Kindling: Digging for Small Companies and Groups - 50 Invites
New York based technology and consulting firm Arc90 introduced its first publicly available product today: Kindling. Arc90 describes Kindling as an "idea management and collaboration tool for small groups and companies." A more straightforward way to describe it would be as a version of Digg or reddit for small groups. Unlike those sites, however, Kindling focuses purely on voting on original ideas, not news stories.
Making it Happen - 10 Votes at a Time
Kindling puts an interesting twists on its voting scheme. Users only get 10 votes to give away at any given time and they can distribute those freely among different ideas.
Kindling is split into three main sections: voting, submitting ideas, and 'making it happen.'
The voting and commenting on new ideas is about as simple as it can get, with the exception of the 10 vote constraint. Arc90 says the limited amount of votes is meant to make users more picky about what to vote for, ultimately making every vote more meaningful. While users can always take votes away from a project themselves, once an idea is approved or rejected, all votes are returned to the user to replenish their supply.
The 'make it happen' section of the site displays the status of all the different ideas that have been submitted, but it also allows users to take charge of an idea by assigning it to themselves.
Kindling's user interface is simple and elegant. The minimalist design philosophy of the voting process extends to the rest of the application. The submission form, for example, is about as stripped down as possible.
Democracy at Work
Kindling is taking an interesting approach to small group collaboration. While it is not trying to be a complete project management application like Zoho Projects or Basecamp, and far less complex in its execution than its direct competitor IdeaScale (we wrote about them here), I could see it work very well in a small organization or even an informal group. For the voting system to work well, Arc90 recommends to have at least six members in a group - but there doesn't seem to be an upper limit.
Beta Invites
During the beta period, Kindling is going to be free, after that, beta testers will get reduced pricing for a year once the paid version launches.
Update: We have now given out all of our invites. If you would still like to get one, you can sign up for one on the Kindling homepage.
We have 50 invites for Kindling to give away. Just leave a comment below and we will get back to you ASAP. Note: if you use OpenID to comment, we can not see your email address.
Comments
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I wonder how well this could integrate with PlanHQ?
Posted by: Kevin | June 24, 2008 11:04 AM
I'd like an invite.
Posted by: Patrick Farrell | June 24, 2008 11:51 AM
I think my school student group could use an invite for something like this. I'd like to try it out, thanks!
Posted by: Hung | June 24, 2008 11:52 AM
Would enjoy an invite, thanks.
Looks like interesting concept!
Posted by: Chris Davidson | June 24, 2008 11:54 AM
Great news. something that i would like to try. thanks a lot.
Posted by: Avi | June 24, 2008 11:57 AM
Looks interesting, can I have an invite please.
Posted by: Simon | June 24, 2008 11:59 AM
Yeah, I'd like to take a look..
Posted by: Jeff | June 24, 2008 12:06 PM
I would like an invite...
Thx
Posted by: Paul Schaefer | June 24, 2008 12:10 PM
Would like an invite. Am looking to utilize this for a personal project involving mass collaboration.
Posted by: Ben Turner | June 24, 2008 12:14 PM
Looks interesting.
Please send me an invite.
Posted by: Joe Wehr | June 24, 2008 12:14 PM
Would love to try it out please -- am on their invite list but if you can get me in, rock on! This would be perfect for our group.
Thanks!
Posted by: Josh Dilworth | June 24, 2008 12:17 PM
I would like an invite too please.
Posted by: Allison | June 24, 2008 12:20 PM
sounds interesting, I'd love a beta invite - thanks for
Posted by: Ben | June 24, 2008 12:20 PM
One invite, please.
Posted by: Kunal | June 24, 2008 12:23 PM
I'd like to check this out
Posted by: andy brudtkuhl | June 24, 2008 12:24 PM
Would love an invite.
Thanks!
Posted by: Sam Curren | June 24, 2008 12:25 PM
This is an excellent idea. Will be very helpful, I imagine, for companies (such as ours) whose members are all over the place. I'd love an invite.
Posted by: chip | June 24, 2008 12:27 PM
Sounds interesting and useful. An invite would be great to check this out further.
Posted by: Simon G | June 24, 2008 12:30 PM
I'd love to try it.
michael.lambie @gmail.com
Posted by: michaellambie.org
|
June 24, 2008 12:32 PM
I'd be very interested in checking this out further. Would love an invite.
Posted by: Jennifer A | June 24, 2008 12:39 PM
I'd like to try it.
Posted by: Joshua Smith | June 24, 2008 12:41 PM
Nice write up. I'm interested in the idea, although I'm pretty sure I won't be willing to pay for the service.
Invite please.
Posted by: Mike | June 24, 2008 12:43 PM
Please include me...thanks!
Posted by: Lee Allgood | June 24, 2008 12:43 PM
Sign me up! Thanks!
Posted by: Aaron | June 24, 2008 12:51 PM
I'd like an invite.
Posted by: Brinson | June 24, 2008 1:04 PM
Sounds great, would like to give it a try. Thanks for sharing stuff like this.
Posted by: Carl | June 24, 2008 1:05 PM
I'd like an invite, thanks.
Posted by: Sowmya | June 24, 2008 1:07 PM
I'd like an invite. This sounds pretty cool. Thanks!
Posted by: mary | June 24, 2008 1:11 PM
This sounds really interesting. I'd love to give it a shot. Thanks!
Posted by: Hunter Jensen | June 24, 2008 1:41 PM
I'd like to try this. Glad to see something that is specially geared towards small businesses.
Thanks in advance for an invite!
Posted by: Rene de Vries | June 24, 2008 1:43 PM
Please include me...thanks!
Posted by: rez0 | June 24, 2008 1:51 PM
Would love an invite. Thanks.
Posted by: Bill | June 24, 2008 2:35 PM
An invite would be great! Thanks.
Posted by: Andy DeSoto | June 24, 2008 2:51 PM
Looks like I just got here in time :-)
Posted by: Andy Burnett | June 24, 2008 3:08 PM
I'd love an invite...thanks!
Posted by: John Biehler | June 24, 2008 3:20 PM
I'd like an invite please
Posted by: Paul Walker | June 24, 2008 3:32 PM
It sounds very interesting. I'd like to give it a try.
Posted by: Evan Williams | June 24, 2008 3:38 PM
Would appreciate one.
Posted by: Jenny D | June 24, 2008 3:40 PM
Please provide an invite.
Posted by: Madhur | June 24, 2008 3:43 PM
sounds interesting, I would like to have one invite. Thank you.
Posted by: Yihong Ding | June 24, 2008 3:50 PM
Sounds cool, I'd also like an invite.
Posted by: Brandon | June 24, 2008 4:06 PM
I would like an invite.
Posted by: Patrick | June 24, 2008 4:20 PM
Hook me up with an invite. Thanks much.
Posted by: Jennifer | June 24, 2008 5:03 PM
I'd like a invitation, thanks!
Posted by: Jimmie | June 24, 2008 7:12 PM
I'd like a invitation too, salut
Posted by: Pierro | June 24, 2008 7:33 PM
I want a invitation,.Thanks!
Posted by: Dreamer | June 24, 2008 7:46 PM
Our company is getting ready to do a brain-storming session and would like to see if this would be a good fit.
Thanks
Posted by: Gary Hottinger | June 24, 2008 7:53 PM
I'd love an invite. Thanks!
Posted by: Calvin | June 24, 2008 8:44 PM
I would love an invite too. Nearly too late ...
Posted by: Yves Hiernaux | June 24, 2008 8:56 PM
Am I the last one to get an invite. Please send me one :)
Posted by: Vishal Sood | June 24, 2008 9:22 PM
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