Buzka a ’social bookmarking’ site added its name to the list of Perth Startups getting major coverage at the moment after being reviewed by Duncan Riley of TechCrunch today.
Buzka is a startup that has crossed my radar before but after a quick scan of the site I just couldnt find enough to differentiate it from the major ’social bookmarking players like del.icio.us. After TechCrunch’s review today, I decided it was time to give it another go.
Overall Buzka is a neat ’social bookmarking’ tool that should appeal to the average user. However for the more tech-savvy crowd and users of comparable tools like del.icio.us there simply isn’t enough to differentiate it. Buzka allows users to organise bookmarks into folders but the ‘tagging of bookmarks’ is blaring absent and for many users this will probably be enough to keep them away.
One of the areas where Buzka does differentiate itself is in its ability to keep a list of site bookmarked in a left frame while viewing bookmarked sites in the right frame, but this is also available with del.icio.us using a firefox plugin. TechCrunch also discussed their co-branding with business as a point of differentiation. This is an interesting idea, however many users may prefer the greater flexibility of a blog with ‘bookmarking’ provided through a widget.
There is no doubt that the Perth Startup scene is buzzing. But why? It’s an interesting question that I have heard brought up a lot recently as a list of startups like Minti and Scouta continue to stream out of WA. No one would raise an eyebrow if this was Sydney or Melbourne but it is Perth – one of the most isolated cities in the world. So what ingredients does Perth possess in order to produce these companies. Truth be told I am not sure. But one thing that is noticeable is the community that has sprung up around these startups and their clear ambition to mutually help each other out. Having the West Australian Duncan Riley writing on TechCrunch doesn’t hurt either.
May 21, 2007 at 3:23 am |
I asked the same question – why is there a concentration of web startups in Perth? – on my blog when I was looking for Melbourne web startups (http://driveactivated.com/blog/archive/2007/04/11/where-are-the-melbourne-web-startups.aspx).
James Tuckerman from Australian Anthill left a comment saying,
“Melbourne web businesses are popping up all over the joint, but I don’t think we’ve seen the growth of adjoining industries – such as early stage investors who are interested in the internet. Too many see it as high-risk. Perth is awash with capital and investors who are risk tolerant (they’ve grown accustom to risk… eg. mining deal-flow). Hence, the appearance of awesome WA web 2.0 companies (check out Scouta).”
Could well answer your question, but people don’t move to Perth to start up, do they?
Maybe it’s in the water…
May 21, 2007 at 5:49 am |
It’s a great question Dave, and I’d love to know the answer.
I think one ingredient is west aussies have to innovate to stay in touch. We’re often forgotten in the west (an after-thought in the sales forecast as an example), and so we have to be very self-reliant, and self-starters, or we easily get overlooked.
Fortunately, as James pointed out, we’re in a boom time with the earth resource sector, which means there is plenty of potential investors.
Still a great question. I’d love to hear what others think.
Rich
May 21, 2007 at 9:36 am |
Thanks for the insightful comments guys.
One of the pieces on this subject that I always remember is an essay by Paul Graham (of Y Combinator fame) titled “How to Be Silicion Valley” where he proposes:
“you only need two kinds of people to create a technology hub: rich people and nerds. They’re the limiting reagents in the reaction that produces startups, because they’re the only ones present when startups get started. Everyone else will move.”
In my opinion Australia has plenty of both but perhaps as James points out it is the optimism and boom times in Perth that promote rich people to take a few more risks. Where as the majority of Australians are fairly conservative when it comes to risk especially when compared to the U.S.
On a related note, hopefully Australia has finally woken up and stop building technology parks everywhere and realise that its people that make a ‘Silicon Valley’ and not buildings.