It was a very hard decision this year, for a few reasons. Firstly a number of the frontrunners for Best LittleCo ended up being acquired by the end of the year! This is probably the nature of the beast - if you're a successful Web LittleCo, then you'll attract the attention of BigCo suiters. This is exactly what happened to our 2004 picks, Ludicorp (creator of Flickr) and del.icio.us - both of which were snapped up by Yahoo in 2005. Having said that, 2005 LittleCo winner 37Signals is still independent and doing its own thing.
So to 2006 - which LittleCo's have most impressed? In our post asking that very question, the following web apps were popular with commenters: MyBlogLog (the social networking widget featured in the sidebar of R/WW and other blogs), Meebo (web-based IM), DigitalJournal.com (social news), 30Boxes (online calendar), Zoho (web office suite), Clipmarks (social bookmarking), Netvibes (start page). Those were the ones that were mentioned more than once.
]]> Companies that were not mentioned, but we think are worthy contenders, are: Digg (social news), Feedburner (feed management), Facebook (social networking), Sharpcast (sync), JotSpot (web office), last.fm and pandora (online music), Metacafe (online video), StumbleUpon (bookmarking), Bebo (social networking), Zimbra (web office), Userplane (media web platform), Kaboodle (social shopping), Elgg (e-learning), PlentyOfFish (online dating), Goowy (desktop suite), SecondLife (virtual world), Riya (photo search), BitTorrent Inc (P2P)... and there are many more we could mention!If we had to make a shortlist (and we do, since this is a Best Of!), we think these small companies had a special impact in 2006... in no particular order: Netvibes, Digg, Meebo, Bebo, StumbleUpon. Those 5 all came of age in 2006 and each grew exponentially.
But there's one "LittleCo" we've deliberately left till last and which had an outstanding impact on 2006. This particular company got snapped up by Google before the year was out, so they don't count as a LittleCo any more. But for most of 2006 they built up a huge audience on their own and came to dominate the user-generated video space, lording it over much bigger competitors (Google itself, Microsoft, Yahoo and others). Of course, I am talking about YouTube!
YouTube is Read/WriteWeb's LittleCo of the year, for what they achieved as a tiny startup doing big things. Ironically they are now owned by this year's BigCo of the year, Google.
With this category we're looking for companies that showed big promise in 2006, but will probably not reach their peak until 2007 or beyond. In 2004 we gave this honor to Feedburner, who at that time were right at the forefront of a new industry called feed management. Well, they've done alright for themselves haven't they... And in 2005, Memeorandum and Digg.com were our choices. Digg has come of age this year, although they still mainly appeal to a minority tech audience. TechMeme has expanded into new verticals, but like Digg there is room for more growth yet.
The following shortlist of Web companies/products stood out for us as having a lot of promise for 2007 and beyond: Sharpcast, Zoho, Zimbra, YouOS, MyBlogLog. Also there are some long bets we could make, like Hakia (semantic search) or BitTorrent, Inc (Bram Cohen's P2P company).
The winner though is Sharpcast, because it is solving a big problem (syncing data across Web, desktop and other devices) and also is an integral part of many different trends that will be popular in 2007 and beyond - mobile, rich media, a world of multiple devices, and more. If Sharpcast can successfully roll out its Project Hummingbird in 2007 - which will sync all types of data - then it will be hitting a very sweet spot in the world of Internet-connected data.
So what do you think - do you agree with our choices?
]]>- Between web apps
When we want to mover formr flickr to something else for example (ha just kidding)
- Between our desktops and the web
Which SharpCast looks to be doing.
- Between desktops and devices
Apple are good at this one already with iPods and bluetooth mobile phones
- Between multiple desktops
Where one user wants their files accessible on multiple desktops
I predict there will be a trend towards online central storage, moving away from desktop computer as the central storage location. But will users trust online storage services run by companies? What if they go out of business?
Sharpcast is perhaps just a small piece of the synchronisation puzzle.
]]>www.jollyjo.org
]]>http://whales.greenpeace.org/global
Greenpeace presents a new website in Web 2.0 where people can give ideas to improve the next expedition to Antarctic to protect the whales. You can post your idea or comment and vote other’ s ideas. The whaling fleet has left Japan, and is headed directly to the Southern Ocean. 945 whales will be killed - unless we do something to save them.
See this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6CbG7qopX0
]]>a short note for this year: My very big concern is that web 2.0 has not a solid foundation. It's all about adsense revenue and we hardly now how much many cash youtube, facebook and co actually make. I hope the web will clean itself up again very soon and then only the real innovations will stand out.
]]>If you look at the evolution of products, the first few iterations are focused on utility-- does it do x, y and z and how well. Here the geeks rule since the arguments can get quite arcane. Think how weird them newfangled 'Automobiles' appeared to people used to horses all their lives.
However, at some point the general populace reaches general agreement on what general people like you or me can expect from an automobile. Then the production genius of Henry Ford loses importance and the marketing genius of Alfred Sloan takes the automobile to a more emotional, visceral level.
Software is no different. As such, perhaps Bill Gates was the Henry Ford of his day, and now web 2.0 is quite possibly a harbinger for the new Alfred Sloan to appear.
]]>Remember, there are ridiculously more options becoming available for interacting with data. If you can becoming vital plumbing for moving that data from device to device, you will have a very big seat at a very high-stakes table.
]]>I'll have to check Sharpcast out :)
]]>How about nominating REAL LittleCo's like Tailrank which have kicked serious *ss without raising *any* VC. :)
Can I also mention that we're *profitable* which is certainly a rare condition among the valley set. :)
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