Yammer definitely started something. The enterprise Twitter service has more competition today from Wizehive, a Web-based group messaging and task management service for businesses. WizeHive just launched in beta. We have 500 invites (just enter “TC2009″ when you sign up).
WizeHive is a bootstrap startup funded with $100,000 from the founders Mike Carson and Michael Levinson. Levinson is also the founder of DreamIt Ventures, a YCombinator-like startup incubator in Philadelphia. DreamIt itself did not invest, but Levinson created WizeHive out of the frustrations of managing all the different DreamIt projects and applicants. Says Levinson:
I needed something to organize all my thoughts and activities for DreamIt. Stuff was flying all over the place. I looked at Basecamp and Central Desktop, I didn’t think they were intuitive enough, the way the interfaces were designed, for my partners (who are business partners, not techies).
Although it is similar in many respects to Yammer, Present.ly (our review), Basecamp, Central Desktop, and even in some ways to Producteev (our review), WizeHive is a worthy competitor and adds a few twists of its own.
Like Yammer and the rest, WizeHive lets you set up workgroups and displays messages to everyone in a Twitter-like stream. But conversations are threaded. You can click to see an entire thread (the most recent message also appears at the top of the stream). WizeHive also works great on the iPhone and other mobile browsers (Blackberry and Android optimizations are coming soon), and you can get it as a desktop Adobe Air client or receive alerts in your email. (If you CC notes@wizehive and put the workspace in brackets in the subject line of an email, WizeHive will ingest and categorize the contents of the email, including attachments). Soon, you will be able to get WizeHive updates in your Twitter feed as well.
WizeHive also adds task-management features like Basecamp, Huddle, and Producteev. You can create a task, set a due date, and assign it to yourself or to someone else. Each task can be marked as “open,” “completed,” or “in progress.” You can also upload files, and everyone can view them in-browser. Images and files can be attached to specific messages.
The most distinctive feature of WizeHive, though, is that it allows you to create a small database for each workspace, complete with customizable data fields. This is great for managing contacts or organizing events. WizeHive plans to add additional apps for which it will charge subscription fees. The first two due out in January will be a simple Opprtunity Tracking app for CRM purposes and one for TimeSheets. WizeHive already has an API and hopes others developers will build their own add-ons.
WizeHive is free for up to three people and up to 50MB of storage, and then fees start at $8 a month for a small group, with additional fees for extra storage. Add-on apps built on top of the API will cost less than $10 a month, and is where Levinson thinks he can make the most money.
WizeHive Overview from mike on Vimeo.
In for one. Thanks!
worst UI 2008
Perhaps the colors are ugly, but the UI seems pretty straight forward to me.
Check out OPENGOO for much better UI and functionality.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say a 37Signals product was not intuitive, even for non-techies. I like the idea of custom data fields, though. Probably not enough to make me move from Basecamp and Highrise, though.
For what it’s worth I think the guys at 37signals and Central Desktop have done a great job. There was just a combination of interface, integration issues and features I felt I needed and that I thought others might be able to use.
considerable as another tool to organize stuffs. this tool may fit for some of my groups, but not to all. basecamp still rocks.
the problem with all these sites is they lack offline sync. I travel a lot and don’t like having to spend time uploading my work when I get to a hotel.
You’re kidding right? This is a slick UI. Like the intuitive glide from project to conversation and then back to overview. My main complaint with Basecamp are the walls btwn. tasks and projects. Problem because my personal and professional life are (sad to say) intertwined heavily.
interesting web app.
Used the beta key and will be taking wizehive for a spin over the next few days
Sign me up!
*sigh*
I am intrigued by your ideas and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
I hate to negatively comment on any new startups, since I hate it when people do it to me, but I can’t say I’m impressed. I understand it’s in beta, but it seems like a hodgepodge of functionality. They took pieces of other applications (workspaces, messaging, and todo) and put them together in a funky UI.
I’ll continue playing with it, but this didn’t grab my attention enough to get others using it.
I got a stupid question. I read TC for fun, I’m not a programmer or developer or venture capitalist, I just got a question. When there are so many similar sites that offer pretty much the same things, in different color schemes… what propels one to the forefront of internet royalty?
I am in for one as well!
Great story!
test
I know it’s still in beta, but compare the UI to the one developed by Socialtext. http://www.socialtext.com It doesn’t even look enterprise ready. Move on, nothing to see here. Socialtext just need to implement Twitter like functionality and it’s end game.
I could care less about the colors. The most important thing to me is the functionality and the flow. Is it adding any value to me, is it easy enough to use?
Thx for the invite code. I started testing it.
Our current plan is to allow users to choose some of their own colors at some point in Q1. If you like the flow and functionality we should be able to make colors (at least some of them) your choice.
Mike, et all,
Looks pretty useful after taking a look at the demo video and poking around a bit, BUT is there going to be a way for me to get data out maybe into an Excel file or some other way to back up data from Wizehive for local safekeeping? Just in case.
Yes. You’ll have the ability to export everything soon… targeting mid January at the latest. This way you can back up the data yourself as often as you want.
completely screws up in firefox
I’d really like one of these services to integrate a slick ajax chat room kinda like Basecamp, then it’d be perfect.