

Founders at Work - Xobni Beta! - luccastera
http://www.foundersatwork.com/1/post/2007/09/xobni-beta.html

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lkozma
Don't want to be mean with Xobni, but considering all the buzz and all the
effort that went into it, there are some questions I have to ask. Most
importantly, what's the point in all this? What's wrong with e-mail? I get a
fair amount of e-mail, read it, delete/archive it, and that's it. Then GMail
does a fine job searching your archives. To be honest, I just watched the
video, although I got a beta invitation, haven't tried it as I don't use
Outlook.

So what's the point in all these analytics? It seems like searching the bible
for patterns. So I can find out that my friend sends more e-mails during the
day than when he is sleeping. Big deal, I don't care, it's his life. I write
him whenever I want, and he responds whenever he wants. That's the whole point
in e-mail, it's not disruptive. Then you can see who sent you the most
e-mails. Again, I couldn't care less. Glad I'm done with it and I can do
something else. I forgot someone's name. Great, if I'm asking a favor, I can
pretend I knew it all along. I assume most people who spend too much time in
Outlook do it to escape work and to procrastinate, much like reading reddit.
If that's the point, a new toy is really useful. To be fair, the previous
attachments function does look useful.

Finally I have an honest question. Ok, Xobni is a nice tool, but what's there
in it that couldn't have been done without the million-$-investments?

~~~
gaborcselle
lkozma - People who do have to deal with loads of email each deal have great
trouble organizing and searching their repository. This problem is so
prevalent that it's hard to deny it exists.

Our first product, Xobni Insight and Xobni Analytics, only the surface of what
can be done, and show only a fraction of what we want to do. Building these
initial products didn't take millions. But extending Xobni and building a
large and happy userbase will.

~~~
lkozma
Hey, maybe I'm not in the target audience, that's all. Anyway, as I said,
didn't want to sound mean even if I did. Good luck with your product.

