This post is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark as a new part of the Spark of Genius series that focuses on a new and innovative startup each day. Every Thursday, the program focuses on startups within the BizSpark program and what they’re doing to grow.Xobni’s Outlook-enhancing social sidebar may seem like one of many tools on the market — think Rapportive, Liaise or Gist — aimed to improve inbox productivity, but the startup is maturing past the stage of simple utility and fast becoming a grown-up business.
Now nearing 6 million total downloads, Xobni’s product arsenal includes a free Outlook plugin, a paid premium version, an enterprise offering, Xobni Mobile for BlackBerry and Xobni One, a contact-centric product that connects Xobni for Outlook with Xobni for BlackBerry.
In an interview with Mashable, Xobni CEO Jeff Bonforte explains how the company has essentially reinvented itself to supersede the tools of the world and become a platform for personal productivity in e-mail.
Personal and Social Relevance
Part of Xobni’s appeal is that the tool provides users with time-saving and relevant information on contacts. The startup’s formula includes analysis of explicit information users share on social networks, but also taps into user’s implicit behaviors surfaced through communication patterns.
“Our analytics engine helps us determine important information that you don’t explicitly provide, but that improves your productivity,” says Bonforte. “We can determine if someone is important to you, how important they are, and how they relate to others in your network. We take those analytics to serve you the right information on your contacts at the right time.”
The combination packs a one-two punch of information that really resonates with users, especially those willing to fork over $29.99 for premium features in Outlook and $9.99 for the convenience of Xobni on their BlackBerry.
Evolving for Enterprise Demand
Xobni was built with the professional Outlook user in mind. Bonforte admits that from the very beginning the startup saw a trend in enterprise adoption, but ran up against an unanticipated challenge — IT restrictions around user downloads.
“Before launching our enterprise product, we had over 15% of employees from a very large enterprise (hint: Redmond) using the product. And this wasn’t unusual. We have users in 85% of the Fortune 500,” he says. “But as we grew, we heard more and more that people were having issues getting Xobni on their machines because of IT restrictions.”
The company responded earlier this year by releasing a paid enterprise product designed to allow IT departments to deploy and manage Xobni for small businesses or global corporations with thousands of employees. As a result, Xobni now has hundreds of enterprises paying to license its software.
An E-mail Productivity Platform
What started as a simple tool to boost e-mail productivity has graduated to become a platform of its own. Xobni has raised a hefty $32 million from top notch investors making repeat investments to finance its transformation. Funds have been allocated to deploy the enterprise product and build the cloud-based backend that has enabled the startup to move into the mobile space.
“Additionally, we’ve developed a new platform recently that ports Google Gadgets to Outlook. This is a real win for developers who are looking to get into Outlook without the pain,” explains Bonforte.
Xobni has also teamed up with Huddle, makers of collaborative workspaces, to integrate the product inside Outlook. Xobni provides fast access and powerful search around Huddle activity and documents.
It’s these gadgets and Xobni additions that help make Outlook more of a productivity dashboard than e-mail client for users.
But even with all of the product enhancements and new offerings, Xobni’s just now starting to become a money-making business. “We’re in the millions, but not yet tens of millions in revenue,” reports Bonforte. The pressure is now on the startup to prove its business potential and attract more paying enterprise clientele.
Images courtesy of Flickr, RambergMediaImages, Wonderlane, marioanima
Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark
BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S. $1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.
Reviews: Flickr, Mashable, Xobni
More About: email, Outlook, spark-of-genius, xobni, xobni mobile
For more Tech coverage:
- Follow Mashable Tech on Twitter
- Become a Fan on Facebook
- Subscribe to the Tech channel
- Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad