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YC startup Xobni launches beta at TechCrunch 40

xobni.com

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Re: YC startup Xobni launches beta at TechCrunch 40

#21
I am one of the many forced to use outlook for work. However, everyone I've interacted with uses web Outlook, not the installed client, myself included. Am I right that Insight does not work on the web version?

If so I might actually consider installing Outlook on my laptop just to get it, which is saying something. I would much rather not have to guess which page Ivanov is in my entire past history of alphabetized-by-sender messages.

Re: YC startup Xobni launches beta at TechCrunch 40

#22
To shed some light on our strategy for Xobni Insight:

What we've really been working on is a general platform for aggregating communication data (and on your machine, not ours!). The current features you see in Xobni are just a few ideas implemented on top of our platform. We will do more.

We say it's beta for a reason (this is not going to be gmail-esque "it's always beta"), because we plan to add many fixes/features/platforms as we learn more about the needs of our (hopefully) growing user base. We really appreciate feedback, whether it is a problem report (support@xobni.com) or a new feature idea (beta@xobni.com).

Thanks for sticking with us everyone!

Re: YC startup Xobni launches beta at TechCrunch 40

#24
post #20

Why do email analytics matter? Why does it matter how many emails I sent/received from a given person?

It probably doesn't. What matters more is how you use email. I recommend GTD method (after personally trying half a dozen methods, GTD works the best). If you're on a Mac, try http://indev.ca/MailTags.html

Re: YC startup Xobni launches beta at TechCrunch 40

#25
post #10

wow! i looked at the demo for the first time and i can see nothing useful or interesting about xobni. this project has raised millions in funding? a plugin that adds some functions to outlook? this project is as doomed as a project can be. next in line: etirovaf : a browser plugin that lets you search your bookmarks rabksat : a plugin that displays all your applications right on the desktop nwodtuhs : the easy power-…

You joke, but there could be startups there. None of those features are done perfectly yet. If a startup could do one of those things amazingly well, they'd possibly find a good business in there too. Bookmarks in particular is a rich area.

Re: YC startup Xobni launches beta at TechCrunch 40

#27
I like that it seems to focus a lot on usability, ie giving people what they need most. I only wonder about the quote from the article: "a huge number of people who feel overwhelmed and frustrated by an ever expanding inbox". If that is the case, I wonder if technology is the right approach to solve it. Maybe if the Inbox is overflowing, something else is going wrong (messed up processes etc.). Especially if it is a trend that continues, even with tools like Xobni the information processing capabilities of the human brain can only scale so much.

Re: YC startup Xobni launches beta at TechCrunch 40

#28
post #11

I give Microsoft 1 year or until the next release of Outlook Professional. By that time they will either buy Xobni or copy the functionality. On a related note, you can see Bill Gates as one of the contacts of the test guy in the video.

You may be overestimating their speed. MS has very long cycles. If the features aren't already being developed, then they are unlikely to appear for a long time. Meanwhile, Xobni will keep getting better.

Re: YC startup Xobni launches beta at TechCrunch 40

#29
I have been running it all day today and want to share my experience and thoughts.

First, our company is about 60 people. And every person I click on is "connected" to everybody, I suppose simply because at some point he or she emailed to the entire company. That makes the entire panel kind of useless.

Same happens to "Previous Conversations with Joe" panel: it contains a bunch of emails most of them I did not even read, because they were announcements and both of us happened to be on the list.

This is a general problem a lot of corporate email users face: we get tons of shit. You are tired of reading it all, because most of the time it is not relevant to you. Stupid announcements about stupid meetings, garage parking crap, financial results and what not. I only want to focus emails that were sent to me or maybe to me plus 1-3 other people. Everything else (well... in my case) is considered to be noise.

Re: YC startup Xobni launches beta at TechCrunch 40

#30
post #7
post #4

That is a really awesome looking product. I wonder why they built it as an Outlook extension though. With everyone's focus on web applications I'm interested to hear why they felt an outlook add-in was the way to go.

Their investors use Outlook... Xobni is solidly targeted at the enterprise.

Not all of their investors use Outlook :)
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