Podcast: Jambo Networks

Dave Hornik at Ventureblog seemed to post only half tongue-in-cheek that he was on a quest for the "world record in conference attendance."  The fact is that everybody is busy, and it's absolutely natural that social software should follow us out into the world.  This week, Doug and I spoke with Charles Ribaudo and Jim Young, co-founders of Jambo, who hope to help that process along.  Jambo is location-based social networking software designed to "discover and connect you with those you want to meet."  We've seen a number of location-based social technologies cropping up, and I'm excited by it.  This implimentation seems notable, as Charles and Jim kindly pointed out, since Jambo is already producing revenue.

We spoke in particular about their strategies for working beyond myriad limitations in location-aware social services.  They've focused first, for example, on Wifi-enabled laptops (Windows version out now with Mac OS, UNIX and PocketPC/Smartphone implementations hot on its heels).  And that's a big deal -- think about how much time you spent last month in a conference, hotel, Starbucks, McDonalds or other wi-fi hotspot.  We asked about IP.  We got into the difficulties with BREW, Java and other mobile-coding, and Jambo's strategy for transitioning once those technologies grow smaller and more developer-friendly.

From a theoretical standpoint, perhaps one of the most interesting of Jambo's business decisions thus far is that rather than charging end-users they've elected to collect revenue from the campus or conference around which Jambo meetings will revolve.  LaGuardia airport outside New York City has recently become one of their clients.  Certainly, there are many advantages to be had by organizations that gather people if those people meet more efficiently.  I'll be interested to see how that strategy affects Jambo's viral growth and "cross-pollination" that Jim and Charles touched upon, as well as how it evolves over time.

Jambo is certainly an exciting app, and its website and corresponding blog are well worth a look.  Hopefully, Charles and Jim will stop back and let us know how things are moving along.  In the meantime, you can grab the podcast by clicking here (wma, 3.21MB).