Death By Email Blog

Tip of the Hat to a True Super Angel

There is a great article in the current issue of BusinessWeek on First Round Capital and Josh Kopelman.  It refers to FRC as a "Super Angel" that is changing the face of venture capital.

I have a particular endorsement to make because InBoxer, the company I co-founded, was the second ever investment made by First Round.  They were also InBoxer's first outside investor.  So, you could say that I worked with First Round Capital from the beginning.  Josh also served on InBoxer's Board of Directors.  So, I got to work with him closely for four years.

I want to emphasize what a fantastic experience it has been to work with Josh and the First Round team.  Their advice and counsel was always helpful and made me a better entrepreneur.  Their support was even more valuable than their money.  They really are "Super" angels.   (Josh's blog returned the favor and called me a "true entrepreneur." That would not have been true without Josh.) 

To echo Josh's words, it has been an honor to have worked with him and a thrill to see him so recognized in the leading national business weekly.  Now that InBoxer has been sold, my contact with Josh will be much less often.  I can only hope to have the opportunity to get into the foxhole and work with him again.

Bush White House Wins Court Fight on "Lost" Emails

Millions of White House emails that were "lost" between 2001 and 2005 can remain secret because the federal Office of Administration does not need to comply with Freedom of Information Act requests, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled yesterday in a 3-0 decision.  In effect, the court ruled that the White House Office of Administration isn't an agency subject to the Freedom of Information Act. 

"Because nothing in the record indicates that [the Office of Administration] performs or is authorized to perform tasks other than operational and administrative support for the President and his staff, we conclude that OA lacks substantial independent authority and is therefore not an agency under FOIA," Judge Thomas Griffith's written opinion said.

The 14-million messages, which included emails from critical decision making periods of the Bush Administration, were originally "misplaced" and later found. 

I Refuse To Confirm Or Deny The Rumor

Sometimes, it is better to ignore a rumor -- as anyone in government will tell you.  All it takes is a simple email to turn a rumor into seeming fact.

Last week, the popular Engadget blog, which attracts the latest news and rumors published a gallery of leaked photos of the unannounced Playstation 3 Slim.  While it could certainly be true, many leaks like this are fakes.  Could it be a photoshop version?  We wouldn't have known, if the following email did not happen ..

Dear Sir,

We just find that the following web pages on your website contain some
confidential document and photos, which were highly possibly illegally
released and posted:

(redacted)

We are investigating this violation and will bring all necessary legal
actions regarding this matter. In order to protect the confidential
information and prevent you from further legal issues and
infringements, please immediately remove those pages and keep our
request confidential. If you have any question regarding this issue,
please feel free to contact us.

Your cooperation is deeply appreciated.

Best regards

Who did this email come from?  It was sent directly from an unnamed Chinese manufacturing company and not Sony.

Now, what do you believe?

What Makes Email So Sexy?

Cynthia Edwards writes in her MediaPost blog that email is indeed sexy.  Forget about all those people who think that only new social web sites are sexy.  She tells us:

• Email is intimate. ... Email, however, is very personal, as (a), it arrives in the recipient's private, password-protected inbox ...

• Email is a cheap date. Email is the best marketing value around -- you can get great results for a small spend,

• Email keeps on performing. ... Fifty percent of consumers surveyed say they're more likely to buy products from companies who send them email, whether their purchases are online or at a place of business.

• Email is expressive. It ... provides a canvas to convey every emotion known to man and woman.

• Email has a thousand charms. Email is the Swiss Army Knife of marketing: a tremendous tool for a wide variety of applications.

• Email brings home the bacon. Admit it -- we all love a good provider. The Direct Marketing Association pronounced last year that email delivered an ROI of $45.06 for every dollar spent on it.

• Email is a movie star. Email design comes in many forms: text only, full-on graphics -- and, with (video), email has Lights! Camera! Action!

• Email is also sexy under the hood. The strategy, mechanics, and analytics involved in email program planning, delivery and evaluation are complex enough to make any left-brained person feel dizzy with delight. If you are the type that likes to slip between the spreadsheets and play with pivot tables and macros, email is your perfect companion.

Wow, I never realized that I was in such a sexy business.

Watch Out For That Tree!

 George of the Jungle had to "watch out for that tree" even when he wasn't typing an email message on his iPhone.  However, the rest of us could turn into George of the Jungle with the help of mobile email.  How many times have you walked down the corridor in your office reading email on a tiny screen?  Did you ever bump into a neighbor or a wall as you were reading?

Well, a new iPhone application is here to save us.

Email 'n Walk transmits the image from the iPhone camera as a background behind your email screen.  You will see what is ahead of you -- so that you can avoid trees, walls, co-workers, and even that cute dog in the photo.  Or, perhaps more importantly, what that cute dog may soon leave on the sidewalk.

It is available right now as a free download from the App Store.

Warning To Twitter Users -- Don't Say "Email Me At.."

Disturbing blog entries at WebProNews and ZDnet claim that Spammers harvesting emails from Twitter - in real time. Basically, spammers are getting new, valid email addresses simply by searching Twitter feeds for common phrases like “email me at” and “contact me at” in a combination with a domain of a spammer’s choice.

The image on the left is from WebProNews It shows exactly how the search works and an example of the result.  (Click on it to expand.)  It would seem to be a simple matter to write a script that would extract valid email addresses.

Be careful what you tweet.

White House Sends First Email To Mobilize Supporters

President Obama's campaign was known for how well it mobilized its supporters using electronic communications.  We now see the first email effort what we have all suspected would happen.  Email is being used as the President's newest bully pulpit. 

Yesterday, just after 3pm, the First Email was delivered to those who signed up over the past several months at whitehouse.gov (http://www.whitehouse.gov/EmailUpdates).  (The White House had to create a list from scratch so that the campaign list was not used for official government communications.) 

"My staff and I plan to use these messages as a way to directly communicate about important issues and opportunities, and today I have some encouraging updates about health care reform," the First Email said.

"This is a part of building a new type of relationship between the president, his administration and the public," Macon Phillips, the White House's new media director, told The Washington Post. Asked how often the White House will send emails to its list, Phillips said, "we plan to us this tool as another way to keep the public updated on our efforts and how they can play a part."

InBoxer Sold To Safecore

They say that the market for M&A is dead.  But, I am pleased to report that my company, InBoxer, Inc. was just acquired by Safecore, Inc.  The combined company has a full range of email archiving and electronic discovery products from hosted SAAS software to an on premises appliance.

What really excites me is the future opportunity.  We have already started work on a hybrid product that gives fast archiving and indexing with highly secure off-site storage with unlimited growth capabilities.  (More on that to come.)

I will become Executive Vice President of the company.  Also, I plan to continue to write Death By Email.

Here is a copy of the press release from this morning:

Safecore Completes Acquisition of InBoxer

Safecore Now Delivers Full Range Of Archiving, Compliance and Discovery Capabilities For Hosted (SAAS) and On-Premises Markets.

Burlington, MA (PRWEB) May 5, 2009 -- Safecore, Inc. completed its acquisition of InBoxer,Inc of Concord, MA on Friday to create the first company that offers both hosted and on-premises archiving, compliance and discovery services. By combining Safecore's state-of-the art, compliant on-demand services and InBoxer's real-time archiving appliance with advanced language technologies, Safecore will create a broad product range for managing electronic records.

"The market for email archiving is experiencing explosive growth driven by an increase in regulatory requirements to maintain email as a corporate record, produce email as evidence in litigation, and protect the corporate intellectual property that exists in every corporate messaging system. We have seen a global need to offer both a hosted and on-premise solution. The addition of InBoxer's technology immediately addresses this need," said Stephen Catanzano, CEO of Safecore. "The InBoxer team and technology are extraordinary. Combined we will be immediately offering new market driven solutions."

Safecore currently processes millions of email, Instant Messages and Bloomberg mail for prominent companies in financial, life science, healthcare, manufacturing and other industries and addresses both domestic and global business requirements. The InBoxer Anti-Risk Appliance provides real-time archiving, search and electronic discovery capabilities for leading organizations in government, education, food processing, and financial services.

"InBoxer's sophisticated language technology will enhance Safecore's full range of archiving products with advanced electronic discovery and knowledge management capabilities. It will be part of our full range of solutions, including our planned hybrid offering with on-premises capture for immediate access and secure hosted services for long-term compliance," said Roger Matus, former CEO of InBoxer and now Executive Vice President of Safecore.

Currently more than 150 organizations and 150,000 users worldwide rely on Safecore's comprehensive Online Content Management services and the InBoxer Anti-Risk Appliance.

The Management Team of InBoxer will become an integral part of the Executive Management Team of Safecore. Roger Matus, former CEO of InBoxer, becomes Executive Vice President of Safecore, and Sean True, Chief Technology Officer of InBoxer, becomes Vice President of Research and Development of Safecore.

About Safecore, Inc.:
Safecore (www.safecore.com) helps organizations to manage the risks associated with protecting their electronic records and ensuring regulatory compliance. It provides hosted, on-demand services under the Safecore brand and an on-premises appliance under the InBoxer (www.inboxer.com) brand. Both products enable organizations archive and search electronic communications and securely share electronic content based on levels of authorization. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Burlington, MA, Safecore's customers cross six continents include Fortune 100 companies, state and local governments, health care institutions, small businesses and consumers. More than 150 organizations and 150,000 users worldwide rely on Safecore's comprehensive Online Content Management and the InBoxer Anti-Risk Appliance.

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