Startup Update : CritiCat, BlogBard and Remindo
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I first came to know about CritiCat when I stumbled upon Shweta Gupta’s blog. She had detailed her journey from being an employee at Yahoo to being the founder of CritiCat. I had a quick glance at the website, which was pretty uncooked then. I even suggested her to work on the design and aesthetics of the website. Let me say Shweta has taken the suggestion quite seriously. The website design is quite stunning. The functionality is enhanced, too.
So, what does CritiCat do? Well, it lets you review your employer and rate it. A lot of popular companies can be found here listed right there on the homepage. I, however, couldn’t find “The Times of India” here.
We had blogged earlier about Jobgypsy.com doing similar stuff. But CritiCat has surely done its homework. Check out the “Advice” feature where the employees can give advice to their companies. Most of the users were doing this anonymously and the comments were pretty interesting.
I am tempted to write about WATConsult. I am not getting my regular dosage of cup-noodles. 
Travelling in Mumbai’s local trains and reading is like running a Windows installation without a crash. Unthinkable. But the one hour that I spend there can be – and should be – used somehow. I have tried in vain, reading books, blogs, or attempting to write ideas while travelling in a mode of transport which, at peak hours, have as many as five human figures adjusting in one single square foot of area. The danger here is to lose your balance and step onto somebody else’s foot, thereby encouraging him to pass you the complete list of pleasantries that he might have picked up in all those twenty seven years of his existence.
But yes, you can plug in your iPod and get transported to the world where Lucky Ali and Michael Jackson sing for you back-to-back. I have been thinking of downloading some podcasts for listening during the commuting hours. But skipped this sometimes because of lack of good content and sometimes due to my procrastination. OK, every time due to my procrastination.
BlogBard is something that holds a lot of value for people like me. It allows you to convert into audio any blogs that you would want to. So, all you need to do this provide the link to the RSS feed/ATOM to the blog and the BlogBard will do the rest. This is even better as this means you need not to give the link to every post individually, just once the feed needs to be given.
Blogs can also embed a widget on their websites
If I can convert a few of my favourite blogs in audio format and listen to them during commutation, I am even ready to pay for the service. However, how many else would, I am not aware of. May be, this startup can ink some business deals with some telecom operators and offer their technology to them as a tool to let the users convert and listen to their favourite blogs on phone or on portable music players.
Remindo.com people describe Remindo.com as a workpage aiming to help people work better and more efficiently everyday. The collaboration tools will be incorporated soon. The site is in its beta right now and some 500 editor-selected feeds an address book, and a private messaging system.
What I understood form the Remindo blog, is that they are trying to offer a one stop solution for the professionals at work. Something similar to My Yahoo or iGoogle page. But with the USP that it is aimed at professionals. SO, you have a widget-style interface, the API being compatible to Google API, and an address book and coming soon, a collaboration platform.
With Yahoo and Google already in the game, the relevance of a new service like this seems vague to me, at least. How far they can take their “aimed at professionals” USP, will be interesting to watch. Nevertheless, such a service can become an interesting acquisition target for some biggie in the near future.
(Thanx to Ryan at Remindo for letting us know about the company)
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i came here via ur email and i particularly like ur review of blog bard. Interesting name as well – they refer to Shakespeare as the bard so its apt – i love the name actually!
Thanx Harshil
You seem to like anything that I write, anyways
i actually only liked the review of blog bard :p and i think i like the name better than the review :p :p – really shows the importance of branding online. The name just sticks – i can see the generic benefit once i read the name and know what the firm does. The only drawback is that i dont know what the company does only with reading the name – but then i think theyv got the balance right!
Kyaa yaar, sab ke saamne bola you liked name better than the review.
I feel criticat is a nice attempt to make indian job environment a bit professional. I feel there is a lot to be done for employees sake in the software space, and criticat provides a platform for such an attempt
@Leo
Agreed
Though Criticat has some competition, looking at their site, one can safely say, they are ahead of their competitors.
Hey criticat is a great site
I used it when I was applying for jobs .. after the interviews it helped me a lot in deciding the job i wanted ..I think it rox !!!
I have been following criticat from it’s early phases too. Even early on it looked quite professional, but as Ankit points out had lot of rough edges. Over the past few months, it has shed its ’staruppy’ look and feel and become a more well rounded website. Keep it up!
Shweta is my ex-colleague and I must say she has made us all proud by leaving a secure job and starting a company like criticat. I have followed the progress of criticat and have been quite impressed so far. Hope it becomes one of the most useful Indian startups in due time.