JedFonner.com

Wow, if this isn’t confusing I don’t know what is – it looks like a new company called Icebrrg has launched with the intention of making web forms “chillingly simple.” Form data is saved and exposed via a graphical database viewer. It’s almost exactly like the established IceBerg which claims to focus on “custom applications” but really just let’s you connect web forms to a database, i.e. what IceBrrg does, albeit with a little more oompf.

Compare for yourself (click for larger view):

The really weird thing is that Icebrrg chose practically the same font as Iceberg for their logo. Although in their defense, almost every “web 2.0” company uses that font or a similar font. And by cutting out the second “e” and putting in a second “r”, Icebrrg really is very web 2.0.

But seriously, you would think the Icebrrg people would have done a Google search on “Iceberg” before naming their offering.

So I haven’t had a change to write a blog post in a while, mainly because I’ve been really busy at work. A lot of it is normal rushing to finish our next big product release (lovingly codenamed “Diablo”). But there’s also been an additional level of intensity around the company, and finally I can say why.

Appian (where I’ve worked for the past 6 years) just announced a $10 million boost from Novak Biddle Venture Partners. It’s the largest check Novak Biddle has cut for a single portfolio company this year. Here’s the actual press release and this is what Novak Biddle actually had to say:

“We’re heavily associated with ‘three guys in a garage’ startups,” says Jack Biddle, co-founder of the Bethesda venture firm and new Appian board member. “In this case, [Appian] is a substantial business. The potential is so large we couldn’t let it go.”

- From the Washington Business Journal article

And here’s what our CEO, Matthew Calkins, had to say about it:

Calkins expects Appian to outgrow the market, currently expanding at a rate of 25% a year, and is managing the company toward an IPO. He expects that within five years, there will be one to three independent public BPM firms on the market. Calkins said he sees significant growth opportunities in Europe.

The plan is to use the funds to expand our position in the market and to invest our very exciting and very cool Appian Anywhere software-as-a-service (SaaS) product. I worked on the early versions of Appian Anywhere and it’s great to see some real marketing muscle being put behind it.

The founders have been meeting with us regularly, and all the Tech managers (myself included) went out to lunch with the head of Marketing today to discuss what lays in store. It’s a pretty exciting time to be here.

Now, for those who scoff at $10M, I really liked the quote from Sandy Kemsley, “Remember, this is the conservative east coast, not the excesses of the Valley.” Plus, we don’t need this money to keep the lights on or pay the bills – we have actual revenue for that (unlike some other companies, ahem). This $10M is going straight into growing our business. Very cool.

Btw, we’re looking for another good Java Architect and a whole bunch of Quality Engineers. So shoot me your resume by emailing it to appian-at-jednospambotsfonner.com if you’re interested.

DISCLAIMER: This is a personal blog. The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, Appian Corporation.