Co-op combines a quick update tool like Twitter with inline time tracking and project management. Earlier this week, Co-Op presented a demo of their application at the NY Tech Meetup. We covered the launch of Co-Op last month.

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Source:CenterNetworks

Boston-based online money management tool Geezeo has launched a new financial marketplace today. The basic concept behind the marketplace is to offer Geezeo site visitors and customers a way to see a variety of financial offers in a vertical. The categories include: credit cards, checking, savings, student loans and brokerage. It appears that auto loans and mortgages are coming soon.

It looks like a great way for Geezeo to earn additional revenue based on the affiliate revenue earned from users who clickthrough the marketplace. Geezeo co-founder Peter Glyman tells me that they are looking to widgetize the marketplace and those who embed the widget.

Online financial services site Wesabe has announced a new partnership today which will bring Wesabe’s financial tools to the UK. The tools are live on the Daily Telegraph’s website, telegraph.co.uk. Wesabe already claims to support members in 30 countries. From what I can recall, this is the first international deal for any of the new crop of U.S. based online financial services providers. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Telegraph self-reported 22.9 million unique visitors in September 2008. It will be interesting to see how UK residents take to the idea of sharing their bank information/passwords with an external source and one that is based outside the UK. Wesabe allows their customers to upload files as well which does not require bank passwords to be shared. Most of the other new online banking services do not support this option and require bank passwords to be shared.

In any event this looks like a huge win for Wesabe as it should provide good visibility for their service in another large country outside the U.S.

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AddToAny, maker of easy-sharing and feed subscription widgets of the ShareThis and AddThis variety, gets a power boost today.

The new version of the utility involves an easily navigable tabbed interface, visible tallies of page promotion made with the social bookmarking services Digg and Delicious, prioritized placement of some services over others, and a so-called “Color Chooser” to customize the look of the device. Better to adapt to certain website stylings, for sure. An official AddToAny WordPress plugin also made its debut recently.

The plugin and customization options are certain to draw the favor of many publishers wishing for a multifunctional gadget that can conform to their own designs. A standard delivery might suit many users, but some editors will surely appreciate what’s now available.

Among the functions involved in the new release, meanwhile, is a more industrious email sharing option, with links to Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, and AOL Mail (along with the standard manual email option that is more or less ubiquitous across the Web); a real-time count of Digg and Delicious activity, if/when applicable; and an elementary guide to bookmarking a page to the user’s preferred browser.

Finally, as a kind of cherry-on-top, AddToAny has chosen to participate in the Open Share Icon collective. Names like Shareaholic, Me.dium, NowPublic, and SmugMug are listed among the support base. In short, the OSI is an attempt to establish a trademark-free alternative to the ShareThis graphic. A bit of visual and philosophical competition, if you will.

—Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:Add To Any Widget is Easy SharingAdd to Any Adds Google Analytics for Web PublishersShareThis Now Counts and Displays DiggsAdd to Any Knows What You Like, Dives into RecommendationsBox.net Launches File Sharing WidgetideAjax Launches SaneBull WidgetsSharedBook Releases Blog2Print Upgrade

Source:Mashable!

Company Name

Bukisa

20-Word Description

Bukisa is a place where you can share your knowledge with others and get paid when others use it.

CEO’s Pitch

Bukisa is a one stop shop for how-to, informational & educational content. We are both an aggregator and a UGC website. We provide content in the form of articles, videos, presentations, audio recordings and image slideshows.

Bukisa’s contributors enjoy not only the publicity, but also revenue sharing of ads placed on their content. A contributor can invite friends and colleagues to create their own content on Bukisa, thus creating their own personal Bukisa network.

A user that owns a network will not only enjoy the revenue sharing of their work, but will also profit from their network friends’ revenue sharing.

Mashable’s Take

Built in a vein similar to that of Associated Content, et al., Bukisa is designed to be as easy for content creators to use as it is for consumers. Want to share a lesson for a certain task, be it a “fix-it” explainer or a construction project? How about a beginner’s course on a certain piece of technology? Bukisa allows you to do just that, in word, photo and video.

The learning curve for Bukisa is very light. Most every feature is intuitive to use, and the layout - from the front page to each article - is quite smart. Categories are in clear view and are fairly extensive, and things like the popular topics window, columns for popular posts, and things recently added seem to be well placed. Visitors might prefer that Bukisa deliver a larger amount of content right from the top level, but I’d grade it a B+ or an A- to start.

It’s also a treat to see the service clearly delineate its Bukisa Index statistic. Without going into too much detail, the number shown is what users can expect insofar as financial returns go for every 1,000 unique visits registered. Currently the Index stands at 4.20, which means users can gather $4.20 per mille if in fact they manage to secure the necessary reader figure(s). If Bukisa’s popularity grows, the Index is likely to rise as well. (According to site copy, any changes made to the Index are seen roughly every four weeks.)

That’s not all. Bukisa also involves a friendly dimension in its payment system. If you invite friends to join you on the network, and they themselves begin to produce content that generates traffic that too results in revenue, you yourself will see income to the tune of a 25% bonus. And if those friends then invite other contacts, who in turn deliver popular material, you’ll see one-sixteenth of their total revenue. So if your respective social circles are especially prolific, and both short-term and long-term traffic data is high, you could very well see ample and steady cash sent your way.

Of course, this is all in an effort to establish a bustling community of content creators, and hinges on a great amount of visitors regularly passing in and out of the space. Which is hardly guaranteed. But that’s the way syndication services function. And if we’re to consider which direction Bukisa is headed, the foundation upon which users can grow their brands looks like a good one. Keep an eye on the Index, we say. It’s bound to climb in the months ahead.

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.

Sponsored By: Sun Startup Essentials

Toronto-based online invoicing service FreshBooks has announced the launch of an industry benchmarking service to help freelancers and small businesses make better decisions about their business. The service seems very similar to what PubMatic offers with their AdPrice Index. Basically FreshBooks takes anonymous data, aggregates the data and provides it back to site visitors so they can compare their actual numbers with the reported data.

The data will be updated quarterly and can be broken down into segments. FreshBooks explains how they get the data, "the data you see above is only collected from FreshBooks accounts that collect in US Dollars. We have removed the top ten 10% and the bottom 10% of the populations to eliminate outliers that might undermine the accuracy of the group as a whole. Also, we only include businesses we deem to be credible FreshBooks accounts."

Anyone can access the basic industry benchmark data and FreshBooks customers can request a "Report Card" which is tailored to their specific business.

This new program is smart on several levels. It helps everyone understand where they stand. It helps FreshBooks potentially gain a new service subscriber base. It also helps establish FreshBooks as a data service which can help drive new subscribers as the data is shared across the Web.

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Tatango, a website that allows users to send text messages to groups, is adding a new feature today for making phone calls. Using the same interface, users can now opt to record a voice message and then send it to one of their groups. Recipients then receive a text alerting them to the new message, and can reply with “CALL,” which will in turn dial the user and relay the voice recording.

Similar to its group texting product we profiled earlier this year, Tatango Voice offers a freemium business model. In other words, if you want free service, all of your calls will include advertisements before the voice message is heard by recipients, but for a monthly fee, you can have the advertising removed. Free group texts include a 30 character advertisement at the end.

While to some extent, Tatango’s group text messaging service could be replaced by one of the many emerging “enterprise Twitter” startups, the voice offering is something that could be really useful for group organizers, especially considering there is only so much you can say in 140 characters. Meanwhile, since Tatango is a “one-to-many” platform, you don’t get the noise that accompanies a group microblogging service.

—Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:Tatango Makes Group SMS Speedy and Cheap (The Startup Review)Second Life Adds Voice to Live Grid for All UsersWeekend Open ThreadInteractive Voices - Voice Over MarketplaceGETaBUZ Launches Voice Messaging for MySpacePingercasts Bring Spam to your VoicemailEvoca Launches API to Enable Customized Voice Recordings

Source:Mashable!

Thrive is a new free financial advisory service for the Generation X and Y set. Their goal is to provide easy and simple tools to help the twenty- and thirty-something crowd manage their money matters and plan their financial future.

Thrive lets you add all of your financial accounts such as checking, savings, and investments. You then share how much you make and enter information regarding your spending habits so that Thrive can analyze your expenses. The site understands that visuals appeal a great deal to this generation, so everything is presented in an easy to view manner.

The consequences of each expenditure are presented in an easy to understand format. For example, they show that spending $4.45 a day at Starbucks adds up to $89 a month and over $1,000 per year! Even the least financially savvy person can grasp that.

The timing is perfect for this type of service considering the country’s economic status. There are, however, a wealth (no pun intended) of other free financial management services available such as Mint, Wesabe, and newcomer Rudder.

The truth is that any of these services can help the young demographic that Thrive is targeting. However, the fact that Thrive is clearly focused on this group should make it more appealing. All of the services and features are customized for younger investors with a focus on their retirement plan and long-term financial forecast. The other services offer broader more generic features because they have to appeal to a wide range of age groups, not just twenty and thirty-somethings.

It’s amazing how many financial services are starting to appear on the scene. Is it a case of sharks smelling blood in the water or just ironic timing? I think it’s just naturally a good idea to provide services that help users take control of their money. Despite all of the security measures taken by these financial sites, there will be large segments of the population that will be too concerned to trust an unknown entity with their private financial account information. However, the Gen-X and Y audience are more trusting of online services and might be more willing to share their account information with Thrive. Especially if they discover that they can learn to save money for their future.

—Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:Why Apple and Facebook Need to Leave Apps AloneObama Plays to Start-Ups with LinkedIn’s Q&A SeriesPirate Bay Marks GTA Pre-Launch With A Joke And Some RipsModMyProfile Widget Blocked by MySpaceDwank Launches Bland Home-Sharing SiteLiberated Films for Sale in the Web 2.0 MarketplaceReminder: Design a T-Shirt and Win an iPhone

Back in April we reported on P2P social lender LendingClub entering a "quiet period" from the SEC. In June Lending Club filed with the SEC for $600 million in notes. Today Lending Club will announce at the Finovate conference in NYC that they have completed the SEC registration process which ends its six-month quiet period. The updated Lending Club website is available again to lenders and borrowers.

Lending Club notes that the average interest rates for a person with good credit will be 12%. They are also launching LendingMatch which provides lenders with loan information to create a well diversified portfolio. Loans becomes notes registered with the SEC and Lending Club is also launching a secondary P2P loan market.

Lending Club is pushing the concept of "people lending to people" and that they aren’t tied into a bank like the other P2P lenders are. To-date Lending Club has originated more than 2,000 loans with a value of over $19 million.

With the current economic situation, will more people turn to P2P lending if denied by their bank or financial institution. Something tells me that today’s announcement from Lending Club comes at the perfect time. Check out my interview with Lending Club CEO Renaud Laplanche.

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For the last two years I have been running global research at Universal McCann that tracks the usage of social media. The results of which have clearly demonstrated the massive growth in usage that is occurring across the world.

The most recent report interviewed 17,000 people in 29 countries and is called “When did we start trusting strangers.” It conclusively proves that as we thought, social media is now directly impacting the way we buy products and services. The publishing of billions of thoughts, opinions and experiences online in the form of blog posts, videos, ratings, reviews and photos is fundamentally changing the way everybody online sources opinions on products, brands and services when they buy something.

This has huge impacts on the way that advertisers and brands have to think about social media - moving involvement from a “nice to have” to an “essential to have.”

When did we start trusting strangers?

The clear trend that emerged was that consumers were sharing opinions in unprecedented numbers. Instant Messenger and email were the top online channels for informing people about products and services, with 44.5 %, 42% having done so in the last month. But more importantly, social channels where opinion spreads wider have become hugely significant, with over 29% having commented on a product or brand on a blog and 27% having posted an opinion on a social networking profile.

The level of commentary varied between product categories. At the top were the entertainment categories, with 60% having recommended a film and 52% music. But technology wasn’t far behind; 57% have recommended home technology, 54% portable technology and 54% a mobile phone service.

In fact, it has become so easy to influence that we can now consider everyone, well certainly everyone online, an influencer to some degree. Of course we’re not all equal, some people shared more influence than others, the prolific bloggers, photo sharers and the video uploaders – the sort of people who read Mashable, are at the forefront.

The result of this new revolution is that we look to and trust new sources for information and the research clearly shows we now trust the opinions of strangers we read online as much as our closest friends and certainly more than advertising. This demonstrates the fundamental importance of the social media revolution that we are living through now.

What do we say to our clients? Participation in social media is not a choice, it is now a default. This is a consumer revolution, they choose who takes part and they are already talking about and commenting on all brands. It is down to companies to decide whether to be actively or passively involved.

Secondly, transparency is essential. Consumers are constantly commenting on products and brands, so honesty and openness are vital. Companies should share their inner workings. Mistakes have to be admitted quickly and control has to be loosened to allow consumers to discuss, share and interact with your brand.

Most importantly, invest in product. The number 1 reason that consumers review a product is a good experience, or a friend having a good experience. In a market driven by consumer recommendation, good companies will shine out.

It’s also remembering that Brands have a major advantage over consumers. They have the resources and contacts to create exceptional online experiences, content and services all of which can establish their presence and reputation online. In fact, brands have some of the most interesting stories to share and have every right to share them. This content needs to be in social networks, blog and video sites, not hidden away in branded websites.

Tom Smith is Head of Consumer Futures at Universal McCann, a global media planning company. Tom’s role is to understand the impact of technology on consumer trends, in particular how it impacts advertising, marketing and media consumption.

—Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:Attend SMX Social Media Marketing: Mashable Readers Save 15%15 Free Social Media White Papers and EbooksSave the Date for the New Communications Forum 2008If Google Buys Digg, What Happens Next?Be a Digg Rockstar with Social Media Firefox ExtensionWeb 2.0 Marketplace Listings for September 24th, 2007Ticket Giveaway to SMX Social Media in Long Beach, CA

Source:Mashable!

Company

Rudder

20-Word Description

Rudder is the next generation in online personal finance, enabling users to manage their money straight from their email inbox.

CEO’s Pitch

By adapting to human behavior and delivering customizable widgets that analyze a user’s financial situation and provide valuable, forward-looking alerts, Rudder provides unprecedented ease and control over your personal finances.

“Because we understand that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to handling finances, we developed a solution that can be tailored to the needs of every user and continue to grow with them,” said Nikhil Roy, founder and CEO of Rudder. “Rudder has finally solved the problem that others have attempted to solve for years, ensuring that our users spend less time managing their finances and more time doing the things they truly enjoy.”

Mashable’s Take

Rudder is a free online financial management service that works mostly through your email account. Once you join and setup your bank accounts you can setup Rudder to work with your email system by configuring notifications that will be sent to you on a regular basis. Many of the top banking institutions are supported including Citibank, Bank of America, etc.

Even though you can get Rudder to do everything via email, there are some useful features on their site should you decide to log into your account. For example, there are several handy widgets that you can add to your account, much like bloggers do on their sites. Here are some of the widgets you can add:

The Bills widget seems to be the most useful as it monitors all of your accounts and due dates for payments and reminds you in advance so you don’t miss your deadlines and perhaps avoid penalty fees.

The What’s Left widget does exactly that. It tracks what’s left after the smoke clears from all of your financial accounts after paying your bills.

The Savings widget shows your progress when it comes to saving money. It will give you an overview of all your savings accounts so you can track your saving history. Also, the Speed Widget tracks how fast you’re burning through your wallet and sends you warnings when you’re spending your money too quickly.

There are a few well-known money management services such as Mint and Wesabe that provide email notification services, but none of them appear to offer as many options as Rudder. Besides the usual summary messages with totals, Rudder has actually developed technology that analyzes your income and expense behaviors along with your schedule of bills and generates appropriate messages based on those scenarios and sends them to you.

Making your financial management service work so closely with your email account, something you probably use multiple times a day, is a smart move in this day and age, especially considering the economic situation we’re all dealing. It’s become more important than ever to stay on top of our personal finances, so being able to automate the process and get notified anytime and anywhere is extremely useful.

While Rudder users can use any mobile device to access their emails, it would be extremely convenient if there were an application available for iPhone users. Also, now that the Google Android platform is finally being deployed (October 22,2008), they might want to consider a Rudder app for that as well.

As for security issues, Rudder implements Truste, which provides 128 bit SSL encryption protection. While I’m sure many will still be concerned about using their email to keep track of finances, if you’ve already embraced online banking and don’t mind using your email, Rudder fits the bill.

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.

Sponsored by Sun Startup Essentials

—Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:Sneak a Peek at DEMOfall 0825+ Tools For Accounting and Budgeting

I had the opportunity to sit down with Seesmic/Twhirl CEO Loic LeMeur at their office in San Francisco. We discussed the Techcrunch50 conference including which startups Loic liked, which startups he didn’t like, the expert judging process and how the winner was selected. We also talk about dead people. Loic also reviewed the first anniversary party for Seesmic.

Here’s Loic:

Special Alert: CenterNetworks Conference Coverage:
– DEMO
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Source:CenterNetworks

Since entering the venture capital field, I have observed how other VCs approach the business. Tactics and practices vary greatly and some are better than others.

I have tried to identify venture capital best practices. There is more to the business than picking winners; the nuances of interacting with and supporting entrepreneurs are potentially more important. While I have found that there are dozens of small processes that are exemplary, the principles that make a VC effective and poised for long-term success can be boiled down to a top ten list. Although exceptions always exist, these ten guidelines appear to be the guiding light for how the best VCs interact with entrepreneurs. I believe that these rules are worthwhile for entrepreneurs to be aware of, as it is my hope that they will set the bar for their expectations.

Top Ten Ways In Which The Best VCs Interact With Entrepreneurs

1. Be respectful of entrepreneurs and their efforts – remember that they are changing the world.
2. Handle sensitive information carefully.
3. Be forthcoming if you are evaluating competitive opportunities.
4. Be honest about your intentions.
5. Respond as promptly as possible.
6. Help entrepreneurs when possible regardless of whether or not you intend to invest.
7. Ensure that entrepreneurs share in the upside.
8. Be an active board member.
9. Pursue the exits that are best for everyone around the table.
10. Support the entrepreneurial community.

More broadly, these guidelines address three potential VC short-comings that are commonly cited by entrepreneurs: arrogance, inconsiderate behavior and selfishness. The best VCs avoid these behaviors like the plague, and they do it for good reason; in the long run, it makes them more successful.

The all-stars of VC understand that the entrepreneurs are the stars of the startup show. This perspective keeps actions that could be perceived as arrogant in check. With this mindset, these VCs know that egos are unjustified and, very often, destructive. Simply being respectful can make life for entrepreneurs easier and can enable a type of board room collaboration that yields the most productive outcome.

As I mention in my post, The Venture Police: Reputation, VCs needs to be considerate in order to develop the kind of reputation that attracts the best entrepreneurs. Being considerate means a few things. First, it means stating intentions up front. For example, VCs who are looking at multiple opportunities in an industry need to inform entrepreneurs of that fact. Second, responding to entrepreneur emails in a timely fashion is also important. Responsiveness is part of being a team player – fundraising is a stressful process that does not need to be complicated for no reason. Furthermore, responding to emails is the same courtesy afforded to nearly everyone in business – entrepreneurs deserve the same respect. I have found that a quick “no” is always appreciated – like everybody else, entrepreneurs want to know where they stand. While promptly responding isn’t always easy for VCs when their email inboxes are being bombarded, efforts to be responsive appear to be appreciated.

Lastly, even when VCs don’t plan to invest, trying to selflessly help entrepreneurs is a noble pursuit – this goodwill gesture not only helps a VC’s reputation, it is the right thing to do. Helping an entrepreneur can increase the odds that a new service makes it to market, that new jobs are created and one person gets a little bit closer to realizing a dream.

The best VCs appear to understand that being perceived as arrogant, inconsiderate and selfish can damage their reputation and future deal flow. As a result, they go to great lengths to avoid these perceptions. Ultimately this unique alignment is one of my favorite aspects of the VC role – it’s in a VC’s best interest to be a good guy.

This column was provided by Mark Davis. Mark is the author of Get Venture, a column designed to help entrepreneurs raise venture capital. In addition to his column, Mark is active in the venture community as an entrepreneur, advisor and venture cap