We also looked at Quickbase, and ZOHO.

I have recently reviewed the ZOHO Creator and find it pretty intuitive to use. And almost on par with what we thought we had found with Coghead.

I was hopeful to get your input on ZOHO Creator…

Also, what has become of the Coghead app? Is anyone going to pick up the ball and run with it?

Thanks again for your post and time.

Regards
Sean

A sincere thanks for sharing your experiences. One thing I keep in the back of my mind when I think about the various firms competing in this space, and the networks around them, is that we’re all trying solve the same problems and therefore we’re all probably dealing with very similar issues. I suspect we all understand each other better then we realize.

My point is just that there is a lot to identify with and then to learn from your experiences. There’s no reason why the remaining companies can’t do things “better” in an effort to realize the vision. There has got to be a way to make this whole space fabulously successful, right?

I’m a product guy at heart, and the history of our company was all about “what is best for the customer?”. However, more and more I find myself having to be a business guy and therefore the new question I keep asking is “what’s best for the channel?”.

I’m going to bookmark this post, and refer to it from time to time when I need some refreshers!

Thanks,
Treff LaPlante

I wish you the best of luck with your company on the new platform!

Fredrik

It is unfortunate to see one of our competitors hit the dust. Coghead was one of our more recent competitors.

My firm launched the web’s first database-in-the-cloud in 1999 and nearly 10 years later, we’re still going strong. This is a time to reflect on how companies survive and how other don’t. I believe the reason my company survived the dot-com bubble burst, and the current economic malaise is that we always took a very conservative approach to running the business. We never took venture funding which would have reduced our control to run the business. We didn’t hire a lot of staff, or try to expand too quickly by depending on future revenue. We only spent what we had. That means today, we’re a thriving concern. If anything, the economic downturn has provided better business rather than less.

Your post is a must read for any PaaS that has or wants to have a partner network. I enjoyed it a lot.

Venture backed companies are pressured to show quick results for the money invested in them. What Coghead needed most was less money and more time.

Frank Zamani
Caspio

While this is unfortunate, I honestly feel that what happened surely won’t be the last in the on-going PaaS ’small players’ saga. Major part of it maybe is that it’s still a technology ahead of it’s time that enterprise adoption hasn’t kept up yet as well as utter reliance that the hype of the technology will sell itself into profitability. Clearly, we need more feedback on how things can work for the better.

However, let us not forget that early adopters, which are likely small to mid-sized companies , really do need to educate themselves to the perils and risks of proprietary solutions bec it can cause one big headache. Whether the solutions offered come from a major player or a small one, it will save a lot of trouble if you can take your apps and run it elsewhere with nary a hitch so you don’t get stuck.

Best.
Alain Yap
Morph Labs
@friarminor

I’m sad to see it go. At my previous company, I was always trying to communicate information strategy and how to develop a workflow system for employees. When I found Coghead, I realized I could do just about all of it myself in not much more time than it took to conceptualize the organization of information flow. My programming experience is even more limited than yours, and I was thrilled to find a platform that I felt developers could focus more on the strategy and business use of information than proving their worth through creativity with the programming language.

I’m going through the “lost paddles” emails and trying to find a replacement platform. Costs are limited at this point, so hopefully I’ll be able to find something soon.

Very disappointing.

Thanks again for revealing some of what has been happening behind the curtain, Michael.

Brian Hatano