"Get Naked," the title of the latest edition of Wired, with an actress from "The Office" (one of my Tivo'd shows) on the cover, was very timely. The cover article talks about companies who put it all out there -- baring it all -- for competitors and customers alike. With the launch of our Shozam! Community Web Site a few weeks ago, we've had this experience first hand; the good and the bad. The article called it, "Radical Transparency."

Transparency has always been important to us. Shozam!, like Web Gallery Wizard (our first product line) has always been “for the users,” and user feedback is a critical part of our product development process. This was brought home to me recently when we were discussing internally about whether or not to create a “Wish List Forum” in this Community site. The question arose as to whether it was a good idea, since “rivals” could see -- as easily as we could -- what users are clamoring for. There actually wasn’t much of a discussion: I have never sacrificed user interaction for competitive fears.

I spent some time late last night going through the Forums to take the pulse of Members; to see if there were any recurring issues and to ensure no one was left hanging. I am elated at the positive, enthusiastic response from the Community about Shozam!; but be assured, any issues raised in the Forums are being read and addressed, even if we don’t directly respond to each post.

One question that came up more than once was some confusion over the test account 2MB upload limit in Step 6. Because of this restriction, some Members thought some of the Shozam! Beta features were disabled. They asked to buy the “fully functional” Beta program, right now, before the release date. To clarify, the Beta is fully functional. The test account is just meant to show people how quickly they can have their Shozam! galleries online. We've also had a few posts from people who haven't been happy with our level of customer support during this Beta phase, which I addressed in the Forum. We realize that this has been frustrating for some Members, and as a user myself, I know customer support is one of the most important aspects in the end-user experience. It has always been, and will continue to be, a priority for us. Bear with us; things are moving fast, and once the product is released, customer support will be back to our top-notch standards.

Thanks again to all of you in our Community. Keep posting! And we will continue to provide you with as much "behind the curtain" information as we can. Transparency is the name of the game. It helps us see more clearly the problems and issues that need to be resolved in order to make Shozam! the best solution for sharing, showcasing and selling images online. We appreciate your help.

Sincerely,

Razvan Neagu
CEO/Founder
KOMOTION, Inc.