Email is broken. Social networks are not for private file distribution. Collaborative file sharing sites are missing pizzazz and key functions for the enterprise. This is the thought process behind Postwire by VisibleGains.
The company explained to TechCrunch, “We want to do for client communication what Flipboard did for blog reading.” By using a private sharing workspace, Postwire allows for both client collaboration and asset management in a visually smart way. They take shared videos, images and documents, arrange them on a grid layout similar to Pinterest, giving users within the shared group a compelling receptacle for these files. In short Postwire aims to be a landing page for shared files.
Take internal designers: With Postwire they are able to upload media to a private page shared with just their client. The two can both upload and view media to their personal Postwire account, selectively sharing specific media for quick collaborative sharing. There is even a sidebar that shows usage stats of the media.
The visual interface makes browsing and selecting media a bit more Luddite-friendly than traditional file sharing sites. The dead simple workflow might be Postwire’s most compelling feature.
Postwire is a site for the masses. Files are displayed as media rather than, you know, computer files. Embeddable content like videos and pictures can be viewed directly on the site in a popup. After uploading media, emails can be sent indicating to users that a file was just uploaded intended for collaboration. I was told that an iPhone app is a few months out that will even allow for mobile uploads of pics and videos.
VisableGains launched Postwire’s private beta in April and currently has “several hundred active users.” Prior to launching at Disrupt NYC today, VisableGains has raised $2.5M through two rounds of funding from AVG Ventures including a $1.5M Seed round in September 2010.
Disrupt Q&A
q: What’s the price?
a: The price point will be free with a $20 plan over that which gives you 10 pages. There is other a long term plan that includes new designs.
q: This could have been done 10 years ago with HTML. What have you guys seen in the market to suggest now is the time to launch?
a: Especially over the 3-4 years there has been a visual explosion. Pages are becoming able to let users digest pages visual. People expect it. No one like getting an email with a bunch of links. There’s a possibility and an expectation.
q: A big part of your early traction will come from small and medium business – -they are traditionally very hard to target — how are you going to get them on board?
a: We think partnerships one way to start cracking. When you get shared with a Postwire page, you have to sign up for freedom account.
q: What type of files will they be sharing? Why not Pinterest or Dropbox?
a: First, with Pinterest, it’s all photos. Dropbox is al files. Frankly even a Crunchbase page can be put in as a file.
q: How do you protect from new potentially spohiscated sites?
a: By keeping it simple. These people are people who do not want to switch. You’re going to think a lot if you’re going to switch if you’re interacting with your clients with the current system.