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Mass Inno made the trek to Cambridge last night to the Web Innovators Group 22nd event/#webinno22 — another fantastic evening talking innovation, checking out the best in local Web-based applications and networking with the folks who make the scene. (Although we didn’t make the Scott Kirsner list of VIPs, we did get poke in the arm from him when we muscled through the hordes.) There was even a warm-up get-together at the Galleria Food Court organized by Bruce Lewis to welcome a fellow FriendFeed-er and out-of-towner visting from out West. (Learned some new uses for FriendFeed and how to avoid getting attacked by rampaging seagulls — give up the sushi and no one gets hurt.)
The WebInno Main Dishes were: Planet Cazmo, Thunder Thimble and BuySellAds.com.
Back in our deep dark past, we actually worked on one of Planet Cazmo’s competitors, so we’ll forgo an in-depth discussion of all things tween and just say that the virtual world with its heavy focus on music and celebrity virtual concerts seems like fun. As always, the challenge is converting that fun to dollars.
Thunder Thimble’s presenter impressed with his deft handling (courtesy of a well-timed tweet) of the chatterers in the back of the room — if you aren’t going to watch the program, don’t ruin it for others, please. With such a huge percentage of our MIN profile on Twitter, we can all use a way to monitor and respond in a timely, coordinated manner. We might need to check this out if we grow and expand our team. One side note on this venture, talking to Chad afterward, really liked the way the Thunder Thimble team has addressed free trials and monetization — more companies need to follow this path to making a living. They are providing a limited functionality and limited time free use offer but after that, here’s the payment plan. Everybody’s gotta make a living, boys.
But BuySellAds.com blew everyone away with its simplicity and elegance. Doing ads better than Google AdWords, offering content producers a bigger piece of the pie, and making it easy for everyone. Here’s hoping that Todd will be able to move the business out of his bedroom real soon. Just goes to show what is possible.
Look for the next Web Innovators Group event in September and if you have a Web ap, you need to be there.
