Deal Radar 2009: Zoosk

Today’s Deal Radar moves the spotlight from enterprise software and open source to a topic that has not made an appearance recently: online dating. Zoosk, a dating network, was founded by Alex Mehr and Shayan Zadeh. They had met as students at Sharif University of Technology, Iran, and reunited in January 2007 to start a

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Deal Radar 2009: Chaupaati

We have discussed India’s Innovation Gap at length recently. Here’s a company that is trying to innovate with the mobile phone as a way to get to people who are otherwise unreachable, even via the Internet.

Deal Radar 2009: Extentech

We continue our focus on businesses that have monetized open source and discuss another core business tool which is being remade as a web-based application: the spreadsheet, by San Francisco-based Extentech, a leading developer of Java components and development tools. Founded in 1999 by John McMahon and Nicholas Rab, Extentech started as a consulting and

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Deal Radar 2009: Open-Xchange

Open Xchange, an open source software company, aims to provide users with an affordable ‘Internet-age’ alternative to commercial email and collaboration platforms like Microsoft Exchange and SharePoint. The company offers features such as shared calendars, document sharing, shared address books and email for iPhones and BlackBerry devices. 

Deal Radar 2009: Collaborative Software Initiative

I continue coverage of commercial open source with Collaborative Software Initiative (CSI). Founded in April 2007 by Stuart Cohen, the company applies open source methodologies to software development and business communities.

Deal Radar 2009: Shipwire

Shipwire offers outsourced warehousing and shipping services for online retailers and small business clients. Businesses use Shipwire for on-demand e-commerce order fulfillment services through a global warehouse network. With warehouses in Los Angeles, Nevada, Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver and the UK, Shipwire allows merchants to reduce shipping costs by locating inventory closer to buyers. This shipping

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Deal Radar 2009: Plain Black

There can be little doubt that this earnings season is one of the bleakest in living memory for companies of all sizes and in all sectors. But as I have pointed out, open source continues to be a bright spot of hope. This blog has featured a diverse group of companies that all use open

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Deal Radar 2009: Service-now.com

San Diego-based Service-now.com was founded in 2003 out of the ashes of Peregrine Systems, which was purchased by Hewlett-Packard (and is now that company’s competitor) in a fire sale. Fred Luddy, who was the CTO of Peregrine Systems, believed that legacy enterprise IT software is akin to “customer abuse” and set out to build a

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