Woopra Aims to Monetize Real-Time Analytics From Outside Silicon Valley
Is the real-time web just Silicon Valley buzz built up by hype-masters aiming to cash out? Good evidence otherwise comes from Woopra, an upstart real-time website analytics company that today announced that it's taking off its Beta label.
Founded in Lebanon and now international, Woopra said today that the service will lift previous account size limits, will offer paid user accounts and will limit free accounts to by invitation only. CEO John Pozadzides recorded an awesome video that's both humble and inspiring. We learned about the announcement from the blog ArabCrunch, and that blog's coverage is today's Real-Time Web Article of the Day.
We're highlighting one article off-site each day that we think is the most important discussion of the real-time web, leading up to the October 15th ReadWrite Real-Time Web Summit.
ArabCrunch editor Gaith Saqer explains the importance of Woopra's announcement today in his coverage.
- Seeing a Lebanon-founded company taking this step in the red-hot real-time web market is a great data point about the international nature of the real-time web movement. Woopra's CEO is now in Dallas, Texas.
- The product is priced higher than some ostensible competitors, but its availability as a desktop client for Windows, Mac and Linux computers is very appealing for some users.
- Monetization of consumer-level real-time web products, outside of advertising, is itself newsworthy.
Look at how charming that video is! The CEO identifies himself only as "John P., one of the team members at Woopra." It's a really frank explanation of how the company is just looking to become cashflow neutral. Imagine, someone humbly asking a relatively small community of software users to pay so that the company's staff can simply sustain itself. What a radical departure from the typical startup CEO pitch you hear from companies on the bleeding edge of web trends!
Woopra clearly prioritizes authentic communication with its users. The company hired well-known WordPress consultant Lorelle VanFossen to be the company blog's Editor in Chief.
Woopra watchers can't be surprised by the announcement, the way it was made or the seemingly very positive reaction from the Woopra community. As Mohamed Marwen Meddah explained on StartupArabia today, "All this of course is a natural step forward for Woopra, that was in the plans from the beginning, in order to start generating revenue, cover the costs of their infrastructure, and make the company and service sustainable."
This kind of attitude is more than welcome at the forthcoming ReadWrite Real-Time Web Summit. There will be plenty of real-time rock stars there but riding the wave of change that the pushbutton web will bring and building sustainable businesses are both valid ways to engage as well.
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Congrats on a great product. It's simply amazing, and i’m looking forward to the new version of Woopra. Thanks for sharing this post....
As a long-time beta tester of Woopra, I am very pleased with this news - and I'll soon be a paying customer. I want them to keep pushing this envelope - they've done an amazing job so far!
Rob
Marshall,
Thanks so much for the very kind words.
Our entire team was extremely pleased by the warm reception that the Woopra community gave today's announcement. While we already know that we have one of the most incredible communities in the world, we try not to take their reaction to things like this for granted.
Our goal is to build and improve the service every single day, and continue to bring innovation to our industry.
Incidentally, I would be pleased to participate in the ReadWrite Real-Time Web Summit, if indeed you were interested in having me represent Woopra.
Cheers!
John P.
wow i need woopra im going to use this from now on, glad i found this nice post..http://blastoffpress.com
You write this article as if they are the first of their kind. :)
getclicky.com, based in Portland OR (outside Silicon Valley), has been monetizing real time web analytics since February 2007!
Get Clicky has a comparison table overview on their home page (scroll down a lot)
Clicky Google StatCounter SiteMeter Woopra W3counter Mint
Maybe you should get GetClicky.com
All this of course is a natural step forward for Woopra, that was in the plans from the beginning, in order to start generating revenue, cover the costs of their infrastructure, and make the company and service sustainable
Another consequence of real time junk data is the decisions you have to make about quality sources...and thanks to your fawning coverage of this ho hum – another guy trying to flog something – service makes it real easy to drop ReadWrite.... “an awesome video that's both humble and inspiring”... “Look at how charming that video is!” ,,Huh? Did someone drop in a Pixar review in here by mistake? I hope they’re not paying you to say this because it really doesn’t help their cause. Anyway, see you in Web 4.0 – the whatever happened to knowledge web. Cheers, Don R.
Used Woopra at a previous company - great analytics package that not only provide awesome data, but is fun to use.
Thanks my Marshall for featuring ArabCrunch and What I said about Woopra here. u rock :)
u know I am RWW fan.
Woopra btw is a pride for Arab startups, in my older posts i chronicled how they started: Ellie Khouri from Lebanon started woopra from his home .. to what u see today,,, a story u hear about often in silicon valley.. It is of what is today bc of the passion the cofounedrs have for it and for technology. Passion is a key for any startup success. that does not mean that I do not get hard on my friends at Woopra sometimes :P. bc I AC is objective.
@Don Rocin ur wrong, if you follow RWW you know what type of ethics they have, if they post paid posts, they say it is paid out loud and paid posts are only for long term RWW sponsors and whne ever it is posted they sat that at the beginning of the post.
Matt picked up the story from ArabCrunch I did not even tell him about it, the notion that they got paid to post about Woopra is baseless.
RWW have high Integrity and it self is a startup that has a staff of hardworking and smart people. one of the things that difference them than others is the depth of analysis the provide something u could not find else where. \
so Instead of false accusations please show some appreciation to their great efforts.
Thanks,
Gaith
Founder and editor ArabCrunch
PS: RWW plz add tweet this comment feature to ur commenting system with out the need to login via twitter.
sorry my name is Gaith Saqer not Saer, Typo :D
opps I found another typo I did not mean to write " thanx my Marshall" -my- was added by mistake sorry Marshall.
I've been using Woopra for our websites, and have been impressed with the rich features, ease of use and dashboard UI.
Heya this one is a great product.I appreciate it lot.
Thanks for posting.
I still keep my paid solution, but this is better than GA IMHO.