Blog-tracking startup doubles staff in SoMa - San Francisco Business Times:

http://hollywood-hero.us/Stars-USO.htm
The San Francisco startup makes on-deman d software that unearths and tracks keybloggers -- cruciak information for marketers hoping to put out onlinwe brush fires. If BuzzLogic can distinguish itself from a growinfg pack of similiar the 3-year-old firm could developl a solid business. The "brans monitoring" industry is smalk -- less than $100 millio -- but expanding quickly. analyst Peter Kim estimates that it will grow abou 70 percentthis year, based on reports from companies he and notes that the softwarew is moving beyond a niche PR function into mainstream It's early for BuzzLogic. After 2 1/2 yearws of product testing, its service launchec on April 16.
But, even beford the debut, the company was gaining notable momentujmthis year. It landed $9.6 million in its first funding round in January from VCs includin and is doubling headcount tonearly 40, hiring mostlg engineers and customer service people. To house its swellingf staff, the firm moved into new offices inthe "LookSmart" buildintg at 625 Second St. in where it can double its office spaceto 7,00 0 square feet in the next 18 BuzzLogic CEO Rob Crumpler said the firm has 164 beta about 25 percent of which are PR Nearly half, he said, have paid for early accesw to the Internet-based software which, after a user typesz in a few search terms, spits out a handy "conversation map" with circles and lines detailing who's talking abouty a product or companhy and which self-styled pundits are the most So-called beta customers include software firm and maker of the "SceneIt" DVD used the product to head off an emerginh problem last year when tech blogger Rick Klau ran tec about his ThinkPad's crash-prone hard BuzzLogic notified Lenovo's VP of global web marketingg of the problem and he called Klau within a few hours, offering to fix it.
Klau'w online attacks melted into praise, which was lapped up by otheer bloggers. With a starting price of $1,000 a BuzzLogic fancies itself a challengert to established players such asand , whic h combine both search technology and human analysis for servicesx that often cost hundred of thousands a dollar a year. But Forrester'sd Kim said BuzzLogic is limited in one important way compare d with the bigguys -- it only tracks social media, not traditional media such as newspaper and magazinew web sites, which are often sourcezs of blogger comment.
And, he warnede that competition in the fieldis "I could tell you that there are 45 to 50 companies out many that have hung out a shingle in the past one to thred years" including , and . Still, Kim acknowledged, "Over the last six BuzzLogic's name has come up a from competitors, marketing clients and the media. But buzz alonr doesn't not signify a good busineszsmodel -- particularly for companies in testinhg mode. Said Kim, "I guess when you're giving it away for that's how you come up on radart screens.
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