more than $7 million in software, expertise, and support to nonprofits around the world.
ZENDESK VALUE: Community
2018
Hello from Tokyo
No. 043
DESCRIPTION◆
With a brand new brand refresh comes a brand new office style. The Tokyo building paid tribute to Japanese design heritage with soft lighting, airy spaces, and natural materials. Danish hygge showed up in cozy throw pillows and warm wood.
ZENDESK VALUE: Community
2018
One Scot to rule it all
No. 044
DESCRIPTION◆
We asked Edinburgh artist Marcus Oakley to do some work with us. OK, a LOT of work with us. His unmistakable style embodies what we think of as us: bold, human, warm, quirky, simple, relatable. His art shaped our blog and all our creative.
ZENDESK VALUE: Humblidence
2018
Multiplying a helping hand by 2K
No. 045
DESCRIPTION◆
Committing 6 hours to our communities expands on the individual approach, said Megan Trotter when we rolled out our 6 Hour Campaign for employee volunteering. “When every person gives 6 hours, then the whole company is giving 12,000 hours.”
ZENDESK VALUE: Community
2018
Sláinte to Zendesk Ireland
No. 046
DESCRIPTION◆
The Dublin office opened with six floors that take visitors from the public square—a cheerful ground floor cafe—to private nooks and quiet workspaces as you climb higher. Gather around the petanque court or step outside for some fresh air.
ZENDESK VALUE: Community
2018
Keep growing
No. 047
DESCRIPTION◆
Our eight Employee Communities (ECs) offer Zendeskians a safe place to bring their identities to work. Professional development opportunities—from mentoring to workshops to job shadowing—are available within each EC.
ZENDESK VALUE: Inclusivity
2018
The man, the myth, the lamé
No. 048
DESCRIPTION◆
Dense wildfire smoke, sweatshirts we had to give back, and the debut of Sunshine made Relate in SF shine. But nothing shone brighter than Mikkel’s gold suit. A tweet to Mikkel: “The great thing is you can reuse it for so many occasions.”
ZENDESK VALUE: Humblidence
2018
Hannah’s plushy doppelgänger
No. 049
DESCRIPTION◆
Zendesk sorely needed a course in Slack etiquette. We hired Anna Florence, who was a dead ringer for internal comms queen Hannah Lawrence. Except she was a puppet. Anna’s video tutorial was concise and illuminating. TLDR: DON’T @HERE.
ZENDESK VALUE: Inclusivity
2019
Everybody fell in love with Baby Yoda this year and we wanted in on the action, so we used it as the name of one of our brand colors.
2020
Unfortunately this was the year of the pandemic, which meant we had to continue championing good customer service remotely. Ironically this may have brought us closer together—resulting in empathy circles, safe spaces, and perhaps our most inspirational Relate Live event yet.
2020
We make an impact: details within
No. 051
DESCRIPTION◆
It’s one thing to say we’re globally conscious. In our first ever Global Impact Report, we share the details of our environmental, social, governance (ESG) progress, including 22,000 volunteer hours and $1.3 million in grants.
ZENDESK VALUE: Inclusivity
2020
A sudden halt to relating
No. 052
DESCRIPTION◆
People had already arrived in Miami for Relate when the pandemic hit. The virus was brand new and times were freshly unprecedented. We made the painful call to cancel Relate—inadvertently becoming an early model of CSR around Covid.
ZENDESK VALUE: Community
2020
We put our digital foot forward
No. 053
DESCRIPTION◆
Since we were already evolving our use of office space (remember “neighborhoods”?), Zendesk was primed to shift to a digital-first working culture in 2020. “We hire adults,” Fidelma Butler has said. The quality of our work comes first.
ZENDESK VALUE: Inclusivity
2020
Employees talked; leaders listened
No. 054
DESCRIPTION◆
Multiple crises had hit. We felt an urgent need to support employees. We saw a dichotomy of leaders who want to solve and employees who want to feel heard. Empathy circles were born: safe spaces where people could talk and feel safe.
ZENDESK VALUE: Community
2020
It’s good being green
No. 055
DESCRIPTION◆
We worked with a sustainability firm to analyze our greenhouse emissions. In 2020 we hit our goal of powering our offices with 100% renewable energy. A year earlier than planned! WFH helped—and we doubled our investment in carbon offsets.
ZENDESK VALUE: Trust
2020
Together, alone, online
No. 056
DESCRIPTION◆
Our volunteering, core to what makes Zendesk great, was Tenderloin-focused, like serving meals. Then 2020 hit. With Living Room Live, employees taught classes by Zoom. Was there a better time that year than virtual karate with seniors?
ZENDESK VALUE: Community
2020
One small tweet for mankind
No. 057
DESCRIPTION◆
It started with a Mikkel tweet: Anyone who needed Covid-19 help or guidance or wanted to use Zendesk products for relief efforts should email us. He attached a Google doc to apply for free software. From this, Tech for Good was born.
ZENDESK VALUE: Inclusivity
2020
Warning: may cause gratitude
No. 058
DESCRIPTION◆
Fun fact: Before Zendesk, we were Thank You Machine. That name came back to life mid-2020. We made a colorful, joyous way for anyone to send a digital card to a colleague or friend. Concept to launch: 6 weeks. And we got our first Webby!
ZENDESK VALUE: Community
2020
Champions of customer service
No. 059
DESCRIPTION◆
A new slogan brought us into the spotlight in more ways than one. We became the self-proclaimed champions of no-hassle returns, not waiting on hold forever, social messaging, extra sauce on the side, actually having a nice day, and more.
ZENDESK VALUE: Humblidence
2021
While everyone was loving Squid Game, we were making a few games of our own in our Museum of Annoying Experiences. Our games were less deadly… but they were way more annoying.
2021
When four unicorns got their horns
No. 060
DESCRIPTION◆
The Startup CX Awards honored four startups that excelled in multiple categories. It was basically the Oscars…but for business. Our very own Sam Chandler emceed the event and wore a dazzling unicorn hat.
ZENDESK VALUE: Community
2021
A museum of annoying experiences
No. 061
DESCRIPTION◆
It’s the year 3000. Bad customer service is just a bad memory. That’s the premise for a gorgeous interactive site where you can tour a museum of CAPTCHA, bleak hold tunes, video calls (“all mouth no pants”) and other highly annoying stuff.
ZENDESK VALUE: Humblidence
2021
Spotlight on service
No. 062
DESCRIPTION◆
Three years after its founding, Tech for Good deserved some fanfare. A partnership with Even/Odd films brought the stories to life—and won a Tribeca X award for Best Episodic in the process.
ZENDESK VALUE: Community
2021
Sustainability heats up
No. 063
DESCRIPTION◆
Climate consciousness, made official. The Zendesk Environmental Policy aligns to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals initiative, a fancy way to say we’re committed to sustainable offices, travel, data centers, and operations.
ZENDESK VALUE: Community
2021
It’s a bird! It’s a plane!
No. 064
DESCRIPTION◆
No, it’s the Zendesk Jeep! First made famous in the #zendesk-all Slack channel, our very own Rich Halstead shows true company spirit with his custom Jeep job—sporting our logo throughout the United States.
ZENDESK VALUE: Community
2021
A clever addition
No. 065
DESCRIPTION◆
Robots (probably) won’t take over the world. But they might take over customer service. With the addition of Cleverly, Zendesk made AI and automation more accessible to customers than ever.
ZENDESK VALUE: Purpose
2022
With our first hybrid Relate Event and our sale to Hellman & Friedman and Permira, Zendesk looks primed to soar higher than Tom Cruise in Top Gun Maverick in the coming years.
2022
Is this how the cool kids do it?
No. 066
DESCRIPTION◆
Our audience, reach, and influence skyrocketed when we launched the Zendesk TikTok channel. That’s 35,200 followers and counting. And yes, this includes lipsyncing and dancing to the latest trends.
ZENDESK VALUE: Humblidence
2022
A software place to land
No. 067
DESCRIPTION◆
What’s better than giving away software and funding to nonprofits? Giving away *even more* software and funding to nonprofits. The inaugural Tech for Good Impact Awards split $500,000 among 25 organizations doing good around the world.
ZENDESK VALUE: Community
2022
Our flagship event but make it async
No. 068
DESCRIPTION◆
Adrian’s big bets on the future of CX made a big splash at our first hybrid Relate event. It was global. It was virtual. Mikkel streamed his keynote live from SF’s Museum of Modern Art—in a pair of Men’s Daddy Pig Lounge Pants.
ZENDESK VALUE: Humblidence
2022
A big change and a bright future
No. 069
DESCRIPTION◆
After a year filled with more plot twists than a Harlan Coben thriller, Zendesk has a path forward. With our sale to Hellman & Friedman and Permira, we’ve never been more set to transform CX and serve the customer. The best is yet to come.
ZENDESK VALUE: Purpose
2022
15 years of Zendesk
No. 070
DESCRIPTION◆
Since 2007, we’ve been on a mission to make customer service easy. This calling has taken us around the world on many adventures—customer service-related and otherwise. Happy 15th birthday, Zendesk.
ZENDESK VALUE: Purpose
Explore our history
2007
Zendesk goes live
No. 003
DESCRIPTION◆
Not to be deterred by lack of funding—or a real office—our founders put the software online and recruited friends and family to give it a try. Almost immediately, 1,000 companies signed up for a free trial.
ZENDESK VALUE: Purpose
2007
Coding in Copenhagen
No. 002
DESCRIPTION◆
The trio spent the next year building, perfecting, and consulting on the side—they had to feed their families somehow. By September, Zendesk 1.0 was ready for launch at TechCrunch. They were denied, but didn’t let it stop them.
ZENDESK VALUE: Purpose
2006
Once upon a time…
No. 001
DESCRIPTION◆
Three guys, a desk, and a dream. Mikkel, Morten, and Alexander huddled in a Copenhagen loft trying to make customer service software feel less like pulling a muscle and more like winning a marathon. Spoiler alert: they succeeded.
ZENDESK VALUE: Purpose