I started RiverGuide (www.riverguideinc.com) in January 2006 - it's a Web 2.0ish site focused on helping SMBs research and select software applications. Large companies may turn to Gartner for software research, while consumers may turn to C-Net. RiverGuide aims to meet the needs of the millions of companies in the middle through a portfolio of industry-specific websites. The first site is RiverGuide for Construction Software.

An FAQ on RiverGuide is below, but I'll spare you the pitch and mention my personal info. I moved to Montana with my girlfriend Lauren in March after ten years in the Bay Area. We got engaged just a couple weeks ago.

Before the move, I was working in corporate development at Epiphany, a CRM software company (1999 - 2005). Prior to that I was an investment banker covering ERP and CRM at Hambrecht & Quist (1995 - 1999). I am originally from Buffalo, NY and spent my college years in Jersey.

I'm looking forward to coming to Off-the-Grid and talking with a bunch of tech/Web folks that are "in the loop." I love Montana, but sometimes I feel less integrated into the tech scene.

RiverGuide FAQ

What is RiverGuide’s Strategy?

RiverGuide’s strategy is to serve niche vertical markets that currently have very limited access to good IT research. In addition to our first site for the construction industry, RiverGuide plans to enter additional industries such as healthcare, non-profit, property management, hospitality and education. We’ll leave the big markets like financial services, manufacturing and communications to Gartner et. al. and we won’t go into consumer tech markets where the list of technology-focused sites is endless. Our initial intent is not to be a giant web player – just a happy flea burrowing on the long tail of the web. I would expect that success in this first stage will provide a platform for entering additional markets and growing the company.

Who is RiverGuide’s competition?

At this point, our real competition consists largely of “substitute” sources of information on industry-specific software. These include trade magazines’ annual technology issues, word-of-mouth advice from industry peers or consultants that are hired to select software. As far as direct competitors, there are typically three to five software directories in each industry and there are a handful of larger directories that cover pretty much every software market – vertical or horizontal. For the most part, I’ve found these sites to be poorly designed, containing limited content and seemingly neglected (likely someone’s lingering side project from 1999).

How does RiverGuide differentiate from its’ competition?

Our primary differentiator is our vertical focus. Because each site is, or will be, focused on a single vertical industry (e.g. construction) we are able to recruit very specific, relevant content. We aren’t trying to be all things to all people; we will just launch one industry at a time and we won’t move on until we do it justice. Furthermore, the vertical markets we have chosen are largely neglected niche markets that aren’t worth the time of larger potential competitors. Through our eight months experience in launching the construction site, we’ve received a very enthusiastic response from vendors, consultants and software buyers that are excited to see an independent, professional and un-biased resource like this in their market.

How does RiverGuide come up with the product ratings and reviews on its site?

Keeping with our community-driven content, the product ratings and reviews on RiverGuide are generated by actual customers using each product. We built our own web-based survey system to collect ratings and reviews from customers. We employ some statistical methods such as a Bayesian average to smooth any bias. Plus, there is a high degree of editorial oversight to make sure our content is of high quality – something that is lacking in most user-generated content sites but can be better managed in a business-to-business community.

What is RiverGuide’s business model?

RiverGuide is a lead-generation engine for the vendors that participate in the site. The site is free to visitors, but vendors pay a lead fee for each lead that the site sends them. The leads can take the form of a completed web form or a pay-per-call event through the toll-free numbers we provision for each product on the site. There are no upfront costs for vendors to participate, so our entire model is pay-for-performance. There are no opportunities for vendors to pay additional fees for more prominent presentation of their products – every vendor is on equal terms.

What is the background of the founder?

I started RiverGuide last December after a ten-year career in Silicon Valley. From early 1999 until 2005, I was at Epiphany, where I ran corporate development and later the industry marketing team. Prior to Epiphany, I was an enterprise software research analyst at Hambrecht & Quist, the late investment bank. My undergraduate degree is from Princeton in economics. In March, I left the Bay Area to move to Big Sky, Montana, where I live with my fiancée, Lauren. The site was built by a remote team of four developers in San Mateo, the Philippines, Argentina and Cleveland. As RiverGuide grows, I intend to maintain a completely virtual organization.