Wigix
Encyclopedia
Wigix, also known as Wigix.com, Wigix.cn, and Wigix, Inc., is an online consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer marketplace whose model mimics the financial trading platforms. The company name is an acronym for "Want It Got It eXchange". Along with Wigix.com, the company also owns China-based ddku.com as a wholly owned subsidiary. Wigix also owns the following domain names: wigix.com, wigix.cn, ddku.com.
From its inception, Wigix is a marketplace to sell goods in the similar fashion that stocks are sold. Each good/product has a single page, called an “Item Detail Page,” within the “catalog.” On that page, sellers can list their own item as a “Sell Order.” Buyers can view the open sell orders and agree to a price, or list a “Buy Order” at a lower price for sellers to view.
The use-cases for the Wigix service are: to buy, to sell, to build a portfolio for asset tracking and evaluation, and to contribute to the Wigix catalog for monetary compensation.
As a part of its community, social networking and Web 2.0
efforts, the service includes the ability to find and invite “friends.” This enables typical social website functions, including being notified on friends activity, and read-access to friends’ portfolios, watch lists, and gift registries. Other community-based features include the ability to post blogs participate in discussion threads.
Public Beta: April 29, 2008
1,000,000 Item Detail Pages: July 27, 2008
2,000,000 Item Detail Pages: January 28, 2009
Out of Beta (General Release): February 5, 2010
. After beta, Wigix removed its transactional fees, making it free to sell on its marketplace.
Storefronts: On October 22, 2008, Wigix unveiled services for high-volume B2C sellers. It’s service, called “Storefronts”, offer a customized point of sale with inventory management, sales management and reporting tools. Each registered storefront owner receives a short URL and a web store. Store owners can manage this store inventory using shelving, smart shelving and sifting functions.
Tagged Products, Discussion Threads and Blogs: On January 9, 2009, Wigix introduced Tagging
, a function to attached a keyword to any product. This provided a way to find related items and added a cloud-based structure to the catalog, secondary to the normal catalog browsing already implemented. On March 4, 2009, the company expanded the tagging function to include discussion thread and blog postings.
“Label Your Stuff”: On January 27, 2009, the website added photo tagging, which is the ability for members to label products in their uploaded photos. The company suggests using the feature for showcase, insurance and “total solution” selling reasons.
Themed Communities: On March 4, 2009, the company added Themed Communities, sections of the website dedicated to a focused group of products for the sharing of stories, advice, interaction with other Wigix members, and as an avenue to contact like-minded shoppers.
, where he built Schwab’s 1st and 2nd generation web trading platforms.
Bob Lee, Founder & CTO. Prior to Wigix, Bob was Vice President of Product Management at Cyanea Systems. Bob was also Vice President of IT at Epoch Partners/Goldman Sachs
and Vice President of IT at Charles Schwab
.
Albert Loh, Founder & VP Finance and Operations. Prior to Wigix, Albert was head of IBM
’s Project Management Office. He has also been CFO for the Guangzhou Jianlibao Group’s Southeast Asian Region.
Tim Draper, Board Member. Tim is Founder & Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson
, known for advancing "viral marketing". He is also a member of the Board of Directors at The BizWorld Foundation, Singapore's Economic Advisory Council
, Ukraine's Orange Circle, U.C. Berkeley's Haas School of Business
, Glam
, Tagworld, SocialText
, Kyte.tv, Chrome Graphics, Meebo
, and Increo.
Bill Burnham, Board Member. Bill is Managing General Partner of Inductive Capital that focuses on leveraging private market insights to improve public portfolio management. He was Managing Director at Mobius Venture Capital Inc., an early stage investment company and at Softbank Capital Partners
a late stage investment company, and held management positions at Booz, Allen & Hamilton
, Credit Suisse First Boston
, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell and Piper Jaffray
.
Nick Donofrio
, Board Member. Nick is a Fellow, and an Executive Vice President INT Alumnus of IBM
. Nick is also a member of the Board of Directors at the Bank of New York Mellon
, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
, the Council for the United States and Italy, and the Genographic Project. He was Executive Vice President, IBM Corporation, responsible for a worldwide organization of 130,000 employees in research, global manufacturing & procurement, governmental programs, corporate community relations, and well as On-demand technologies.
, based in Menlo Park, California
. The firm has a previous reputation of funding successful technology companies, including Hotmail
, Skype
, and Meebo
.
Founding and Early History
The company was founded in Oakland, California, on March 28, 2007, by James Chong, Bob Lee, Albert Loh. Invitations to the a private beta started on June 5, 2007. After six months in private testing, the service was opened up to the public (still in beta) ten weeks later, on April 29, 2008.From its inception, Wigix is a marketplace to sell goods in the similar fashion that stocks are sold. Each good/product has a single page, called an “Item Detail Page,” within the “catalog.” On that page, sellers can list their own item as a “Sell Order.” Buyers can view the open sell orders and agree to a price, or list a “Buy Order” at a lower price for sellers to view.
Community-driven Online Marketplace
This system rides on a structured catalog that is built by page submissions from its members and managed by specially appointed members, called “Category Experts.” Members that submit pages own their submitted pages and become “Page Owners” (called “homesteaders” at launch). Both Page Owners and Category Experts make the marketplace “community-driven” and are monetarily compensated for their work.The use-cases for the Wigix service are: to buy, to sell, to build a portfolio for asset tracking and evaluation, and to contribute to the Wigix catalog for monetary compensation.
As a part of its community, social networking and Web 2.0
Web 2.0
The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web...
efforts, the service includes the ability to find and invite “friends.” This enables typical social website functions, including being notified on friends activity, and read-access to friends’ portfolios, watch lists, and gift registries. Other community-based features include the ability to post blogs participate in discussion threads.
Milestones
Private Beta: June 5, 2007Public Beta: April 29, 2008
1,000,000 Item Detail Pages: July 27, 2008
2,000,000 Item Detail Pages: January 28, 2009
Out of Beta (General Release): February 5, 2010
Key Features
"Keeping Fees at Bay": To be competitive, Wigix employes a low fees strategy, advertising it in its tag line. During its beta period, listing Sell Orders or Buy Orders were free. There were also no charges for transactions that are $25 or less. Other fees were less than prices offered from its main competitor, eBayEBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
. After beta, Wigix removed its transactional fees, making it free to sell on its marketplace.
Storefronts: On October 22, 2008, Wigix unveiled services for high-volume B2C sellers. It’s service, called “Storefronts”, offer a customized point of sale with inventory management, sales management and reporting tools. Each registered storefront owner receives a short URL and a web store. Store owners can manage this store inventory using shelving, smart shelving and sifting functions.
Tagged Products, Discussion Threads and Blogs: On January 9, 2009, Wigix introduced Tagging
Tag (metadata)
In online computer systems terminology, a tag is a non-hierarchical keyword or term assigned to a piece of information . This kind of metadata helps describe an item and allows it to be found again by browsing or searching...
, a function to attached a keyword to any product. This provided a way to find related items and added a cloud-based structure to the catalog, secondary to the normal catalog browsing already implemented. On March 4, 2009, the company expanded the tagging function to include discussion thread and blog postings.
“Label Your Stuff”: On January 27, 2009, the website added photo tagging, which is the ability for members to label products in their uploaded photos. The company suggests using the feature for showcase, insurance and “total solution” selling reasons.
Themed Communities: On March 4, 2009, the company added Themed Communities, sections of the website dedicated to a focused group of products for the sharing of stories, advice, interaction with other Wigix members, and as an avenue to contact like-minded shoppers.
Key people
James Chong, Founder, CEO, Chairman of the Board. Prior to Wigix, James was founder and CEO of Cyanea Systems, a venture backed company that was sold to IBM. Prior to Cyanea, James was also CTO of PlanetRX, a public e-commerce company, and Vice President of Architecture and Planning at Charles SchwabCharles Schwab
Charles Schwab may refer to:*Charles M. Schwab , American steel magnate*Charles R. Schwab , founder of the eponymous brokerage*Charles Schwab Corp., an American based brokerage firm...
, where he built Schwab’s 1st and 2nd generation web trading platforms.
Bob Lee, Founder & CTO. Prior to Wigix, Bob was Vice President of Product Management at Cyanea Systems. Bob was also Vice President of IT at Epoch Partners/Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational bulge bracket investment banking and securities firm that engages in global investment banking, securities, investment management, and other financial services primarily with institutional clients...
and Vice President of IT at Charles Schwab
Charles Schwab
Charles Schwab may refer to:*Charles M. Schwab , American steel magnate*Charles R. Schwab , founder of the eponymous brokerage*Charles Schwab Corp., an American based brokerage firm...
.
Albert Loh, Founder & VP Finance and Operations. Prior to Wigix, Albert was head of IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
’s Project Management Office. He has also been CFO for the Guangzhou Jianlibao Group’s Southeast Asian Region.
Tim Draper, Board Member. Tim is Founder & Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson
Draper Fisher Jurvetson
Draper Fisher Jurvetson is a venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California with affiliate offices in more than 30 cities around the world and over $7 billion in capital commitments....
, known for advancing "viral marketing". He is also a member of the Board of Directors at The BizWorld Foundation, Singapore's Economic Advisory Council
Economic Advisory Council
Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India is a non-constitutional, non-permanent and independent body constituted to give economic advise to the Government of India, specifically the Prime Minister. The council serves to highlight key economic issues facing the country to the...
, Ukraine's Orange Circle, U.C. Berkeley's Haas School of Business
Haas School of Business
The Walter A. Haas School of Business, also known as the Haas School of Business or simply Haas, is one of 14 schools and colleges at the University of California, Berkeley....
, Glam
Glam Media
Glam Media, Inc. is a privately held vertical media company with more than lifestyle websites and blogs. Glam Media is best known for Glam.com, a website targeted at women...
, Tagworld, SocialText
Socialtext
Socialtext Incorporated is a company based in Palo Alto, California that produces enterprise social software, comprising an integrated suite of web-based social software applications including microblogging, user profile, directories, groups, personal dashboards using OpenSocial widgets, and shared...
, Kyte.tv, Chrome Graphics, Meebo
Meebo
Meebo is a social platform connecting users with their friends across the web. It began in 2005 as a browser based instant messaging program which supported multiple IM services, including Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, AIM, ICQ, MySpaceIM, Facebook Chat, Google Talk, CafeMom and...
, and Increo.
Bill Burnham, Board Member. Bill is Managing General Partner of Inductive Capital that focuses on leveraging private market insights to improve public portfolio management. He was Managing Director at Mobius Venture Capital Inc., an early stage investment company and at Softbank Capital Partners
Softbank Capital
SoftBank Capital is a venture capital group in the United States, focusing on technology and telecom early stage businesses. The firm is established and led by four partners: Ron Fisher, Eric Hippeau, Steve Murray, and Michael Perlis...
a late stage investment company, and held management positions at Booz, Allen & Hamilton
Booz Allen Hamilton
Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. , or more commonly Booz Allen, is an American public consulting firm headquartered in McLean, Fairfax County, Virginia, with 80 other offices throughout the United States. Ralph Shrader is its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. The firm was founded by Edwin Booz in...
, Credit Suisse First Boston
Credit Suisse First Boston
Credit Suisse First Boston was the former name of the banking firm Credit Suisse.-History:In 1978, Credit Suisse and First Boston Corporation formed a London-based 50-50 investment banking joint venture called the Financière Crédit Suisse-First Boston...
, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell and Piper Jaffray
Piper Jaffray
Piper Jaffray & Co. , often shortened to just Piper Jaffray or PiperJaffray, is a U.S. middle-market investment banking firm based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and sells financial advice, investment products, and transaction execution within targeted sectors of the financial services marketplace...
.
Nick Donofrio
Nick Donofrio
Nicholas M. Donofrio was the Executive Vice President of Innovation and Technology at the IBM Corporation until 2008.-Biography:Donofrio was born in Beacon, New York in 1945. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1967 and a Master...
, Board Member. Nick is a Fellow, and an Executive Vice President INT Alumnus of IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
. Nick is also a member of the Board of Directors at the Bank of New York Mellon
Bank of New York Mellon
The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation is a global financial services company formed on July 1, 2007 as result of the merger of The Bank of New York and Mellon Financial Corporation...
, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Stephen Van Rensselaer established the Rensselaer School on November 5, 1824 with a letter to the Rev. Dr. Samuel Blatchford, in which van Rensselaer asked Blatchford to serve as the first president. Within the letter he set down several orders of business. He appointed Amos Eaton as the school's...
, the Council for the United States and Italy, and the Genographic Project. He was Executive Vice President, IBM Corporation, responsible for a worldwide organization of 130,000 employees in research, global manufacturing & procurement, governmental programs, corporate community relations, and well as On-demand technologies.
Funding
Worldwide operations are funded by venture capital firm Draper Fisher JurvetsonDraper Fisher Jurvetson
Draper Fisher Jurvetson is a venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California with affiliate offices in more than 30 cities around the world and over $7 billion in capital commitments....
, based in Menlo Park, California
Menlo Park, California
Menlo Park, California is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, in the United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, and Stanford to the south; Atherton, North Fair Oaks, and Redwood City...
. The firm has a previous reputation of funding successful technology companies, including Hotmail
Hotmail
Windows Live Hotmail, formerly known as MSN Hotmail and commonly referred to simply as Hotmail, is a free web-based email service operated by Microsoft as part of its Windows Live group. It was founded by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith and launched in July 1996 as "HoTMaiL". It was one of the first...
, Skype
Skype
Skype is a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chat over the Internet. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a fee using a debit-based user account system...
, and Meebo
Meebo
Meebo is a social platform connecting users with their friends across the web. It began in 2005 as a browser based instant messaging program which supported multiple IM services, including Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, AIM, ICQ, MySpaceIM, Facebook Chat, Google Talk, CafeMom and...
.