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Name: Tumblecloud
Quick Pitch: Tumblecloud is a collaborative space for creating multimedia slideshows.
Genius Idea: Drag-and-drop collaboration.
The audio, video and images sitting on my desktop are pretty easy to put online via Facebook, Twitter and other social sharing sites. They're also pretty easy to send to someone who also uses something like Dropbox. Tumblecloud wants to make them just as easy to use in online collaborative work.
The company, which launched its public beta product this week, has built a collaborative tool for dragging and dropping media into interactive slideshows. Users upload media from their desktops or social accounts into "stacks" that can be shared with nobody, specific friends or everybody. When they go to build an interactive slideshow, they can access media from any stacks they have access to.
It works just as well without building a slideshow — providing a way to share, for instance, photos from a wedding without involving mass emails.
Tumblecloud's tool for online storytelling is pretty intuitive. Users drag widgets that represent each piece of media around a blank canvas to link and layer them. The way media can be stacked to play simultaneously — an audio clip with an image, for instance — reminds me of a drastically less-intimidating version of professional video or audio editing software.
"It's not meant to be a Dropbox substitute," Tumblecloud founder Brian Andreas says. "Really what we're good at is allowing people to collaborate on the multimedia of their life."
Andreas has a background in storytelling. The author and illustrator of several children's books, he runs a boutique online bookstore called Storypeople.
While — true to Andreas's background — Tumblecloud is great for creating stories, it falls a bit short when it comes to sharing them. There aren't native apps yet, but because most of the site is built in HTML5 building stories on almost any mobile devices is still possible. The player, however, uses Flash, so it isn't accessible on iOS devices. And story "clouds" can't yet be embedded in other sites.
Also still in development is the site's business model. Possibilities include charging for extra file storage, paid content and sponsored content.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, DaveBolton
Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark
The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.
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