Seattle-based user-generated review site Judy’s Book is back from the dead.
You read that correctly - while other startups are biting the dust, previously-deadpooled Judy’s Book is back online and under new ownership. The site was originally launched in July 2005 and was shut down in 2007 after burning through $10.5 million in capital.
New investors David Niu, Geoff Entress, Andy Liu have acquired the assets of the company and are behind the new launch. Coincidentally, all three investors work with the original Judy’s book founders, Andy Sack and Chris DeVore, at Founders Coop.
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Hopefully, this time they’ll do better than Ripley :)…
Well, it is a good app… but the layout needs some improvement. It doesn’t have a strong visual appeal. I think also that they could have chosen a better name other than Judy’s Book. Apps that popular owe it to good choices of names - eg, MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter. Those that are less popular - Bebo, Plurk, Koornk (that being said, I Koornk has a really cute logo. But I haven’t been using it partly because I don’t know how to pronounce “Koornk” without sounding as though I have a mouth full of teeth)
I can’t help feeling that these massive “millions of reviews about anything” sites are destined to become useless because of the sheer volume of content. The future is lots of specific, targeted review sites.
Not sure where you get the “millions of reviews” thing, but I don’t see any more hope for a coupon portal. That there’s a crowded space, what with all the affiliate BS that pervades online deal and coupon sites.
Why targeted at the reviews — Cars, Electronics — why not target consumers. Young Adults, Older, Religious Right, Left Wing, Dog Owners… Might at least have the ability to have communities that look at topics in similar light.
Why do people contribute to these sites for free? I can understand someone complaining, but did you ever notice the reviews are pretty much always extreme?
Look at this page:
http://www.judysbook.com/citie.....ical/t0/s0
No 2s and No 3s. So, you have a pissed off person complaining or a plant adding their own comments.
damn that means I need to remove them from deadpoolornot.com …
As I have always said, review sites are old school because they are too easily manipulated. Most good reviews are posted by owners or employees of the company and with the bad ones, unfortunately you cant make everybody happy all the time!
At MyCityFaces.com we have a recommend score system because it makes people more accountable for the people that they recommend. Most people do not want their own reputation ruined so they only recommend people that they now are good.
Sounds like yelp, good luck.
This company was a mess. Clown leadership, clown leadership, clown leadership. Not to mention, clown leadership. I don’t have any hope for the new model, either.
Judy seems to be a yelp clone now, in an ad supported model. Will Angie follow this path?
too little too late. the site is slow, clunky, and yelp is sooo much mo’ bettah….
Apparently, the intellectual property was purchased from the original founders, who have nothing to do with the new incarnation of the company.
More on the rebirth of Judy’s Book in my post today on TechFlash, including an explanation from Andy Liu as to why he thought the company made for a good restart opportunity.
http://www.techflash.com/venture/Judys_Book.html
John Cook
TechFlash.com