…At Peopleizers we are committed to helping our clients figure out the new/social media space and leveraging the potential of social technologies for their own purposes. Our main focus lies on the human factor and how technology can empower people – no matter if they are on the business or consumer side. It’s about emphasizing human connections and building and nurturing relationships between brands and customers on a broader scale. We believe that businesses don’t make customers happy, people do!

In order to keep this promise we are constantly thinking about new business models and solutions. We develop and/or invest in technologies, services and products which tap into this super exciting space. We support great ideas and become change agents ourselves. Today, we would like to present three of our latest projects we’re involved in:

1. Gurcles (“Guru Circles”) – exclusive expert session online (www.gurcles.com):

What exactly is Gurcles? Gurcles is a webinar format which brings together like minded people to learn from the best experts in the respective field. An alternative to attending time consuming and expensive conferences to stay up to date in the fast moving world of new/social media. “Wiser. Together.” means sharing the pleasure of learning and, well, the costs, too. Think of “group buying” of specific knowledge. The sessions take place online in a beautiful meeting environment and the number of participant is limited, so everybody gets enough attention from the guru. Gurcles is a pilot project of Peopleizers which will be tested until the end of 2013. We will then decide about how to move forward. Take a look at the most recent events to get a taste of the Gurcles experience:

• Ted Rubin “Return on Relationships”
• Dave Kerpen “Likeable Business”
• Porter Gale: “Your Network Is Your Network“

Upcoming sessions are: Mitch Joel “Control Alt Delete – Reboot Your Life, Reboot Your Business” (September/October), Brian Solis “What’s the Future of Business” (October).

In order to receive information about upcoming sessions and to participate in regular surveys about the selection of topics, surveys about features, etc. – please sign up here.

2. dozeo – a creative space for online meetings and virtual collaboration (www.dozeo.com):

Who is dozeo? dozeo is a young company from Stuttgart, Germany. The region is world-reknown for major brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and also Stihl chainsaws – just to name a few. More recently there is also an increasing number of tech startups including dozeo. A dynamic and very talented team has embarked on a journey two years ago. Their goal is very simple yet powerful: to make online meetings awesome. Not only can you meet instantly via dozeo, but you can also use other cool features which add up to a perfect collaboration experience. It’s where the next big thing can be created – even if your team is scattered around the globe. The market is dominated by old school players such as Webex or GoToMeeting, etc. which are all a big pain for users. Or have you ever had fun with their web conferencing solutions? Downloads and regular updates are required, their user experience is awful and it feels like a throw back to the 90ies whenever you try to log-in to a session. It was about time that new players enter this market. We’re happy to support this effort as investors, evangelists and advisors in marketing and sales related matters.

3. smoope – an instant messenger for customer service (www.smoope.com):

What does smoope stand for? smoope comes from “smooth operator”. It’s an app which brings the magic powers of instant messaging (e.g. Whatsapp, Viber, FB Messenger) to the business to consumer world – and vice versa. The team has created a system which connects shops and their customers in realtime. No need to be stuck on the phone trying to get an answer from a call center agent. Consumers get answers while doing something else, instead of holding the line. And they are connected directly to the shops they’re actually buying from. Smoope calls this “Service To Go”. The vision goes beyond this app and aims to disrupt how customer service and customer communication will happen in the future. They are currently in “closed beta” which means that only selected shops can participate. However, you can apply to be part of the pilot here. We are proud to be part of the founding team and therefore entered a joint venture with one more business partner from the telco space. We are very excited to see how smoope will grow in the next few months and if the underlying assumptions will be confirmed or not.

So, yes – there is a reason for not posting in a while. We were kicking off some very exciting projects, investments and joint ventures as you have read;) We’re happy to hear your opinions about these exciting gigs. Which one do you like most? Which one sounds most promising to you?