Monday, September 3, 2007

Social destination site with a Hub focus launches

By Christopher Calnan

After more than a year of development, a trio of technology entrepreneurs this week launched an Internet-based service that offers Boston's busy professionals suggestions on where to go and what to do in their free time.

Zync Inc. brought its Hub-focused website, izync.com, out of a closed beta test last week. Its model is similar to Going Inc.'s Going.com (formerly HeyLetsGo Inc.), but Zync is targeted toward an older demographic and doesn't feature dating. Rosen said the recommendation tool is more comparable to those by Amazon.com Inc. or Netflix Inc.

The concept, which Rosen calls "social search," is similar to that of Yelp Inc. and Citysearch, both based in California but featuring dining and entertainment listings with user reviews for dozens of U.S. cities, including Boston. Somerville's Citysquares Online Inc. operates a website that features user reviews of restaurants and other Boston-area attractions neighborhood by neighborhood.

Earlier this month, Cambridge-based Activity Central Inc. revealed plans to launch this fall a web browser tool that collects information for customized databases -- which could include event listings -- that automatically update daily.

Cambridge-based Zync was founded last year by Brad Rosen, former director of marketing and business development at Cognio Inc. in Waltham. The other founders, David Owens and Joshua Summers, are both former executives at Sapient Corp., a Cambridge-based consulting and technology services company.

Zync users create profiles that enable the website's proprietary software to generate suggestions for activities such as restaurants or movies. The website also gives users the ability to rate activities.

"What we're trying to do is make it easier for urbanites to go offline -- to go out," Rosen said.

The company has three revenue streams: fees from member-business listings, targeted advertising revenue, and commissions generated when users buy event tickets or make reservations through its service.

Backed with $679,000 from angel investors, the company plans to launch similar sites in the 10-largest U.S. cities during the next three years. Zync investors include members of Wellesley-based angel investors Launchpad Venture Group.

Launchpad managing director Ham Lord said the experience of Zync's founders sets it apart from other activity-recommendation websites, he said.

Before Cognio, Rosen had been director of business development at Maynard's Ucentric Systems Inc., which was acquired by Motorola Inc. in 2005. He was also director of marketing for Cambridge's PureSpeech Inc.

Rosen said he plans to raise additional angel investment in coming months before raising the company's first round of venture capital investment in 2008.

Matthew Lees, vice president of the Boston-based Patricia Seybold Group, said competition in the recommendation website space is still fierce as operators vie to become the go-to source. "I don't see anyone with an inside track on the currency," he said, "and the currency is trust."