Earlier this year NY-based Buddy Media raised $6.5 million for their social application network. Today I spent some time at their office in Manhattan. Walking into the office I wasn’t sure I was in the right place as Don King welcomed me and all of the other employees were dressed up for the holiday.

Below is my discussion with CEO Mike Lazerow. You will note that Mike apparently also plays the role of Captain America but he took off his super powers suit for the interview. Buddy Media creates social applications for their corporate clients to reach end consumers online differently than the traditional banner ad. We discuss social metrics and the education needed to get consumer brands to buy into "non-traditional" online spending. Mike also discusses the Buddy Media "brain". At the end of the interview Mike speaks briefly about the economy and the differences you will see with startups moving forward.

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Other CenterNetworks Coverage: iminlikewithyou, FriendFeed, Web Jobs

This morning I met with Phil Thomas Di Giulio, WellcomeMat co-founder. We met at a Starbucks which I’ve been using as an interview location for nearly two years. If Starbucks was a recession metric, the economy is clearly booming.

WellcomeMat is a video marketplace which allows you to hire help to create a video for you. Real estate is their most popular section. Other areas include local business videos, weddings and used car listings.

There’s a production job board where you can post want ads for help with creating videos. Production help replies with quotes and you can view their ratings and rankings. WellcomeMat has a points system which helps to bubble the best quality talent to the top.

I asked about why a company would choose WellcomeMat over YouTube for video hosting. Phil explained that more of the consumer-focused video hosting sites are removing commercial content. He also explained that their video player has a variety of features that are not found with most consumer-focused video hosting services. They offer a chapter feature which allows you to jump to a specific portion of a video (e.g. Kitchen, Bath, etc.). I sure hope other video hosts add this feature.

WellcomeMat is bootstrapped and has offices in Brooklyn and Boulder, Colorado. There are 5 team members spread across both offices. They use Limelight for the video hosting. We spoke about their business plan which will be a subscription and freemium model. I stressed to Phil not to offer too much for free that users have no reason to upgrade to a paid subscription.

Then there’s MatMan which if you’ve been to any NYC tech events you have certainly interacted with him. He’s a space traveler that has a large video screen on his chest showing off the videos created using the WellcomeMat marketplace. While it’s partly a gimmick, it certainly gets your attention.

I tried to capture a video interview with Phil but the batteries died. Instead here’s Phil’s demo from the Web 2 NY meetup earlier this year:

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Other CenterNetworks Coverage: iminlikewithyou, FriendFeed, Web Jobs

Musicians separated by geography are known to collaborate on recordings regularly. Whether they do so easily is something else. Fortunately, services like Indaba Music facilitate such collaboration. What’s more, today Indaba is unveiling a new option that allows users to take the remote recording and mixing solution mobile.

IndabaVox is the name, and it essentially allows users to “call in” to music sessions to record from wherever they are. You can think of it as a sort of portable tape deck, except that you and anyone else with access to a session can listen to and edit the recording from the Web. For spur-of-the-moment riff making or song demos, this can certainly help sustain fleeting memories into long-lasting sounds.

Calls through IndabaVox occur via VoIP. In order to connect via an outside line, you have to establish a session and click the button on the right side of the session window labeled “Record by phone…” You’ll be shown a pop-up with a phone number and PIN. If you are unable to access your default session when you first call the number provided, pressing ‘3’ on your keypad will initiate a request for your entry of the seven digit PIN. Once you’ve done so, just start sending off your audio. It may take some time for Indaba to register a submission. (As of writing this review, I still await the upload of a track to my freshly-created account.)

That’s all there is to it. The length of a recording is pretty much free form, though sound quality will of course vary according to the way in which calls are made. You can place a call via a mobile phone or land line. Though this is currently the sole method employed by Indaba Music for remote access to a music session, the company intends to launch an iPhone-compatible service, which will provide tracking of sessions and messages.

—Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:Indaba Music Enables Professional Music CollaborationJamNow Launches Music Collaboration SiteJamJunky is a Community for Song WritersWetpaint Launches ‘Please Touch’ Collaboration Tool for ArtistsIncuby Is a Network for InventorsLast.fm Partners with Sony BMGFacebook Music?

Source:Mashable!

Company Name

Jobirn - Insider Referral Network

20-Word Description

Jobirn is where social job board meets referral network, where job seekers, referrers (employees), hiring managers and recruiters reach each other easily.

CEO’s Pitch

Jobirn is a referral network that connects applicants with employees inside the company where they would like to work. Jobirn makes connecting easy through features available inside the website such as video conferencing, chat and thousands of jobs. Our site helps job seekers get a referral to their ideal job, and company insiders find the right candidate. If you are a hiring manager or a recruiter, Jobirn is also a free recruitment platform.

Mashable’s Take

If searching for a job through sites like CareerBuilder or HotJobs isn’t getting you where you want or need to go, perhaps a different course of action is called for. Might a more direct conversation with a recruiter or “company insider” get you better results, maybe even a gig to get back into the workforce? There’s one way to find out, and Jobirn is one place where you can begin finding your way to an interview.

With especial attention on job referrers and recruiters, Jobirn acts as a sort of technical mediator between you, companies seeking workers, and/or people who may help you get in touch with the right people to grab that elusive and all-important meeting.

If you want to use Jobirn simply as a job search service, you may. The selection of available positions may not be immense, though. In order to see the full effect of Jobirn, you’ll need to ingrain yourself in the referral network it provides, which doesn’t require much. It’s free to use, and given a few minutes to familiarize yourself with various pieces of its makeup, it really is easy enough for most anyone to navigate.

Though the website’s design might feel rough to the touch, the software doesn’t inhibit activity. And more important than anything else is the quality of connections that you can make. In that case, Jobirn’s creators claim to verify all referrers and recruiters that pass through its doors. This is helpful, of course. But suffice it to say many, if not most of the names listed are involved in the technology industry in one way or another. Whether this is a good thing depends entirely on the visitor’s area of interest or expertise.

As an interactive way station, Jobirn does what it is put forth to do. It facilitates talk and discussion between people that have a common interest in the employment space. It’s neither pretty nor off-putting. I would instead frame it as utilitarian. In short, if a line to referrers and recruiters is what you’re after, this forum may well do the trick. Nothing less, nothing more.

Editor’s Note: This post is part of an ongoing series at Mashable - The Startup Review, Sponsored by Sun Microsystems Startup Essentials. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

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This morning I headed over to the Thrillist office in NYC. They actually share space with The Huffington Post (co-founded by Ben’s father Kenneth Lerer) currently but I hear they are getting ready to move across the street into a larger space. Thrillist is a daily newsletter for men offering a nugget of information each day. The newsletters are short and to-the-point and are offered in a variety of cities including New York, Boston, Las Vegas and San Francisco.

Ben noted that they are planning to launch a brand-new Web site next week which will be powered by the Drupal CMS (same as CN). I will leave the details about the Web site for when they launch - let’s just say that it should help them bring in a whole new set of subscribers.

I met with Thrillist co-founder Ben Lerer and we discussed a variety of topics including: why did they select email, how do they find their stories, who is the target for the Thrillist newsletter, funding/revenue models and local staffing. Towards the end of the interview we discuss the potential advertising slowdown and what tips Ben has for new content publishers who are looking to secure advertising and sponsorships.

Thanks to Ben for spending some time with us today.

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Other CenterNetworks Coverage: Viddler, Twitter, Web Jobs

While in San Francisco earlier this month, I met with Surf Canyon CEO Mark Cramer. Surf Canyon began operations in 2006 and launched their search application in February 2008. The Surf Canyon search application sits on top of search engines Google and Yahoo. Compared to some of the other search engine addons I’ve reviewed in the past, Surf Canyon offers an interesting and innovative model. Surf Canyon is trying to solve the problem of too many search results for your search queries.

Cramer explained how the application works — basically you enter a search query on Google or Yahoo as you always do. You select a search result and go to that page. If that page isn’t what you were looking for, when you come back to the search result, Surf Canyon looks at results 11-1000 and then recommends other results similar to the one you clicked on. It ignores results you skipped over because it recognizes you weren’t interested in those results. Cramer noted that the idea is to make search results dynamic instead of the static results that Google and Yahoo provide by default.

Surf Canyon has raised $600k in angel funding, has 3 full time employees and several consultants.

The Surf Canyon application is installed via a Firefox/Internet Explorer addon. Cramer tells me that there’s been 250,000 downloads of the addon to-date. I asked Cramer about how he is marketing the search application because clearly mainstream Internet users just go to Google or Yahoo for search. He said that a large percentage of their marketing has come via word of mouth and that once users use the application they find it beneficial and share it with others. They have also been listed as a featured download in the Firefox addon catalog. The key to success for Surf Canyon is to continue to raise awareness of their application across the mainstream market.

Special Alert: CenterNetworks Conference Coverage:
– DEMO
– Techcrunch50
– Event and Interview Videos

At the Web 2.0 Expo in NYC, I sat down with Spark Networks President and COO Gregory Liberman. We discussed the 30+ dating sites that make up Spark Networks. Here are my notes from our conversation which centered mostly around Jdate.

Spark Networks has 30+ dating sites and most of them are targeted towards a group. Gregory notes that people who are looking for serious relationships are seeking targeted networks. The three largest dating sites in their network are Jdate, BlackSingles and ChristianMingle. They believe that they are different because of the targeting, most of their competition tries to be all things to all people.

Spark Networks runs over 800 singles events a year. Revenue comes from subscriptions and advertising. Jdate subscriptions begin at $39/month and for those browsing the site, advertising is displayed. Gregory noted that ads are displayed to subscribers as well but said "most" of these ads are house ads promoting events and other services. I wonder if any Web 2.0 startups could get away with charging a subscription fee and displaying any advertising at all.

Spark Networks is a public company and reported second quarter 2008 revenue of $15 million with a net income of $1.6 million.

As for success rates, 60 Jdate subscribers a week report back to Spark Networks that they found their soulmate on Jdate.

I asked about comparisons to PlentyOfFish and eHarmony. Gregory said that PlentyOfFish actually drives traffic to sites in his network because of the ad model they employ. As for eHarmony, Gregory believes not everyone wants to fill out a 350 question survey. Jdate allows members to search and utilizes a basic survey to help align members.

In terms of what’s new on their network of sites, Gregory shared two new premium features. The first is an option to highlight your profile in search results. This works similar to highlighting an auction on eBay or a job listing on Indeed. The other update is featured profile. This allows members to push their profile to people they want to meet on search results. Let’s assume you are looking for a 30 year old woman with 2 children but she is looking for a 20 year old man with no children. Using this new option, you could force your profile into her search results basically saying "hey look at me, I want you!". On Jdate, this feature is $10/month.

The online singles market continues to be a huge moneymaker for Spark Networks and the other sites in the market. As long as people want to find that special someone, there will always be someone willing to pay to find that person.

Special Alert: CenterNetworks Conference Coverage:
– DEMO
– Techcrunch50
– Event and Interview Videos

If you read a variety of blogs, you’ve certainly seen the yellow banner ads promoting the BuzzLogic blog ad network. The ad network has been in beta since June and today BuzzLogic is moving the network into public release. The banners guaranteed a payout of $2/CPM for U.S. traffic.

The ad network is named the, "Conversation Ad Network" and they describe the service as, "designed to reward bloggers leading influential conversations on specific topics with quality brand advertising and more advertising revenue."

BuzzLogic has an important thing going for them - their tracking service draws in many of the top brands. These brands can now reach out directly to blogs that reach the brand’s target audience and demographics. The key for this blogger ad network is the same as every other one out there — will they be able to keep a consistently high fill rate? Getting bloggers to signup is the easy part.

We’ve covered BuzzLogic many times before including our executive interview and the launch of their advertiser network.

Special Alert: CenterNetworks Conference Coverage:
– DEMO
– Techcrunch50
– Event and Interview Videos

Source:CenterNetworks

At the Web 2.0 Expo, I met with Sightix VP Ari Gottesmann. Ari took me through a demo of their social search application which integrates into blogs and social networks. Currently Sightix finds connections within a network but they are working towards exposing connections across multiple networks.

Check out other Sightix reviews on Alt Search Engines and Webware. Here’s Ari explaining how Sightix works when trying to find models like Bar Rafaeli:

Today at the Web 2.0 Expo in NYC, I met with Joshua Levy. Joshua is co-founder and CEO of BeenVerified. NY-based BeenVerified is attempting to move the process of identity verification forward. They provide a way to verify the people you are chatting with on a social network through offering services for HR professionals with candidate background checks.

Here’s Josh to explain how BeenVerified works:

Special Alert: CenterNetworks Conference Coverage:
– DEMO
– Techcrunch50
– Event and Interview Videos

I met with Seesmic CEO Loic LeMeur earlier this week. Loic describes Seesmic as a video conversation platform. Loic and I discussed the Seesmic platform, video comments on blogs, service status, the Seesmic business model and his thoughts on mobile integration. Loic shared that Seesmic has over 500,000 videos and just under 1 million visitors a month.

Here’s my chat with Loic - note that I planned to put this video on Seesmic but it was over 10 minutes which is the Seesmic length.

Special Alert: CenterNetworks Conference Coverage:
– DEMO
– Techcrunch50
– Event and Interview Videos