Get Gist.com, a LinkedIn on Steroids

“File.  Open.  Edit.  Copy.  Edit.  Paste.”  These were the first words of a keynote address given by Steve Ballmer at a recent annual dinner for the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce in Bellevue, WA.  Steve asked the audience, “Why do computer companies ask humans to speak their language?  We should be providing computers that take commands the way humans speak.”  

Ballmer went on to describe one of his most frequent routines, one where he makes out-of-town travel plans and his routine goes something like this:  looks up flights; books a flight (cept I bet we can’t book with the same airline as Ballmer); look up info on the internet about the companies and people he’ll be meeting with; download that information for review on the flight…STOP!  Though we have a long way to go for all these pieces, the last two steps are where Gist comes in. 

This new service called Gist is like LinkedIn on steroids.  Load your contacts into their database, and the service automatically scours the internet for news and information about both your contacts and companies.  Gist says, “know more about who you know.”  

The system allows you to sort this information by the importance of your contacts or organize by the latest news.  Upon loading my contacts into Gist, within 2 minutes I was using the “share it” feature as a reason to contact those important clients and prospects.  It’s three weeks since I started using it, and I still find new nuggets each day.  

Gist was born by T.A. McCann and Vulcan Labs, funded by Paul Allen’s Vulcan Ventures.  New features will be coming but so far, Gist is a hit!