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In Five Months, FreshBooks Crosses $1 Billion In Transactions
Toronto-based invoice startup FreshBooks has crossed $1 billion in billings that wer paid worldwide over the FreshBooks ecosystem between January and May of this year. FreshBooks lets you create and share invoices, time sheets and estimates within a web application. The application is largely popular amongst freelancers, consultants and small businesses. With both free and paid plans, Freshbooks has served 1.6 million users since May 2004. In addition to announcing the $1 billion milestone, FreshBooks released other findings about usage on its system during the same period. The average invoice size on FreshBooks was $1,677. Users in Mexico and Sweden saw the largest invoice sizes with $4,669 and $4,423 respectively. India and Malaysia were the lowest with $414 and $406. Average invoice size for the U.S. was $919. The average time to pay an invoice on Freshbooks was 22.8 days China saw the shortest time to pay with 11.9 days, while India saw the largest at 31.7 days. The average time to pay for the U.S. was 20 days. FreshBooks says that its billings did not reach the $1 billion threshold last year until August. Launched in 2004, the startup has steadily added useful features to its billing service over the past few years, including benchmark reports on aggregated business data, an open API, and data mining from users. Competitors in the online billing space include BillMyClients and Blinksale. CrunchBase Information Freshbooks Information provided by CrunchBase
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In Five Months, FreshBooks Crosses $1 Billion In Transactions
Evernote Launches Trunk, A Showcase Of Evernote-Enabled Products
Today at a special event in San Francisco, Evernote CEO Phil Libin unveiled Trunk, a new showcase of products, services, and hardware devices that have integrated Evernote. The idea is to help users enchance their Evernote experience with features they may want but that Evernote doesn’t offer by default, like Voice Transcription (via services like Dial2Do, pliq.me, and QuickTate), PDF annotation, and business card scanning. Libin says that at launch there are over 100 items available to users; some are brand new, and others have featured Evernote for a while. The Trunk breaks up these integrations by category, including mobile (iPhone, Android, etc), hardware, and web service-based apps. One focus for the Trunk is to help your memories “bridge to the social web”. Libin says that historically, Evernote has been inherently anti-social, but that in some cases you may want to remember elements from social applications. To address that, Seesmic took the stage to detail a feature that allows users to send items from their streams to their Evernote accounts, creating so-called “social memories”. In the future Libin says there will be “a lot more functionality” to the Trunk (it’s clear that Evernote is looking to become a platform for memory services and programs). One area Evernote is excited is games — memory and braintraining games are in the works. And he says there are plenty of new upcoming hardware and software implementations as well. In terms of monetization, Libin says many of the apps and services in the Trunk are free. In the future there will be “in-trunk commerce” where you can click a button to add certain functionality for Evernote (and pay the third party developer). There will be an affiliate program and an integrated rev-share program as well. Monetization features will be coming this winter. CrunchBase Information Evernote Information provided by CrunchBase
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Evernote Launches Trunk, A Showcase Of Evernote-Enabled Products
Crocodoc Closes Angel Round, Launches Revamped Document Collaboration Tools
I’ve said it before , and I’ll say it again: I detest Adobe Acrobat. Scarred by years of wrangling with bloated software that requires premium upgrades for some basic features, I’m happy to try out any other solution. YC-funded Crocodoc is one promising startup that offers a very straightforward alternative: it makes it dead-simple to upload and start marking up a PDF file (and a variety of other document formats) using a web-based editor. And today it’s launching an overhauled site that makes it much easier to start marking up documents in tandem with a team of friends or coworkers. The company is also announcing that it has closed an angel funding round, with a strong roster of participants including Dave McClure, Joshua Schachter, Paul Buchheit, Steve Chen, and XG Ventures. Crocodoc CEO Ryan Damico says that the earlier version of Crocodoc had some issues, namely when it came to document collaboration, which has been a popular use case. Crocodoc has allowed users to annotate their documents for some time, but this typically involved using virtual sticky notes. That works well enough if you only need to leave a comment or two, but people would wind up covering their documents in these sticky notes to get their point across, leading to a big mess. The new version of Crocodoc axes stickies in favor of a system that lets users comment and respond to each other’s comments in the document’s margins, which should work much better. Damico says that the new version of Crocodoc includes plenty of other changes as well. The UI has been overhauled, as have most of the editing tools. Document exporting works better than it did before. And the site has also built out its API and embedding features. The site offers some premium features, like SSL encryption and password protected documents, but Damico says that Crocodoc is currently focused on making sure it is addressing the major pain points for users with its free product, with other plans to monetize down the road. Crocodoc isn’t disclosing the size of their round, other than to say that ”it falls into the category of typical angel rounds in terms of size”. CrunchBase Information Crocodoc Information provided by CrunchBase
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Crocodoc Closes Angel Round, Launches Revamped Document Collaboration Tools
AndroLib Gets A Makeover, Estimates Over 1 Billion Android Apps Downloaded So Far
AndroLib , the website that enables you to browse and discover apps for your Android phone far better than the Android Market site does, has gotten a makeover and a bunch of new features today. Sure, it’s still not going to win any web design contests any time soon, but the revamp makes the site a ton more useful as far as I’m concerned. AndroLib has also updated and expanded its statistics page, pegging the number of available Android apps at around 85,000 in total , and estimating that a whopping 1 billion apps have been downloaded to Android handsets around the world to date. Granted, Google is probably the only company that can really put the right number on the number of apps downloaded so far, but AndroLib lead developer Nicolas Sorel tells me his method of calculating the estimated total is based on a lot of data and complex algorithms that are capable of adjusting the number (which is updated in real time on the top of the AndroLib website) in near real-time. Sorel acknowledges that there’s always an error margin with these methods of extrapolation, but says his estimates shouldn’t be too far off – his own Android app was downloaded 3,321,826 to date, while his system estimated approximately 3,270,000 downloads. Anyway, the new version of AndroLib comes with advanced search, enabling you to find Android apps by keywords, category, pricing, minimum rating and estimated number of downloads. Now, when you’re looking at apps on the website, you can see which other apps you might like based on your apparent interests. Also new is a scoreboard , enabling you to filter your search based on these criteria: Most Rated Apps, Most Rated Developers, Top Developer Ratings and Top Developer Downloads. There’s now also a video section on the site. Finally, Android developers will shortly be given the opportunity to customize their application pages and company page, as well as access advanced statistics tailored to their needs. CrunchBase Information Android Information provided by CrunchBase
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AndroLib Gets A Makeover, Estimates Over 1 Billion Android Apps Downloaded So Far
TweetUp Teams Up With Business.com, Netvibes And TheFreeDictionary.com
Fresh off the heels of announcing the acquisition of Android Twitter client Twidroyd and popurls , Twitter search and advertising platform operator TweetUp has signed up several new distribution partners. TweetUp will be powering its search results with four new publishers, namely Business.com , Netvibes , Farlex’s online reference sites including TheFreeDictionary.com and TheFreeLibrary.com , as well as a number of (unnamed) newspapers. Thanks to these agreements and previous ones, the Idealab -owned startup claims it can now serve over 250 million impressions via TweetUp search results, with a potential total reach of some 100 million unique users on a monthly basis. In April, TweetUp opened registration for its bidded marketplace for real-time search , and in May the company launched its search capabilities on a number of sites at the TechCrunch Disrupt event, including here at TechCrunch, Topix.com, and Businessinsider.com. TweetUp’s search algorithms and marketplace aim to address the needs of both users and tweeters in a single search mechanism. In addition to algorithms that combine a variety of factors to determine relevance, tweeters will soon be able to bid on keywords in a marketplace very similar to what now occurs at search engines. It’ll be interesting to see if Gross can make even half the impact he did with GoTo / Overture ( acquired by Yahoo 7 years ago almost to the day), which pretty much invented the sponsored search model. Sure enough, these distribution partnerships are an essential part of the TweetUp road map. CrunchBase Information TweetUp Information provided by CrunchBase
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TweetUp Teams Up With Business.com, Netvibes And TheFreeDictionary.com
Augmented Reality App Sekai Camera Goes Multi-Platform. Adds API And Social Gaming.
Tokyo-based Tonchidot has come a long way since the spectacular launch of its augmented reality app Sekai Camera at TechCrunch50 back in 2008. We’ve spent quite a few articles on how the startup did since then, and the bottom line is that it did very well so far. Tonchidot is now offering up a lot more versions and features for its app (available for free on the iPhone with iOS4 support, iPad , and Android ). Here’s a quick rundown of what happened in the past few months and what more we can expect from Sekai Camera in the future. To recap, Sekai Camera makes it possible to create text messages, photos, and audio recordings (dubbed air tags) and “drop” them on the spot in the form of floating bubbles and icons. Other users in the vicinity who open the app and spin the camera around can then click on and interact with those geo-tagged virtual Post-It notes. Sekai Camera is essentially a flashy-looking, location-based, augmented reality-powered social network. Sekai Camera so far Tonchidot’s presentation at TechCrunch 50 in 2008 has since become legend, but at that time, the performance left some people skeptical about the product itself (on stage, Sekai Camera was mainly presented in the form of a video). But Tonchidot CEO Iguchi proved all skeptics wrong by presenting an early version working on an iPhone in February 2009. Sekai Camera eventually became available in the Japanese App Store in September 2009, spreading like wildfire among Japanese iPhone users, before it launched globally in December last year . In the same month, Tonchidot raised a $4 million series A and was nominated as “Best Mobile App” at the Crunchies Awards 2009 , to name just a few things that happened last year. Sekai Camera in 2010 and beyond: API, iPad and Android versions, iPhone update, Sekai Apps Tonchidot currently seems to be in overdrive mode. In March this year, Tonchidot introduced OpenAir , a Sekai Camera API that makes it possible for third parties to deliver content within Sekai Camera. Here’s a list that shows the first batch of content providers (these are Japanese companies only, but the API is available worldwide). According to Tonchidot, Sekai Camera now boasts well over one million users worldwide, and the number is poised to grow soon. In May, Sekai Camera for the iPad came out (yes, augmented reality on the camera-less iPad/screenshot below). The iPad-optimized app (obviously) can’t deliver the full experience but allows you to “visit” cities around the world and view and create air tags that other iPad and iPhone users can interact with. And just a few days ago, Tonchidot released Sekai Camera on the Android Market (screenshot below) That version offers a couple of Android-exclusive features and is available in 47 different countries. ISO 1 , an Android smartbook made by Sharp for the Japanese market , just went on sale and comes with Sekai Camera pre-installed. But Sekai Camera version 2.4.1 for iPhone is probably the most relevant for most existing users. The update, which hit the App Store just today, comes with iOS4 support and push notification. But perhaps most importantly, it features the first game that works within the Sekai Camera ecosystem. Tonchidot says that the title, a casual game called “KA-BOOM” (screenshots below), is just the first in a series of “Sekai Apps” that will be launched in the near future. The basic idea is to roll out games that combine mobile, location, augmented reality and social elements within Sekai Camera. Augmented reality-based gaming is something that has the potential to become huge and that no other company has ventured into on this scale. Tonchidot calls this concept “SoLAR” gaming and has already signed on a number of Japanese gaming firms that will deliver more content in the coming weeks. And Tonchidot is cooking up even more stuff. For example, CEO Iguchi told me that Sekai Camera will go to the web soon (users will be able to see air tags and connect Sekai Camera to other social networks through a web service) a new funding round will likely be announced in the coming weeks Tonchidot is thinking about opening offices in the US and Singapore (the company is currently searching for good candidates) We’ll keep you posted. CrunchBase Information Tonchidot Information provided by CrunchBase CrunchBase Information Takahito Iguchi Information provided by CrunchBase
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Augmented Reality App Sekai Camera Goes Multi-Platform. Adds API And Social Gaming.
Squarespace Raises $38.5 Million From Accel, Index Ventures
When founder Anthony Casalena first started Squarespace in 2003, he had one investment: $20,000 from his dad. At the time, it was just enough money to get a few servers for his web publishing startup. Fast forward to 2010, Squarespace has just raised $38.5 million— representing its first round of outside capital. The round, which was announced late Tuesday, is led by Index Ventures and Accel Partners . Under the deal, three new members will join Squarespace’s board: CEO of Getty Images, Jonathan Klein, Accel’s Andrew Braccia, and Index Ventures’ Dominique Vidal. The deal likely values the company north of $100 million. “Squarespace has been a profitable business since its first year of operation. This investment will not change that, but it will allow us to be much more aggressive in our quest…” Casalena said in a press release. The service helps individuals and small businesses build and maintain well-designed websites, starting at $8 a month and scaling up to $50 a month. Through Squarespace’s unique platform—the underlying server code was fully written in-house— a user can manage their entire website, including editing, producing content, inserting photo galleries and manipulating widgets for social platform. In the crowded and fragmented space of web publishing, Squarespace will never be the cheapest, even on the enterprise end, but it’s a valuable tool for customers who want a balance of affordability and strong attention to design. Today, the user base currently includes “tens of thousands” of paying customers, Casalena says, including a few noteworthy clients like designer Marc Ecko, Bob Woodruff and ABC News Radio. Although “tens of thousands” of users sounds like a small pool, Casalena says they have been very profitable since year one, thanks to low overhead costs. In fact, for the first three years, Casalena was essentially the only full-time employee. He only decided to turn Spacesquare into a full-fledged business in 2007, once it surpassed one million in revenues. Since that turning point, Squarespace has steadily grown. And according to Accel’s Braccia, users and revenues have doubled every year, for the last few years. Meanwhile, there are now 30 employees at its headquarters in NY. Casalena says Squarespace is now moving into a new phase, which will be defined by how it improves the platform and tackles the fundamental problem of simplifying web publishing. Staying true to that theme, Squarespace is working on major product improvements for the next iteration, version 6, which will likely roll out in 9 months. Although he did not delve into many specifics, Casalena says the next version will create a richer, cleaner and more fluid experience for the designer, especially the layout system which will evolve into a more free form and flexible format. CrunchBase Information Squarespace Accel Partners Index Ventures Anthony Casalena Information provided by CrunchBase
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Squarespace Raises $38.5 Million From Accel, Index Ventures
Total Recall Or Total Bull? Some Perspective On The iPhone 4 Antenna Frenzy
Given the amount of coverage about the iPhone 4 antenna issue, you’d think it was the first sign of the apocalypse or something. It’s one thing for tech blogs to talk ourselves in circles about an issue, it’s another when the mainstream media starts leaning on the story in a major way. I mean, this was Keith Olbermann’s number one item on Countdown last night . And local broadcasts across the country are devoting time to it. I mean, the random people sitting next to me in the cafe are taking about it right now for chrissakes. It has become coffee house conversation. Seriously. It’s time to take a step back and get some perspective about what’s going on here. The Problem Is Real First of all, the antenna issue is very real . Depending on how strong the coverage is in the area you’re in, you may notice it to varying degrees (and some may not notice at all). But there is no question in my mind that holding the lower left corner of the device degrades the signal. And in places with already shoddy service — like San Francisco — it degrades it to the point of failure. I’ve seen this with my own eyes. I can reproduce the problem at will. It’s real. Software Won’t Fix It Second, I say there is no way software fixes this issue. Apple’s promised iOS 4 update will make your phone more accurately portray just how shoddy your service may be — but it will not stop failures. I just don’t see anyway that it can. Even with shitty service, the iPhone 4 works — and I would say works better than any iPhone before it in terms of signal — but when you cover the lower left sliver, signal fades. Apple can alter the software so it doesn’t show this signal fading, but it will still be happening. Free Bumpers Are Likely Third, Apple’s bumper case absolutely fixes the issue. This is yet more evidence that the issue is all about the human hand touching this area directly — again, a hardware issue. If you put on the bumper, you can hold the phone in the lower left corner and it still works just fine. I’ve tried this in dozens of different areas with a few different phones. That’s why I do believe that Apple will eventually give away these bumpers to users that want them. It’s a hell of a lot cheaper and easier than doing a product recall (more on that below). These bumpers were already way too expensive at $29 a pop. Now that they may be necessary for some customers, Apple needs to remedy this. I’m thinking this will be along the lines of when the Nintendo Wii first came out. People started complaining that they were throwing their remotes, so eventually Nintendo offered free wrist bands to anyone who requested them. And then they eventually made rubberized grips that they gave away. I think Apple will follow this model. Only Some Affected? Some people are still insistent that their iPhone 4s don’t have the antenna issue at all. I’ve tested four different units now — all had the same problem. I tend to believe that people who aren’t seeing it may be in areas of good coverage (which, as mentioned, make the issue much less obvious). It is certainly possible that only some hardware units are affected. But everything I’ve read and seen indicates that if the problem is limited, it’s “limited” to a massive number of units. I tend to believe these unaffected iPhones are the exception, not the rule. No Total Recall That said, I still don’t think a total recall is likely at this point. Some people are claiming it’s inevitable — but that’s the sexy thing everyone is hoping to read at this point. Think about what a recall means for a second. Apple would not only be recalling millions of devices, but they’d likely have to alter the entire manufacturing and design process of the device to fix the issue. Perhaps that’s why they delayed the white iPhone 4 — but I doubt it. The fact of the matter is that a recall is the last option for Apple. For that to happen, people would have to begin returning their devices in massive numbers. All indications are that this is not happening. The device has been out for a few weeks now, and I’ve only heard about a handful of people returning iPhone 4. If that’s not the case, feel free to let us know, but I’m pretty confident it is. Whether they admit it or not (which they won’t), Apple clearly made a mistake in the placement of this antenna crevice. It should be at the bottom or top (or even the upper left or right corner) of the device where it’s not natural to hold the thing. Apple will undoubtedly fix this in next year’s phone (and perhaps even the Verizon version, if that is indeed coming ) — but look for them to exhaust all other options to try and make it to the iPhone 5 launch next year without a total recall. Think (About Holding It) Different So if people aren’t returning the device en masse — and remember, millions of these things have already been sold — how are they dealing with the issue? First of all, as I said, in areas of strong coverage, this is much less of an issue — I’ve noticed that myself as well when I was outside of San Francisco. Second, one reason I didn’t notice the issue right away is because I naturally tend to hold the phone in a way that doesn’t cause the issue. Certainly, the fact that I’m right handed helps this (the lower right corner isn’t affected). But when I do hold it in my left hand, I tend to hold it a bit higher than the trouble spot. I’m not saying everyone is like me, but it’s certainly plausible that a number of owners are. As news of the issue was breaking, Apple CEO Steve Jobs famously remarked that perhaps users should hold it different . That remark was wildly criticized (and rightly so) but I suspect that some users may be doing just that. If you don’t want to use the rubber case — which, let’s be honest, does slightly ruin the beauty of the device — shifting your hand up so it doesn’t touch the problem area is certainly an option. Should a user have to do that? Of course not. But I bet that some are. It’s the easiest fix in the world — it was just dumb of Steve Jobs to say so from a PR perspective. A Hit On Apple Or Just A Hit? In the tech blogosphere, Apple has been no stranger to bad press over the past couple of years as their power continues to rise. But the fact of the matter is that most of this has not spilled over to mainstream consumers who continue to buy up Apple products in record numbers. This is the first issue that is both real and getting a lot of mainstream press. Apple is in a precarious position here. The people in the coffee shop next to me are now explaining the problem to someone else sitting next to them. The news is out there and spreading fast. That said, these same people are also gushing about how great the product itself is. Trust me, they’re not returning it. Instead, they’re going to hold it different. But the bigger problem for Apple is whether the news of this problems stop those on the fence from buying it. That’s certainly a very real possibility. Still, if I had to bet, I’d side with this being yet another massive hit product for Apple. The iPhone has never been a great phone (no matter if that’s Apple or AT&T’s fault), but that hasn’t stopped millions of people from making it their primary phone. It is still the best mobile device (even Consumer Reports agrees, giving it the highest rating , despite the recommendation that you don’t buy it) you can buy. And the Apple marketing juggernaut seems unstoppable. We joke about the fanboy stuff all the time. But let’s be serious for a second. If any company creates a product that users can’t use, people will return it or simply not buy it. It doesn’t matter if it’s an Apple product or any other brand. If a product doesn’t work, you can’t use it. And it won’t sell. It’s that simple. But that’s not the case here. I’ve been using the iPhone 4 for the past few weeks with no issues out of the ordinary except when I try to create one. If it didn’t work, I wouldn’t use it. That’s just reality. But I am using it, on a daily basis. And I will continue doing so. The problem is real. But in the end, most consumers may view it as not really a problem. But Apple absolutely needs to make those bumpers free. CrunchBase Information iPhone 4 Information provided by CrunchBase
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Total Recall Or Total Bull? Some Perspective On The iPhone 4 Antenna Frenzy
Google’s Brand Debacle Backfires
As Google reached the limits of returns in direct marketing they started pushing the value of branding (because, hey, if you can chalk it up to latent branding value there is no cap on your max bid). Surprisingly, they even got many big brands to buy their own brands AND buy sitelinks on the AdWords ads. Some went so far as providing case studies for how much of their own brand traffic they were now willing to pay for, which they previously got free. 
Sure that can make sense for seasonal promotions, but you could do the same thing by having subdomains and sister websites. Dell.com can be the main site, Dell.net (or deals.dell.com) can be the deals & promotions website, and Dell.org can be the good karma charity site. No paying someone else for brand you already spent to build. Beautiful. But I digress… In October of 2008 Google’s CEO revealed which ad Dollars they were chasing , and what loophole they were opening up in their relevancy algorithms “Brands are the solution, not the problem,” Mr. Schmidt said. “Brands are how you sort out the cesspool.” That led to the brand update , and now Google even recommends specific brand modifiers when you search for words like “digital cameras.” …and here is the problem… Less than 2 years after Mr. Schmidt’s prophetic brand drivel, the Financial Times is doing a series on Google, in which Google’s Amit Singhal is blaming brands as being a major issue : Companies with a high page rank are in a strong position to move into new markets. By “pointing” to this new information from their existing sites they can pass on some of their existing search engine aura, guaranteeing them more prominence. … Google’s Mr Singhal calls this the problem of “brand recognition” : where companies whose standing is based on their success in one area use this to “venture out into another class of information which they may not be as rich at”. Google uses human raters to assess the quality of individual sites in order to counter this effect , he adds. No mention (of course) that it was Google which put excessive emphasis on domain authority, or how Google gutted the link graph , or how Google funds most of the content mills with AdSense . Those are all irrelevant details, just beyond Google’s omniscient view. The other thing which is absurd, is that if you listen to Google’s SEO tips, they will tell you to dominate a small niche then expand. Quoting Matt Cutts : “In general, I’ve found that starting with a small niche and building your way up is great practice.” And now brand extension is somehow a big deal worth another layer of arbitrary manual inspection and intervention? Meanwhile scraper sites are still clogging up Google , and they claim they need to write better algorithms to detect them. It isn’t hard to see the sun at noon! If sites which expand in scope deserve more scrutiny then why is there so much scrape & mash flotsam in the search results? What makes remixed chunks of content better than the original source? A premium AdSense feed? Brand?
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Google’s Brand Debacle Backfires
Nixty Launches With Ambitions to Build Something Huge in eLearning
It’s easy to say that online education can never capture the full experience of being in a classroom, the one-on-one chats with the teacher, the face-to-face bonding with classmates, the simplicity of raising your hand when you have a question. Opening a chat window or sending an email just doesn’t compare. The question is: How much do people care about those differences? Because we heard the same argument with CDs versus MP3s, TV versus online video, reading physical books versus reading over a Kindle or iPad. Evidence has shown that in most categories a meaningful group of people will take convenience over immersive experience. So far, that hasn’t happened on a large scale in education, and as I wrote before , many Silicon Valley-based entrepreneurs and investors have given up trying. I got a flood of pitches from eLearning companies after that post and one in particular caught my eye because of the desire to build a huge company in this sector, and the realization that it has to be strongly global to win– something you usually hear companies outside of the US say. It’s called Nixty , and it’s launching today. The team previously ran a learning management software company that won some deals against the market giant Blackboard , mostly on price – but while it was a nice little software business, it wasn’t going to become something huge. And the founders wanted something huge. Nixty is aiming to be a huge platform for eLearning courses worldwide. Right now, the company has 200 courses from schools like MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Yale, IIT and Berkeley, and offers a variety of teaching tools like automated grade books and easy-to-make-and-print certificates. In addition to aggregating Ivy League courses and putting them in a far easier to navigate, socially-driven user interface, Nixty is hoping teachers and experts will use its easy drag and drop course building software to create new courses, bringing in a wiki angle where people can add certain texts, videos or lectures to a course. The cost of entry for teachers is low: public courses (open to all) are free to create, and Nixty is planning to roll out payment functionality for private/continuing education courses soon. For paid courses, Nixty will charge teachers $4.99/month for three courses, or $9.99/month for nine courses plus an additional 20% of whatever the teacher decides to charge students for each course. Nixty is hardly the only company trying to be an open, social eLearning tool. This has been a hot market especially in developing countries, and Nixty is wise enough to recognize that’s where a lot of the battle is going to be fought, rather than in the US. Which is not to say there are no niche markets here – for instance, children being homeschooled whose parents would like new-self-driven curricula, or people who can’t easily leave the house, either because of disabilities, childcare issues or even house arrest (speaking of which: continuing education courses for attorneys or lawyers may be another niche.) My parents are retired teachers, who still do interdependent studies and reading groups at their home from time-to-time. I could see them and many more like them who still want the thrill of teaching without the administrative hassle crafting a course on their own using this software, and easily dragging and dropping materials already on their computers into Nixty’s easy course builder interface. But back to the argument of how much people care about immersive experiences, the fact is that most people who can afford to go to college in the US want the experience of actually going to college. Those of us who would love to go back to college but don’t have the time to take off from careers or raising families, could use Nixty, but the problem is what I call the “Rosetta Stone dilemma.” I love Rosetta Stone ’s software, and I think the approach to learning languages works – but the bottom line is there’s no short cut to the hours you need to put in to really learn a language fluently and I just don’t have those hours. It’s the same reason a lot of eHealth ventures have flopped. You have to build companies for how people actually behave, not how you’d like them to. But if Nixty can use it’s US advantage to aggregate the world’s best educational content and build a user interface optimized for countries like India, Indonesia, Brazil and China, it could have a huge hit on its hands. Say a family wants to send their son or daughter to the US for college but can’t quite afford it. A foreign student can actually take enough courses over Nixty to allow them to transfer in as a sophomore or junior. Nixty’s timing is good—last week Michigan State University announced it was closing its Dubai campus, the latest in a trend of US schools retrenching from global expansion of the last decade. Would being on campus be a better learning experience than taking their courses online? Of course. But if you’re in Dubai and you don’t have the option, Nixty could be an educational life-line. CrunchBase Information NIXTY Information provided by CrunchBase CrunchBase Information Blackboard Information provided by CrunchBase
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Nixty Launches With Ambitions to Build Something Huge in eLearning
