The goal is definitely to monetize -- the point is that they don't need to rush to monetize, so they can focus on growth right now.
If Helpful charged $x/mo and competed with other support tools on features and pricing, it could grow into a decent business. If it's a totally free, community owned (meaning customers can get involved in product direction) competitor to those existing companies, it has a much easier path to being a market leader. Once a product like this has huge distribution, the options for monetizing are plenty. (Build a marketplace of add ons, charge for premium features, etc)
