Web 2.0 Crazy - Value Anyone

I have been doing lots of research on Web 2.0 lately and continue to be confused on the massive amount of companies attempting to make some value proposition out of products that just don't seem to carry any revenue model. Yes, advertising can get you somewhere but that should never be the entire equation. If you look at the trends surrounding web 2.0 it seems to be focused on social networking, information aggregators or some sort of porting of desktop application to the web. I have yet to see a creative player taking these trends and trying to make a model in which users will actually pay for the service. More importantly, look at how much investment is going into these areas and we already know at best there will only be one or two winners in each marketplace. Here are some examples that confuse me:

Digg.com - ok, awesome service, News, bookmarking and social networking all tied into one. I learn something new on that site every day, but I have never clicked on an ad and probably never will. I know there has been some talk about using the technology to create a review service for different types of products, but there are many dominating services already out there that let you get users participate in this way, i.e Amazon reviewing . And more importantly, nobody really wants to pay for this because they will just find it for free somewhere else.

Meebo - allows people to sign into different chat services directly through the web. Nice interface and it works pretty well, but how do they generate revenue. This seems to be a nice to have and I have yet to figure out what pain they are solving?

I guess my point is that when are we going to get away from "look another cool Web 2.0 application" and start talking about how we can solve people's pain. When we started Cardvio, we were looking for a way to change the way people send greeting cards because it's a pain to go to the card store and find a card, deal with addresses and getting it to the mail. I would really like to see more companies take 2.0 technologies and make applications that help solve a real need in the marketplace and porting desktop applications to the web doesn't count. It's about asking what the new level of functionality allows us to do that hasn't been done before. It's also about finding the pain, so here are some pain points that stand out for me:

Data management - I hate the fact that I have 5 to 10 versions of every document I ever make and I wish there was a better way to track, store and share these document in an easy way. I think about sending a document out to 5 people to review and having to manage edits from all of them.

Sharing - I have so much stuff on my computer from pictures, movies, music that just sits on my computer gaining dust. I would love a way to easily share all this stuff with people I know. I saw a demo of the IWeb product from Apple and thought it was a great tool, but what about the rest of us that live in the PC world.

Ok, enough ranting for tonight, back to work. And just in case, if you haven't already, use www.cardvio.com.

Web 2.0 - Cardvio Greeting Cards

Thought I would start by sharing our first press release, enjoy!!

Cardvio™ Provides Mother’s Day Solution for the Next Generation
Now you can design and send high quality greeting cards from your PC

April 21, 2006, Malden, MA – Cardvio, the leading innovator in “Net-to-Mail” greetings solutions has announces Version 2.0 of its online greeting card design studio at www.cardvio.com. Just in time for Mother’s Day, Cardvio has stocked its supply of themed cards and upgraded it’s capabilities to include features for design such as:

• Enhanced drag and drop positioning for text and photo
• An expanded font list to include most fonts found on standard PC’s or Mac
• The addition of thousands of cards to search through, including an extensive set of blank backgrounds

Whether sons and daughters want to go the extra mile and design a personal card with their own photos and art, or if they simply do not have the energy to drive to the card store, Cardvio will make this holiday and others, more special. Cardvio takes advantage of new capabilities available to Web 2.0 applications to bring WYSIWYG editing simplicity and design to a new level for creating personalized greeting cards. Cardvio couples that with next day, in the mail, convenience for users who don’t have the time or ability to get to a card store and the post office.

Says CTO Bill Spencer “AJAX, Rich Internet Applications, and Adobe (formerly Macromedia) Flex are the rage nowadays, but few companies have been able to capitalize on the promise of these powerful new interfaces. Cardvio™ 2.0 is a convincing demonstration that the promise is already here.”

Launched in January of 2006, Cardvio has captured the imagination and the attention of individual consumers and business alike. Cardvio’s client list includes WorldWise Education, Inc., Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation, Norkom Technologies, Inc., among others. Cardvio draws its themed-card content from Paramount Cards Holding Corporation, America’s oldest and third largest greeting card company, with a library of more than 20,000 beautifully designed greeting cards.

About Cardvio

Cardvio™ is an Internet software and services company that provides online Constituent Relationship Management solutions for nonprofit organizations and original equipment manufacturers. The Cardvio™ web resource combines on-line text, picture and photo design tools with on-demand printing, and just-in-time mailing to deliver personalized business marketing information, greeting cards, certificates, flyers and other artwork with next-day, in-the-mail, convenience, and low cost to consumers and businesses. Cardvio™ markets this “net-to-mail” solution to consumers, professional service businesses, non-profits, on-line portals, and e-Merchants where delivery of a personalized message is a key factor to success.

Forward-Looking Statements
In addition to historical information, this press release contains forward-looking statements (including, without limitation, express or implied statements regarding the adoption of software solutions by nonprofit organizations) that involve risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements represent our estimates and assumptions only as of the date hereof. These statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are based on assumptions and subject to risks and uncertainties. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performances or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation: our limited operating history; our history of losses; our dependence on increased acceptance by nonprofit organizations of online fundraising; lengthy sales cycles for major customers; our need to manage growth; risks associated with accounting for and processing large amounts of donations; the rapidly changing technologies and market demands; and other risks identified in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.