Open Mountain launches hinventory.com

We are pleased to announce the launch of our first product hinventory.com.  hinventory.com allows you to create an inventory of the items in your home online.  The process is as easy as taking photos of the rooms in your house and tagging items in the photos.  Read more about the product at our hinventory.com blog.

When we started Open Mountain a few years back, we recognized there were two lines of business interesting to us.  The first was the startup services business.  Founders, entrepreneurs, and companies uncover new ideas all the time.  They need cost-effective teams managed by experienced leaders to get those ideas to market.  We really like the energy of the startup and the challenge of bringing something new to fruition.

The other line of business was product development.  We’re product people.  We worked at product companies like Adobe, Ariba and Intuit before Open Mountain.  We understand the ins and outs of developing a product and working as part of a team to make that product successful.

The decision for which business to pursue first came down to practicality.  Services businesses generate revenue sooner than product companies.  Longer term, products have a better revenue growth potential, but they require capital or sweat equity to launch.  We looked at the landscape and decided that we prefer to bootstrap our company without taking money and that meant services first and products second.  If you are confronted with this same scenario, I highly suggest you read Guy Kawaski’s Art of the Start.

Fast forward to today, our services business was far more successful than we imagined.  Take a look at our client list and at just some of the companies that launched new products or technologies with us.  Working with startups and creative founders is rewarding.  Nearly all the companies we worked with are still alive and kicking today.

Now it’s time for the product side of the business.  We’re actually launching two products today.  hinventory.com is a Web site for creating a secure home inventory online.  You can read all about it on our hinventory blog.  Please check out the product and become a user.  Use the feedback form to tell us what you think.

The technology behind hinventory.com, called tagiphoto (pronounced tag.ee.photo), is a technology product that enables companies to add photo management and tagging to their integrated Web and mobile offering.  We’re doing a limited launch right now looking for early beta customers if you are interested.

This is a very exciting time for us and we hope you’ll help make our new product successful.  We’re as committed as ever to our services business and continue to sign up new clients each month.  At the end of the day, we’re all about bring new ideas to market whether they are your ideas or ours.

Enjoy!