uses semantic Web technology to scan a user’s computer for files and data pertaining to an e-mail, and then drag and drop the relevant information to where it could be easily seen in one spot.
But friends, other entrepreneurs, and even mentors were telling him that technology that helped people better time and manage how to send e-mails would be far more beneficial.
In January, he finally had the epiphany himself, Moore says. He received an e-mail from a prospective advisor for his company, asking him to follow up in a week when he was back from vacation. The e-mail ended up getting lost beneath a slew of other more pressing messages, and was untouched by Moore for another seven weeks. He realized how big of a problem following up on his e-mails really was, and decided to officially shift the focus of his technology.
He first launched Boomerang for the Microsoft Outlook e-mail client in May, offering it for a one-time cost of $14.99. (He didn’t give figures on how many Outlook plug-ins the company has sold.) So far, the Gmail version of the plug-in is free, but Moore is exploring pricing models for the tool based on what he observes in the rapidly growing user base. He’s leaning towards charging for the Boomerang plug-in on hosted versions of Gmail used for company e-mail services (like Xconomy has).
With the massive response to the Gmail version of the technology, Moore says his startup has the validation that it’s focusing on the right problem. Now, he and his co-founder are working on scaling their technology to make sure it can handle the big customer demand, and also provide an easier user experience. He’s also developing it so that users can edit an e-mail draft even after they’ve set the time they want Boomerang to send it. (At present, if you edit a draft after selecting a time to send it, the outgoing mail gets cancelled.)
“We’re making an interface that allows you to change it and pop it back into drafts,” he says. “It’s going to be a much better experience. “
Moore is also looking to gear up to raise seed funding for Baydin, which didn’t look for any investors upon exiting TechStars last year. “We’ve got some traction now with the launch,” he says. “That’s the thing we were missing.”
[Updated August 18 at 12:39 pm] Readers, you can bypass the 6,000-person waiting list for Boomerang, by entering the code “Xconomy” here!
