Wize up on what to buy (Part 4)

Wize is a relatively new entrant to the product research field, and unlike its competitor Become, does not offer an integrated search experience whereby you can do your product research as well as comparison shopping for price within the same environement.

I gave this feedback to Tom, and he agrees, that the fragmented user experience that his site currently offers will be a limitation in competing with Become and others.

Become, incidentally, is the second venture of mySimon founder Michael Yang, and has been around since 2004. In February 2000, mySimon was acquired by CNET for $700M, just before the market crashed with a thud in April of that year.

I would say, Michael was a lucky guy, but he is also doing it the second time round, so the experience certainly helps. In comparison, Tom Peterson is a first time CEO. In Tom’s favor: I am sure he is a lot hungrier!

SM: What kind of traction do you have?

TP: Wize continues to grow at a healthy rate, and we’re seeing increasing interest from customers. Meanwhile, we’re continuing to test out new business models, offerings, and approaches that will provide the long-term growth we’re looking for.

We’re getting about 200,000 unique visitors a month. Traffic is slightly seasonal, and towards the end of 2006, it was higher. We’re about 6-months old, so the ramp is pretty good.

SM: Is your team complete? Does it have depth?
TP: We feel great about our team, with people and experience from great companies like E*Trade, Netsuite, Best Buy, Target, The Village Voice, and Procter & Gamble.

That said, our funding is in place and we’re continuing to go after the best talent that we can find. We’re leveraging the fact that we have offices in San Mateo and Minneapolis to find the best people from across the country.

SM: What is the business model of your company? Ad Revenue only? Or are you also going to private label on behalf of other media / internet companies? What do you charge to do so?

Wize is primarily a lead generation business, acquiring traffic based on the
value of our service and providing customers access to stores where they can
buy the products they want. We also have an advertising model. We also plan to do some distribution partnerships.

SM: What is the revenue & profitability status of the company?
TP: As a private company, we’re unable to share details at this point in time.

SM: Okay, I can guess. Revenue isn’t much, and you are most certainly nowhere near profitability yet 🙂 Are you looking to raise another round of funding? Timeframe?
TP: We’ve got aggressive goals for 2007, but raising more money isn’t one of them.

SM: Thanks Tom, for the information. I will look at your site, and do a review next.

[Part 1]
[Part 2]
[Part 3]
[Part 4]
[Product Review]

This segment is part 4 in the series : Wize up on what to buy
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