Early one evening in the summer of 2009, I called Comcast customer service only to hear the dreaded words, “I’m sorry, we are currently experiencing higher than normal call volumes, please hold as your call is very important to us.”

I remember thinking, “Why have the words ‘higher than normal’ become the new ‘normal’?” My brother and I agreed – there had to be a better way to deal with this “normal” problem than with empty apologies.

So we invented LucyPhone, a way to help customer service lose the wait. A promise of a better calling experience.

LucyPhone started rather experimentally. Before it had the name LucyPhone, it began as a pet project called “Botlr,” i.e., a robot that’s also like a butler. We used it to make phone calls for ourselves and we tweaked it a lot to see what worked best. Then we launched our free consumer tool late in 2009 and built an iPhone and Android app later the next year. We weren’t exactly sure how we were going to monetize the company but we knew that if we could solve a good problem something good would come of it. On the heels of our consumer app launch, we tried unsuccessfully to raise financing, largely because it was hard to demonstrate any real source of revenue.

In the summer of 2010, we started receiving a fair amount of inquiry from companies with call centers who were intrigued by our technology, so we built an enterprise version of our service and subsequently have focused on selling this service to companies with call centers. We’ve had some success since then and we now provide call-back solutions for internet retailers, insurance providers, and companies in the travel industry. To date we have waited on hold for over six million minutes. Sure, we’re not solving world hunger, but we like to think we are doing something that is still somewhat noble-we believe we are solving “world ulcers.”

As my brother puts it, we have learned to put the “Fun” in “UnFunded,” as we are a fully bootstrapped company. Though not exactly by design, we take great pride in the fact that we have built so much with such little financial backing. We think that it has taught us valuable lessons like focusing on what’s most important for the business and it’s definitely tested our resilience and persistence.

We are now in a position where we are looking to grow the sales engine of our company. We have recently added a new strategic leader, who comes from the customer service industry. Since this new addition comes from the industry, he helps validate the technology we have built and he adds some fresh perspective and insight based on his experience.

We love being a part of the RVA story. Though not originally from the River City (we grew up as Army brats and spent most of our lives in California), we are so proud to be based in RVA. We think that living in RVA makes you feel like you are part of a larger startup, the new Richmond, and we are humbled by all the talented people and businesses that call RVA their home.