Ask HN: How does your startup handle customer support?

The startup I'm part of has seen significant user growth over the past year. As we get more and more users on the platform, though, our time spent doing customer support increases.

Our current system is to have everyone, from the CEO to developers, do some customer support tickets. We're reaching a point where doing customer support is taking away too much time from our "normal" jobs.

How did you handle customer support in the early stages? Was outsourcing necessary, or was hiring a dedicated customer support employee or employees the way to go?