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Location: Seattle
Key People: Kevin Flaherty, vice president of marketing; Michael Howell, director of content; Alex Berg, vice president of user experience; Chris Kollas, director of business development, and Ben Elowitz, CEO.
Key Innovation: Allows users to create personal websites, then share their creativity by allowing others to alter the site. Unlike Myspace.com, Wetpaint.com embraces the concept of wikis, web pages that anyone can edit or change. "I think of [Wetpaint] as 'our space'" says Elowitz, who founded the company in October 2005. Wetpaint sites such as "The Pregnancy Guide" and "How To Date" were started by users and offer tips and research information, while other sites, such as "Worst Album Covers" and "Red Sox Nation," serve as common interest meeting places.
Money Raised: $5.25 million from Trinity Ventures and Frazier Technology Ventures.
Measure of Success: In less than a year, 300,000 user websites have been created on Wetpaint.com. The company also received the 2006 SEOmoz Web 2.0 Award for Best Wiki. "We found that people really want to express themselves online," says Elowitz. "Each time someone creates a site they show other people, who then create their own sites and show other people."
No. of employees: 15.
What's Next: Wetpaint releases new features every month. Things for website creators to look forward to are support for YouTube video and Google Video.
Location: Seattle
Key People: Before Dave Cotter and Chief Technology Officer Greg Harrison founded Mpire, they were entrepreneurs-in-residence at the venture firm Ignition Partners, where they researched the impact of web services platforms on consumer businesses. Matt Hulett, chairman and chief executive officer, was president of the corporate travel division of Expedia Inc.
Key Innovation: Mpire.com is a web-based shopping service that compares prices of online auctions such as eBay.com and classifieds such as Craigslist.com. It also features eBay seller tools that help promote individual businesses.
"Think of it as the Kelley Blue Book on the pricing side," says Cotter, chief marketing officer. Mpire's analytical pricing engine gives users the "true" price of goods, based on historical sales. "No one compares prices by looking at historical sales to show you how much you should truly be paying," says Cotter. He calls the company's system a "one-two punch" for consumers.
Money Raised: $5.5 million from Ignition Partners and Richard Rock, an early investor and executive at PayPal.
Measure of Success: Launched in June 2006, the company has about $50 million in products listed and is already receiving a half-million hits on the site every month. The company also has distribution deals with eBay.
"The online shopping market is really a really huge market. [The company's growth] has been a skyrocket," says Cotter. "We spent a lot of time thinking about how to take millions of transactions from the Internet and make them useful. It's not an easy thing to do. But it's kind of what we are obsessed with."
No. of Employees: 15.
What's Next: Mpire plans to develop a feature that would help customers track current trends that affect prices, so sellers and buyers can strategically time their activities. Different product categories will be included to help make finding products easier. Also, items from branded retailers will soon be included on a list of products to search for.
Location: Seattle
Key People: Founder and CEO Matt Kowalczyk.
Key Innovation: A web service where users can buy or sell their place on an online waiting list for any kind of event. SuperOyster creates a market out of that waiting list by putting a price tag on your spot in line. SuperOyster's program works by being integrated into a merchant's existing website. Once the spot is sold, the merchant gets a slice of the deal. "It's a very novel idea. It's the tip of the iceberg to where we are going," says Matt Kowalczyk, founder and CEO. Money Raised: $150,000 from friends, family and Kowalczyk himself. The company is in talks with several venture capital firms, Kowalczyk says.
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