Great online art forum
Online Visual Artists is a new forum that compares various sites that let people sell art and photos on the web. Imagekind is included in that list and compares very favorably. In fact, feedback suggests people are really pleased with our product offering relative to other options out there. It’s a good growing resource.
A nice comment from an Imagekind member I just got tonight
Thanks for this email Donna! For you readers, here’s a link to her Imagekind gallery.
From: Donna P
Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2007 7:38 PM
To: Kelly Smith
Subject: Image Kind
Hi Kelly,
Happy New Year to YOU!
I am compelled to email you b/c I saw that I was FEATURED ARTIST for a day (24 hours) on ImageKind and I was so excited.! Being a new artist/painter/photographer/digtital artist, I was beside myself when I signed on and saw ME!
Thanks so much for the honor…and it really is an honor for me. I am new to all of this so every little “lick” I can get is appreciated.
Not sure how you decide, but since I’ve been in IK, I have realized that you try to treat each and every artist with the same compassion and fairness, and of course, I think that is wonderful. Please know that I am thrillled that my “time” came as quickly as it did. 
To see “me” as a featured artist just rocked my world and made me cry. I’ve only been considering painting since the summer of 2006; photography since fall of 2006, and certainly digital art since later than that….
I think your site is hands down. I have been dabbling with Art.com for several months, and I have yet to join. I have yet to join Cafe Press; but gave that up quickly due to wonderful and unexpected sales on a site called Zazzle. (My sales have been through the roof!)
Anyway… I remember emailing with you about some issues I had and I just want to Thank you for your kindnesses and concerns. It is nice to know that IK has folks that GENUINELY care about the artists that post to their sites… (did I call myself and artist?)
I would have never purchases a platinum for me and another artist if I did not BELIEVE………
Keep doing what you are doing.
Happy New Year,
Donna
Follow up post: Peter Rip VC & photographer
Man is that guy fast. I posted this morning and he sent me an email correctly pointing out that indeed there is a reference to his photography prowess on his blog. Here is a link to some samples on http://ripster.smugmug.com
Check out the Navajolands gallery.
More time in the Valley
I got a chance to spend some time with well known VC blogger Peter Rip down in the San Fran area yesterday. In fairness, there were others in the room too but I follow Peter’s blog so I was interested to meet the guy. If you don’t follow his blog you should because he really takes the time to write thoughtful (sometimes lengthy) posts about raising capital, the art of the deal and business models in general. Some of you might also know that he is a board member and original investor in Riya. I found everyone in the room to be pleasant…even fun to pitch too. What made Peter fun is that he’s actually a PHENOMENAL photographer and he thus seemed to at least appreciate what we’ve managed to build at Imagekind.com. Maybe he’s got another blog somewhere where he shares his enthusiasm and ability for taking pictures but I haven’t seen it. There is no mention of his personal interests on his Early Stage VC blog. This got me thinking about something. I wish more VC’s would share their personal interests! As entrepreneurs, we’d know what they like, what kind of people they are, what kind of questions they are going to care about.
For me, people’s hobbies and personal interests tell me a lot about who they are. Are they creative? Will me make good partners? Are they into sports? Which ones? Niche sports? Mainstream sports? Do they like boats? Planes? Cars? Travel? Are they skiers? Or snowboarders? I often find myself relating to people based more on their interests than what they do at their job. And it’s just plain interesting to learn more about people via their personal interests. If you’re out there raising money, consider trying to learn more about the people you’re talking too. Even if they don’t give you money you might find a common bond that gives you a little inspiration…and maybe a new friend.
Finally, a vacation
We managed to sneak away to Hawaii over New Years with Tom Hughes and Jessica Jensen to recharge. I’m ready to take on 2007!
Review of 2006 predictions
The Seattle PI reviewed some of our 2006 predictions and the results were quite interesting. The review of my predictions for 2006 could have been worse. Faired pretty well on many of them. Others did well too. Have a read!
Nice review of Imagekind
http://www.tiny.cc/iwiHg
Posted over on EmptyEasel.com
Change of course for Curious Office?
Maybe so! Maybe not. When we started Imagekind I never expected it to grow as fast as it did. We get more traffic (and certainly more revenue) then most fancy web 2.0 sites, podcasting sites etc. And now, there are so many partners and deals coming our way that I almost can’t find time to do anything else but help maximize this opportunity. That leaves less time for other projects that we’d intended at Curious Office. Yet, I think our plan is to do things LINEARLY vs. sequentially. Each project takes time to execute well. Good execution is hard work and you have to cultivate a great team of people. So I dont think we can do more than one project at a time. I do believe this team will continue working together on other projects besides this one however.
At Imagekind I’ve always maintained that execution and speed are the keys to success. It is not about the idea. Good ideas get wrecked by terrible execution all the time. At the end of the day it is about a quality experience. People notice the details. And it turns out that partners and investors notice the details.
That’s why we’re really excited to tell you about a few partnerships that we’re working on. It’s too soon to talk about but lets just say that the print on demand market continues to be a hot topic. I recognize that the web2.0 meme is starting to take on a bit of a bad rap and its only going to get worse. Keeping our paying customers (and future partners) happy is crucial for us to weather the storm.
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Curious Office Companies
Inkd
Inkd is our latest internally developed concept. We raised our $1.7 million seed round on September 22 and are backed by Second Avenue Partners and a variety of tremendous angel investors. We are developing the World's First Market for Original Print Design.
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CafePress
Cafepress acquired Imagekind in July 2008. CafePress.com is an online marketplace that offers sellers complete e-commerce services to independently create and sell a wide variety of products, and offers buyers unique merchandise across virtually every topic. -
Imagekind
Curious Office started Imagekind in 2006 and it is the world's fastest-growing art site offering over 750,000 high-quality fine art images for sale. Imagekind gives consumers limitless options to purchase museum-quality framed and poster art from over 50,000 domestic and international emerging and established artists. -
SEOmoz.org
Curious Office invested in SEOmoz along with Ignition Partners in 2007. SEOmoz serves as one of the largest online hubs for search marketers worldwide by providing education, tools, resources and paid services to help make every SEO the best they can be. -
Shelfari
Amazon.com acquired Shelfari in September 2008. Based in Seattle, Shelfari introduces readers to our global community of book lovers and encourages them to share their literary inclinations and passions with peers, friends, and total strangers -
Fanzter
Fanzter is headquartered in Collinsville, Connecticut and are the creators of the wildly popular celebrity style and entertainment platform Coolspotters.com, which launched in May 2008. Fanzter secured $2 Million In Series B Funding Led By Steamboat Ventures in March 2009. -
Wishpot
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netConcepts
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Rouxbe
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RocketVox
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FeedDigest
