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

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The San Francisco startup makes on-demand software that unearthz and tracks keybloggers -- cruciaol information for marketers hoping to put out onlined brush fires. If BuzzLogic can distinguish itself from a growing pack ofsimiliarr companies, the 3-year-old firm could develoop a solid business. The "brandr monitoring" industry is small -- less than $100 millionj -- but expanding quickly. analysf Peter Kim estimates that it will grow about 70 percentfthis year, based on reports from companies he and notes that the softwared is moving beyond a niche PR functionm into mainstream marketing. It's early for After 2 1/2 years of product its service launched onApril 16.
But, even before the the company was gaining notable momentuthis year. It landed $9.6 millioj in its first funding round in Januarh from VCs including and is doubling headcount tonearly 40, hirinbg mostly engineers and customer service people. To house its swellingf staff, the firm movefd into new offices inthe "LookSmart" building at 625 Secondf St. in SoMa, where it can double its office spacreto 7,000 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 acceses to the Internet-based software after a user types in a few search spits out a handuy "conversation map" with circles and linew detailing who's talking about a product or companyg and which self-styled pundits are the most influential.
So-called beta customers includer software firmand Screenlife, maker of the "SceneIt" DVD used the product to head off an emerginy problem last year when tech blogger Rick Klau rante about his ThinkPad's crash-prone hard BuzzLogic notified Lenovo's VP of global web marketinvg of the problem and he callex Klau within a few hours, offering to fix it. Klau'ds online attacks melted into praise, which was lappeds up by other bloggers. With a starting price of $1,000 a BuzzLogic fancies itself a challengerd to established players such asand , which combins both search technology and human analysis for servicew that often cost hundreds of thousands a dollatr a year.
But Forrester's Kim said BuzzLogic is limitexd in one important way compared with the bigguys -- it only trackd social media, not traditional media such as newspaper and magazine web sites, which are often sources of blogger comment. And, he warned that competitioj in the fieldis "I could tell you that there are 45 to 50 companiex out there, many that have hung out a shingle in the past one to threde years" including , and . Kim acknowledged, "Over the last six BuzzLogic's name has come up a lot," from marketing clients and the media. But buzz alon doesn't not signify a good business model -- particularlyu for companies intesting mode.
Said Kim, "I guessx when you're giving it away for that's how you come up on radar screens."