Press Room

KillerStartups.com Write Up

Nice write up today from KillerStartups.com

My favorite quote:

"There are plenty of product review sites out there, but none of them seem to approach the subject with personality. ViewPoints is all about that which is a good idea if you think about it. Most reviews sites don’t delve into the personality of the reviewers so you really can’t tell if he or she is giving a fair or even true review. With ViewPoints readers get a better idea of products specifically because they can get to know the reviewer. "

Read the entire write up here:

http://www.killerstartups.com/UserGen.Content/viewpoints--Product-Reviews-With-Personality/

Talk at University of Chicago Graduate School Of Business Entreprenurial Round Table

Drove out to Wheaton, IL last night to the IIT campus and had a great time talking to a group of GSB alums and other interested entrepreneurs about my experiences with CoolSavings and more recently Viewpoints.com.     I always enjoy hearing about other peoples ideas and challenges and helping them think through approaches and solutions.

Dow Jones Venture Wire

Viewpoints Brings In $5M For Review Site

By Ty McMahan 6/19/2007

Viewpoints Network LLC has closed a $5 million round of funding for a new product rating and review site. The investor group for the Series A round includes the Illinois Innovation Accelerator Fund, a new public/private venture capital fund. The $200,000 investment from the fund adds to $4.8 million that was raised in September. In addition to the Illinois Innovation investment, other Series A backers include Joe Mansueto, founder and chief executive of Morningstar Inc.; Michael Alter, president of The Alter Group; Matt McCall, co-founder and managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson affiliate Portage Venture Partners; Lon Chow, general partner with Apex Venture Partners; and J.B. Pritzker, founder and partner of New World Ventures and CEO of the Pritzker Group.

Red Herring - Series A

A nice write up today in Red Herring about the announcement that we closed our Series A.  It was clear from the interview that Adena thought we were "just another" ratings and reviews site.  Given how many start ups she must see, I don't blame her.  I have to say when people don't immediately see the difference in our approach vs other review sites it makes me want to work harder at both delivering on our brand promise and articulating our message.   Thanks for the motivation Adena! 

I will say that if I learned one thing while spending 10 years at CoolSavings it was that competitors come and go.  Some will fail.  Some will scrape by and others will explode.  We can't spend all of our time worrying about what the other team is doing.  If we execute and deliver a great experience to our users, everything else will fall into place.

One correction from this article.  We were founded in August of 2006, not October of 2005 as the article states.

Download red_herring_viewpoints_series_a.pdf

Internet Retailer Article

Nice article today about Viewpoints in Internet Retailer. 

Site shines light on product reviews and reviewers

With what are now nearly 700 categories of review, the recently launched Viewpoints.com is aiming to be the most comprehensive “citizen review” resource on the Internet, CEO Matt Moog tells Internet Retailer.

Moog, the former CEO of Q Interactive, originally known as CoolSavings, acknowledges that many retailers now support customer product reviews and ratings on their own sites. Moog differentiates Viewpoint.com from such retailer-hosted reviews as a stand-alone destination and one that shines as much light on the reviewer as the review does on the products.

Download internetretailer.com - Daily News for Friday, June 15, 2007.pdf

Viewpoints Press Release to Announce Series A Round

Download viewpoints_series_a_funding_release.pdf

PRESS CONTACT:                

Jill Schmidt                            

SS|PR                     

847/955-0700 ext. 9311

jills@sspr.com                            

Viewpoints.com Closes $5 Million "Series A" Financing

New Company Receives Commitments From Leading Venture Capitalists,

Successful CEOs and the Illinois Innovation Accelerator (i²a) Fund

CHICAGO, IL – (June 18, 2007) – Viewpoints.com, a new ratings and reviews Web site that draws upon personal experiences of its user community to help consumers make smarter more informed purchase decisions, today announced it has closed its "Series A" round of corporate financing. The investor group includes Chicago area venture capitalists, successful CEOs and the Illinois Innovation Accelerator (i²A) Fund, a new public/private venture capital fund. i²A's investment, its first, brings to $5 million the total amount of first-round capital raised by Viewpoints.com.

In addition to the i²A investment, other "Series A" investors in Viewpoints.com include Joe Mansueto, founder & CEO of Morningstar Inc.; Michael Alter, president of The Alter Group; Matt McCall, co-founder and managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson & Portage Venture Partners; Lon Chow, general partner with Apex Venture Partners; and J.B. Pritzker, founder and partner of New World Ventures and CEO of The Pritzker Group.