Why so many employees become successful after they left eBay?
The article is from http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2008/11/17/smallb3.html?b=1226898000%5E1732255
What they do: Tokoni Inc. is an online social network where users post personal stories, life experiences and opinions that incorporate multi-media, and interact with other users. The company says its aim is to create a true community where people provide feedback on, interact with, and reward authors for their stories.
How it makes money: Targeted on-site advertising will be implemented once the site has been further built, as well as partnerships with companies, organizations and brands that leverage the Tokoni platform to advance its goals and positioning through stories.
What business or technology it could disrupt: Tokoni’s leaders say it is more inclusive, with low content requirements and a captive community and that it is less daunting and could displace some existing online communities and blogs.
Who founded the company: Alex Kazim, former eBay Inc. executive and president of Skype and Mary Lou Song, former eBay executive and eBay community pioneer. The couple started developing the site and growing the community of users in November 2007. In September 2008 they formally launched the site with extensive user-generated content and several community features that enhance the Tokoni offering.
Management team: Co-founder and CEO Kazim; Song, co-founder and vice president, community; Brian Sweeney, vice president, operations, who held a number of executive positions at eBay including director of operations, director of technical services and director of international development; Patrick Dyson, vice president, product development, who held several management and engineering positions at Sun Microsystems Inc. including director, engineering; Annette Goodwine, vice president, marketing, who was senior director, corporate communications at eBay.
Board of Directors: In addition to Kazim and Song, Henry Gomez, former president of Skype, and Rajiv Dutta, executive vice president of eBay.
Money being sought: $4 million. Until now Tokoni has been funded by Song, Kazim, eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and several former eBay executives, including Gomez and Dutta.
Partnerships, collaborations or affiliations: In September, Tokoni announced a partnership with WomenCount.org to provide the communications platform for the organization’s campaign, encouraging women to communicate their opinions on important political issues.
Market size being pursued: There’s no true measurement of social community, but people are looking to create connections and interact online. In fact, according to Kazim, five of the top 10 sites are social. Technorati notes that there are 17 blog posts per second, and Perseus found that 66 percent of all blogs are not regularly updated.
Who are the likely competitors, direct or indirect? WordPress, Ning Inc., Experience Project, Six Apart Ltd.’s Vox, iReport.com, Gather Inc.
The article is from http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2008/11/17/smallb3.html?b=1226898000%5E1732255
What they do: Tokoni Inc. is an online social network where users post personal stories, life experiences and opinions that incorporate multi-media, and interact with other users. The company says its aim is to create a true community where people provide feedback on, interact with, and reward authors for their stories.
How it makes money: Targeted on-site advertising will be implemented once the site has been further built, as well as partnerships with companies, organizations and brands that leverage the Tokoni platform to advance its goals and positioning through stories.
What business or technology it could disrupt: Tokoni’s leaders say it is more inclusive, with low content requirements and a captive community and that it is less daunting and could displace some existing online communities and blogs.
Who founded the company: Alex Kazim, former eBay Inc. executive and president of Skype and Mary Lou Song, former eBay executive and eBay community pioneer. The couple started developing the site and growing the community of users in November 2007. In September 2008 they formally launched the site with extensive user-generated content and several community features that enhance the Tokoni offering.
Management team: Co-founder and CEO Kazim; Song, co-founder and vice president, community; Brian Sweeney, vice president, operations, who held a number of executive positions at eBay including director of operations, director of technical services and director of international development; Patrick Dyson, vice president, product development, who held several management and engineering positions at Sun Microsystems Inc. including director, engineering; Annette Goodwine, vice president, marketing, who was senior director, corporate communications at eBay.
Board of Directors: In addition to Kazim and Song, Henry Gomez, former president of Skype, and Rajiv Dutta, executive vice president of eBay.
Money being sought: $4 million. Until now Tokoni has been funded by Song, Kazim, eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and several former eBay executives, including Gomez and Dutta.
Partnerships, collaborations or affiliations: In September, Tokoni announced a partnership with WomenCount.org to provide the communications platform for the organization’s campaign, encouraging women to communicate their opinions on important political issues.
Market size being pursued: There’s no true measurement of social community, but people are looking to create connections and interact online. In fact, according to Kazim, five of the top 10 sites are social. Technorati notes that there are 17 blog posts per second, and Perseus found that 66 percent of all blogs are not regularly updated.
Who are the likely competitors, direct or indirect? WordPress, Ning Inc., Experience Project, Six Apart Ltd.’s Vox, iReport.com, Gather Inc.
