Kreeo.com – Collaborative Knowledge Management and Research Tool
Sumeet Anand, founder and CEO, asked me to review his startup, Kreeo.com.
Kreeo.com
Category: B2C -> Web research tool; Enterprise -> Collaboration and Knowledge Management tool
What does it do?
Kreeo.com is an interesting mashup of a Wikipedia and social bookmarking sites. It is a tool for collaboration and knowledge management, and offered free on open web for individual users, and planned to be offered also on web based SaaS as well as in enterprise versions.
What more?
There is obviously a significant software effort that has gone into the making of Kreeo.com. For example, there is virtually a concept of a browser within the browser. You do not really need to use the back button at all, as you navigate through the various pages in Kreeo. The navigation, layout, presentation have all been done with thought, and are good.
My quick two cents:
You can’t help but think Wikipedia as you see Kreeo. Yes, there are differences. But to an average user looking for information, does he notice the various subtle differences. Also most importantly, content is the key. For a site of this nature, we are talking of tons and tons of content. Without that, it leaves me with a feeling of a great idea, but being unable to appreciate the nuances, without adequate data. Moreover, without data, it does not compel me to return soon!
Wisdom Nuggets in more detail:
1. I have a suspicion – and I could be wrong – that Kreeo was created by fundamentally, a technology person! There is a huge emphasis on the application, perhaps to an extent, at the cost of the larger business model.
2. Sumeet informed me the beta was launched in Jan 2009, after a year of alpha. That being the case, it would have been great to have used a part of that one year, also for creating some content for Kreeo. At this time, without the content, it creates interest, but then disappointment.
3. There will be questions about why Kreeo, and why not Wikipedia? Even on the SaaS or Enterprise versions, there are enough Wiki implementations available to serve the purpose. With all the technology bits, the core reason to look at Kreeo as against a Wiki, does not come out that clearly. If it takes an effort to understand that difference, it may not quite be good enough.
4. On a content driven aggregation, we have also seen in recent days, Guy Kawasaki’s venture, Alltop.com. The strategy that Alltop has used has enabled it to grow significant content quickly and it keeps growing. As a pure web reference tool, it may today offer better value than Kreeo does. So yes, I am getting repetitive on the content front, rather the lack of it, on Kreeo. But that unforutnately, is a big issue on Kreeo, at this time.
5. So where does Kreeo go from here? If Enterprise and SaaS is the way to go, and to offer Kreeo as a platform for enterprises to manage their knowledge, then it is important to focus only on that. And present these solutions with all the differentiation and the benefits coming out strong and clear. If enterprise content and knowledge is what Kreeo will drive, let it not dilute the brand and the offering by also being in the larger B2C / Social Media space.
6. On the other hand, if the larger B2C is what beckons, it must be appreciated that creating an encyclopedia of sorts takes a toll. Even in a collaborative mode. Either there has to be a clear strategy to energize the masses to contribute and create, OR Kreeo could think of focusing on a few verticals, instead of the entire universe. And at least for those few verticals, ensure that real depth of information exists.
Overall, I must repeat that the technology is promising, but I am concerned about the business model, at this time.
GRAY SCALE RATING: 2.5 / 5.0
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Inspiration
UPDATED INSPIRATION: Current date: March 9, 2021!
Below is the original note on the inspiration that I had to start this blog, some 12-13 years back. That was when I was tracking some startups and evaluating them. I had not updated this blog much in recent days. And now, the focus would be very different, in any case. At this time, the purpose of my occasional blog post here, would be to discuss and debate a business strategy or an investment idea, for purpose of interaction with other like-minded people.
Hope you find it to be of interest.
The original inspiration from 12-13 years back is as follows:
Attending a Bar Camp, Startup Saturday and the Entrepreneurship Summit, in the last 3 weeks, took me back to 1997-98 days when we were starting up for the first time, with Homeindia.com, along with few other first-generation dot com entrepreneurs in India.
I can see the same energy now, perhaps only magnified by the changes in the economy over these years, the emergence of India as a country to reckon with, the maturity of the ICT businesses, the far larger familiarity of the technologies for students climbing out of their campuses, and of course, the awareness now, about an ecosystem that can encourage entrepreneurship.
There is another change. Me. With 11 years of hands-on Internet experience, there is a larger “intuitive” feel on the industry, there is beyond the romanticism of the business, a better understanding of business realities, of markets, of revenues and results. As one young participant respectfully pointed out, there is the “gray hair” difference.
This has inspired me to start this new blog. To share my 2 cents worth, on new startups that I see coming up. Based only on information that is in the public domain (or shared by the company in public forums), and not based on any private information that entrepreneurs share with me. With an idea to give some new perspectives. Ultimately the business succeeds because of the entrepreneurs and they need to trust their gut. But “outside” views help sometime. And which is what I strive to provide here. With only one goal in mind: to enable the entrepreneur to SUCCEED!!
The Gray Hair Speaketh 
Thanks sanjay for the review.
Content certainly is the key driver and is not as big a challenge in enterprise implementation. Enterprise remains our key focus currently.
Free web model will take time but eventually will support the Enterprise model for higher value and will play a bigger role in long term.
Kreeo has value even without content for every individual from personal knowledge management point of view.
Users can:
– have a better organization of their thoughts, files and web content/bookmarks
– Can do collaborative research in a group on topics using Private BOKs
– Simplifies Web research by enabling the entire cycle covering search + clipping + organize + share/publish
Can help students, bloggers, researchers or any knowledge professional in improving their personal productivity on web
Appreciate the clarifications, Sumeet.
What I was conveying was that beyond the terminology and the options on offer (BOKs etc.), the real value play was not coming out clearly.
I am an active user of social bookmarks, private Wiki, etc. I do not see an immediate urge to shift to Kreeo.
Maybe the technology is overwhelming.
In any case, as I state in the “inspiration”, the entrepreneur knows best, and this is only an “outside” view, and hope it helps in someway.
Wish you good luck!!
Came across one more platform offering services of similar kind..
http://mike2.openmethodology.org/wiki/MIKE2.0_Methodology
Haven’t studied in detail, but appears similar. Just FYI..