1. We complete a cool prototype mashup with box.net – we like box.net
2. Great progress on our API
3. Implement more QA controls and begin moving to a continuous build environment
4. Exploring all the possibilities that might exist with OpenSocial
5. Following the Portal Contacts project closely – the draft spec is looking good
6. Playing with an easy way to attach personal video using YouTube
7. Getting more familiar with Amazon S3 and EC2

1. We have to back off on the V3 BETA release to address scaling issues in V2 – it’s like changing tires on a car that still moving
2. We pull roll out some V3 feature in V2 as a stop gap
3. Imaging sizing, positioning and cropping is very well received
4. RealEstate.com adopts enthusem
5. Three very big partnership possibilities are in the works
6. We get an offer to sell the company and turn it down for the opportunity to build a startup in the worst economy ever – potential buyer and other think we’re stupid – we hope we’re not

July – October 2008

1. Version 2.0 BETA getting much better marks from users than 1.0 but still less friendly than it coult be
2. We decided to outsource the UI design and move the entire application functionality into Flash/Flex for Version 3.0 BETA
3. Too many UI comps and revisions to remember but we decide on one we like an roll with it
4. We start working on Version 3.0 beta (http://v3.enthusem.com) and target a live BETA in December of 2008

October – December 2008

1. We miss our target BETA 3.0 go live mostly because of a gazillion details that proved a bit more complex than anticipated – like distributing print job, gigantic file sizes that double our cost of bandwith each time they’re downloaded by the printer and tracking sales tax for mailer sent to Florida residents.
2. We’re loving the new look-and-feel so much that we put it on Version 2.0 BETA because that one is live (http://www.enthusem.com)
3. We figure out how to integrate with SalesForce.com – a lot simpler than we thought
4. We continue to have more ideas than time/resources to implement them
5. We get a ton of new users and daily mailing volumes spike dramatically from time-to-time (almost 10,000 in a day on high days – that’s a lot for us at this point)
6. We take a well needed break for the holiday!

Today for instance, I was talking to two small business owners about their marketing efforts. I couldn’t believe all the stuff they were doing – I wish I had half their energy. They spent 2-4 hours every day updating blogs, making podcasts, posting on twitter, polishing their website, publishing a newsletter and about a dozen other things.

They’d been doing this for about two years and had a sizeable online community developing. Yet, their business was on the brink of disaster. They had very few customers and an extremely weak sales pipeline. It didn’t make sense to me. You’d figure that any business putting this much effort into marketing would be in a better spot.

These were smart guys who were truly experts in their field so I wanted to understand what was going wrong. I found the answer after asking just two questions.

First, I asked how many people in their online community were decision makers who understood exactly what they sold, needed it and could afford it? The answer was; “we’re not sure”. My next question was how many current customer came from the current marketing activities – the answer was “zero”.

Now I’m a big fan of online marketing (this is a business blog after all). However, the Internet and all the hype around building online communities doesn’t change the fact that marketing needs to influence people who want or need and can afford what you sell.

Now, my marketing pitch. From www.enthusem.com you could setup an automated direct mail program that touched the CEO (or any other decision maker) of the company you’d most love to have as a customer every month for an entire year for just $48. Even better, you’d only spend about 10 minutes of your valuable time and you’d guarantee your marketing was targeting someone who needs and can afford what you sell.

Well, I’m a bit behind on the blog but Enthusem is coming along nicely. Here’s a quick intro and timeline to catch things up.

The Enthusem Concept:

An online service that makes sending postal mail (yea, the printed kind) super simple and seamlessly integrated with online content.

The service lets users send direct mailers one-at-a-time (or to a list of recipients) from a Web browser or through a set of web services. In addition, Enthusem mailers can include online attachments. The attachments link the printed communication to online content much like an attachment to an email message.

The www.enthusem.com website lets end users send Enthusem mailers while a set of web services let 3rd party applications send direct mail without all the complexities associated with your typical Web-to-print solution. So, for example, using the web services, a developer could create an add-in for Microsoft Outlook that would allow Outlook users to send direct mail in addition to email.

Timeline and Milestones to Date:

February – March 2007: General feeling that Web-to-print solutions are too complex and that there should be a way that anyone with Internet access to send postal communications as easily as sending email.

April – May 2007: Searching, searching and more searching for someone who has done it. Specifically we looked for a service provider that could answer “yes” to the following seven questions:

1. Can I send direct mailers one-at-a-time from a Web browser?
2. Can I do everything online without talking to a person?
3. Can I pay as you go?
4. Can I personalize text and graphics?
5. Can I use PURLs or something similar to tie-in online content?
6. Can I access the service through some sort of API?
7. Is the quality of the mailers something I’d be proud to send and can I get a free sample?

A number of services hit our radar but we didn’t find a single one with a “yes” answer to all seven questions.

June – August 2007:  The final decision is made to move full steam ahead with Enthusem and we start coding the first prototypes.

September – December 2007: Teamed up formally with Marc Fors – the perfect co-pilot. I learn (once again) that nothing ever goes as planned – we have to change lead programmers – we fall behind schedule for our planned internal beta tests.

January 2008: Internal beta is working (sort of)

February 2008: First public beta is live and working (sort of)

March – May 2008: First public beta gets marginal marks from initial users – “a little too light on the functionality”. Decision is made to scrap the initial release and rebuild.

June – July 2008: The second public beta is launched – user feedback is MUCH better but there’s still a lot of work to be done.