Wize Blog

Tom Patterson (Wize CEO) on NexTag Acquiring Wize

2010-07-08T10:45:51-07:00

Dear Friends,

Today, I am happy to announce that we have agreed to sell Wize.com to Nextag. (Official Press Release posted here: http://bit.ly/NexTagAcquiresWize)

http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/07/comparison-shopping-site-nextag-acquires-product-review-engine-wize/

I can't say enough about how excited we are to join Jeff Katz, Scott Simmons, Claire Hough, Craig Stern and then entire Nextag Team..   As many of you know Nextag has been a leader in online shopping for many years and we are energized to join forces into a new future vision for Nextag..

It seemed like only yesterday, Rajesh Chandran (my co-founder) and I met in a starbucks across the street from Nextag.. Looking back on this time, it's truly amazing how much I've learned over the last 4 years...particularly about myself. Life is so short. I feel that the true currency is the insight you create by challenging yourself both personally and professionally. It would not be possible without the relationships you build with people along that journey of understanding.. I have met so many amazing people along the way that have helped Wize.com move towards it's dream of becoming the "Consumer Reports of the Future and for that I am eternally blessed.

So a few thank you's:

I am blessed to have partnered with Rajesh, who has continued to be the engine behind Wize. I am so proud of the team we have assembled to do something that has never been done before on the Web.   Michael Shilman, Jay Raman, Joe Foo, Lucas Wiman, Wayne Wight, Ethan Smith, Himanshu Shah are resilient and talented and most importantly winners..

I want to thank our advisors Yaniv Bensadon, Keith Rabois, Chris Michel, Rob Goldman, Kevin Lattery, Ramano Rao and Peter Zandan for all the time they have spent on Wize and also want to thank them honoring me with their friendships.

I want to also thank Jeff Glueck for joining as our board member and providing a lot of value to us in the short amount of time we worked with him.

I also wanted to thank Ezra Roizen of Ackrell Capital who represented Wize in the transaction.. Ezra has been a true partner and friend to Wize and myself through this entire M&A process.

We at Wize are also extremely grateful to Raj Kapoor and the entire family at the Mayfield Fund. Raj and Mayfield's enduring support for Wize and me will never be forgotten and certainly speaks volumes of their reputation as being a real entrepreneurs venture firm..

I wanted to also thank Al Dobron from Providence Equity who connected me with Nextag in the first place.. Al is a great friend and we hope to be able to return the favor by building some great value with Nextag.

There are many, many others that have meant a lot to Wize that I haven't had time to thank....Particularly, I wanted to share a deep thank you to all of you that I have spent time with in my personal life that I have met over the last 4 years(you know who you are).. Whether it was surfing, talking about technology and business or just spending time talking about how the mind works and the meaning of life, it has meant the world to me and I thank you for our time together before and for the future..

All the Best,

Tom

President of Wize.com
Nextag Inc

NexTag Acquires Wize!

2010-07-08T10:20:46-07:00

We are proud to announce that NexTag has acquired Wize! Official press release copied below. Thank you to everyone that has helped us along our journey. We're excited to join forces with the great team @ NexTag. You can also read an awesome "Executive Brief" post over at Vator.tv: http://vator.tv/news/2010-07-08-executive-brief-nextag-buys-wize

NexTag Acquires Product Recommendation Site, Wize

Acquisition Enables NexTag to Provide Review Content to Consumers and Increase Marketing Opportunities for Merchants

SAN MATEO, Calif., July 8, 2010 – NexTag, (NexTag.com), a leading comparison shopping website for products and services, today announced the acquisition of Wize (Wize.com), an online product recommendation research engine. This agreement will enable NexTag to deliver greater levels of convenience and quality to the consumer online shopping experience.

Wize will continue to maintain its offices, employees and management team in Burlingame, CA. Wize President and CEO, Tom Patterson, will report directly to Scott Simmons, President of NexTag. Financial terms of the acquisition are undisclosed.

“The Wize acquisition is an important step towards fulfilling NexTag’s strategic mission to be an indispensible shopping resource for consumers at every stage of their shopping experience,” said Jeffrey G. Katz, Chief Executive Officer of NexTag. “The synergy between NexTag’s proprietary price comparison technologies and Wize’s sophisticated review content will allow us to expand the range of shopping services we offer consumers, while simultaneously offering an unmatched portfolio of marketing opportunities for our merchant partners. The Wize transaction is one of a series of strategic moves we will make over the next year, encompassing acquisitions, global expansion and aggressive recruitment of top talent, all of which will enable us to seize competitive advantage as this category evolves.”

Since launching in late 2006, Wize has aggregated more than six million product reviews on over one million products from thousands of sources across the Web. The patent-pending Wize Product Research Engine analyzes this massive amount of data using real everyday language based on what people have said is important, and provides users with an easy to use, personalized list of product recommendations. The site is designed to help consumers find the products that meet their specific needs and budgets.

“Since our inception, the goal of Wize has been to set the standard in innovative customer recommendation services, so NexTag’s customer-focused approach to online shopping is a natural fit,” said Tom Patterson, President and CEO of Wize. “NexTag’s global reach will allow us to increase the scale our efforts to develop breakthrough intellectual properties, which will keep us at the cutting edge of delivering great product recommendations and delighting customers.”

Trusted online product reviews and recommendations are a major influencer of consumer purchases across a wide range of products. According to Nielsen, recommendations from personal acquaintances or opinions posted by consumers online are the most trusted forms of advertising. The acquisition of Wize will expand NexTag’s ability to help consumers discern between good and bad opinions on the Web, allowing them to have confidence in the products they are purchasing.

The acquisition of Wize is one of a series of strategic initiatives being driven by Katz and the NexTag management team to expand and diversify the company’s offerings in the competitive online shopping segment. Katz joined NexTag as Chief Executive Officer in March from his post as Chairman, President and CEO of LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc. There he led the successful expansion of the company's online education product line and significant growth in the company's installed base. Prior to his tenure at LeapFrog, Katz held a series of high-profile positions within the travel industry as Chairman and Founding CEO of Orbitz, Inc., President and CEO of Swissair, and as President of the SABRE division of American Airlines.

About NexTag

NexTag is the leading comparison shopping site for products, education, travel, and more. At the core of NexTag are proprietary technologies and algorithms that enable shoppers to quickly compare prices and find great deals on millions of products and services. More than 30 million people per month use NexTag to research, compare, and save on products and services online. NexTag has been named one of the "50 Best Websites 2008" by TIME magazine. The company operates comparison shopping sites in the US (nextag.com), the UK (nextag.co.uk), France (nextag.fr), Germany (nextag.de), Spain (nextag.es), Italy (nextag.it), Australia (nextag.com.au) and Japan (nextag.co.jp). NexTag is headquartered in San Mateo, California with offices in London, Tokyo and Gurgaon, India.

About Wize

Wize (Wize.com) simplifies product research by helping consumers find products based on their needs instead of technical product features. Users simply tell Wize what product they are looking for and how they want to use it. The patent-pending Wize Product Research Engine then reads data from thousands of sources across the Web, analyzes more than six million reviews for more than one million products, and provides a personalized list of the top products for users’ needs. Wize, headquartered in Burlingame, Calif., is privately held and was funded by Mayfield Fund and Bessemer Venture Partners. For more information, visit wize.com.

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Contact:

Margaret Mathis

On Target Communications

415-713-3543

Introducing the 2009 Wize Choice Awards + UnWize Choice Awards

2009-11-05T17:32:26-08:00

We're so excited to launch the official 2009 Wize Choice Awards and 2009 UnWize Choice Awards. We have analyzed thousands of products and reviews and determined what people have said are the best products and why they thought so. Please take a look at the 2009 Wize Choice Awards releases to date:

Best Products for Sports Lovers

Car Seats

Wii Games

Gadgets

We plan to keep releasing more Wize Choice Awards and UnWize Choice Awards until the end of the year, so stay tuned! You can find the updates on Wize, here on our blog, our Facebook Fan Page or on Twitter.

Wize.com Re-Launch, 2009 Wize Choice Awards & Other Exciting News!

2009-09-29T09:18:45-07:00

Today we are proud to announce the re-launch of Wize.com with an updated design and many new features! Our team has been hard at work building the Wize Product Recommendation Engine, which provides personalized product recommendations based on the voice of the Web. We're now analyzing over 26,000,000 recommendations from 1,000's of sources over 450 product categories (and growing daily!). We're also honored to announce that Jeffrey Glueck (current CEO of Skyfire and ex-CMO of Travelocity) has joined our Board of Directors. To top it off, we've also moved our office HQ to Burlingame, CA!

A few highlights of our re-launch include:

Wize Choice Recommendations: personalized product recommendations using the everyday words that people use to search discover products
Wize Brand Choice: brand analysis to extract the words that people use to describe specific product brands
Wize Review Search: ability to search within reviews for the things that are more important to you
Wize Product Organizer: save and compare your favorite products in an easy-to-use stash tray

We're so excited to share this new site exprience with the world. We are also going to continue to improve the site and add new features that are important to our users. Go ahead and drop us a note and let us know what you think of the new Wize! You can leave a comment here on our blog, follow us on Twitter, connect with us on our Facebook Fan Page or just send us an email!

We are also proud to announce the launch of an innovative new awards program called the Wize Choice Awards. For our first release, we've analyzed millions of reviews to come up with the 2009 Wize Choice Awards - Best Products for Sports Lovers. These are the best products currently for Sports fans hoping to take full advantage of this upcoming season! Stay tuned for future Wize Choice Awards.

For full details of our Wize.com Re-Launch and the 2009 Wize Choice Awards - Sports, please visit our Press Page.

Back to School on a Budget

2009-09-02T22:34:55-07:00

New clothes, new shoes, new notebooks, new pencils - all the things that I was most excited about returning to school. Although shopping for new items is part of the back to school fun for kids, it can add financial stress to parents, especially given the current economical climate. It is best to start the process early and take the time to get ready for your shopping needs, but if you still have items left to buy or are just about to shop for your kids (or for yourself, college students), here are some tips to help you save money and stay on budget.

If you haven't, make a list of what your children will need this school year, and before you hit the mall, see if you have any of the items at your home already. Chances are you already have binders, unused notebooks, and pencils left over from last year.

Next, see if there's any garage sales in your neighborhood. Garage sales can be an amazing place to find back-to-school supplies ranging from computers, calculators, to small items such as book bags, clothing, notebooks, etc., and you fill find the items at one-tenth the original prices.

Organize a swap meet with neighbors, family, and friends with children where each brings outgrown clothes or school items. Everyone will benefit from the swap meet.

Use coupon codes. Google your favorite retailers/brands and "coupon code" to get savings or free coupon websites such as FatWallet.com or Savings.com. Also check out what coupons deals your local stores have. There are still back to school deals going on in discount stores (Wal-mart, Target, Office Depot, etc.), so check them out.

When it comes to clothes, you're never too late. Kids grow fast, which means clothes that fit your kids in August might not fit in October. Get a few outfits with great deals on Labor Day, and plan to go shipping again on Columbus Day or even wait until Thanksgiving or Christmas season. Check out outlet malls and consider buying clothing off the final sale racks which your children can grow into.

For big items such as calculators, make full use of reviews available online to ensure the quality. Wize serves as an excellent place to look for the best produt in many of these categories or just to simply type in the specific product you have in mind to get reviews. For example, you can find the best calculators for students very easily!

Use this as an opportunity to teach your kids important lessons about budgeting, the difference between wants and needs, and finding great deals. Get the kids involved when budgeting. For example, younger kids can help cutting out coupon codes and older kids can help add/subtract prices.

Keep notes about this year's back to school shopping experience so you can refer to where to look for best deals, which thrift/discount shops to check out first, how to budget, etc.

For college students:

If you haven't bought big items such as laptops, calculators or electronics, be sure to research these products online and check for the best prices. Keep an eye on the clearance sections of online retail sites and look for free shipping.

Buy textbooks online (for example, Amazon.com or Half.com). Used textbooks especially come at much lower prices.

Good luck with your new school year and happy shopping!

Wize Announced as AlwaysOn Global 250 Winner

2009-07-22T18:33:11-07:00

We're honored to have been announced as a winner of 2009 AlwaysOn Global 250! Our CEO, Tom Patterson will be speaking at the main event on Wednesday July 29, 2009, so please be sure to reach out to us if you will be there. Here's a link to the event itself: http://alwayson.goingon.com/permalink/post/32096

Continued Support of the "Long Tail" for Search

2009-04-02T18:15:37-07:00

There continues to be more and more evidence to suggest a need for change in how people find things online. According to this article at Australian IT, Bill Tancer (GM of Global Research at Hitwise) suggests that people are becoming frustrated with the search results provided by the major search engines and are looking for more specificity in their results.

This shift in the search industry was even more evident and a hot topic this past week at AltSearchEngines Day II, which was held in San Francisco, CA. We had the opportunity to listen to presentations and hear panel discussions from many of the thought leaders and CEOs of startups dedicated to improving search. It's clear to us all that there is SO much to improve upon and that users will continue to see and demand improvements in how they find stuff online.

There's no denying that Google is the leader in US Searches, but the evidence continues to show that people are expecting more and more and that's where alternative search engines and innovative niche services are going to shine.

In our research and user testing at Wize, we've learned how people shop for products offline and it's only natural that they would want to shop the same way online! When was the last time anyone went to the store and asked for a Oster blender with work top, 2 speed, 40 oz blender with pulse features?! People usually will ask for something more specific to their needs, such as the best blender for smoothies and this where the long tail shines...

Exploring the Deep Web and the Future of Finding Things Online [Update]

2009-03-13T12:21:03-07:00

Please visit Vator.tv to read about Wize, deep web and the discovery landscape.

Looking forward to your feedback / thoughts. Email us @ wize.com!

Apple Releases A Brand New iPod Shuffe

2009-03-11T18:01:09-07:00

What do you think of the new iPod Shuffle? I'm a fan of "The Apple Experience" and just like all of their previous releases, this one is full of all the great PR, display ads, commercials, etc., but this release also has some interesting aspects to it.

First of all the size of the iPod has shrunk even more than the previous ones and is smaller than the size of an average house key! The access controls are now located on the right ear bud headphone cord, which is probably going to be the reason for contention. Let me explain. For now at least, you have to use Apple's own headphones in order to control this device. Oh, but did you just shell out $300 for Beats by Dre? Well as Engadget has pointed out, you'd need to get another $20-$30 adapter to make that work!

I've already spoken to a few people and over and over I keep hearing:

"Sure, but what is apple thinking? It may look super sexy, but where's the usability? You can't just pick it up and start listening to music on it. Also, I doubt people want to pay $20-30 for an adapter to use their existing in-ear or wireless headphones. Two years ago, when people had more expendable income, they could get away with it, but I don't think now.

The one cool feature that has promise is the new VoiceOver feature they've introduced. It's easy to read online reviews about it and to read Apple's own description of the technology, but this to me is just one of those things where you have to try it out yourself. The best way to test this feature and figure out if it's as good as it seems is to get out on a treadmill and determine for yourself whether it's really going to keep the Shuffle as one of the best MP3 players for working out.

How Do You Search in Google?

2009-03-11T11:34:11-07:00

Just came across this great article over at Direct Mag, which talks about a HitWise survey that found longer searches to be growing rapidly, while shorter 1-3 word searches actually declining. This is really interesting and also quite exciting. We've always been about creating a more personal experience with our users and really allowing them to find the exact products to match their needs.

For example, a friend of mine that has been much more health conscious lately, recently found some juicers for fruits and vegetables through a longer search on Google. There are lots of innovative businesses that are helping to revolutionize the space and this of deep interest to us here at Wize.

Let us know some of the more interesting long searches you have done recently and whether the results were satisfactory -- we'll collect the comments / emails and re-publish them later on.