RapidSOS: The Power of Minimalist Product Design

The Challenge of Funding a Vital Mission

Securing funding can be particularly difficult for projects with significant societal impact. The founders of RapidSOS aimed to enhance emergency response quality by integrating crucial data, such as precise location, into 911 calls. This objective resonated with many and received broad support.

However, a key obstacle emerged: establishing a sustainable business model. The approximately 5,700 public safety answering points (PSAPs) across the United States presented challenges.

Financial Constraints of PSAPs

These 911 centers typically operate with limited budgets and a highly decentralized structure. Existing funds are primarily allocated to staffing and maintaining aging infrastructure. Resources for system improvements are scarce.

Furthermore, legislative efforts in Congress to modernize these centers have stalled for over a decade, a subject we will revisit in the fourth installment of this EC-1 series.

The Public's Perspective on Emergency Services

While citizens undoubtedly desire improved emergency services – as they are potential users – they rarely proactively consider these needs until an actual emergency arises. RapidSOS discovered this through the limited uptake of its Haven app, as discussed in part one.

Consumers were hesitant to pay a recurring subscription fee for services they hoped never to use.

Identifying the Paying Customer

The central question became: who would be motivated to invest in upgrading America’s outdated 911 system?

RapidSOS's Pivotal Shift

The company ultimately redefined its role as an intermediary API layer. This connected the numerous PSAPs with developers of applications and consumer devices. These developers sought to incorporate safety features into their products but wished to avoid the complexities of individual software integrations with thousands of different agencies.

RapidSOS’s business model evolved to provide free software to 911 call centers while charging technology companies for access to its platform.

Overcoming the Initial Hurdles

Establishing this model presented a significant challenge – a classic “chicken-and-egg” problem. Without integrations with call centers, the API would be of limited value to tech companies.

Conversely, call centers were reluctant to adopt software that didn’t immediately demonstrate tangible benefits, even if offered at no cost.

A Story of Perseverance and Growth

From 2017 onward, RapidSOS persistently pursued its vision, ultimately attracting substantial venture capital funding, securing thousands of call agency clients, and forging revenue-generating partnerships with major companies like Apple, Google, and Uber.

The company also established collaborations with a vast network of software integrators. This success was driven by strategic product decisions, a well-defined business model, and unwavering determination, enabling RapidSOS to expand its reach beyond the United States and into international markets.

Focus of this EC-1 Part

This second part of the EC-1 will delve into a detailed analysis of RapidSOS’s current product portfolio and business strategy. We will examine the company’s transition from a consumer-focused app to an embedded technology provider.

Additionally, we will explore its emerging, yet expanding, international initiatives. The RapidSOS story provides valuable insights into the importance of iterative development, gathering effective customer feedback, and defining the optimal product strategy.

Understanding the 911 API and RapidSOS

From the outset, RapidSOS recognized that successfully delivering data to 911 centers presented a significant hurdle. The existing 911 infrastructure, even currently in many states, is fundamentally designed for voice communication, not data transmission.

Karin Marquez, a senior director of public safety at RapidSOS, brings decades of experience from a PSAP near Denver, progressing from call taker to supervisor. She described her early experiences, stating, “I began in a one-person dispatch center, handling 911 and non-emergency calls, and dispatching police, fire, and EMS services.”

As a 911 call taker, determining the location of an emergency was always the initial and most crucial step, preceding any assessment of the situation itself. “Location is paramount,” Marquez emphasized. “Without knowing your location, we cannot dispatch assistance. All other data points enhance our understanding of the emergency, potential individuals involved, and vehicles, but an address is essential for sending help.”

Despite the prevalence of GPS-enabled devices, automatic location transmission to 911 centers isn't standard practice. Michael Martin, co-founder and CEO of RapidSOS, explained, “Traditional 911 software wasn’t built to receive data directly from those in need. It focused on voice calls and manual information transcription by telecommunicators, rather than digital transmission.”

The fragmented nature of the US 911 system, with thousands of independent PSAPs and numerous software vendors, posed a considerable integration challenge for RapidSOS. How could they navigate this complexity?

The solution involved a deliberate and extensive strategy: building partnerships with individual software vendors one by one, ultimately integrating with the majority of systems powering 911 call centers. Martin stated, “We’ve invested approximately $100 million in these integrations and vendor relationships.”

This integration work became RapidSOS’ core offering – a clearinghouse aggregating location and other data from consumer apps and devices, and delivering it to 911 centers regardless of their underlying software. This functions as an API, similar to Plaid for financial data or Clever for student information, providing an abstraction layer that simplifies development and protects the 911 system.

However, unlike Plaid, RapidSOS required active collaboration from PSAPs to succeed. Successful data transmission, whether location or medical information, necessitated its utilization by call takers through existing systems or the RapidSOS Portal, a web-based interface.

In 2017 and 2018, devices lacked the capability to transmit truly useful data to call centers. Marquez recalls offering PSAPs access to the system with the promise of future benefits, stating, “We offered access to our clearinghouse, assuring them that something valuable was coming, though the timing was uncertain.”

Two key decisions dramatically shifted RapidSOS’ trajectory. First, offering the product to PSAPs for free eliminated budgetary concerns and streamlined procurement processes.

As previously noted, securing sales with emergency response agencies is exceptionally difficult:

RapidSOS overcame these obstacles by providing its platform at no cost and integrating with existing software vendors. Often, this meant simply activating a data feed, requiring minimal effort or expense for the PSAP.

Second, the company actively sought prominent figures within the emergency response community to lend credibility and facilitate smoother sales cycles. This included adding three former FCC chairmen to its cap table and populating advisory boards with industry veterans. They also prioritized hiring individuals like Marquez, who possessed deep understanding of the 911 community and could build strong relationships.

“We gained trust within the community due to our prior experience and demonstrated commitment,” Marquez explained. “We were perceived as knowledgeable professionals, not simply salespeople pushing unproven technology.”

This close collaboration facilitated product iteration. The RapidSOS Portal initially featured a standard light-on-dark color scheme. However, feedback revealed that the brightness was problematic for night-shift call takers. The company responded by adding a dark mode. “This allowed them to comfortably re-engage with the information on the screen,” Marquez said.

Looking ahead, RapidSOS aims to provide even richer data to call takers, including live video and audio. This presents new product challenges, particularly concerning the potential for distressing content. Marquez emphasized that product decisions are often guided by the mental well-being of call takers.

For example, with video, the product could initially display a thumbnail instead of full video “to prepare the viewer for what they are about to see,” Marquez said. “Allowing the brain to process the information beforehand helps manage emotional responses, preventing immediate trauma.”

Interestingly, video can also reduce stress by mitigating the tendency to imagine worst-case scenarios based solely on voice descriptions. “The visual information can often alleviate those negative mental images,” she noted.

Having secured partnerships with nearly 5,000 PSAPs, covering approximately 94% of the US population, RapidSOS has achieved significant reach. However, hundreds of PSAPs remain unconnected.

Marquez acknowledged the increasing difficulty of reaching these remaining agencies, stating, “We’re entering a more challenging phase.” These agencies may lack funding for conferences, awareness of RapidSOS, internet access, or even permission to use social media. They may also be smaller centers or larger facilities without workstation internet access.

Despite these challenges, RapidSOS continues to pursue 100% coverage, recognizing that acquiring these final users will require a sustained and targeted effort.

High Friction, Low Rewards

In its initial stages, RapidSOS successfully integrated its clearinghouse and platform with an increasing number of Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs), enabling the transmission of enhanced data during 911 responses. However, a critical question remained: who would actually provide this richer data initially?

The company’s first attempt to address this challenge involved developing a consumer application named Haven. This app offered a “one-touch” dialing feature for 911 services in the United States, alongside emergency contact numbers for various international locations.

The design was straightforward, intended as an initial entry point into the consumer market. The expectation was that once installed, users would create detailed medical profiles—including information about allergies and medications—which could then be automatically sent to the 911 operator alongside their GPS location when the emergency call button was activated.

To foster network effects, Haven incorporated a feature called Family Connect, allowing users to share their locations with family members for mutual monitoring.

While the concept of enhancing emergency calls with additional information was well-intentioned, the consumer app ultimately proved unsuccessful.

Characteristics of Successful Consumer Applications

Generally, thriving consumer apps share several key attributes. These include high user engagement, robust word-of-mouth marketing or inherent virality within the product, and the fulfillment of a significant user need.

Consider Tinder as an example. Its swipe-based interface is highly engaging, prompting frequent user returns to explore potential matches. The app benefits from substantial word-of-mouth as users discuss prospective partners, and features for profile sharing contribute to built-in virality.

Crucially, Tinder addresses a fundamental human need: the desire for connection and companionship.

Haven, however, lacked these essential characteristics. It was an application that, after initial setup, was unlikely to be used frequently by most individuals.

Although the family-focused features offered some limited virality, this wasn’t sufficient to achieve widespread and cost-effective user acquisition. Furthermore, while the app addressed the important need for safety, it wasn’t immediately apparent how a more intelligent 911 call button would effectively alleviate user anxieties.

A particularly challenging aspect was the app’s subscription-based pricing model. While subscription services have gained greater acceptance in recent years, they were less common at the time of Haven’s 2016 launch.

Given the limitations in engagement and user needs, it proved difficult to envision a viable path for convincing users to commit to recurring payments with such infrequent usage.

The Power of Invisibility: A Shift in User Experience

Ultimately, RapidSOS made a significant strategic adjustment, discontinuing the Haven app in December 2018, and instead focused on a more impactful solution: seamless integration.

The company re-evaluated its approach to user adoption, opting to embed RapidSOS functionality directly into existing applications and hardware. Recognizing that proactive preparation for emergencies is uncommon, they aimed to eliminate the need for it.

Beginning in 2017, RapidSOS redirected its consumer efforts towards establishing collaborations with application developers and device manufacturers. The success of these partnerships, detailed in the following section, proved to be substantial.

Expanding the Reach Through Partnerships

This shift opened up a vast landscape of potential collaborators. Major players like Google and Apple, with their extensive device user bases, became key targets. Furthermore, applications such as Uber, where safety is paramount, presented opportunities.

Connected home systems, security setups, surveillance technology, smartwatches, road sensors, and numerous other devices capable of utilizing RapidSOS’ 911 API were also identified.

Jessica Reed, VP of strategy and global partners, succinctly explained the company’s approach: “Our service is offered to companies with any form of emergency detection capability integrated into their devices.”

Securing Key Integrations

Significant progress was achieved in mid-2018 with the acquisition of partnerships with both smartphone giants. In June, RapidSOS announced its collaboration with Apple to integrate its functionality into iOS 12, enabling automatic location data transmission to 911 call centers.

Subsequently, in September, a partnership with Google was unveiled, connecting Android devices to RapidSOS at the operating system level through the newly introduced Android Emergency Location Service.

rapidsos learned that the best product design is sometimes no product design

These two partnerships resulted in the immediate integration of the majority of smartphones in the United States with the RapidSOS clearinghouse. Marquez noted that, due to prior relationship-building with Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs), “hundreds” were prepared to receive data when the systems were activated by Google and Apple.

After five years of dedicated effort, RapidSOS achieved a critical mass of users on both sides of its platform.

A Sustainable Business Model

Importantly, this integration established a viable business model, as the company charges application and device companies for access to the clearinghouse. “We operate on a license fee,” Reed stated. “This fee is recurring and varies depending on the partner, often based on the number of units or users supported.”

Specific details regarding the fee structure remained confidential, with a company spokesperson indicating that “Every agreement is unique and structured differently.”

RapidSOS is now incorporated into a diverse range of consumer applications and devices, and has even developed the “RapidSOS Ready” designation to promote awareness of devices featuring its technology.

The continuous introduction of new devices necessitates ongoing collaboration between the business and partnerships team and PSAPs to determine the potential benefits of emerging technologies.

“We are constantly learning about the data requirements of public safety as more connected devices enter the market,” Reed explained. She illustrated this with a hypothetical example of a building-integrated device. “We collaborate with public safety to assess the value of technologies that can detect incidents like shootings, and then work with companies to ensure they provide the relevant data fields.”

Currently, RapidSOS is integrated into approximately 350 million devices.

Global Expansion for RapidSOS: London and Mexico City Included

Since 2018, RapidSOS has experienced significant growth, consistently adding new clients in the technology sector while simultaneously expanding its reach to an increasing number of Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) throughout the United States. Despite already covering hundreds of millions of devices with its technology, substantial market segments remain untapped.

Consequently, RapidSOS has been proactively exploring international opportunities to accelerate revenue growth. This strategic direction was partially driven by the extensive global user bases of its technology partners, including companies like Google, Apple, and Uber, who already integrate RapidSOS into their applications and devices, requiring only integration with local emergency services.

Before entering a new market, the company conducts thorough evaluations. According to Reed, “A comprehensive assessment of each market is essential to determine how data will be integrated into their systems and the associated timeframe.” The integration process in the United States, estimated by Martin at $100 million, suggests that other countries will likely present comparable costs.

Mexico has emerged as a key focus for the company’s expansion efforts. Reed highlighted several advantages the country offers, including its proximity to the U.S. and shared challenges within the emergency response landscape. “We benefited from having team members with Mexican backgrounds who possessed a deep understanding of the culture, which is vital when entering a new market,” she explained. Furthermore, “a partnership with Google, also seeking to address this issue in Mexico, proved beneficial.”

A significant advantage of operating in Mexico is its more centralized 911 system compared to the highly decentralized model in the United States. “A more centralized 911 infrastructure facilitates faster expansion of our services,” Reed stated. “Our goal is to provide coverage to every 911 center nationwide and ensure all citizens have access to our technology.” Within just over a year, the company reports that 70% of local emergency call centers in Mexico now have access to RapidSOS, with Google and Uber among the initial partners in the country.

In the United Kingdom, RapidSOS established a partnership with MedicAlert UK in November of the previous year to integrate its data into the nation’s emergency call centers. Additionally, in February, the company announced a collaboration with Hexagon, a 911 call center vendor serving both the U.S. and U.K. markets.

As is typical with platform-based businesses, the initial stages can be challenging, but momentum builds as the network effect takes hold. The presence of major players like Apple and Google attracts smaller vendors to the platform, and with hundreds of millions of devices now covered, fewer PSAPs can afford to overlook the benefits RapidSOS provides.

Importantly, a growing consumer demand for safety is a positive long-term trend for RapidSOS. Reed noted, “Safety is increasingly recognized as a critical concern in today’s world.” She cited factors such as the 2020 pandemic, a rise in natural disasters, and an aging population as contributing to “a greater demand from individuals and families for enhanced safety measures and improved emergency response capabilities.”

RapidSOS is poised for continued success, a trajectory made possible by the numerous partnerships it has cultivated over the past eight years. The strategies behind building these partnerships will be explored in the third installment of this EC-1 series.