Over on my blog, I announced today that we plan on shutting down BricaBox.
We’ll keep you as informed as possible going forward and for now we’ll keep the site live.
Thanks for everything! You guys are great. If you have any questions, feel free to write us at support@bricabox.com
Best,
Nate
Yesterday, I stepped outside the BricaBox bat cave for a while and went across the street for a Shake Shack lunch meetup, organized by Fred Wilson (his coverage here).
While waiting for our Shack Burgers, Fred asked me to give my elevator pitch. He already knew me and about BricaBox, but he had never heard my version of our pitch.
So, I gave my 15 second pitch:
“With BricaBox, you can create a Social Content Application in minutes, with a few clicks, drags, and drops.” It’s the pitch I give everyday — the one that goes along with this graphic:
Fred’s response was then like many others: “How does this relate to Ning?” he posed. (Oddly we rarely get “How does this relate to Wordpress or PBWiki?” or anything else — it’s always Ning.)
So then I tried a new one on him:
“BricaBox is Ning for Content.”
Fred’s response: “I like that. That works,” (responding to the pitch, not necessarily the company — I’ll still work on that 
The reasoning, Fred explained, is that Ning is clearly gaining some currency in the industry, and anytime you can say something is “this for that,” you can get get our of teaching mode (”let me tell you what a Social Content Platform is”) and communicate your message quickly and easily.
Communicating quickly and easily is exactly why buzz words exist, and have a purpose for this reason.
Back to lunch and BricaBox and our pitch, the next thing that happened brought everything full circle:
Albert Wenger, another Partner of USV, was also in line with us. He too heard the pitch and nodded in agreement when Fred endorsed the “Ning for Content” approach; but when his wife, Susan, joined us in line — who as co-founder of DailyLit is no web-tech slouch herself — Albert chose to introduce BricaBox as “a social content platform,” straight from my “teaching pitch.”
Reading into this, I assumed he thought Ning would be a little out there for Susan, even considering her knowledge of the space; and this showed me that unless I knew my audience really knows the inner guts of the web industry, I may still have to cling to my teaching pitch, and save my quick-pitch for highly specialized crowds.
So, to you, my reader, this post is two things:
Beyond “Ning for Content,” here are other one liners people have liked:
Thanks for thinking about all this. I look forward to your feedback.
Later this month (February 2008) we will launch the BricaBox Platform. But what is BricaBox? Why did we make it and what problem are we trying to solve? Most importantly, what can YOU do with it? Here, in Part 1 of our Manifesto, we try to explain the history of our market and why we’ve created BricaBox:
Searching for the Universal Social Content Platform
Part 1: History and Market Analysis
We believe in technology which is disruptive, and in disruptive technology which is empowering.
In the last decade, the best of example of a disruptive and empowering technology has been the Blog. Its significance is in the way the blog flattens: before, one needed vast resources to build a content management system and compete with the New York Times; now, all one needs is one click. The blog’s disruptiveness has reverberated far and wide; newspapers have stopped printing and politicians have resigned due to the free utility of the blog.
In the last 5 years, the blog has shared the stage with new social applications. Some of these social applications have been social networks, but the most valuable and compelling have been what we call “social content sites.” YouTube and Wikipedia have led this social content wave and have demonstrated the value of having groups of people contribute to a base of content. However, little has happened to grant everyday web users the power to create their own social content sites. While wiki and video platforms have emerged, the same simplicity and universality that made the blogging platform so powerful has yet to appear in the social content space. Tools like MediaWiki or PBWiki have lowered barriers to help you make your own Wikipedia; but, the fat and long tail (diverse and highly valuable) of other social content sites, which do not yet have free and easy-to-use platforms, are left with extraordinarily high barriers to participation.
Consider these examples:
Yelp is a fantastic social content site for restaurant reviews, mashing up mapping data to user reviews; yet, no platform exists so that everyday users can create their own niche restaurant review site. LibraryThing is a wonderful website for literary fanatics, and uses Amazon’s data to enhance its entries, yet no platform exist so that everyday users can create their own book club site; 43things is a place for people to share personal goals, and allows its users to ask each other questions, yet no platform for people to create their own goal sharing, zeitgeist site.
These needs — the needs of millions of people who would love to create their own restaurant or book review site, and the millions more who would like to create a site for baby naming, or vacation reviews, or photography/maps mash-ups, or wiki/video how-to sites — are not being met by today’s small collection of social content platforms.
It is our opinion that one-off, rigid platforms will not unlock the value in this “long tail” of social content sites; therefore, we have set off to create a universal social content platform: a way for anyone to create a social content website using any combination of tools and data sources, just as easily as someone can create a blog.
BricaBox is a Universal Social Content Platform. It’s platform for you to create your social content site.
Your social content website should be a reflection of what you want it to be, not what a fixed niche platform decides it should be. If you want wiki functionality on your video site, you should be able to drag and drop that in. If you want weather data for your restaurant reviews, you should be able to drag and drop that in. And so, we’re presenting BricaBox with the tenants of flexibility, universality, and self-expression. We believe this combination will be disruptive in the social content space and empowering for its users.
Kyle Bragger is:
Why am I writing about Kyle? Because too many people know who I am and not enough people know Kyle. It’s time you got to know him.
Back story, or: How Bragger met BricaBox
This past spring, I was working on version 1 of this project, creating a little app called “VentBox” (if you’re wondering how the two are connected, realize that you can make VentBox with BricaBox, etc, etc). The first design for the app was something I sourced from oDesk, but it looked and felt like crap, so I decided I needed a real designer to get involved, just like I was working with a real developer at the time.
So, an ad went up on 37Signals Gig Board — our person wish list is still posted on the VB Blog — and very shortly after, I got this email in the sea of others:
Greetings Nate,
I’m very interested in the VentBox gig: http://gigs.37signals.com/gigs/179My company site & portfolio, although very, very limited at the moment (just relaunched my company site and have many pieces to put up yet), is located here:
http://www.trndy.net
Could you elaborate on what you mean in saying “directed the user”?
Regards,
Kyle
Now, there’s a whole great long story behind why I ended up working with Kyle (mostly it had to do with him undercutting the competition and sounding crazy enough on the phone that he’d be fun to work with), but pretty much the rest is history.
He came on board in early March; visited NYC in the middle of the month to brainstorm about the new design; pumped out the design nearly before he left that day; started working on some new features (”I had bought a programmer too?!” I couldn’t believe) right off the bat; helped present the new design to Brett’s Web 2.0 Meetup back when there were 30 people in the room (not the 250 there are now); that night he helped me understand that the platform I really wanted to build should be built from scratch — I had learned so much developing the first version, but the code was not transferable — and then convinced me he’d be willing to help me see my idea through, and that he was the right man for the job; by this time, Kyle was already moving up to New York City, after taking a job with The Huffington Post.
Now, I’m can’t speak for Kyle and say that he was smart to have joined forces with me — time will tell? — but I can say that he’s been the right man for the job. Let me tell you about how Kyle has innovated with this platform, from the eyes of the “not-technical-enough-to-program” CEO:
BricaBox is an extremely complex application. Our goal is to both simplify and enhance the collection, organization, connecting of, publishing, relating around, and promoting of content and data. Simplify and enhance. Better said, simplify and revolutionize.
So, besides just being thousands and thousands of lines of code, there is functionality within the app which has not really been done before, even by Ruby on Rails super-star outfits like 37Signals and Robot Coop; Rails was born out of 37Signals’ Basecamp, so it goes without saying that Basecamp itself doesn’t really push outside the boundaries of Rails… it defines them. But sometimes, when you’re not doing Basecamp, you have to go outside those boundaries.
For instance, we publish your sites on subdomains of our site. Simple, right? If you were getting down and dirty with PHP, perhaps. But even 37Signals uses a PHP front-end to manage marketing, billing, etc, etc. Then they throw the sites on the subdomains using a plugin (or gem — my non-coding self doesn’t remember the difference yet) called “account as subdomain,” but there’s no global view — no main account on BasecampHQ.com. But that’s what BricaBox is. You have BricaBox accounts, sites, global directories, specific profiles, and…
…then there’s the whole custom domains issue, which again, no one has really done like we’ve done. The Robot Coop published xs_auth so that you could login on one of their sites and be logged in on their other sites, but they didn’t have to worry about subdomains like we do. Not only do we allow top level domains, but we also allow subdomains of top level domains, and Kyle coded that straight up.
And how about our content aware “blocks” system? For those of you who have seen it, you may begin to grasp the complexity which is behind the interface and functionality. Today, that interface and functionality got a lot crazier and more complicated, but more usable for the enduser. It’s not so often you find someone who innovates in code and UI in the same movement. But yeah — that’s my CTO.
So consider this a Thanksgiving post. I’m thankful to be working with this guy. But also, consider it an introduction, because you’re going to be seeing a lot more of Kyle now that we’re getting BricaBox out there and people are thinking about and wondering what’s under the hood. It’s pretty fantastic stuff, and if you have any questions, or if you have any suggestions, feel free to reach out, buy him a beer, and chat him up. He’s at Kyle (of course) @ BricaBox.com.
PS: Any technical representation or description of ourselves or others could be off the mark. There are things I “get” about the programming aspect of things and things I don’t get. Let me be clear: anything I’m off the mark on here is not a representation of claims Kyle’s made. He’s too humble to say he’s the first at something. So I could be wrong on some of these analysis, but that doesn’t reflect Kyle or take away from his work.
Hi, Kyle here. I wanted to write a brief post explaining some of the visual changes BricaBox is undergoing as we speak. You may have noticed the brand new homepage we’ve got up at www.bricabox.com; it’s just one of the many redesigned aspects of the app we’ll be rolling out in the next few weeks. We’re taking an in-depth look at each page and identifying what we do well, as well as what we could be doing better. It’s our hope that the upcoming design changes will make BricaBox the killer publishing platform you’ve been looking for. So, if you see a page that looks funny, slightly out of whack, or just plain screwed up, our apologies, but rest assured something great is coming very soon. Cheers!
“Brica What?!” is a new series of video case studies we’re going to publish to help people understand what BricaBox is “good for.” The first episode is Nate’s first attempt ever at a screencast. The quality of the direction, narrative and transcoding will increase over time. I’m just happy to get one out and hear people say, “Ahh, so that’s what BricaBox can do…”
Yeah, that, and a whole lot more. More episodes coming soon. For now, enjoy:
PS: For those of you with BricaBox access already, check this out at what.bricabox.com, the official home of the “Brica What?!” series.
So things are kicking along nicely for BricaBox. With what good news shall I begin?!
Here it goes:
News Item #1
We’re proud to say that BricaBox won 2nd place (after a double tiebreaker) at Sun Mircosystems’ “Best Startup” Contest at Startup Camp NYC. There were over 25 companies who entered and they were all awesome. Congrats go to our friends at UpNext for their 1st place finish. Also, a big thank you to Sun and the Startup Camp folks (David Berlind & Co). Also, big thanks to our friends Charlie and Alex of Path101 and Michael of A.viary for their help in the competition. It was a swell event and we had fun (by the way, I hosted a fun session called the “Business of APIs” inspired by the Mashery Conference I went to, and will post about it on my blog later this week).
News item #2:
We now have a phase 1 launch date! On November 8th, we’ll be down in Las Vegas for the Blog World Expo and from that location we’ll set some of the first sites “powered by BricaBox” live on the world. We’re really excited and will have more info about that launch soon. (Also, if you plan on being there (Las Vegas, Nov 8 - 9th), drop us a line on the contact page and or just come find us at booth 502.)
News item #3:
Next we should tell you about our new home on 23rd Street. Actually, we can’t really tell you much about it yet. That will also be its own post in the coming future. But let’s just say that we’re super happy to be in a very cool incubator space for the next few months as we transition into some longer-term startup space we’re actually helping build!
News item #4:
Next Monday, the 29th, BricaBox will be presenting at NYCE’s Feedback Forum. Spaces are limited, so if you’re interested in stopping by, checking out BricaBox and giving us some constructive criticism, please do!
News item #5:
While at Startup Camp, I had the good fortune of getting interviewed by Blog Talk Radio’s own Director of Biz Dev John Havens (most of you know him for his contributions in organizing PodCamp). Anyway, I had a great time — despite the fact that it was so early in the morning — and you can check out the interview here (or embedded below).
Even more news soon, but thats it for now.
These past few weeks have been so crazy for us, but the next ones are going to be even crazier!
Here’s a look behind BricaBox scenes, with Kyle sleeping on the couch, wireframes in embrace.
In his post about “The Dark Side of Platform Development,” USV Analyst Andrew Parker makes some important observations about the territory we’re in with BricaBox and talks about the perills of building a platform which relies on free web services (APIs).
I’ve been a little mum about BricaBox specifics on this blog, but I couldn’t help but react to Andrew’s post, and in so doing I’m revealing a little about how we’re thinking about these issues and how they affect our product.
Because I’ve posted that comment (and because Charlie has been getting on me about not being more open about the product) I’d like to talk a little more about what BricaBox “is” and is up to:
To start, BricaBox is a publishing platform. It allows you to create a web site much in the sense a blogging platform allows you to create “site” (don’t you hate when people refer to it as just a site, though? It’s a blog! — or in our case, it’s a BricaBox!). Also like a blog, you can “have” one of these sites, or just visit one.
Our platform allows you to make your BricaBox about anything you want, but it’s especially designed for content which has a theme and is composed consistently (like a list of places, people, companies, words, ideas, to-dos, etc). If your content is of one of those broad categories, our platform connects your data to some of the web’s most useful APIs, allowing you to see that content mashed-up in a bunch of interesting ways without knowing any programming. What more, BricaBox has a smart permission system which will allow you to invite a broader community to contribute (like a wiki) and engage (like YouTube) with the content you’re publishing.
As you can see, one of the reasons I’ve been avoiding talking too much about BricaBox until it’s in the public eye is because it’s rather heady. To paraphrase the words of a (different) VC analyst I’ve shown BricaBox to, “This could be like Blogger, before people knew the significance of blogging.” We’ll certainly let history runs its course without making such claims ourselves, but now you see what direction things would have to go in for us to be successful.
Anyway, I hope you find this information and my comments to Andrew useful in understanding what we’re up to. Also, I hope to get more people looking at the platform soon so we can continue to get valuable feedback.
Comments to Andrew:
This is a very interesting note. You’re right — these issues do not go un-addressed by teams developing applications and platforms which rely on the services (in some cases free) of others (especially when those “others” have such an ability to reinvent *your* wheel overnight).
On the data pipeline control issue, we have a belief that all services on the web are best publicly available, and — here’s the important part — the more folks who have access and ability to use these services as they see fit, the more likely they are to stay free and available to folks who have access and ability to use them. This is a common balancing act on the Internet, but ultimately both API service providers and ourselves want to see web services in the hands of people. We think creating a platform for that to happen adds to this natural, democratic process.
On the second point, indeed the Goliaths can come out with their own versions of applications, functions, and platforms, but they can’t always communicate the value of their product as effectively as an independent company focused on that one thing. Google’s replacement of boutique RSS readers with the Reader app may be easier to predict because there’s only so much one can do to differentiate a product which receives consistently formatted information over a set protocol — and Google can do it. But for a product like a blogging platform, the Big Cos. can still have their product out and doing well (i.e. Blogger) while other companies exist happily, earning revenue, innovating and building value for their users, investors, and the broader Internet community (i.e. Six Apart’s several, eventually acquired products, tumbler, Twitter, to reference a few).
So my reaction to your post, in a nut shell, is this: Yes we lose sleep over these issues, but no it doesn’t phase us. Anyway, it’s my over simplification to say that if these services and platforms are really valuable enough that we’re worried about how Google compete, then we’re in the right business.
I saw this video on the blog of Crayon’s Greg Verdino.
Mr. Schmidt had some interesting things to say, especially in the context of a room full of analysts and reporters (I would assume a more techie crowd would have had a more exact response).
Eric is certainly talking about stuff BricaBox is up to, but I’m not sure I want to run out and call BricaBox a Web 3.0 platform yet. Instead, I like to think of it as something that does a ton of really useful things for anyone with an Internet connection. If that’s a “Web 3.0″ product then that’s great: call the “marketing” guys and let’s make a poster, a t-shirt, and a digital cookie (excuse the pun).
But for now, we’re not going to worry about it. We have people to hire and new alpha customers to sign-up.
Enjoy the video.
and be cool like
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