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  "markdown": "Co-founder, Help Scout.\n\nNick Francis co-founded Help Scout, the customer support software company, in 2011 with Jared McDaniel and Denny Swindle. The three were building websites and apps for clients when one app's growth flooded their shared inbox, which led them to build Help Scout. He is co-founder and chairman of the board.\n\n## What Nick builds\n\n- [Help Scout API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/help-scout.md), graded C, 56.1/100, in Customer support \u0026 helpdesk. Help Scout's Inbox API 2.0 (conversations, threads, replies, notes, customers, mailboxes, tags, users, workflows, reports and webhooks) and its official hosted MCP server at https://mcp.helpscout.net/mcp, GA since July 2026. Co-founder, Help Scout, researched 2026-10-26.\n\n## Works with\n\n- [Denny Swindle](https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/denny-swindle/), Co-founder, Help Scout\n- [Jared McDaniel](https://www.anchorterminal.com/people/jared-mcdaniel/), Co-founder, Help Scout\n\n## Backed by\n\n- [Techstars](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/techstars/)\n- [Zelkova Ventures](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/zelkova-ventures/)\n- [Dharmesh Shah](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/dharmesh-shah/)\n- [David Cancel](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/david-cancel/)\n- [Dave Balter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/investors/dave-balter/)\n\n## Questions\n\n### Who is Nick Francis?\n\nNick Francis co-founded Help Scout, the customer support software company, in 2011 with Jared McDaniel and Denny Swindle. The three were building websites and apps for clients when one app's growth flooded their shared inbox, which led them to build Help Scout. He is co-founder and chairman of the board.\n\n### What does Help Scout make?\n\nAnchor Terminal lists Help Scout API + MCP from Help Scout. Help Scout's Inbox API 2.0 (conversations, threads, replies, notes, customers, mailboxes, tags, users, workflows, reports and webhooks) and its official hosted MCP server at https://mcp.helpscout.net/mcp, GA since July 2026.\n\n### Who has invested in Help Scout?\n\nThe sources our research read name Techstars, Zelkova Ventures, Dharmesh Shah, David Cancel and Dave Balter.\n\n### How are Nick's tools graded?\n\nHelp Scout API + MCP is graded C, 56.1 out of 100, on Anchor Terminal's benchmark, which scores every listing against the same checklist.\n\n## Sources\n\n- https://www.helpscout.com/about/\n- https://www.helpscout.com/\n\nThese are the people building the tools we list, named for their public role in the company or project behind a listing, from public pages, with the date it was researched. They don't work for Anchor Terminal (our own team is on the about page, /about/#author). We show public roles, public profiles and what the listing pages show, nothing private. To correct something, send an about or a photo, or have a page removed, write to privacy@anchorterminal.com.\n",
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