The Wall Street Journal has the second highest circulation in the US with over 2Million readers

So here all the coverage we received today:

"Rise of the Machines takes hold"

 CrossLoop Raises $6M Series B

 

CrossLoop Announces $6M Series B Venture Capital Funding

Tech Support company CrossLoop Closes $6M Series B Round

 

Online Computer Help company CrossLoop Gets $6M

CrossLoop gets $6M for Peer based Tech Support

CrossLoop Offers Crowdsourced IT Help

 

CrossLoop Raises $6M for Development of its Elegant Marketplace

Here is a collage of some more and I have added a PhotoStream on the sidebar on the left. 

 

All the articles are here

On behalf of everyone at CrossLoop, we thank all the reporters, bloggers and media professionals who stopped to listen to our story and then helped us tell it! Oh - and I don't want to forget my father, my mother, my brother, my cats Romeo and Cleo without whom all this would.....

Signing off on my 100th post (!!) - Good Afternoon and Good Luck!

I am sure many of you know Dmitry – I’m sure that if you’re reading this blog you have at least exchanged a few emails with him at some point. Dmitry spent a good part of this past summer in Switzerland.  A truly unique story happened to him in the middle of Geneva which we wanted to share with you. I’ll pass the “keyboard” over to Dmitry to have him tell you himself…

Hey all! Dmitry at keyboard… back in U.S. and loooving it! I have just finished telling the story to the team, and was very much excited to share it with all of our fellow crossloopers!

Grocery stores in Geneva close very early – usually around 6pm. So all grocery shopping needs to be done either before work in the morning or right after work. One of the days I was standing in line at a grocery store to check out, and happened to notice a random guy in front of me with a “Think Geek” T-shirt. “Very interesting” I thought… My French is practically non-existent,  I started a conversation with him by a casual: “Se va?” (How are you?). He spoke english, we started chatting – turns out he is in IT industry, moved to Geneva from Canada, and has been a HUGE Crossloop supporter for close to 1.5 years now! He was beyond excited to meet me of course, he has told me that he has been trying to spread the word in Switzerland amongst his buddies, but “screen sharing” is not as popular there right now. He uses Crossloop to make some money on the side currently, but mostly just helps his family and friends. Imagine, meeting a random stranger at a supermarket, in the middle of Geneva, who happens to be a die hard fanatic of Crossloop and has been trying to promote us! Gave me that warm feeling inside that we must be doing something right!

To finish the story – a few weeks later, I was talking to building IT managers at the foyer (dorm) I was staying at in Geneva.  What do you think – yes they use Crossloop as well to do troubleshooting of the network issues! I was so truly amazed by these two encounters this summer that I absolutely HAD to share it with all you fellow crossloopers!

Signing off here, and passing the keyboard to Mrinal to do the finishing touches on the post… Good afternooooon & (mrinal take over now)

The alps was to create a dramatic imagination for a very small and big incident - a classic where the adrenaline rush is at one of the highest for us. We are a small company and in a world of about 6B people (and 2B personal computers) what is the probability of adventitiously meeting not one across the Atlantic, but two who already know your company and product.

Does he get another trip to Switzerland to collect more such stories? uh no - I think we need diversity and a different perspective so I am going to try.

Good Luck!

Presentation Lead

As the lead web presentation engineer, you will own and drive the presentation layer of our website (http://www.crossloop.com). You will take hard problems and make them look breathlessly easy to our customers. And you’ll have a lot of fun doing all this.

With over a million users, CrossLoop is a well-funded, venture-backed consumer, Internet company that is fundamentally changing the way people get help on their computers. We’re tearing down this unfriendly, fragmented, and inefficient market and replacing it with something that makes it a breeze to get your computer fixed no matter where you are. At the same time, we’re allowing people all over the world to help others and turn their knowledge into cash. Primary Responsibilities

You will be responsible for the front-end development of the website. You’ll work on innovative transaction systems, clever social applications, and some very compelling distribution widgets. You will work with the engineering and product teams to own and drive a frequent and predictable website update process. You will create and have ownership for rapid deployment environments and you must provide guidance and leadership in this area. You will contribute significantly on your own, and you’ll also grow and manage a team of presentation engineers. This position is based in the San Jose / Campbell area, with a need to visit Monterey at least once a week - and oh....you get to have meetings with Tom running on this trail. You are of course welcome to take a golf cart or a bike since Tom is known for 80+ marathons!

Requirements:

Qualified candidates will have the following background:

• BSCS or related field
• 7+ years experience in website development and/or application development
• Complete mastery of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, AJAX, and Flash.
• Experience creating cross-browser compatibility strategies
• Experience with building internationalized and multi-lingual websites
• Experience in developing and working in rapid web deployment environments
• Prior management experience desired
• Strong design aesthetic, sense and grounding. We would like to see samples of your work
• Previous focus on building high-quality products
• Ability to work productively with minimal supervision and in a distributed environment

• Should be able to hold conversations during the course of a marathon .... just kiddin ... only Tom runs and we are all striving hard at the start mark right now

Hope to empower millions along with you so write to us at jobs at crossloop dot com

Good Afternoon and Good Luck!

Tech support today is absolutely inefficient - not a single person owns Anne Manning's problem apart from herself.

No one is accountable for making Chris Ediger's delighted, happy and satisfied. The one providing support has no reason to take care, treat Chris right so that he returns, so that he builds a relationship
with the Helper. He probably even has no idea about the real identity of the person helping him.

What about Vick? Any of the CrossLoop Helpers with Verizon or Linksys on their profile would have probably cared more and saved him a few hours of invaulable time.

Similar to Chris above, no one is listening to 'basscom'. No one cares enough to make him happy, give him what he wants and provide personalized service

The above are only a very very few of the pain that consumers go through everyday - some like Mike go through an experience that you can only hope does not happen to you.

The above, and many millions more, are people who not only need a better solution but people own their problem, who own their success and care.

Why are we all at CrossLoop different?
Because a CrossLoop Helper's personal business is solving the customers technical problems!
CrossLoop Helpers are real people, real names and with measurable brand and track record (on their profile). 

I strongly recommend that you use Twitter as a personal tool to help these people - they need you. Here is a nice short blog post by Valeria Maltoni on doing business on Twitter. You are also welcome to follow me there since I also make myself available there for all CrossLoop users [You will be surprised how many there are]

CrossLoop Helpers like Nik Butler (His CrossLoop Profile, which has some excellent customer testimonials from people with accounts, is here) are extremely active, making themselves very accessible and engaging with the potential customer. He is a really good example.

At the end of the day you don't build relationships with the dealer who sold you the car, but you absolutely do with the person who services it - Yes, we are all in the people business.

Good Afternoon and Good Luck!

• Three-quarters of people have hurled a gadget in a fit of rage(73%)
• The same number have admitted to swearing (75%) or losing their temper with their computer
•  A stressed out 1 in 10 people say they've turned to alcohol to cope with technology meltdown, while a fifth of people admitted to simply turning off the gadget that has gone wrong and hoping it will fix itself

Now only If they only knew about our over 11,000 Computer IT Support Helpers or even the over 700 in UK ..... I think I have a lot cut out for me so I should get on with it!    

Good Afternoon and Good Luck!

Console Tab once you are logged in:

Until now, all Contact Messages from Customers, were sent as notifications to the Helper through a simple client notification and via email to the account registered with us. This is a significant productivity enhancement of your business process. It serves as a management tool that allows you to be better organized with them. Now you not only get the client notification and email, but can find it all organized in one place in your CrossLoop account. This allows you to have all the contact details and content of the messages at one easy place for all things CrossLoop that enables better follow up, repeat business and context for proactive relationship building with your Customers.

Here are the screen shots:

Console Page [Click on the green 'See My Session Activity' to review your session history]

Contact Message Layout

Good Afternoon and Good Luck!

One of the things I play around and spend a lot of time around is on the notion of 'discovery" and "intent" since nothing happens until you have users/customers. That led me to start exploring the categories "desktop sharing" and "screen sharing" since our very core product that has become so popular in a very short time for helping was launched 'screen sharing' software.

Remember we launched CrossLoop as a "screen sharing" software in November, 2006.

We progressed over time and launched a Computer "Help" Marketplace but at the core of it all is our "screen sharing" software. I always felt 'desktop sharing' was a popular notion so went around investigating what people are searching for on Google Trends and here are some very interesting results as an outcome of that:

For "All Regions" and "All Years", Google Trends shows that 'desktop sharing was searched for 6.2 times compared to screen sharing. Screen sharing appears on the radar a few months after we launched.

Specific to 2007, the ration of screen sharing versus desktop sharing drops to 1:3.24 - still for "all regions"

�

For 2008, the ratio becomes 1:1

Now, lets introduce CrossLoop to these trends and you will see where I am going with this:

With CrossLoop in 2007 for "all regions", it looks like this with 'crossloop' ahead of 'screen sharing' and 'desktop sharing'. [Note how the trend line of 'screen sharing' aligns with that of 'crossloop' below]

Finally, when I look at 2008, crossloop breaks away significantly - almost twice that of both categories!

Conclusion: CrossLoop really made 'screen sharing' go mainstream as a mind share and intent amongst users worldwide and it has become synonymous to it.

I look forward to 2009!

Good Afternoon and Good Luck!

One of the things we have done from the day we launched CrossLoop was listen and learn to all our users, to people who know us, our Advisors or anyone who could share some 'best practices'.

With that same core value, we thought it would be very powerful to have CrossLoop Helpers share their best practices with others.

I am personally a big fan of the two questions Will Smith asks in the movie (when he is desperately seeking employment and sees a guy park his Ferrari) The Pursuit of Happyness, especially the second one - 1) What do you do and 2) How do you do it?

There will be a series of CrossLoop Helper Interviews on this blog and I couldn't think of a better person to start with - Marcus Clarke's (pictured with his son Connor here), currently #1 Helper on the CrossLoop Marketplace. Here is his response to "How Do You Do It'. 

Q: Tell us a little about yourself

Marcus: I am first and foremost the proud father of my soon-to-be three year old boy named Connor Clarke.  I am the lead support technician for Storage Commander, a popular self-storage management program developed by Empower Software.  I also created and currently maintain their web site. 

Q: What are some of the things you do, to get new customers?

Marcus: I mainly advertise through word-of-mouth.  My wife is a great help by posting my CrossLoop Badge on all of the message boards she visits and through her MySpace bulletins and comments.  She also has a big voice with Mommy-groups and playgroups throughout our area and the people she meets through social groups and the Internet.  You would be surprised how many people are looking for someone who knows what they are talking about when it comes to computers, and will not charge you an arm and a leg to get answers.

Q: What do you do to get repeat customers?

Marcus:   Repeat customers return if they like your work, your personality, and how you speak to them about the problem they are having.  Being courteous, respectful, patient, and knowledgeable about what you are talking about are the most important factors in obtaining regular customers. 

Q: Do you always give free estimates?

Marcus:   I will always give a free estimate to someone who requests it.  I do clarify that an estimate is just that, an estimate, and that it may not be the actual full price, depending on the amount of time spent on a job. [His Rate card pic below]

Q: What are some of your best practices to get the business after the free estimate or a lead comes in?

Marcus:  Response time is key.  It is difficult to address computer issues outside of work, being that I work full-time.  However, the new built-in feature that notifies you when a customer has sent you a message is extremely helpful in dealing with this.

Q: How have you built your brand with CrossLoop?

Marcus:   I keep myself logged in whenever I am connected to the internet.  I advertise myself as an experienced remote technician who can quickly connect to your computer and fix problems that you are experiencing.  CrossLoop allows for a quick connection, but it more importantly opens up remote technical support to those with less knowledge on how to use computers.

Q: What are your favorite marketing tools that CrossLoop provides and you use frequently?

Marcus:   CrossLoop is the first company that enables me to quantify my skills through my CrossLoop sessions. The CrossLoop badge is the best marketing tool provided by CrossLoop, as it shows the metrics: number of connections, your rating, and your picture; it also links the customer to your profile for more information.  You can attach it to e-mails, message boards, and pretty much anything Internet related.  It is an effective personal banner to advertise your abilities and experience which translates to a ‘portable reputation’. This enables the Customer to make the best decision.

Q: What are some tips that you would share to get the highest customer satisfaction?

Marcus: Respect your customers, even when they are difficult, and use your patience to wade through communication problems on either end of the conversation.  Fix a problem so that the customer does not have to come back to you soon to fix the same problem, so that when another problem arises, you will be the person that they call.

Q: Like adding a personal photo, do you have any recommendations for one's CrossLoop profile?

Marcus:   Fill it out completely.  Add a picture of yourself!  That is one of the best features of CrossLoop, as it creates a quick talking point, and it causes the customer to become more interested in who you are, which starts a connection between you.  Otherwise, fill out your pricing, and add a thoughtful description to your profile. [Snapshot of his profile]

Q: Do you ask you customers to create an account and leave testimonials after a session? Why?

Marcus:   Depending on the level of experience of the customer, I may or may not ask them to create an account.  Many people who need help with computers do not have an e-mail address, or are uncomfortable signing up for an account.  I leave it up to the customer to leave a comment after the session; however, it is greatly appreciated. [His Customer testimonials on his profile below]

Q: What are the top two frequent problems you solve for customers?

Marcus: The most frequent problem I encounter is that the customer’s computer is running too slow, normally due to too many programs running. The other frequent problem I run into is spyware infections.

Congratulations to Marcus for a remarkable achievement - if you need help with your computer, contact Marcus Clarke through his profile here.

Good Afternoon and Good Luck!