Why 42?
The number 42 represents many things, but for us it began when someone cheekily asked one of our earliest chatbots, "what is the meaning of life?"
Our team jumped into the conversation and, with a nod to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, answered with "42."
Of course, since that point, every 42Chat bot has been trained on the meaning of life!
This short interaction demonstrates the power of how great conversation design and intuitive tech can create an amazing user experience.
And for you aficionados of the number 42: did you know it was the great Jackie Robinson’s number? Lewis Carroll also used the number 42 throughout his writings, including in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. 42 is also the ASCII code for the asterisk (*) and used as a “wildcard” character for everything. Kind of like how our bots can answer an infinite number of questions!
A History of Firsts
2016
First There Was Sciensio
We were founded in 2016 by Chris and Kristi Colleran, Chuck Elias and Bob Caldwell. Featuring an interesting, but hard to say, name with a DIY logo!
“A16” - Our First
Conversational A.I. Chatbot
We created our first-ever conversational A.I. chatbot for the 2016 Agile Alliance Conference in Atlanta, GA. Playfully named “A16,” it was the conference industry’s first introduction to the power of branded chatbots.
2017
BizBash Betty - The First (and most colorful) Branded ConferenceBot
Working closely with industry thought leaders David Adler (CEO and founder) and Nicole Peck (EVP) at BizBash, we brought BizBash Betty to life as a slightly sassy NYC bot that supported three amazing BizBash events each year.
SISO Innovation Battlefield Award
We were honored to receive our first of many event industry awards from the Society of Independent Show Organizers SISO, the leading organization of for-profit CEOs and show organizers.
Mae - Our First Branded CustomBot
In 2017, Oak Street Health was in a few states and beginning their rapid growth with its innovative care model addressing underserved communities. Interested in strengthening engagement with independent insurance agents, we created and launched Mae, named after Dr. Mae Jamieson, the first African-American astronaut. We’ve been honored to support Oak Street Health ever since.
2018
Gabi - The First FestivalBot
Artfest, Fort Myers' award-winning art festival in Fort Myers, Florida, needed help supporting vendors and thousands of daily visitors. Gabi, our first FestivalBot, was born -- answering unusual questions such as, “Where do I park my kayak?”
The First Self-service Conversational A.I. Chatbot
Working constantly to advance our industry-leading curated conversational A.I. platform, we launched our first self-service text chatbot. It was fully trained and deployed in less than 15 minutes.
2019
Slash - The First Fan Engagement Bot
The newly created and innovative Premier Lacrosse League turned to 42Chat to create Slash, the first branded fan engagement bot working via both text and web. Slash was trained to answer questions about tickets, teams and players - plus lacrosse rules. Slash showed the power of text engagement by generating $100,000 in ticket sales through just two texts.
The First ExhibitorBot
Shepard Exposition Services and the Printing United trade show were looking for a solution to support exhibitors before, during and after the show. The result was the first-ever ExhibitorBot.
New York University -
The First GradBot
Graduations are complex events with thousands of students and guests. We created the first-ever GradBot for New York University to support the more than 30,000 graduates, faculty and guests attending the graduation at Yankee Stadium.
2020
HealthShield - The First Text-Based COVID-19 Screening Solution
In the face of an unprecedented pandemic, we created HealthShield, the first text based COVID screening solution. It was instrumental in keeping schools, manufacturing facilities, medical clinics and other organizations open during the COVID-19 pandemic. As events reopened and even today, HealthShield continues to protect employees, customers and guests.
IAEE Innovative Business Solution Award
Chuck Elias and the 42Chat team were awarded one of the event industry’s highest awards for their HealthShield solution. The award “recognizes achievement by an IAEE member or member organization in the creation of new and innovative business solutions.”
HealthShield Secure Doc Upload and Validation
As vaccine requirements became commonplace during the COVID-19 pandemic, 42Chat expanded its industry-leading HealthShield solution with a text-based COVID-19 vaccine documentation upload and validation tool first used for NYC Pride. HealthShield helped complete over 2 million screens and vaccine uploads and validations.
2021
First Text-Based Conversational A.I. Subscriptions for Year-Round Engagement
Capitalizing on the success of using curated conversational A.I. chatbots to instantly connect communities and individuals through text, 42Chat relaunched its award-winning EventBot solutions as subscriptions, allowing organizers to connect with their communities year-round.
Today
Today, 42Chat is the leading provider of curated conversational A.I. solutions for organizations and events looking to enhance and protect their brand, gain and retain customers, and capture and act on insights.
The Backstory
1980s
In the Beginning
Our founders, Chuck Elias and Bob Caldwell, met as teenagers while working at the legendary Alaska Stand on the Ocean City boardwalk in Maryland.
Jerry Givarz, the "boss," had a knack for demonstrating simple truths about business—paying attention to process and detail, working under pressure, and providing great products and service that brought customers back year after year.
The In-between
More than a decade later, their paths crossed again, in Utah where they were each taking their toddlers through a hay maze!
Bob had graduated from college and was working for a tech startup. Chuck had graduated from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and served in the Coast Guard, graduated from Harvard Business School, and was also working for a tech startup. And they lived less than a mile apart.
Over the years, Bob built and sold G2 Web Services, the world’s leading merchant risk company. He was also chairman and lead investor in ConnexionPoint, which was ultimately acquired by Integrity Marketing.
Chuck went on to lead multi-billion dollar businesses for The Home Depot and SuperValu and as C-Suite executive at Fortune Brands Home & Security.
