[Search-l] _Techcrunch_: Jason Calacanis Launches Mahalo Today: Human Powered Search

Thu May 31 01:00:54 UTC 2007

also, if anyone is looking to work (for pay) on a human-powered search
engine send my your resume. :-)

sorry... but we would have to pay you.

best j

On 5/30/07, Jason Calacanis <jason at calacanis.com> wrote:
> as I mentioned in my comments with the press we hope Wikia's open
> source search works so we can leverage it for when our humans don't
> have a result.
>
> mahalo for checking it out!
>
> best j
>
> On 5/30/07, Seth Finkelstein <sethf at sethf.com> wrote:
> > [Heavy disclaimer - I got a brief email from Jason Calacanis pointing me
> > to this article, but I have no connection to him or his ventures
> > (all stock options gratefully accepted, but I'm too independent-minded
> > to make a good promoter/flack :-))]
> >
> > http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/05/30/jason-calacanis-launches-mahalo-today-human-powered-search/
> >
> > Jason Calacanis Launches Mahalo Today: Human Powered Search
> > Michael Arrington
> >
> > Jason Calacanis, formerly of Weblogs, Inc. and more recently an
> > Entrepreneur in Action at Sequoia Capital, will launch his newest
> > startup, Mahalo, this afternoon at 3 PM PST. The site is password
> > protected until then.
> >
> > Mahalo is a search engine, and will join Powerset as the more
> > interesting new engines to launch in 2007.
> >
> > The service has features that are similar to the new Netscape news
> > finder product that Calacanis launched last year at AOL: expert guides
> > will determine the most relevant results. The main search results are
> > provided by guides (Mahalo employees), who find relevant results for
> > search terms. User submitted results are also included.
> >
> > The primary results for search terms are included at the top, in a
> > "top seven" area. These are hand picked results from the guids that
> > should all be good results for the query (see screen shot below of
> > results for "Paris Hotels" - click for larger view). To the right of
> > the results are "Guide Notes" which include additional information
> > including relevant additional searches and "Fast Facts." In the case
> > of Paris Hotels, the "Fast Facts" include the country, language,
> > currenty and telephone country code.
> >
> > Additional hand picked results appear below the Top Seven, and Google
> > results round out the query.
> >
> > Also in the right sidebar is a place for users who've registered with
> > the site to submit links relevant to the query. The more users who've
> > submitted a unique link, the higher it appears on the list. Mahalo
> > will be looking for fraud in this area - if a guide determines a link
> > to be spammy, they will ban the link, the user and the user's IP
> > address "forever." However, if a link gets enough votes and is
> > determined to be relevant by the guides, it will move over into the
> > main search results area.
> >
> > Each search page also has a discussion/forum area, where any
> > registered user can add their thoughts to what's included on the
> > results page.
> >
> > Mahalo has 40 full time guides today and have created 4,000 results
> > pages - each of which will serve approximately 12 various queries.
> > Calacanis says that the guides are steadily improving results and
> > adding more queries - they expect to have 10,000 by end of year, and
> > 25,000 by end of 2008.
> >
> > They are really focusing on top search terms, which they obtain from a
> > number of search engines and other sources, Calacanis says. If a user
> > makes a query that has no Mahalo results, they are given Google
> > results instead. Calacanis stressed that it is going to take them a
> > couple of years to get really deep results for most queries - until
> > the end of 2007 the site will be in Alpha, and will be in beta for all
> > of 2008.  "It takes a few years to build a really compelling search
> > engine," he said.
> >
> > Mahalo has now completed two rounds of financing. The first was led by
> > Sequoia Capital. The second was led by Elon Musk and News Corp. The
> > size of the rounds have not been disclosed, but Calacanis says he has
> > enough capital to run the business for up to four years without
> > revenue.
> >
> > Disclosure: We have no financial interest in Mahalo; however, Jason
> > Calacanis is our partner on our upcoming TechCrunch20 Conference.
> >
> > --
> > Seth Finkelstein  Consulting Programmer  http://sethf.com/
> > Infothought blog - http://sethf.com/infothought/blog/
> > Interview: http://sethf.com/essays/major/greplaw-interview.php
> > _______________________________________________
> > Search-l mailing list
> > Search-l at wikia.com
> > http://lists.wikia.com/mailman/listinfo/search-l
> > Change options or unsubscribe: http://lists.wikia.com/mailman/options/search-l
> >
>
>
> --
>
> ---------------------
> Jason McCabe Calacanis
> Entrepreneur in Action, Sequoia Capital
> Mobile: 310-456-4900
> My blog: http://www.calacanis.com
> AOL IM/Skype: jasoncalacanis
>
> If you want to subscribe to my Podcast go to iTunes and select
> "Advanced" then "Subscribe to Podcast" and add this feed:
> http://podcast.calacanis.com/rss.xml
>
> ... or just click this link:
> http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=204314545
>

-- 

---------------------
Jason McCabe Calacanis
Entrepreneur in Action, Sequoia Capital
Mobile: 310-456-4900
My blog: http://www.calacanis.com
AOL IM/Skype: jasoncalacanis

If you want to subscribe to my Podcast go to iTunes and select
"Advanced" then "Subscribe to Podcast" and add this feed:
http://podcast.calacanis.com/rss.xml

... or just click this link:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=204314545