This Online Group Collaboration Hub Replaces Insecure Listservs

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Name: Groopt

Quick Pitch: Groopt is an ad-free, group-collaboration platform that's big on boosting privacy and productivity.

Genius Idea: Notify sub-groups and individuals in your organization without spamming an entire listserv.

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Rarely does an online tool built for students work well when adopted by nonprofits and companies of all sizes.

However, that's exactly how Groopt — a free group-collaboration platform online — came to be.

WebGreek, created for fraternities and sororities, ultimately changed how many Greek organizations communicated with chapter members. Leaders could effortlessly publish content to an online hub instead of ineffectively reaching 60+ busy students by phone or email. Groopt, based on WebGreek, launched in May 2012.

On Groopt, event calendars, important notices, spreadsheets, billing and polling can be found in one place. Members can create, share and view documents on the platform. They can also text and email sub-groups and individuals with reminders or alerts.

"A listserv presumes everybody needs to see every single message," Groopt CEO and co-founder Patrick Allen tells Mashable. "What Groopt allows you to do is have targeted messaging for all your sub-groups down to the individual via email or text."

Now, startups and businesses, in addition to student organizations, can use Groopt to work online.

"Fraternities and sororities are running into the same exact problems that all other groups run into," Allen says. "It's not easy to run a big group."

SEE ALSO: Tracky: The Most Useful Online Tool You'll Use At Work Today

Groopt eases group collaboration. Members can upload documents directly from their desktops and specify which members can view and edit. Spreadsheets can also be uploaded to platform to track group involvement or earnings, for example. Individuals can pay for group activities and member dues with Groopt's WePay integration. The feature lets students and companies set up a storefront and sell event tickets on Facebook and Twitter.

The online hub also easily syncs with Google, iCal and Outlook calendars, so members can keep track of schedule changes. The startup's iPhone and Android applications let members keep in touch by mobile.

By continually providing innovative features on the platform, the San Francisco-based team hopes to perfect group collaboration online. According to the startup team, nothing like Groopt exists for organizations.

"When you log in, you can see all your groups in one place and quickly jump from group to group to group," Allen says. "You can manage all your calendars and files in one place. You don't have to use 10 to 15 different services to do it all."

One of the main differentiating factors is the startup's ad-free and distraction-free model, according to Allen. The startup's revenue comes from premium upgrades members choose to pay for, including various website templates and web-hosting services. The development of Groopt has been bootstrapped so far.

Users on the platform currently range from groups as small as four to communities as large as 180,000 members.

All that's needed to sign up is a Facebook account or email address. Group organizers can invite individuals by email or Facebook message.

"It's all about productivity," he says. "Groopt is lightweight and it's all focused on private productivity. So, whether you're trying to coordinate something with kids and carpools, or small classroom or a huge fraternity, you can do all that in one place."

Image courtesy of Flickr, Kevin Paul Morris

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Series presented by Microsoft BizSpark

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The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives software startups three-year access to Microsoft software development tools, marketing visibility to help promote their business and a connection to the BizSpark ecosystem, giving them access to investors, advisors and mentors. There is no cost to join, so if your startup is privately owned, less than three years old and generates less than U.S. $1M in annual revenue, sign up today.