WebInno Recall: Isabont
This post is the first of (hopefully) many which are another added feature to the Web Innovators Group site. Periodically, I intend to profile companies which have demonstrated either as a main or side dish at past WebInno event. These “WebInno Recall” posts will further highlight companies and their founders by providing a set of info which isn’t typically found on a company’s website or elsewhere in the blogosphere. Also, it should provide a little additional exposure for these emerging startups to those WebInno members who may have missed them at a previous event, as well as an update on new developments for those who did have a chance to see them in the past.
The first Recall profile is on the Arlington,MA-based startup Isabont, an online service which gives job seekers a simple way to create resumes and organize their job search. And true to WebInno form, the company has a great recorded overview demo of the service on its site. I recently asked the founder, Simon Clay Michael, a few questions:
Could you provide a brief overview of the service?
Isabont is an online, fully-integrated suite of tools for the active and passive job seeker. New job leads are delivered directly to your account via RSS feeds. It includes: templates to easily create resumes, cover letters and other job search documents, which you can email or print in a variety of different formats; folders to save and track all your jobs through the application process; a contact manager with diary notes; and follow up reminders to help with your networking and the calendar function offers email and cell phone alerts.
What is the founding story? What was the inspiration behind your idea?
During my job search in 2004, I found it very frustrating trying to use separate pieces of technology to manage the job search. Word, Outlook, spreadsheets and pen and paper didn’t cut it. The missing piece was having a single integrated solution to produce and track documents, manage and organize the job search, and be accessible from virtually anywhere.
What is the basic idea or premise of the company? What problem are you trying to solve? What is innovative about the idea or the approach?
We provide a full suite of integrated services to help individuals with their career-life. We’re not like Monster, Hotjobs, Careerbuilder etc. who we see as only providing limited value to job seekers over and above job listings. Isabont is the only company that provides an integrated solution of the most critical functionality job seekers need. Isabont combines a CRM, workflow and document creator into one easy to use online application. Helping the active job seeker today and beyond while they’re employed with a way to maintain and grow their networks, and keep their information fresh and relevant.
How do you plan to monetize your service?
Currently the revenue model is to offer a basic free service and enhanced premium features at $9.95 / 30 days.
What are some notable accomplishments since you presented at WebInno? How has the company changed and developed since then?
A number of things have happened since demo’ing as a side dish at WebInno in September 2006. We’ve:
- Introduced an RSS reader to harvest job listings from most online job-boards.
- Improved the quality and number of resume templates.
- Launched an improved look and feel to the site, giving it a more appealing and fresher look.
- Updated and improved the help section.
- Added video demos to guide users on how to use Isabont to their advantage.
What can you share about the company that isn’t immediately apparent from the website?
The site was built using Ruby on Rails, and we are active in supporting and giving back to the open source community.
How did you find your WebInno demo’ing experience?
In a nutshell, a load of fun with great exposure, interest, ideas, feedback and contacts. In addition to seeing, and contributing feedback and ideas to all the other cool products, WebInno is an excellent event to gain feedback from users, potential investors and partners. The number and diversity of interactions you have is like having a massive brainstorming, feedback and idea session in a very focused 2 hours, and proved to be a bonus I didn’t expect to get. We received so many product enhancement suggestions, possible partnership and affiliations, and some direct requests that made the event so valuable to participate.
Anything else to add?
The variety and range of ideas and suggestions from others really opens your eyes to a lot of possibilities, and we’re certainly open to entertaining discussion on possible partnerships and alliances. As we grow and evolve we’re going to need passionate individuals to help us get there, if Isabont, and what we stand for, interests you, we’d love to hear from you.
Note that I am currently looking for both main and side dish presenters for the upcoming WebInno event on May 22nd. If your startup is interested in demo’ing in this forum, please reach out to me (david at webinnovatorsgroup dot com).
